2020 End Of Year Summary

Hello all!

Crumbs, is that another year gone already?! Time once again for me to look back on my stitching and FFOing over the last twelve months.

Warning: contrary to the title, this is not a 'summary' Plus it comes with a 'boring post alert', so beware!

I knew I wouldn't achieve everything I had planned to stitch in 2020 - not only did I have a blip at the beginning of the year but there was just too much to fit into one year anyway! But I had an amazing time trying!

To go back over my goals for 2020:

* Finish 6 WIPs from 2015 - NO, only finished 2

* Finish 7 WIPs from 2019 - NO, finished 5 and made progress on a 6th

* Stitch 12 monarchs - YES!

* Stitch 12 Smalls SAL pieces - YES!

* Stitch 24 Advent Calendar pieces - YES (and an additional piece for the 25th)

* Start and half finish Magical Bookshelf - NO, postponed until 2021

* Start 17 projects for the Tokyo Olympics - YES! (as the Spring Into Summer New Start Binge)

* Stitch 10 hours per month on The Loneliness Of Autumn - YES! (so glad to have kept up)

* Christmas Day new start - YES! (although not the one I had planned!)

* Start 3 other projects? - YES! started 4 for Naughty November (but not the three I had in mind!)

* #24 hours of cross stitch SAL - YES and NO - gave up after July

* #24HOCS ABC Challenge - YES! but decided not to blog about it

* People's Choice SAL - YES! every month

* FFG SAL - YES! every month

* Smalls SAL - YES! every month

* Dark October - YES, although for only part of the month

At the end of 2020, I'm definitely a happy bunny. The only thing I really failed on was finishing some of the older WIPs, but considering the amount of new starts I had I actually achieved an awful lot more than I thought I would.

With all the new starts and finishes, my statistics now appear like this:

Number of WIPs brought forward from 2019 - 47
Plus number of new starts - 61
Less number of finishes - 45 (and 1 purged)

Number of WIPs to carry forward into 2021 - 62

Here are the projects which make up those statistics. Those in red have now been finished, those in black will be carried forward to 2021.

NB, the statistics look inflated because I counted the 25 Advent Calendar pieces individually. Well, they were all FFOd individually, so why shouldn't they all be counted as individual new starts!

LARGE WIPs
1) Mythical Dragon (True Colors)

2) QS Emerald Dragon (HAED)
3) SK The History Of Chocolate (HAED)
4) QS Come Softly (HAED)
5) Mini Bookworm Fairy (HAED)
6) Mini The Owrd Lord (HAED)

7) Mini One (HAED)

8) Dolphin Ruins (Rabnann - ebay)
9) OMG Tigger Is Out (UnconventionalX - etsy)
10) Dragon Eye (not yet blogged)
11) Magnolia (not yet blogged)
12) Tribal Dragon (Thread Geeks)
13) Hogwarts In A Bottle
14) Kings and Queens

'NORMAL' WIPs
15) Lilac Ballerina

16) Giraffe

17) Greedy Robin

18) Friends For Life
19) Feline Groovy
20) Loves Me ... Love Me Not
21) Daisy Hugs
22) Book Worm

23) Carefree Summer

24) A Tatty Friend

25) Dandelion Time

26) Flower Power

27) All Aboard The Walnut Shells

28) Christmas Wishes

29) Daisy Umbrella

30) Cuddly Feline Friends

31) Choc-A-Holic

32) I Love Butter

33) Good Morning Nelson

34) Winter Hugs

35) Lickle Snooze

36) A Windy Day
37) Little Green
38) Start Trek TOS
39) Clue
40) Evil Minions
41) Pandas
42) Snow Globe Tree
43) A Little Witch Of The Night
44) A Little Wizard Of The Night
45) Christmas Cat With Present
46) Haunted Library
47) Grow Your Own

NEW IN 2020
1) The Loneliness Of Autumn (Artecy)
2) Robin On Postbox
3) Advent Calendar Day 1 Wreath
4) Advent Calendar Day 9 Stocking
5) Advent Calendar Day 21 Baubles
6) Chirpy Bird
7) Advent Calendar Day 4 Reindeer
8) Advent Calendar Day 5 Candle
9) Advent Calendar Day 11 Gingerbread Man
10) Polar Bear Cub
11) Advent Calendar Day 6 Snowman
12) Advent Calendar Day 7 Ice Skate
13) Advent Calendar Day 16 Angel
14) In The Gloaming - PURGED
15) In The Gloaming
16) Snuffles
17) Chick Berry
18) Humming Along
19) Pretty Little Toronto

20) Duckling
21) Pooh 1 - Eating Hunny

22) Basket Case
23) Pooh 2 - Looking Into Empty Pot
24) Mouse Reading Book
25) Wonderful Fright

26) Cute Kakapo
27) Happiness Delivery Couple
28) Pooh 3 - With Head On Ground
29) Lady In Red
30) Pooh 4 - Standing With Pot On Head
31) Advent Calendar Day 2 Presents
32) Advent Calendar Day 10 Christmas Tree
33) Advent Calendar Day 22 Little Tree
34) Advent Calendar Day 23 Two Birds
35) Simply Wren
36) Tiny Toadstool Mouse
37) Pooh 5 - Looking At Smashed Pot
38) Mouse With Books
39) Advent Calendar Day 3 Heart
40) Gatekeepers
41) Advent Calendar Day 13 Dove
42) Advent Calendar Day 19 Garland
43) Advent Calendar Day 20 House
44) Snuffles In Aqua
45) Advent Calendar Day 8 Sleigh
46) Advent Calendar Day 15 Bunny
47) Advent Calendar Day 17 Houses
48) Advent Calendar Day 12 Church
49) Advent Calendar Day 14 Rocking Horse
50) Advent Calendar Day 18 Sheep
51) Advent Calendar Day 24 Santa
52) Advent Calendar Day 25 Happy Christmas!
53) Pink Patchwork Hootie
54) Spooky Hootie

55) Jingle All The Way

56) Let's Bloom

57) Let's Have Fun In The Sun

58) Let's Breeze Into Autumn
59) Let's Be Frozen

60) Let It Snow

61) Gold Stars Christmas Tree

So I ended the year with 16 more WIPs than I started with. Ooops!


As for my Box of Shame, I started the year with 25 pieces in it, added 45 more, fully finished off 47, so have therefore ended the year with 23 pieces.

Here's the list of the the projects which were in and added to my Box Of Shame. As above, those in red have now been FFOd, those in black will be carried forward.

BOX OF SHAME PIECES
1) January Calendar
2) February Calendar
3) March Calendar
4) April Calendar
5) May Calendar
6) June Calendar
7) July Calendar
8) August Calendar
9) September Calendar
10) October Calendar
11) November Calendar
12) December Calendar

13) Spotted Owls
14) Midnight Manor
15) Parrot On Parade

16) Christmas Cat Yawning
17) Green Halloween Banner (half FFOd)
18) Chandelier
19) Trick Or Treat
20) Bird Candelabra

21) Happy Christmas
22) Boo!

23) Candelabra
24) Ho Ho Ho
25) Hocus Pocus

NEW BOX OF SHAME PIECES IN 2020
1) Robin On Postbox
2) Advent Calendar Day 1 Wreath
3) Advent Calendar Day 9 Stocking
4) Advent Calendar Day 21 Baubles
5) A Little Wizard Of The Night
6) Chirpy Bird
7) Advent Calendar Day 4 Reindeer
8) Advent Calendar Day 5 Candle
9) Advent Calendar Day 11 Gingerbread Man
10) Polar Bear Cub
11) Christmas Cat With Present
12) Snow Globe Tree
13) Advent Calendar Day 6 Snowman
14) Advent Calendar Day 7 Ice Skate
15) Advent Calendar Day 16 Angel
16) Snuffles
17) Duckling
18) Cute Kakapo
19) Advent Calendar Day 22 Little Tree
20) Tiny Toadstool Mouse
21) Advent Calendar 2 Gifts
22) Advent Calendar 23 Birds
23) Advent Calendar 10 Christmas Tree
24) Snuffles In Aqua
25) Advent Calendar 3 Heart
26) Advent Calendar 13 Dove
27) Advent Calendar 19 Garland
28) Advent Calendar 20 House
29) Advent Calendar 8 Sleigh
30) Pink Patchwork Hootie
31) Advent Calendar 15 Bunny
32) Advent Calendar 17 Houses
33) Advent Calendar 12 Church
34) Advent Calendar 14 Rocking Horse
35) Advent Calendar 18 Sheep

36) Hogwarts In A Bottle

37) Witchy Hootie

38) A Little Witch Of The Night

39) Advent Calendar 24 Santa

40) Advent Calendar 25 Happy Christmas
41) Jingle All The Way

42) Daisy Umbrella

43) Let It Snow

44) Daisy Hugs

45) Gold Stars Christmas Tree


What is evident in both lists is that I'm much better at finishing and fully-finishing the more recent projects than the older ones. I guess the lure of the new projects is greater, especially since the older ones are tucked away in a different box. They'll make their way to the top and become red one day!

During the year I stitched for a total of 564 hours, averaging out at just over 1.5 hours per day. The hours that I lost during my blip at the beginning of the year were clawed back in November and December with some late night / early morning stitching. Thank you insomnia, perfect timing!!

As for my stitching plans for 2021... well, they're big, they're ambitious, and they will all be revealed tomorrow morning.

Well done if you reached this far!

Have a great New Year's Eve!

Rachel x

The Loneliness Of Autumn - 120 hours

Hi all!

So, this time last year, Leonore and I were about to start our SAL of The Loneliness of Autumn by Leonid Afremov, stitching one thread length per day (which just so happened to work out for me at about 10 hours each month) extreme cross country.

And here we both are, one year on and, believe it or not, almost a quarter of the way through!

During this latest 10 hour stint I finished the fourth colour. This is how it looked after three and four colours. This is now deceivingly 23.94% complete after putting in 15,943 stitches in 112 hours and 35 minutes:

Then it was back to the top to start the fourth colour, 814, a burgandy/red. I got through pages 1-4 on the top row and half of page 5 on the second.

As usual, here are the comparisons after 110 and 120 hours:

You can just about see how the the top quarter is looking a little denser.

Leonore had some excitement this month in that she finished her second colour and is now onto her third which, after dark blue and brown, is that first splash of autumnal colour. I'll add her link here once she posts.

For me, it's now more of 814 for another couple of months.

Take care,

Rachel x

Grow Your Own - 30 hours

Hello all!

This month, for the first time since March, I spent some time working on Hannah Dale's Grow Your Own by Bothy Threads. This was a birthday gift last year and was intended to be finished this year, Well, that's not going to happen so it is now on the top of my 2021 to-finish list. Promise!

Here's how it looked back in March:

And now after finishing the lettuce leaf, and adding the juicy carrots and some of the radish tops:

What a difference the splashes of colour make. I'm really excited to be stitching this one again, and can't wait to get stuck into more of those juicy vegetables!

Sometimes I give the characters names when I stitch them. For some reason the name Walter popped into my head for this one. No idea why, but it stuck. Hopefully it won't be too long before you see Walter and his vegetables again!

Take care,
Rachel x

Merry Christmas!

Good morning all, and...

Merry Christmas 2020 everyone!

Hopefully Santa has been good to you and brought you lots of stitchy goodies?

I treated myself to a couple of new things for Christmas and will be starting one of them tonight. It's seasonal but a bit different to my usual choice of patterns. I'm definitely looking forward to putting in the first few stitches later, especially as I'm going to add sparkle! ;)

So, Merry Christmas everyone or, for those who do not celebrate Christmas, I hope you enjoy the small end-of-year break.

Love
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - December 2020

Hello all!

I'm posting this a day early as I always have a special post on Christmas Day and like to post things separately.

It's the last Friday of the month so time for the Smalls SAL. Thank you, Mary, for continuing to host this fun little SAL. Pop over to Mary's Blog to see what other participants have been stitching in the way of Smalls this month.

Each month I stitch a small project specifically for this SAL which doesn't appear elsewhere on my blog.

For December I stitched the fourth of six Christmas Words Cards by Durene Jones:

Let It Snow by Durene Jones (etsy)

Stitch Count 45 wide by 45 high

Stitched on 16ct white lurex aida

Started - 6th December 2020

Finished - 11th December 2020

Total stitching time - 8 hours 50 minutes

Like last month's, I changed the blues and added beads instead of french knots. Another piece ready just in time for Christmas!

In this Smalls SAL I'm also re-showing other qualifying small projects I've stitched during the month. This month's it's just my monarch, Elizabeth I:

For the start of 2021 I have a set of five cuties planned. They tell a little story - if I get them in the right order. I can't wait to start the first one!

Take care,
Rachel x

A Monarch A Month - Elizabeth I

Hi all!

Time for another monarch, number 24, Elizabeth I.

Here she is, with her trademark red hair:

Elizabeth I from Kings and Queens by Bothy Threads

Started - 1st December 2020

Finished - 14th December 2020

Total stitching time - 6 hours 15 minutes

ELIZABETH I
Preceded by Mary I (half sister)

Succeeded by James I (first cousin twice removed)
Lived - 1533-1603

Reigned - 1558-1603
No marriage, no children

Elizabeth became Queen following the death of her half-sister, Mary. She was the third and final of Henry VIII's children to reign, and the last of the Tudor dynasty.

She was extremely well-educated, fluent in many languages, and a Protestant, meaning that once Queen England returned to Protestantism.

Elizabeth chose not to marry, recognising that a husband might undermine her power and status. Her good friend Robert Dudley might have won her hand had his first wife not died in 'suspicious circumstances'.

There were numerous plots against Elizabeth's life, the most famous being the Babington Plot which implicated her cousin Mary Queen of Scots, and resulted in Mary's execution.

Elizabeth was not really interested in foreign campaigns, so various ventures in Ireland, France and Russia more or less failed.

However, a rousing speech to her troops at Tilbury, plus good fortune with the weather, led to the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 (although what's rarely mentioned is the humiliating defeat suffered by the English fleet in Spain the following year!)

During the 1590s, Elizabeth's popularity began to fade; her new Privy Council failed to make decisions which benefitted the country, the economy was in decline, and, with the loss of a lot of her long-term allies, including her most trusted senior advisor William Cecil, Elizabeth's own authority was decreasing.

Elizabeth's health declined in 1602 and she died the following year. She is buried in Westminster Abbey alongside her half sister Mary I.

With no direct heir, and Elizabeth refusing to name one, secret negotiations had begun prior to her death to prepare James VI of Scotland to become James I of England.

So next month, the first of the Stuart monarchs, James I of England.

Take care,

Rachel x

Daisy Hugs - finished!

Hi all!

Yes, it's another finish, and the second this month from WIPs started way back in 2015. Go me!

After finishing Daisy Umbrella a couple of weeks ago my heart was set on finishing this one too. It's finish number 37/59 for Debbie's Super Duper Ultimate Crazy January February Challenge, and probably my last finish of 2020.

Here's how you last saw the hugging mice (well, the daisy at least!) back in March 2015:

And now finished:

Daisy Umbrella (my title) by Margaret Sherry

Stitch count - 45 wide by 62 high

Stitched on 16ct antique white aida

Started - 6th January 2015

Finished - 15th December 2020

Total stitching time - 23 hours 45 minutes

Due to the number of fractionals, and thread splitting for the backstitching, I think this will probably be the last time I stitch a Margaret Sherry on aida; I say 'probably' because I know I've started two others on aida and will have to decide (when I eventually get to them) whether to carry on or restart hem on evenweave. Luckily they're both small, and I haven't stitched that much, so abandoning/restarting them won't be too wasteful.

Take care,

Rachel x

Link-up For Fully Finished Gallery SAL - December 2020

Hello all!

It's the 10th of the month so time for another Fully Finished Gallery SAL, the place to show your FFOing achievements since your last link-up.

The link-up for this SAL opens on the 10th of each month and stays open for 10 days so, even if you have nothing FFOd today, or tomorrow, or the day after that, you still have plenty of time to join in.

So this is the last FFG SAL of the year. A couple of months ago I asked if it would be possible to reach 366 finishes this year. All we need this month is 18 and we will have done it. I think it's a definitely-achievable target!

Let's start off with four from me:

First up is the final part of the Advent Calendar. The actual Advent Calendar had only 24 parts, but there were 25 buttons in the pack so I couldn't not use the final one. I designed this myself, but it didn't exactly take a lot of brain-power to stitch a few letters! And seeing as it was the special one it was stitched and FFO'd a bit fancier than the rest:

Here they all are together:

And, yes, I did remember to put them up for the 1st of December! The days are random, although the colours are not (terrible photo as taken by night light):

Next up is my Pink Patchwork Hootie from September's Smalls SAL. He's been FFOd in my usual way with coordinating fabric and barley twist cord:

Third is my most recent finish, Daisy Umbrella. I always knew this was going to be a simple (sickly cute) finish, and had the perfect pink and blue card to hand. I added a few gems for a bit of bling and a ribbon bow to finish:

And finally, la piece de resistance... it's Hogwarts In A Bottle! I spent many days on the framing website trying different combinations of thick frames, thin frames, wooden frames, coloured frames, one mount and two mounts, but this is the frame which immediately caught my eye and stayed at the top of my list. It's quite chunky, in both width and depth, but just seemed right, especially with the gold highlights which pick out the castle colours. Getting the fabric completely straight and taut was a bit of a fiddle, but it's done now and the last big thing I'll have to frame for a while. And no, I can assure you the bottle is not wonky, it's just an optical illusion which makes the bottle seem to tilt to the right. Weird!

And now, it's over to you to show what you have finished.

Please link-up using the URL of your FFG SAL post and not the home page of your blog, adding a thumbnail of a finish and either your name or your blog name as the caption. The link-up will remain open for 10 days, closing at 6am UK time on 20th December.

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And please don't forget to follow other links and see what fellow fully-finishers have been up to; you never know, other projects may give you an idea for your next finish!

Next month's post will go live on 10th January at 6am UK time. It will also contain a round up of 2020 with a some data and graphs, for those lovers of statistics. Hope to see you there!

Take care,
Rachel x

Daisy Umbrella - finished!

Hi all!

Back in 2015 I started 59 projects during the first 59 days of the year in what was named Debbie's Super Duper Ultimate Crazy January February Challenge.

Up to now I've finished 35 of those projects - 17 in 2015, 9 in 2017 and 9 in 2018.

This year's to-finish list contained a further six but, mainly due to a lot of new-startitus, my good intentions haven't quite gone to plan - at almost the end of the year I've only just finished the first one!

Here's how I last left it:

And now, as finish number 36 of 59:

Daisy Umbrella (my title) by Margaret Sherry

Stitch count - 45 wide by 62 high

Stitched on 16ct white aida

Started - 21st January 2015

Finished - 4th December 2020

Total stitching time - 22 hours 40 minutes

I remember that this was one of my first Margaret Sherry designs, and I regretted using aida because of the fractionals. But it wasn't too bad in the end. The backstitching - all three hours of it - was probably more frustrating as it involved lots of thread splitting. But, again, it wasn't impossible, and well worth it for the effect.

The centre of the daisy was charted for french knots but I used beads because I don't like doing french knots!

I know exactly how this will be FFOd, so it will hopefully be ready for the 10th.

Wonder how long it will be before I finish another from this ages-ago Challenge?!

Take care,

Rachel x

People's Choice SAL - Stitching Disasters

Hello all!

It's the first Saturday of the month so time for the People's Choice SAL run by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching. Continued thanks to Jo for hosting this unique SAL which has a different theme each month.

This month's theme is Stitching Disasters.

I'm hoping, in the nicest sense, that this topic is relatively, if not completely, empty for everyone.

For me, I don't know if it's down to luck or care, but I can honestly say I've never had any stitching disasters.

I've never spilt anything, cut anything, damaged anything or had colours run when washing anything. All of my stitching has, thankfully, been very straight forward and non-dramatic.

Yes, I've had to restart a handful of projects after a few hours because I've chosen the wrong fabric or thread, but I wouldn't call them disasters.

I do admit to recently making a mistake cutting a project I'm FFOing, but it's retrievable, so even though it won't be FFOd quite how I wanted it, it's still not a disaster.

All in all, fortune has definitely been on my side for over 25 years.

But so as not to have a completely empty post, here's a disaster I would like to stitch, although it's currently about 1,759th on my to-stitch list! Along with many people I have a morbid fascination with Titanic, and this is my favourite chart, a now out-of-print kit by Dimensions called The Night To Remember:

And that's it!

Next month's theme is Designer Of The Year. This could be approached from quite a few angles, so I'll have to decide which one.

Take care,
Rachel x

Naughty November New Start #4 - Let's Be Frozen

Good morning!

I can't believe it's already the last week of Naughty November; four starts is obviously shorter than the 17 I tackled earlier this year, but it's still over with so quickly!

For the final weekend I started the fourth Ursula Michael's seasonal word 'snow' globes:

This is the one for which I had to swap out the seasonal fabric, as Shades Of Winter was more of a greeny-grey and did not coordinate with the blues at all. At least I had a suitable substitute.

 Let's Be Frozen by Imaginating

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Winter Sky by sewitall.com

Stitching time to date - 5 hours 40 minutes

So far I've blinged it up by stitching everything in Etoile; I say so far because the lightest of the three colours doesn't have an Etoile comparison and I'm undecided what to do. I've tried a bit around the outside in white Etoile (to the left of the word flurries) but it looks a bit grey and doesn't show up very well On the other hand, it also represents the dullness of a cloudy winter's day.

Alternatives are to use normal DMC, choose the closest Etoile shade (which is a bit too turquois-y) or use white beads. I'll try all four options when I get to the big snowflake and decide then

In the meantime, here's the linky-thingy if you want to link-up. You know how to do it by now - URL. name. thumbnail!

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Considering I have a fairly small readership, many thanks go (so far) to Barbara, Cathy, Faith, Jo, Katie, Leonore and, of course, my fellow multi-starter-in-arms, Tiff for joining in. I hope you have all enjoyed your new starts as much as I have. ;)

So that's the end of Naughty November, with four more WIPs added to my pile. I do have plans in the coming months to finish some of them but, you know me, I yield to new starts far too quickly and easily! I'm very proud of those of you who chose small designs and/or finished them too. Maybe I should focus more on that next time?

Talking of which... anyone up for a 'next time'? I'm thinking Mischievous March perhaps??? It's nestled nicely between New Year and Maynia, and a good chance to do some Easter stitching. Unsurprisingly, I already have four projects in mind.....!

Take care,

Rachel x

Smalls SAL - November 2020

Hello all!

It's the last Friday of the month so time for the Smalls SAL. Thank you, Mary, for continuing to host this fun little SAL. Pop over to Mary's Blog to see what other participants have been stitching in the way of Smalls this month.

Each month I stitch a small project specifically for this SAL which doesn't appear elsewhere on my blog.

For November I succumbed to the Christmas spirit and stitched the third in a set of six Christmas Words Cards by Durene Jones. Two were stitched last year, two are planned for this year, and the final two will be Smalls next year.

Here's this month's card then:

Jingle All The Way by Durene Jones (etsy)

Stitch Count 45 wide by 45 high

Stitched on 16ct white lurex aida

Started - 4th November 2020

Finished - 16th November 2020

Total stitching time - 9 hours 10 minutes

I changed the blues as I wanted something a bit darker than the turquoises charted. I may have gone a bit too dark, but I'm still very happy with it.

In this Smalls SAL I'm also re-showing other qualifying small projects I've stitched during the month. This month's it's just my monarch, Mary I:

So next month, I'll retain the Christmas spirit and stitch another Christmas card.

Take care,
Rachel x

The Loneliness Of Autumn - 110 hours

Hi all!

Another month, another 10 hours of progress on The Loneliness of Autumn by Leonid Afremov, a big(ish) project I'm SALing with Leonore.

Last month I'd completed the first six pages of red, this month I completed pages 7 through to almost the end of 14.

Here are the 100 and 110 hour comparisons:

I'm loving how that lile splash of colour is making so much difference.

Next month I should easily finish the last two pages of red which means I will be able to make a start on my fourth colour, and that will be the red/burgandy 814.

Leonore is still beavering away through her second colour but is still roughly the same distance into the project as me. Her link for November will appear here soon.

Take care,

Rachel x

Naughty November New Start #3 - Let's Breeze Into Autumn

Good morning!

Welcome to the third week of Naughty November.

If you're taking part I hope you're enjoying your new starts so far; if you're just reading I hope you're enjoying seeing lots of new start loveliness.

For weekend number three I started the third of Ursula Michael's seasonal word 'snow' globes:

And again, I found the perfect matching fabric:

Let's Breeze Into Autumn by Imaginating

Stitched on 16ct Shades Of Autumn by sewitall.com

Stitching time to date - 5 hours

The only Etoile at the moment is in the three hearts, but there will be a lot more as I work my way down.

And now for your links. You know how to do it by now. Please add your page URL, your name, and thumbnail. I look forward to seeing them all!

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Last week's link will remain open until Thursday if you have yet to join, or would like to see the entries.

Seeing as I've started Spring, Summer and Autumn so far, I bet you can't guess what my final Naughty November new start next week will be! There are only three colours in it, and they all have matching Etoile, so there is a possibly it might all be stitched in bling; how cool would that be?

Take care,

Rachel x

A Monarch A Month - Mary I

Hi all!

Back to one monarch this month, and it's number 23, Mary I.

Here she is, looking resplendent as she (presumably) celebrates the burning of Protestants:

Mary I from Kings and Queens by Bothy Threads

Started - 9th November 2020

Finished - 13 November 2020

Total stitching time - 8 hours 5 minutes

MARY I
Preceded by Lady Jane Grey (first cousin once removed)

Succeeded by Elizabeth I (half sister)
Lived - 1516-1558
Reigned - 1553-1558
Married - Philip II of Spain in 1554

No children

Mary was the eldest of Henry VIII's three children, her mother being Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

She became Queen following the death of her half brother, Edward VI, and the failure of Lady Jane Grey to secure the throne.

Mary did not have an easy life. Henry's obsession with both marrying Anne and fathering a son resulted in Mary being proclaimed illegitimate, stripped of wealth, barred from the line of succession, and forbidden from seeing her mother.

Her properties and place of succession were later restored, but Mary's refusal to give up Catholicism and recognise Henry, and later Edward, as Supreme Head of the Church of England remained contentious issues.

Soon after Edward's death, Mary proclaimed herself Queen. Supporting her were Catholics, members of the Council who had previously supported Jane, and those who regarded her as Edward's true heir, irrespective of faith.

Mary's reign focused on reversing her father's and brother's Protestant reforms. Catholic prisoners were freed, Catholicism restored, and almost 300 Protestants executed or burned, leading to her later being nicknamed 'Bloody Mary'.

In 1554 Mary married Philip of Spain in a political, and not particularly popular nor successful, marriage. Mary's first full-term and second shorter pregnancies were both phantom, after which Philip returned to Spain, and Mary fell into a spiral of declining health and depression.

Aside from the Catholic/Protestant struggle, Mary's reign was relatively strong; there was little conflict and she left behind a fairly secure country.

Mary died in 1558, knowing that her half sister and heir, Elizabeth, would return the country to Protestantism. She is buried in Westminster Abbey.

So next month, Elizabeth I, the third and final of Henry VIII's children to become monarch.

But before then, Mary I marks the completion of a row, so here's the full piece do date after 107 hours and 45 minutes of stitching:

That's three rows down and three to go, or more or less the half way mark. My plans to add a border will add on a few more months of stitching but it is still on course to be finished at the end of 2022.

Take care,

Rachel x

Naughty November New Start #2 - Let's Have Fun In The Sun

Good morning!

Whether you are linking up or not, welcome back to this Naughty November mini new start binge, a bit of naughty fun as we head towards the end of the year.

For weekend number two I started the second of Ursula Michael's seasonal word 'snow' globes.

I think you'll agree, it's another perfectly-matched fabric:

Let's Have Fun In The Sun by Imaginating

Stitched on 16ct Shades Of Summer by sewitall.com

Stitching time to date - 5 hours 45 minutes

Last week I forgot to mention that I will be adding some bling, stitching the motifs and bolder letters using one strand of DMC and one strand of Etoile.

Of course not all of the colours have matching Etoile, but rather than changing the colours to match the available Etoile, I am using the closest Etoile to the colour listed. This means some of the stitching will have a tweed effect, as can be seen in the starfish and the bottom half of 'hello'. I rather quite like the extra dimension it adds.

But enough about my new start, I want to see yours too, so here's this week's link for you to add your page, name, and thumbnail. I look forward to seeing them all!

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Last week's link will remain open until Thursday if you have yet to join, or would like to see the entries.

See you next Monday for start number three. :)

Take care,

Rachel x

Link-up for Fully Finished Gallery SAL - November 2020

Hello all!

It's the 10th of the month so time for another Fully Finished Gallery SAL, the place to show your FFOing achievements since your last link-up.

The link-up for this SAL opens on the 10th of each month and stays open for 10 days so, even if you have nothing FFOd today, or tomorrow, or the day after that, you still have plenty of time to join in.

This month I have only one small FFO to show. Considering how many I had planned and wanted to achieve for this SAL I failed miserably, but one FFO is still one FFO and better than none. Here come the excuses... basically I spent too much time stitching (which is not necessarily a bad thing) plus had slightly busier-than-usual days so not many daylight hours in which to frame Hogwarts (which definitely needs to be done in natural light).

So here's my small FFO - Advent Calendar day 24:

Hopefully next month will be a bit more populated!

And now, it's over to you to show what you have finished.

Please link-up using the URL of your FFG SAL post and not the home page of your blog, adding a thumbnail of a finish and either your name or your blog name as the caption. The link-up will remain open for 10 days, closing at 6am UK time on 20th November.

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And please don't forget to follow other links and see what fellow fully-finishers have been up to; you never know, other projects may give you an idea for your next finish!

Next month's post - the last for 2020! - will go live on 10th December at 6am UK time. And I'm going to add a bit of pressure... up to the end of October, a fantastic 300 FFOs had been submitted to this SAL this year. Do you think we can continue to average one per day and make it 365 FFOs by the end of the year?

Take care,
Rachel x

Naughty November New Start #1 - Let's Bloom

Good morning!

As if 17 new starts between April-July wasn't enough, Tiff and I decided that another new start binge was called for before the end of the year. We agreed on four new starts during the four weekends of November, leaving enough time to recover from our previous binge and slotting in nicely between Dark October and Christmas.

All credit to Tiff for affectionately naming this Naughty November.  :)

I knew straight away which four charts I wanted to stitch, especially having found the 'perfect' fabrics for them (well, for three of them as the fourth wasn't quite right).

So here's the first one. This is a spring design called Let's Bloom by Imaginating and is one of Ursula Michael's many designs in her 'Words' collection.

I was lucky enough to find extra stitching time on Saturday, so here's my fantastic amount of stitching over the weekend:

Let's Bloom by Imaginating

Stitched on 16ct Shades Of Spring by sewitall.com

Stitching time to date - 6 hours

This is also a big hint as to what's coming for each of the remaining weekends in November.

A few of you have said you will join in, so I'm looking forward to seeing your starts, especially if you've used your time wisely to stitch Christmas ornies.

Here's the linky-widget-thingy. Please add your name, a thumbnail, and the URL of your actual post, not your blog. The link will remain open for ten days. There's no pressure to link-up if you don't want to, but it would be lovely to see lots of gorgeous new starts all together. 

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for any enabling!

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See you next week for start number two!

Take care

Rachel x

People's Choice SAL - Magic

Hello all!

It's the first Saturday of the month so time for the People's Choice SAL run by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching. Continued thanks to Jo for hosting this unique SAL which has a different theme each month.

This month's theme is Magic.

So last month we had Wizards, and this month it's Magic. I suppose I should be concentrating more on witches and spells and Halloween-y type magic designs with bottles of potion and bubbling cauldrons, but I deliberately saved a certain young wizard and his magical school for this post. In other words, be prepared to be inundated with Harry Potter!

First up, what else to show but my very recently finished Hogwarts In A Bottle. If there's one magical place in the UK, it's this:

Hogwarts In A Bottle (now called School Of Magic In The Bottle)

by CutePatternsByMaria (etsy)

Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry is made up of four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. These house crests were stitched between 2015 and 2018 and are still, in my opinion, some of the best crest designs available.

The Hogwarts House Crests by TheWorldInStitches (etsy)

(no longer in the shop)

I haven't actually stitched much else to do with Harry Potter and his magic, but I have got some stuff in my stash...

These snow globes, of some of the magical places in the Harry Potter world, have recently found their way into my stash. Four are on next year's to-stitch list, the others will have to wait. I'm not sure if I will stitch the stands or not, but don't have to make that decision quite yet.

Magical Snow Globes by MIYAstitch (etsy)

This Magical Bookshelf will probably be started next year, having been postponed this year due to lack of time. If you're familiar with Harry Potter you will be able to make out all the items, otherwise they'll just look like things you might see in other magical-themed designs.

Magical Bookshelf by LoLaLottaShop (etsy)

(not in shop at time of writing so can't give a direct link)

These shelves have been a recent find too. One day I'll grow out of cute things, but not yet! I don't know if I'd stitch them individually or as a set of shelves but then, as I haven't bought them (yet), it's of no significance!

Magic Shelves by CrossStitchAlexaKiss (etsy)

And finally, a non Harry Potter magical design.  If time was no issue this would be in my stash but, alas, something has to give :(

Let's be Magical by Ursula Michael

And I think that's enough for this theme. Next month's theme is Stitching Disasters - I do hope, with all good intentions, this is will be one of the least populated months!

Take care,
Rachel x