Smalls SAL - July 2018

Good afternoon everybody!

Time for the monthly Smalls SAL check-in run by Heather of Stitching Lotus, who's back in blogland and has posted catch-up link-ups for April, May and June if you want to pop along.

The theme of Christmas in July is becoming quite popular in various forms of craft so I thought I would do the same. This little kitty comes from a set of six ornies (well, three that have also been reversed) by Design Works Crafts. Thanks to Hobbycraft already stocking Christmas goodies I was able to find some lovely little pom-poms with which to finish off the hat. How cute is that?!

Christmas Cat 1 by Design Works Crafts

Stitched on 16ct Tin over-dyed aida with sparkles from Sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch count 43 wide by 31 high

Started - 1st July 2018

Finished - 9th July 2018

Total stitching time - 6 hours 50 minutes

And she's been finished off in my usual way using grey snowflake backing fabric and dark grey barley twist cord.

I really wanted to use red cord to compliment the hat and brighten the ornie but it just didn't look right. Nevermind.


I bought the used chart off ebay but the original kit included plastic canvas for the stitching, seed beads for the eyes, little star sequins for the background and of course the pom-poms. I wouldn't have used the plastic canvas anyway and probably not the sequins, and french knots are sufficient for the eyes so I didn't lose out much as all I had to buy was a packet of pom-poms and at £1 for 50 that didn't exactly break the bank! I didn't think the charted gold star was necessary either, which is why I left it off.

You'll get to see another one from this set towards the end of the year, but I haven't decided which one - for once I'm open to suggestions!

In the meantime, next month's small will be bright and tweety.

Take care,
Rachel x

Summer Alphabet - finished

Hello all!

This month's finish from my Challenge WIPs was Lizzie Kate's Summer Alphabet, the third of the four seasons I've now stitched and the 30th finish out of the 31 pieces I started for Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge 2016.

At the end of last month the alphabet looked like this:

And now complete with the charms and buttons attached:

Summer Alphabet by Lizzie Kate

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Lemon over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1
Stitch count 112 wide by 158 high

Started - 12th January 2016

Finished - 18th July 2018

Total stitching time - 36 hours 55 minutes

As usual I want to say how much I thoroughly enjoyed this piece. Samplers and alphabets are definitely not my thing but with each letter or picture feeling like a mini-finish there was a real sense of how quickly it was moving along. And it was nice to branch out from stitching 'cuties' for once!

Here are the finished Spring, Summer and Autumn together:

So that just leaves Winter to finish later this year and then I can frame the complete set. I'm not sure yet whether to go for matching frames or the same frame in different colours. I'll have to see what's on offer from my framing shop.

Take care,
Rachel x

June Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Hello there!

Time for another progress update. Let's see how I did in June on those many WIPs I still have left from the projects I started back in January/February 2015 and January 2016.

During June I finished Sugar (posted previously) and made progress on:

Summer Alphabet by Lizzie Kate
started 12th January 2016; last worked on last month
continued alphabetically (gotta love the little pink fishy!)

Pretty Little Paris by Satsuma Street
started 19th February 2015; not touched since then
more of the Moulin Rouge as well as parts of Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower have appeared

So far this year I have kept up with my plans; very slowly but surely my Challenge pieces are being worked on and finished. Fingers crossed that will carry on during the second half of the year too.

Frustratingly, however, my stitching time has been down by about 1/3rd for the last three months so I've hardly worked on the Haunted House Bell Pull. Even if I don't make much progress on it in July I am determined it will be finished during August.

Take care,

Rachel x