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

JBW Advent Calendar - Days 24 and 25 (and complete calendar) finished!

Hi all!

This year I was hoping to stitch all of the 24 designs which make up JBW Designs' Advent Calendar.

And I have! I've now finished the final date, number 24, Santa, not that it's particularly clear being white on white...

Started - 14th August 2020

Finished - 2nd November 2020

Total stitching time - 2 hours 15 minutes

... along with an additional simple one for Christmas Day, because there were 25 buttons in the pack and I couldn't leave the last one out!

Started - 14th August 2020

Finished - 3rd November 2020

Total stitching time - 2 hours 35 minutes

Each one is supposed to have a special charm, but since they were very specific, and therefore expensive, I bought a variety of teeny ones and added one of them to each day instead. I also added beads to some of them (when I remembered!) for an additional bit of bling.

Here they all are together:

With hindsight, I wish I'd paid more attention to the thread colours and actually looked at them before I started stitching. I would have definitely cut out some of the colours and worked with a much smaller palette, but it's all done and too late now; in fact it was too late after I'd stitched the first half dozen or so!

Once these final two have been FFOd they'll all be ready for hanging on 1st December - yay!

Take care,

Rachel x