January 2013 TUSAL

Hello!  It's that time of the month again... actually that time of the month was a week ago and I am so very late getting my ORT report out.....  but I'm here now!

January 2013 TUSAL

I am using the same jar again this year.... Mr Frog is still here doing his best to keep away the other nastier versions of his species :o)

There appears to be a lot of threads in that jar for the first ORT report but most of them are the green threads from when I was doing some beading around one of my secret stitchings in December.... three needles and lots of broken metallic Madeira thread later and the beading was done....  I am so glad that I kept on with the beading as at the end of the day the finished ornament looks lovely - I hope you agree - here she is....

Seraphina (DMC)
Cross Stitcher, Christmas 1998

I stitched this lovely little Christmas mouse for Valerie from Fee le point. Valerie adores mice... so when I was thinking about what to stitch as a little Christmas gift for Valerie I remembered that I had this adorable Seraphina card/kit in my must stitch stash.  As you will notice I have had this little mouse in my stash for a very long time.... since 1998!  She was just waiting for the right person to come along to be stitched for.

Seraphina was a very quick stitch, and she was so lovely to stitch.  Love the greens of her coat.  After raiding hubby's fabric stash I found this lovely green holly fabric to back the ornament with, and then beaded the edges, added the bells, charms, bows and hanger.  I am so pleased with how this little Christmas ornament turned out.... Seraphina arrived safe and sound in France and Valerie adores her.

My other secret stitching went to Nia from Caixinha de Pirlimpimpim.

Kokeshi doll - designer Lucie Heaton
Cross Stitcher,  Issue 223, March 2010

Isn't this little lady just adorable?  Stitching this little Kokeshi was such a delight.  The colours are so bright and cheery and the design was a very quick and easy stitch. I just love the colours and I so had to make some little beaded pins to put in her hair!  Again I raided hubby's fabric boxes and found this piece of gorgeous fabric that he used when he made his "Window into Egypt" wall hanging.  Nia adores Kokeshi dolls so this design was the perfect thing to stitch for her.  Little Kokeshi arrived safe and sound in Portugal and Nia loves her.

So besides the threads from these two delightful little secret gifts what other threads are in the ORT jar?

Well, also in the jar there are some threads from the MS Cool Cat - Summer.  I started "Summer" a couple of weeks ago but he is a bit slow going - its all the white....  I don't know why it is but my white stitches never look nice...  Does anyone else have that problem?  "Summer" is the last Cool Cat in the MS Lovers Blog SAL #3.

Progress photo - Cool Cat - Summer
Designer: Margaret Sherry

As the white has been annoying me I have been alternating "Summer" with a small freebie "Lickle Ted" kit.  This one has some white in it but not enough to annoy me too much...

Progress photo - Lickle Ted Freebie
Cross Stitch Crazy

Once "Summer" is finished it will be time to start on the next MS Lovers Blog SAL.  For this one we will be stitching Margaret Sherry's "Puppy Love".

If you are interested in joining in the fun then drop on over to the MS Blog and have a look at the post explaining all the details.  This SAL will last the whole year with monthly check ins at the beginning of each month starting February.

As well as the new SAL for 2013 Nia has also posted the Exchange calendar for the year.  The first one is for Easter and I think I have already found the perfect design.  But I still need to think about how to "finish" it....


Well dear readers, that's it for another ORT report.  See you all again next year... Pop on over to Daffycat's blog if you are interested in keeping in touch with what is going on with the 2013 TUSAL.

Til the next new moon in February 2013, happy stitching and may your collection of ORT's keep on growing!

New Moons - 2013

10 February
11 March
10 April
10 May
8 June
8 July
6 August
5 September
5 October
3 November
3 December