IHSW February 2019

My doing nothing is cross stitching...... 
Image from Princess Sassy Pants website

Welcome back to my blog!  Today I am here to report on my stitching for the past weekend while I hermitted!!!  The weekend just gone was the 3rd weekend of the month which means it was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend (IHSW).  I tend to hermit and stitch most weekends but there is something wonderful about the weekend when you know that around the world other stitchers are also joining you in your craziness!!!

IHSW also coincides with Friday Off The Grid (FB group) and Friday Frolics run by our own Kitten Stitching Kaye.

Stand by for the update!

Finish #5/2019
Design: Honey Bee Keep Card
Designer: Free Design
Source: Cross Stitcher magazine issue Sept 1998
Started: 28 June 2016
Finished: 17 February 2019

Starting Point Friday 15 February 2019

Finished Sunday 17 February 2019

Design: Quaker a Halloween

Designer: Jardin Prive
Started: 1 January 2019

Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Jello Shots"
Thread: Purple silk (Silks 4 U), white DMC
Stitched 1 over 2

Starting Point Friday 15 February 2019

Finishing Point Sunday 17 February 2019

Design: 12 Days of Christmas
Designer: Maria Diaz
Source: Cross Stitch Collection December 2001
Started: 1 January 2019

28ct Evenweave (blue/grey)
Thread: DMC as charted / metallics Kreinik and PTB

Starting Point Friday 15 February 2019

Finishing Point Sunday 17 February 2019

So there you have it...

I mainly focused on my Christmas and Halloween 2019 pieces this weekend. 12 Days of Christmas is behind schedule so I am hoping to use some more time this month to catch up..

As per last month, Magical Stitches SALs/weekly challenges has played a large part of my stitching this month.  I will try and do an end of month progress post soon so that you can see all the projects that have come out of hiding for this challenge! 😼

See you next time!

Happy Stitching
Hugs xx

WIPocalypse 2019 - January Update

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

The object of the WIPocalypse is to stitch on projects that you want to complete before the end of the world, or the end of the year - whichever might come first! WIPocalypse is run by Melissa over at Measi's Musings and is now in it's 8th year.  

For 2019 I am going to try and work on 19 projects (ie 19 in 2019!).  The full list of my projects can be found on my WIPocalypse 2019 page.

Oh my goodness.... the end of January is here! Can you believe it - one month of 2019 is almost done! Time does fly when you're having fun!  I am a couple of days late with my update post, but better late than never is my motto this week!

So here we go - I do have a small update for my "19 in 19" 😃

Quaker a Halloween - Jardin Prive

Henry VIII - Cloudsfactory

Dog Park - Satsuma Street

 Peacock Lady - Joan Elliott

So that is the sum total of my WIPocalypse projects for January.  I am pleased with my progress on the Peacock Lady - it would be wonderful to get a finish on that one this year! 😊

Til next time, happy stitching

Hugs xx

WIPocalypse 2018 - February update (very late....)

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

The object of the WIPocalypse is to stitch on projects that you want to complete before the end of the world, or the end of the year - whichever might come first! WIPocalypse is run by Melissa over at Measi's Musings and is now in it's 7th year.  

For 2018 I am going to try and work on 18 projects (ie 18 in 2018!).  The full list of my projects can be found on my WIPocalypse 2018 page.

Oh my goodness I am so late with this post.... I had ever intention of posting the pics in March (the wording was practically done!) but my brain has really struggled with working lately and the last thing I feel like doing when I get home from work is typing... sorry 😞😢

So here we go... a quick update on everything I stitched in February that related to my listed WIPocalypse projects....

12 Days of Christmas - Little House Needleworks

Started: 25 December 2017

Fabric: 28ct Brittney Opal "Celebrations" Jodyri Designs

Threads: DMC

Boo Club - Lizzie Kate

Started: 1 January 2018

Fabric: 28ct Lugana "studio session -Wicked Garden" Colour Cascade Fabrics

Threads: DMC & Weeks Dye Works as charted

Henry VIII & his Wives - Cloudsfactory

Started: 6 March 2017

Fabric: 32ct Opal Belfast "Lapis" Under the Sea Fabrics

Threads: DMC

Little Sheep Virtues - Little House Needleworks

"Hope"

Started: 1 January 2018

Finished: 25 February 2018

Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Sept 2017 Mystery" Colour Cascade Fabrics

Threads: DMC

Little Sheep Virtues - Little House Needleworks

"Love"

Started: 25 February 2018

Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Sept 2017 Mystery" Colour Cascade Fabrics

Threads: DMC

Eiffel Quaker - Jardin Prive

Started: 2 September 2017

Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Antique Ivory"

Threads: DMC Black & B5200, Weeks Dye Works Sky, Weeks Dye Works Liberty

Dog Park - Satsuma Street

Started: 15 January 2017

Fabric: 28ct Monaco "Carmel Macchiato" Hand Dyed by Stephanie

Threads: DMC as charted

Right so that is February done.... onto the March update post 👀

Til next time, happy stitching

The Red & Black

Another Saturday in September and another new start.... I think I have September Start-itis!

This week's start was "Eiffel Quaker" by Jardin Privé.  I have been wanting to start this one for ages... it has seriously been burning a hole in my stash pile!

Eiffel Quaker - Jardin Prive
123 Stitch image

So on Saturday I decided to start it... now originally my plan for this piece was all about Coco Chanel. I am a Chanel girl, perfume wise anyway (Coco is my perfume!!), so I thought that I could use a variation on a theme for the Eiffel Quaker. Subtle but glamorous!  I picked out the perfect fabric - Pink Champagne by Colour Cascade Fabrics - opal with pink and grey mottling...

web image

I was channeling the little Pink Coco Chanel suit for this one - so the plan was to use Jodyri Designs threads of the pink and grey/black variety especially the one called "Parisian Chic".

But... someone decided to put a spanner in the wheels of my plan!

Hubby came into the craft room while I was pulling the threads and getting ready to kit up and asked what I was doing... I showed him and he was like no.... wrong fabric, wrong threads! 😒

What the... NO.. right fabric, right threads!!

He then disappeared and come back with my V&A Marie Antoinette cushion and said Versailles!  So we got out the book we bought when we went to Versailles a couple of years ago and drooled over all the opulence of that most glorious place for some inspiration.... (note: I should add that we are both addicted to the TV series Versailles!)

Image from Chateau De Versailles website

Into the fabric stash I went... luckily I had a piece of antique ivory linen (32ct) that would work... then we started to do the thread picking.

Of course hubby then said "No, wait! I have a better idea!...what about using the Les Miserables song "Red & Black" as inspiration".  Yes, that could work!

Ok.... now for the purists amongst us the Eiffel Tower wasn't built til 1889 and Les Mis is set between 1815 & 1832... but there is a hint of romance throughout the Les Mis story and romance is synonymous with Paris and the Eiffel Tower! And, the Eiffel Tower was built to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the French Revolution... So we are drawing a slightly long bow with this one...

Anyway enough rabbit trails... on with the story...
So now we have gone from glamorous and chic, to opulence and over-indulgence and then to a story about poverty, romance and the French spirit!

I decided to keep the fabric the same - plain and simple background... but it was out with the floss box again - Jodyri Designs were put back into their box as they are too highly variegated for this new idea.... DMC black came out of the box... then I remembered that I had a WDW Liberty left over from stitching the L*K Paw Prints design.... bright red!

So the red and the black are sorted.... what next...
How about some blue for the third colour and some white for accents - blue, white and red to signify the French Tricolour flag maybe?

The WDW Sky is a nice light to medium blue variation - not too dark, and then B5200 for the white accents for some extra brightness.  I did think about a darker blue but I didn't want the blue and black to be too similar.

I am still thinking of adding a tiny bit of gold here and there for the opulence and glamour of Paris but that's a long way off yet!  For the time being my little bit of glamour is the pink glitzy poodle needle minder!  I do have an Eiffel Tower needle minder on another project which I will find and add to this one next time.... always good to try and be matchy matchy!! 😏

I managed to get a good start on the first motif over the weekend.

I am loving the look of this so far.... It is going to be hard to not pick this up again tonight and continue on with the first motif!  Maybe I might adjust my rotation slightly for this week so that I can finish that motif!

So that's 2 starts for September so far.... there are 3 more weekends to come and I have at least one more start planned so I may be back next Monday again!

I must remember to take some progress photo's of my other WIPs as well.... oh well... that's for another day!

Til next time. happy stitching!
Hugs xx