I don't have fireflies in my garden - which is a shame... only cats, bees, a dog and the odd dragonfly!! So please settle down with a cuppa, put your feet up and enjoy!

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Smalls SAL August 2016

Hosted by Stitching Lotus
Late again.... but it is still August... and to make up for being late I have another finish to show you!!

My first Smalls finish for August you have already seen but to refresh your memories here it is again:

Christmas Candle
Cross Stitch Gold Issue 5
Designer: Pam Johnson (Kooler Design Studio)
Finish #28
Started: 20 August 2016
Finished: 21 August 2016
My second Smalls finish for the month is:

Santa on a Bike
Needlecraft UK
Stitched on 32ct Belfast "Waratah" Stitches & Spice
Finish #29
Started: 16 August 2016
Finished: 28 August 2016
So that's my two finishes for the month.... I still have a couple of WIPs in progress and I am behind on my Christmas Ornie Blog piece!

New Starts / WIP Update

Lakeside Needlecraft Fantasy SAL - August "Pegasus"
Designer: Durene Jones

New start in August - Progress as at 16 August 2016

Progress as at 30 August 2016

Double Double
Designer: Lizzie Kate
Just Cross Stitch Halloween 2013

New start in August - Progress as at 16 August 2016

Progress as at 30 August 2016

This should have been finished this month for the Halloween Ornie SAL Blog.... oh well!! Fingers crossed it will be done in the next week :o)

Dear Santa
Designer: The Little Stitcher
Just Cross Stitch Christmas 2015

New start in August - Progress as at 30 August 2016

I am stitching this for the JCS SAL FB Group... again this should have been finished by today... another fail!  I will get it done in the next couple of weeks though once I locate the elusive DMC 3865 which I know I have somewhere!!!

So that's it for now.... I will come back in the next few days to do my TUSAL and Goals posts.  Hope everyone is having a good stitchy week!

Til next time, happy stitching!
Hugs xx

Monday, August 22, 2016

Stitch Maynia Summer Olympics Challenge (Part 2)

Well, the Olympics have now come to an end which means that the Stitch Maynia Summer Olympics Challenge has also finished.

I showed you in my last post all the pieces that I worked on for the first 11 days and now I can show you what I worked over the last week or so.

I left you at Day 11 which was white for the Olympic flag....

"Santa on a Bike" (New Start)
Christmas Cross Stitch Project Book
Needlecraft Magazine - unknown year/issue
Day 12 - Cycling (or anything with a wheel)
Insert photo shows what he will look like when finished
This motif is part of a larger tablecloth design
I'm not doing his bike tyres in purple....
Day 15 - Medals - Silver
This wasn't my original choice... I did start doing a silver and purple metallic mitten on perforated plastic with some free Maderia metallic thread... and I hated it so much I threw it in the drawer in disgust and quickly stitched the yellow and silver in this one.  The mitten was frogged on Saturday and will not be discussed again!!

Nora Corbett's Christmas Couriers -"Comet"
Shoe-horn alert!!
Day 13 - Medals - Gold
Day 14 - Patriotic/National Anthems (or music related)
Added the browns of his hind legs
For gold I stitched all the gold metallic around the ribbon that forms part of the strapping/ribbon holding the presents on.

Now this is where the shoe-horn appears.... I am not currently stitching anything that could be called patriotic or music inspired so I decided that I would use the rather large shoe-horn I have to lever Comet in as a Christmas National Anthem (ie he is in the song "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"....) LOL! :o)

Christmas Candle (new start)
Cross Stitch Gold Issue 5
Designer: Pam Johnson (Kooler Design Studio)
Finish #28
Day 15 - Olympic Torch - fire or flames
Started: 20 August 2016
Finished: 21 August 2016
Queen of Peace
Designer: Nora Corbett
Day 16 - Medals - Copper/Bronze
I pulled this beauty out yesterday and did some stitching on her (not quite as much as it looks as I hadn't taken a progress shot last time I put her away!

I did work on quite a bit though from the ribbon in the middle downwards and to the left as I wanted to get to the bronze metallic so that I would be able to say that I stitched on bronze for the last day of the challenge!

So that's it for the Olympic Stitching Challenge!

See you next time!
Til then... happy stitching
Hugs xx

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Stitch Maynia Summer Olympics Challenge (Part 1)

Hello!  I thought that I might do a quick mid-way point update on my stitching for the Stitch Maynia Olympics event.

I know that there are multiple events running in the stitching world via Facebook Groups and Bloggers... but I am only participating in one (for a change!)....

So, let's get started!

As I used one piece for mulitple days I will show you that one first...

Lakeside Fantasy SAL / Durene Jones
August - Pegasus (new start)
I stitched on this design for the following days:
Day 1 - Olympic Rings - Blue
Day 3 - Olympic Rings - Yellow
Day 9 - Olympic Rings - Red
Day 10 - Equestrian Events - Animals / Horse

Pegasus as he looks now after the Olympic stitching days
Collection Tralala
Moutons de Saisons Été (WIP)
Day 2 - Opening Ceremony - International Theme
(You have seen this one before - sorry....)

left pic: before - right pic: after
Finished the left border and started the red border
Snowflower Diaries
Joyful World SAL - March (WIP)
Day 4 - Aquatics Events - Water

top pic: before - bottom pic: after
stitched more of the blue water
Lizzie Kate
Double Double (new start)
Day 5 - Olympic Rings - Black
New start - stitched "Toil"
Jean Farish
Holly Garland (WIP)
Day 6 - Gymnastics - Speciality Stitches (cable stitch outer box)
Day 7 - Olympic Rings - Green (more of the green leaves)
stitched the outer box and more of the green leaves

Day 8 - Triathalon - stitch on 3 projects
Fail... had a blow out on the final leg of the triathalon!
I only managed to stitch on 2 WIPs on Friday night as we went out for dinner

Kate Knight Peacock Freebie
After pic - left; Before pic - right


Kate Knight Floral Bookmark Freebie
After pic - left; before pic - right
Mill Hill Kit
Winter Holiday Collection - Scottie (new start)
Day 11 - Olympic Flag - White

New start - stitched the white and black

So that's it for my mid-way Stitch Maynia Olympics update.  Tonight I need to find something with wheels (preferably a bike!) to stitch on!  I don't think I have anything with wheels in amongst my WIPs so this could be an interesting one!

Til my next update, happy stitching
Hugs xx


Monday, August 15, 2016

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL 2016 - Update #8


It's time for a GG update...

Moutons de Saisons "Printemps et Été" - Collection Tralala
Gift from Kaye from Kitten Stitching.  The original post of when Kaye gave me these charts is here.

Tralala Collection - Mouton de Saisons
As you have seen already this month I have been working on "Été" again..... unfortunately though no more progress has been made since I showed you the progress pic last week.  So here is a reminder of what "Été" looks like at the moment!
Progress as at 9 Aug 2016
That's it for this month...


Til next time, happy stitching

Jo from Serendipitous Stitching hosts the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL.  The GG SAL is about stitching charts/kits or using fabrics & threads that we have received as gifts, won in giveaways or anything that is intended be a gift or giveaway prize... or anything else that you can loosely use the word "gift" for!!  If you wish to sign up for this SAL, click on the button below or the button on my sidebar and you will be re-directed to Jo's blog.


Tuesday, August 9, 2016

The Alphabet Club - Detention for Letter "M"

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"
It's time for "The Alphabet Club" (TAC)

Maccas (pron. "mackers") : McDonald's (the hamburger place)
Mallee bull, as fit as a : very fit and strong. The Mallee is very arid beef country in Victoria/South Australia.
Mate : buddy, friend
Mate's rate, mate's discount : cheaper than usual for a "friend"
Matilda : swagman's bedding, sleeping roll
Metho : methylated spirits
Mickey Mouse : excellent, very good. Beware though - in some parts of Australia it means inconsequential, frivolous or not very good!
Middy : 285 ml beer glass in New South Wales
Milk bar : corner shop that sells takeaway food
Milko : milkman
Mob : group of people, not necessarily troublesome
Mob : family or group of kangaroos
Moolah : money
Mozzie : mosquito
Muddy : mud crab (a great delicacy)
Mug : friendly insult ("have a go, yer mug"), gullible person
Muster : round up sheep or cattle
Mystery bag : a sausage


"It's moments like these that you need Minties"
Minties is a brand of confectionery originating in Australia and manufactured in both Australia and New Zealand. They are a hard, white and chewy, square mint-flavoured lolly, which on chewing become so sticky that they are notorious for causing fillings to come out! Minties are wrapped in waxed paper with a cartoon underneath the logo with the common caption "It's moments like these you need Minties".  About 500 million are consumed each year.

Below is a Minties moment caption that I prepared earlier for you!!!


So that's it for my slightly late post of the Alphabet Club!



Hooroo for now!  Happy Stitching!
Hugs xx



If you would like to join in the fun of "The Alphabet Club", pop over to Chiara's blog (The Grey Tail) to see what all the fun is about and link up your post for the Letter "M".  Posting is generally the first Saturday of the month.