Merry Christmas - Welcome To Christmas In July!

Hi all!

Goodness me, it's hard to believe we're halfway through the year already! So with that thought, how about trying something new?

Over the last few years I have noticed Christmas in July becoming more of a 'thing' so I thought, why not join the bandwagon?

My idea is to run a Christmas in July SAL, with the ulterior motive of encouraging those last-minute stitchers among you to start your Christmas gifts early and leave plenty of time to finish them before The Big Day. Well, that's the theory anyway!

So how about getting started on something Christmasy?

Below is the usual linky-widget thingy. Please join in as many times as you wish with new starts and/or progress and/or finishes. The link will remain open until 10th August, after which I'll do a round-up post which, I hope, will feature lots of Christmas goodies!

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Due to circumstances, my own plans have had to change, but since my Smalls SAL piece is Christmas-themed I will at least have one thing to show!

I really look forward to seeing some gorgeous Christmas projects being stitched this month... good luck and ho ho ho!!

Take care,

Rachel x

Smalls SAL - June 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.

In June I managed to stitch another of the Little Bird collection by Rachel James:

Galah (Little Aussie Parrot) by FuzzyFoxDesigns (etsy)

Stitch Count 37 wide by 27 high

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

Started - 1st June 2021

Finished - 17th June 2021

Total stitching time - 4 hours 20 minutes

This poor little bird might have taken only 4 hours 20 minutes to stitch, but that was spread over a total of 17 days! As you may have guessed, stitching really isn't happening at the moment.  :(

Next month will be something for Christmas In July.

Take care,
Rachel x

Link-up For Fully Finished Gallery SAL - June 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 to show again this month, the one I'd hoped to FFO, which is Hedwig In A Bottle. She's been finished to match last month's Harry potter themed bottle, with co-ordinating fabric and barley twist cord:

I've now got quite a few finishes piling up in my Box Of Shame so maybe I'll be more productive next month?

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 June.

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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 July at 6am UK time. Hope to see you there!

Take care,

Rachel x

People's Choice SAL - Butterflies

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 Butterflies.

I think butterflies are absolutely beautiful. We have a lot of butterfly-friendly plants in our garden but only really see Cabbage Whites, with the occasional darker brown/red one (I'm not familiar with different species) so nothing fancy.

But I don't seem to have stitched many at all, in fact all I could find were two little butterflies on Frankie Hedgehog and Sally Squirrel from DMC's Woodland Folk collection:

With WIPs I found even less, just Imaginating's Hello Spring. Here's the chart as I haven't stitched the butterfly yet:

In the way of stash, it's only one as well, JBW's French Country Butterfly which I hope to get to within the next few years:

I'll leave you with a Dimensions kit called Butterfly Beauty. Now, if I hadn't already got 1001 charts and kits I may consider purchasing it as I think it's absolutely stunning.

Hopefully you will have stitched more butterflies than me!

Next month's theme is Houses.

Take care,

Rachel x