Winnie The Pooh And Hunny Pot 3/5 - finished!

Hi again!

Back with another finish, squeezed in just before the end of the month.

This is the third of five Winnie The Pooh charts I started in 2020, and now the fourth to be finished.

Here's how I left him in 2020, with his head in the pot and his bum in the air:

And here he is finished:

Winnie The Pooh And Hunny Pot 3/5 by Designer Stitches

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Summer Sky over-dyed aida

Started - 13th June 2020

Finished - 30th January 2023

Total stitching time - 14 hours 15 minutes

Good job the pot has a large opening, otherwise his head might get stuck!

I'm not sure if the final WTP will be my next WIP to be whipped or if I'll choose another; it depends if I fancy big blocks of colour again, or something a little more complicated. Hmmm, decisions decisions!

Take care,

Rachel x

Smalls SAL - January 2023

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.

I know I missed the last three/four months of 2022, but 2023 is a New Year and I am hoping things will return to normal. At least January is off to a good start, and I completed eight - yes, eight! - little advent projects (I'd only intended to do two!) As a way of getting me back into stitching and, as you might have guessed, these are very very very addictive!

Red And White Advent Calendar Day 9 Bird by Durene Jones

Stitched on 16ct white with silver lurex aida using a blend of DMC 321 and DMC Etoile 321

Stitch count 33 wide by 33 high

Started - 1st January 2023

Finished - 3rd January 2023

Total Stitching time - 3 hours 45 minutes

Red And White Advent Calendar Day 6 Tree by Durene Jones

Stitched on 16ct white with silver lurex aida using a blend of DMC 699 and DMC Etoile 699

Stitch count 33 wide by 33 high

Started - 4th January 2023

Finished - 6th January 2023

Total Stitching time - 2 hours 40 minutes

Red And White Advent Calendar Day 1 Heart by Durene Jones

Stitched on 16ct white with silver lurex aida using a blend of DMC 603 and DMC Etoile 603

Stitch count 33 wide by 33 high

Started - 7th January 2023

Finished - 10th January 2023

Total Stitching time - 4 hours 35 minutes

Red And White Advent Calendar Day 20 Candle by Durene Jones

Stitched on 16ct white with silver lurex aida using a blend of DMC 725 and DMC Etoile 725

Stitch count 33 wide by 33 high

Started - 12th January 2023

Finished - 13th January 2023

Total Stitching time - 2 hours 10 minutes

Red And White Advent Calendar Day 4 Snowflake by Durene Jones

Stitched on 16ct white with silver lurex aida using a blend of DMC 995 and DMC Etoile 995

Stitch count 33 wide by 33 high

Started - 14th January 2023

Finished - 15th January 2023

Total Stitching time - 2 hours 10 minutes

Red And White Advent Calendar Day 14 Mitten by Durene Jones

Stitched on 16ct white with silver lurex aida using a blend of DMC 603 and DMC Etoile 603

Stitch count 33 wide by 33 high

Started - 16th January 2023

Finished - 19th January 2023

Total Stitching time - 3 hours 50 minutes

Red And White Advent Calendar Day 13 Santa by Durene Jones

Stitched on 16ct white with silver lurex aida using a blend of DMC 321 and DMC Etoile 321

Stitch count 33 wide by 33 high

Started - 20th January 2023

Finished - 21st January 2023

Total Stitching time - 2 hours 25 minutes

Red And White Advent Calendar Day 15 Holly by Durene Jones

Stitched on 16ct white with silver lurex aida using a blend of DMC 699 and DMC Etoile 699

Stitch count 33 wide by 33 high

Started - 22nd January 2023

Finished - 23rd January 2023

Total Stitching time - 3 hours 50 minutes

So far so good, then, although being small and monochrome certainly helped!

Some of them have been adjusted slightly because of not stitching the numbers; I prefer them as just Christmas-related rather than Advent-specific projects.

Next month's Small(s) will be from the Advent Calendar again, although don't know which one(s) or in which colour(s) as I'm selecting them at random.

Take care,
Rachel x

Winnie The Pooh And Hunny Pot 4/5 - finished!

Hi again,

And so my finishing streak continues, with the bear with very little brain (did you guess the clue on the previous post?)

This chart was the fourth of five Winnie The Pooh charts I started for the Spring Into Summer New Start Binge in 2020 when Tiff and I started 17 projects over consecutive weekends between March and July to make up for the cancellation of the Tokyo Summer Olympics that year.

This is where I got to the weekend I started him:

The following month I stitched his shirt (no photo) before finally completing the body, legs and backstitching last week:

Winnie The Pooh And Hunny Pot 4/5 by Designer Stitches

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Summer Sky over-dyed aida

Started - 13th June 2020

Finished - 21st January 2023

Total stitching time - 11 hours 50 minutes

The five charts tell the story of Winnie The Pooh with his Hunny Pot. Here are the other two I've completed so far:

I've noticed that the HUNNY in the picture on the right is not on a dark purple background like the other two. I wonder if it will annoy me enough to want to change it... or could I perhaps convince myself that it's the back of the jar and doesn't have the dark purple background? I'll have a think.

The next WIPs to see the light of day may well be the third and fifth Winnie The Pooh charts; it would seem sensible to get the set completed, especially as they're not exactly difficult.

Take care,

Rachel x

Mouse Reading Scroll - finished!

Hi all!

Thanks to FFOing a Merry Mice project this month, I decided I wanted to finish one from my WIPs. I had three to choose from and Mouse Reading Scroll won, mainly because he required the least amount of stitching to finish!

I started Mouse Reading Scroll during the Tokyo Olympics:

And then worked on him a bit in May last year, finishing his body and starting the scroll (but didn't take a photo) before finishing him last week:

Mouse Reading Scroll from Merry Mice by CutePatternsbyMaria (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Glacier over-dyed aida

Started - 1st August 2021

Finished - 17th January 2023

Total Stitching Time - 9 hours 30 minutes

There was a lot of backstitching again, but so worth it; he's just so sweet! I wonder what the scroll might say? Perhaps it's a long-lost recipe for the best cheese ever!

The next WIP is already out of The Box and being worked on. It shouldn't take too long to finish as there are big blocks of colour and not too much backstitching. Just right when I feel I have very little brain (that's a hint, by the way!)

Take care,

Rachel x

A Tatty Friend - finished!

Morning all!

Not having any plans means that all year long I can delve into my my WIP boxes (yes, plural, I have three!) and pull out whatever I want.

First out was this little project, A Tatty Friend, which I started for Day 13 of Debbie's Super Duper Ultimate Crazy January February Challenge (i.e. a new start each day for two months) way back in 2015. I last worked on him in September that year, spending more than an hour backstitching around his head alone. It was the thought of many more hours of backstitching that kept him as a WIP for so long.

But I felt ready for him. Sort of. The backstitching was intense and, although I didn't follow it exactly, I could not do more than twenty or so minutes at a time; it was the type of backstitching that splits threads and overlaps itself in order to give that tatty look.

But small steps lead to big things, and after four more hours of backstitching, plus taking out some of the grass on the right so I could miss out an additional flower, and adding a few pink petit beads to the flower instead of french knots, here he is all finished; he only took me a day under eight years!!

A Tatty Friend (magazine project) by Dimensions (using DMC conversions)

Stitched on 16ct white with silver lurex aida

Started - 13th January 2015

Finished - 12th January 2023

Total stitching time - 14 hours 30 minutes

It feels really satisfying to have completed something started so long ago that I'm now itching to finish more WIPs. Watch this space for which one jumps out next!

Take care,

Rachel x

Link-up For Fully Finished Gallery SAL - January 2023

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.

And here's the new logo for 2023 if you haven't already grabbed it.

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.

But before delving into this month's FFOs, let's take a look back at 2022.

In 2022, 264.5 FFOs were submitted by 14 different bloggers. Thank you all so much for continuing to contribute, especially when I have (yet again) been remiss at answering comments and thanking you for your entries.

For those who like statistics, here's how many participated and how many entries were received each month during 2022. January always starts well!

This is again down on previous years, but considering there are fewer bloggers and therefore fewer participants than when this SAL started in February 2019, not to mention smaller Boxes Of Shame, I'm still really happy!

In the almost four years this SAL has been running there have been 1350.5 FFOs, which is absolutely A-MA-ZING!

Usual shout-outs go to:

* Clare, Leonore and Suzanne who linked up with FFOs every month.

* Clare who, thanks to her Christmas Tree ornies, not only submitted the most FFOs in one month - 13 - but also submitted the most FFOs during the year - a whopping 108!!! (Suzanne also had a very impressive 61 FFOs)

* and Jo, who although had no FFOs in December, joined in every month and did her usual end-of-year round-up in December. Jo is also responsible for the half finish, having completed the bottom of Haunted Mansion but not the top. With so much work involved, it would have been mean not to have counted it!

And to everyone else who participated - Rita, Cathy, Christina, Mary H, Mary, Kaye, Mary, Jocondine, and Ann - another BIG THANK YOU!

Now on to 2023...

To start 2023, I have just one little finish. This is Mouse Lighting Candle, from a set of Cute (church?) Mice by CutePatternsbyMaria, started during the Tokyo Olympics and finished this time last year.

I used coordinating backing fabric (which I had to get completely symmetrical top to bottom and side to side, although it's a bit wonky now the stuffing's been added!) and added trim. I've seen many ornies finished with chenille trim and thought I would give it a go. However, chenille trim seems to be non-existent in the UK (unless you can tell me otherwise!) so I bought a small ball of chenille wool, hoping that would do the trick. But it hasn't. From a distance it looks OK but, close up, the softness and furriness has gone and the wool looks worn and more like a pipe-cleaner. Plus it keeps moulting! Needless to say, the trim will be coming off and something else attached in its place, presumably barley twist cord or maybe ribbon. But, the main thing is, I got the ornie finished, and love it!

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 January.

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And please don't forget to follow other links and support fellow fully-finish-offers!

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

Take care,
Rachel x

People's Choice SAL - Designer of 2023

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 Designer of 2023.

Usually I would find this theme easy, having meticulously planned my stitching for the year ahead. But having no plans this year means I don't know exactly what I will be stitching on!

One definite designer I will be stitching in 2023, though, is Durene Jones as she will be providing my Smalls SAL piece, or maybe pieces, each month in the form of her Red and White Advent Calendar.

I've stitched a lot from her in the past - in fact I think she is my most stitched designer - so it's no surprise she's featuring again. These small and easy monochrome pieces should nicely ease me back into stitching. They won't all be red though - I'll throw in some other Christmassy colours too, such as green for the day 6 tree and yellowy-gold for the day 12 bell:

Another designer I would like to stitch this year is one whose charts currently dominate my etsy wishlist, and that is TeenyWeenyXStitch.

I first came across TeenyWeenyXStitch when I was searching for something like 'magic potion bottles' and this popped up. I instantly fell in love with how sweet they all were!

Naturally, my nosiness led me into the store, and I felt like a kiddie in a sweet shop! So many lovely little designs, many of which can be bought as bundles (they even offer the purchase of the whole store's current and future (excluding SALs) contents, if you wish!)

Designs revolve around such things as magic, world landmarks, art, culture, Halloween, Christmas, and many, many more. Here are a selection of my favourites:

There's even one for our Serendipitous host (you're welcome!)

And the best thing is, they're all small and easy, hence the store name!

Looking at the store again, I think I may be tempted in purchasing one or two bundles to use for the Smalls SAL. What better way to re-engage with cross stitching than by purchasing new stash and starting new projects?! Here's a link to the store if you're interested ;)

Disclaimer - I am showing TeenyWeenyXStitch through personal choice and am in no way associated with or being paid to promote it, etc. etc. etc.

Oh, and this has recently popped up; I wouldn't stitch it as a temperature SAL, but I. LOVE. IT!!!:

Next month's theme is Way With Words - love the illiteration, Jo!

Take care,

Rachel x

Annual Stitching Plans 2023

Good morning everybody, and Happy New Year!!

As you know, I usually plan my year of stitching quite meticulously. But not this year. The previous three years have shown me that when life throws me a curve ball, my stitching is the first to suffer. 

Therefore, my plans for 2023 are to have no plans! Actually, that's not quite true. I do have plans, but they are either based around SALs or very vague:

1) PEOPLE'S CHOICE SAL - first Saturday of the month hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching where we post around a theme for the month. I can do this as it requires no stitching!

2) FULLY FINISHED GALLERY SAL - 10th of the month hosted by me(!) with the idea of FFOing projects instead of leaving them unloved in a box or drawer. Again, as this involves no stitching, I should be able to FFO at least one thing per month.

3) SMALLS SAL - stitch one small project each month for Mary's link-up. I like the fact this SAL gives me a new start and quick finish every month. However, if I'm only stitching for 5-10 minutes each day, finishing even the smallest projects in my stash might be a push! We'll see.

4) WHIP THOSE WIPs! - with 75 WIPs and little interest in starting anything new, 2023 might be a good opportunity to decrease this number by working on whichever project I want, and for how long I want. Who knows, I might even become one of those *gasp* one-at-a-time stitchers!!!

5) FFO AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE - or at least one thing per month.

And that's it; simple and uncommitted!

There are two big projects which may or may not return, depending on whether I can concentrate on bigger projects. The first is Kings and Queens of England (i.e. A Monarch A Month) which it would seem silly to let fall by the wayside given that I've only got a few monarchs left to do. The second is The Loneliness Of Autumn which I am (supposed to be) SALing with Leonore and which is now ten months behind. There is little hope of catching up, I'd just continue from where I left off.

Regarding WIPs, if I can, I will try to choose stitching which revolves around topics throughout the year, such as CHRISTMAS IN JULY and DARK OCTOBER and CHRISTMAS.

Unless things really improve, there will be no MISCHIEVOUS MARCH or NAUGHTY NOVEMBER in 2023 as I simply can't commit to stitching, let alone to starting eight more new projects!

But regarding the three points above, I'll use my go-to phrase of 2023... we'll see... maybe that curve ball will go away this year...

I wonder what your plans are for the year?

Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and stitchy 2023,

Rachel x