The Loneliness Of Autumn - 150 hours

Hi all!

Here is March's progress on The Loneliness Of Autumn by Leonid Afremov as charted by Artecy on crosstitch.com which I am SALing with Leonore extreme cross country one colour at a time.

This month it was all 742 for lots of glow around the lights:

At least it's easy to see the difference this month!

In April I will finish 742 and move on to the next colour, 3371 dark brown, a rude interruption to a series of lovely bright orangey-yellows!

Take care,

Rachel x

Mischievous March New Start #4 - Platform 9 3/4 In A Bottle

Hello again!

So it's already the final week of the Mischievous March mini new start binge. Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?!

My final Harry Potter themed bottle this week is the sign for Platform 9 3/4, the railway line behind a magical brick wall at King's Cross Station which takes the young witches and wizards to their school aboard the Hogwarts Express. Here's how much I stitched:

Platform 9 3/4 In A Bottle by MagicStitchStudio (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Sketch Grey aida by sewitall.com

Stitch count 44 wide by 54 high

Started - 27th March 2021

Stitching time to date - 5 hours 25 minutes

And this is how it will eventually look:

It's weird but, as with In The Gloaming, I couldn't wait to stitch the brickwork!

If you've joined in with Mischievous March this week, here's the usual linky widget thingy waiting for your post URL, your name and a thumbnail:

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As usual I look forward to seeing what you've started, and perhaps even finished. Also, a big thank you for joining me!

If you've enjoyed Mischievous March and are up for another SAL or two, my next ones will be Christmas in July and the Tokyo Olympic Challenge, 23rd July to 8th August, so keep your eye out for more information about those nearer the time.

I will now be working on all four of the Mischievous March starts until they become finishes. I'm not sure I'll meet my end-of-April target date, but I'll enjoy trying. Watch this space!

Take care,

Rachel x

Smalls SAL - March 2021

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.

This month it's the third of Durene Jones' cute dogs:

In The Doghouse by Durene Jones (freebie)

Stitch Count 38 wide by 31 high

Stitched on 16ct Golden over-dyed aida by sewitall.com

Started - 1st March 2021

Finished - 4th March 2021

Total stitching time - 7 hours 5 minutes

Isn't he just absolutely adorable (again)?! I'd definitely take this scruffy fluffy dog for a walk!

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

See you next month for cute doggie number four!

Take care,
Rachel x

Mischievous March New Start #3 - Hedwig In A Bottle

Hello again!

It's week number three of Mischievous March already and we seem to be doing well, with more lovely starts last week and a few more finishes.

I'm continuing with my Harry Potter themed bottles, this week starting the one containing Harry's owl, Hedwig. Don't worry, the cork may be in the bottle but she's a magical owl so can still breathe!

Here's how far I got over the weekend:

Hedwig In A Bottle by MagicStitchStudio (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Sketch Grey aida by sewitall.com

Stitch count 44 wide by 54 high

Started - 20th March 2021

Stitching time to date - 5 hours 20 minutes

I know you can't see her very well on the fabric, but once the backstitching is done she'll 'magically' appear *groan* and look like this:

If you are participating in Mischievous March and wish to link up with your post, name and a thumbnail, here's the linky widget thingy which will, as usual, stay open for ten days:

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I look forward to seeing what you've started and perhaps even finished!

It's difficult to believe next weekend will be the last one. Oh well, see you there.

Take care,

Rachel x

A Monarch A Month - Charles II

Hi all!

Another month, another monarch. This month it's number 27, Charles II, enjoying a spot of downtime with a game of Real Tennis in, no doubt, the Real Tennis Courts he had refurbished at Hampton Court Palace:

Charles II from Kings and Queens by Bothy Threads

Started - 15th March 2021

Finished - 18th March 2021

Total stitching time - 5 hours 35 minutes

CHARLES II
Preceded by Charles I (father)

Succeeded by James II (brother)
Lived - 1630-1685

Reigned - 1660-1685
Married - Catherine of Braganza

Children - no surviving legitimate children but at least 12 illegitimate by 7 mistresses!

Charles II became King following the Restoration Of The Monarchy in 1660, 11 years after his father's execution.

With the exception of a short time in Scotland - where he famously hid in an oak tree to escape capture by Oliver Cromwell's army - Charles spent most of that time moving between France, Spain and the Netherlands.

In the 1660 Declaration Of Breda, Charles agreed to accept the crown, be lenient (except in the most extreme cases), tolerant and, unlike his father, rule alongside parliament.

He was a flamboyant and popular monarch - nicknamed The Merry Monarch - and reigned with relative stability, including through the 1665 Plague and 1666 Great Fire Of London.

He was fond of the arts, founding the Royal Observatory, the Royal Society and the Royal Hospital Chelsea for retired soldiers. The King Charles Spaniel was also named after him.

In his later years Charles became more tolerant of Catholicism but less lenient in general, authorising numerous executions, imprisonments and seizing of estates, often with dubious evidence.

The prospect of Charles' Catholic brother, James, succeeding to the throne resulted in the introduction of The Exclusion Bill (banning James from succeeding) and, as Parliament became divided, the formation of the first two 'political' parties - the anti-James Whigs and the pro-James Tories.

Charles then reneged on the Declaration of Breda by dissolving Parliament four times between 1679-1681 and ruling as an absolute monarch for his last four years.

He died in 1685, possibly from 'experimenting' with mercury, and, it is rumoured after becoming Catholic on his deathbed, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

So next month, the to-ing and fro-ing of religion and royalty continues with the succession of Catholic James II.

Take care,

Rachel x

Mischievous March New Start #2 - Golden Snitch In A Bottle

Hi all!

And welcome back to Mischievous March!

It was good to see some lovely new starts last week, and a couple of finishes in there too; well done you!

For week number two I have another Harry Potter themed bottle, but this week thought I would start with the contents rather than the cork, so here are the snitch and the label:

Golden Snitch In A Bottle by MagicStitchStudio (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Sketch Grey aida by sewitall.com

Stitch count 45 wide by 54 high

Started - 13th March 2021

Stitching time to date - 4 hours 20 minutes

And how it will look when finished:

If you have joined in and want to link up, here's the linky-widget thingy. Please add the URL of your blog post, your name and a thumbnail. The link will stay open for 10 days.

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So that's two down, two to go. See you next Monday with start number three.

Take care,

Rachel x

Link-up For Fully Finished Gallery - March 2021

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 you can join in whenever you're ready.

I only have one FFO this month which is Christmas Cat With Present. He is one of a set of four but as I am not intending to stitch the others in the foreseeable future thought it best to FFO him rather than make him wait.

I had the perfect fabric but didn't want it hidden on the back so made a little pillow with the present fabric on top, coordinating marbled fabric on the back and barley twist cord around the outside. He's attached on top and four coordinating velvet brads trim the corners. By complete fluke the stitched piece almost has a pink present in each corner; I couldn't have planned it that more purr-fectly if I'd tried!

Now it's your turn.

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 March.

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And please don't forget to follow other links and see what fellow fully-finishers have been up to; an encouraging comment can go a long way.

Next month's FFG SAL post will go live on 10th April at 6am UK time. Hope to see you there!

* * * * * * * * * *

And now for the winner of my blogoversary competition.

I asked how many hours you thought it had taken me to stitch the 297 finishes I have had over the course of my stitching life.

Thank you to everyone who took part. Guesses varied from 2,865 to 8,924 hours. In ascending order:

Tiff - 2,865

Leonore - 5,742

Cathy - 5,937

Faith - 5,961

Jo - 6,935

BeingBored89 - 6,856

Linda - 6,912

Rita - 7,834

Katie - 8,924

Before looking up the answer I had a guess myself of 22 hours per piece = 6,534. The actual answer is much lower - a mere 4,803 hours. I thought this seemed a bit low, but it can be explained by 169 of those projects taking less than 10 hours each. I didn't think I'd stitched that many smalls!

So... the closest answer was 5,742 from Leonore. Congratulations!

If you either leave a comment or email me separately we'll start a conversation as to your prize. :)

Commiserations to everyone else and better luck next year when I think of another question to ask!

Take care,
Rachel x

Mischievous March New Start #1 - Deathly Hallows In A Bottle

Good morning all!

And welcome to Mischievous March!

Back in November Tiff (my startner in crime!) and I introduced Naughty November, a cheeky mini new start binge (so-called after having already having had a four-month-long new start binge earlier in the year) with the idea of starting one new project each weekend (or whenever best suits) during the month.

A number of you joined in and wondered if it would run again this year. Well, the answer is yes, along with this newly-introduced Mischievous March because, let's face it, one mini new start binge during the year is just not enough!

I must admit I've been really looking forward to getting my teeth into some new projects so, taking on board the main lesson learned from November i.e. keep the starts small, here's my first contribution to Mischievous March:

Deathly Hallows In A Bottle by MagicStitchStudio (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Sketch Grey aida by sewitall.com

Stitch count 47 wide by 54 high

Started - 6th March 2021

Stitching time to date - 3 hours 25 minutes

And how it will look when finished:

This is from a collection of (thus far) 16 Harry Potter themed mini bottles, four of which I will be starting in March. I estimate them to take about 10-12 hours each so, if all goes to plan, they shouldn't be WIPs for too long.

Now I want to see your new starts!

If you have joined in and want to link up, here's the linky-widget thingy. Please add the URL of your blog post, your name and a thumbnail. The link will stay open for 10 days.

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I can't tell you how excited I am to see what you have chosen to start. A number of conversations have dropped snippets and hints so now all can start to be revealed! From the more 'sensible' among you, maybe there will be some finishes too?

And remember, the intention is for all my SALs to be stress-free, so if you only want one or two new starts that's fine. Just pop in and join up whenever you want.

I don't know about you, but I'm already looking forward to start number two!

Take care,

Rachel x

PS Don't forget to enter my blogoversary giveaway (two posts ago) if you want to be in with a chance a winning a little something of your choice.

People's Choice SAL - Spring

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 Spring.

Spring makes me think of warmer weather, longer days, new life - flowers, leaves, birds - and generally pastel shades.

I don't deliberately seek out spring designs but have stitched a few. Spring Bird and Lizzie Kate's Spring Alphabet have both been shown recently, so I won't show those again, but I will show:

Spring from The Four Seasons by Maria Diaz (love the cherry blossom):

A Very Merry Spring by JBW Designs:

And Morning Song by Dawna Barton, which could have been included with last month's Birds theme but which I saved it for this month because of the eggs and the overall impression of new life. This was my second ever cross stitch and, in my naivety of not realising how big the finished piece would be, stitched on 11ct! I would love to stitch this again at some point, but probably on 16ct or 18ct! (excuse the poor photo and the slipped mounts but it's currently in storage and would have taken an effort to retrieve and re-photo).

As for WIPs, the only spring-related WIP I have is Let's Bloom by Ursula Michael. This, along with the other three accompanying seasons, was started for Naughty November last year:

And a long way down my to-stitch list, even though I love them to bits are two Lavender and Lace designs, Angel of Spring and Celtic Spring. I have all four seasons in both designs but have so far only stitched Angel Of Autumn. I've also stitched Celtic Christmas, but when it comes to stitching the Celtic seasons, there are lots of colour conversions available which better represent the colours of the seasons, so I'll probably do that (on that illusive 'one day'!)

And that's it from me this month.

Next month's theme is Blue; wonder what I'll come up with for that?

Take care,

Rachel x

7th Blogoversary Giveaway

Good morning all!

It's 9:22am on the 3rd March 2021 and I'm singing 'Happy Seventh Blogoversary to me'!!

Can you believe it's been a year since I posted my last anniversary giveaway? How this year has flown, and not necessarily for the right reasons.

And it doesn't seem possible that I started this blog SEVEN YEARS AGO! Wow! I wonder if I thought back then I'd still be going strong seven years down the line? No reason to quit though. Many bloggers have dropped off the radar but, along with many of you, I'm not going anywhere!

Anyway, it's time for my annual blogoversary giveaway. Up for grabs, as usual, is a voucher for the store of your choice to the value of £10 (about US$13), or a RAK or suchlike for a similar value. I'm open to suggestions from the winner.

All you have to do is:
1) be a follower of my blog via the followers thingy on the left
2) leave a comment on this post with an answer to the following question in it...

As at the end of February 2021 I have finished 297 cross stitch projects. How many hours do you think it has taken me to stitch them all?

It's that easy!

Only one entry per person will be accepted.

The only hints I will give you is that all four digits are different and the second digit is the highest.

The winner will be the one who guesses closest to the actual number (whether that be higher or lower). In the event of a tie I will offer the appropriate number of prizes.

Entries will close at 5am GMT on 10th March 2021, so you have just under a week to leave a comment. The answer and winner(s) will be announced at the end of the 10th March FFG SAL link-up post, so keep an eye out for that - it's up to you to contact me, otherwise you will lose out! I'll get the prize(s) out once confirmation emails have been exchanged.

Good luck guessing!
Rachel x

Winnie The Pooh And Hunny Pot 1 and 2 - finished!

Hello again!

I'm definitely on a roll with finishes so far this year, having not one but two to show you.

First up is Winnie The Pooh 1, which was start number five and is finish number five from last year's Spring Into Summer New Start Binge.

I'd only stitched this much before picking him up again:

Then finished the stitching:

Then added the backstitching:

Winnie The Pooh And Hunny Pot 1 by Designer Stitches

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Summer Sky over-dyed aida by sewitall

Stitch Count 41 wide by 59 high

Started - 2nd May 2020

Finished - 27th February 2021

Total stitching time - 13 hours 10 minutes

And then we have Winnie The Pooh 2 which was start number seven and is finish number six from last year's Spring Into Summer New Start Binge:

He looked like this when I returned to him:

And now finished (annoyingly I didn't take a photo before the backstitching):

Winnie The Pooh And Hunny Pot 2 by Designer Stitches

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Summer Sky over-dyed aida by sewitall

Stitch Count 47 wide by 85 high

Started - 16th May 2020

Finished - 27th February 2021

Total stitching time - 15 hours

I didn't notice when I was stitching, but when I saw the photos together it's obvious that there isn't a dark background behind the word 'hunny' in the second piece. I wondered if it was me getting carried away with stitching the light purple but, no, there is no darker label.

I checked the other three in the set and they all have the darker label, so this was obviously an oversight on the part of the designer. :(

I'm not sure whether to frog and re-stitch it or put up with the discrepancy - it will depend on how much it annoys me!

On a more positive note, I know exactly how these will be FFOd but, like the cute little dogs I'm stitching for the Smalls SAL, won't be able to do so until all five have been completed (unless I change my mind before then!) I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into that project later in the year.

Take care,

Rachel x