Smalls SAL - July 2022

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.

Seeing as my focus this month is Christmas In July, so my Smalls SAL is Christmassy. I've stitched a few Lizzie Kate Tiny Tidings designs in the past, but none since this time last year, so am due another one. I usually add a few beads to each dsign, but liked the fact this one had space for a charm. How convenient I should have a perfect one in my stash!

Deck The Halls from Tiny Tidings IX by Lizzie Kate

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Brown over-dyed aida

Started - 23rd July 2022

Finished - 28th July 2022

Total stitching time - 6 hours 35 minutes

At first I wasn't overly keen on the blue house, especially given that all the other Tiny Tidings I've stitched so far stick to browns, greens, pinks and reds. Do you think it might look better with, say, a dark red roof and a mid-brown bricks? Honest opinions please.

Without even looking through my Smalls list, I think next month's offering is going to have to be another Snuffles... but which colour???

Take care,
Rachel x

Christmas In July - mid-month update

Hi all,

Well, just like the last few months, Christmas In July isn't quite going to plan. However, it's not all doom and gloom as slow but steady progress is being made. :)

At the beginning of the year, my plan for July was to stitch a monarch, stitch 10 hours on The Loneliness of Autumn, stitch a Christmas Small and then work on Lizzie Kate's Merry Christmas By The Letter for the rest of month.

Instead, I spent the first four days finishing off Elixir Of Life (not exactly a bad decision) have dropped the monarch and The Loneliness Of Autumn, haven't started the small, but have spent 12 days / 8h 15m stitching two small panels on the LK. Like I said, slow but steady progress.

Here was the starting point (with the fabric looking really washed out):

And now with the R and I panels added, and the S panel just started:

I've still got buttons and beads to add at the end so what's stitched so far isn't quite complete.

If I can get the S and T panels stitched up in July I'll be happy; anything more would be a bonus.

I may not have been doing as much stitching as I would have liked, but I have (finally and again) caught up with emails and blogs. Even five months down the line I was determined to catch up, and it's been great to see how much has been achieved whilst I wasn't reading posts. Cross stitching is still very much alive!

If you're also stitching Christmas In July, I hope it's going well.

Take care,

Rachel x

Link-up For Fully Finished Gallery SAL - July 2022

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've got two FFOs this month, both ornies, and both finished, as usual, with coordinating backing fabric and barley twist cord.

First is the pair of Seahorses from May's Smalls SAL, with almost perfect backing fabric:

And second is the Rainbow Lorikeet from June's Smalls SAL. No fancy backing fabric for this one, just the one which matched the best:

Now it's over to you.

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 July.

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And once again I'm looking forward to seeing your achievements for the month.

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

Take care,
Rachel x

Elixir Of Life - finished!

Hi all,

Yep, I have a finish, one of the four new projects I started during this year's Mischievous March.

I wondered at the end of the Elixir Of Life's 10 hour post whether it would be finished by 20 hours. The answer was no, by quite a long way. But I didn't bother with a 20 hour post because there was only a little bit of stitching and all the backstitching left to do.

Here's a reminder of how it looked at 10 hours:

Here's the stitching finished after 20 hours and 40 minutes:

And here's the finished product after an additional 3.5 hours(!) of backstitching:

Elixir Of Life by CrazyBlendShop (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Margarita over-dyed aida

Started - 5th March 2022

Finished - 4th July 2022

Total stitching time - 24 hours 10 minutes

There were four colours and seven symbols involved in the backstitching, which I didn't mind at all as it was great seeing the little bottle come to life.

I'm now working on my Christmas In July pieces and, since I've dropped my 'compulsory stitching' expect to make fairly good progress. However, I've just realised it's the 7th July and I haven't yet FFOd anything for the 10th... better amend that straight away!

Take care,

Rachel x

People's Choice SAL - Pets

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 Pets.

When pets are mentioned it's usually cats and dogs that spring to mind, probably followed by small furry animals, fish and birds. I've owned various birds most of my life, and had guinea pigs for ten years, but am now down to just one cockatiel. I'm not planning on any more pets after that, but who knows.

Looking back through this SAL, cats and birds were themes in October 2019 and February 2021 respectively, but dogs, furry animals and fish have never been themes (three more for the list, Jo?)

To save inundating you with the many cats, dogs, birds and furry animals I've stitched, I'll show just one (set) from each category.

Dogs - Durene Jones designs lots of cute animals and although this set of five dogs are really cute, at least they also look fairly realistic:

Cats - Margaret Sherry also designs lots of cute animals, including Contentious and Cantankerous, two from her 'Cattitudes' range. These always make me smile:

Birds - I've taken a bit if a tangent with the birds in order to show Hedwig In A Bottle. I know it's not normal to have an owl as a pet, but in the magical world of Harry Potter anything is possible!

Furry - it has to be Walter. He's definitely one very spoilt pet!

I could get lost in the amount of pets (mostly cats, dogs and mice) I have in my WIP pile, my stash or would like to own but, out of all of them, I think OMG Tigger Is Out by UnconventionalX (etsy) is the one which deserves the most attention. My measly start, back in 2015, was from a time when I thought I could be invincible stitching lots of big designs:

That's it for my pets. Next month's theme is Outer Space.

Take care,

Rachel x