Christmas Cat With Present AND Snow Globe Tree - finished!

Hello again!

Bearing in mind I will be starting 17 projects over the next four months (yes, I know I'm completely, utterly and insanely mad!) I spent the last few days of March trying to finish off a couple of WIPs so that there would at least be two less in my tottering pile.

And I succeeded! In fact I almost finished three, but not quite.

The first finish was Christmas Cat With Present, This was finish number five from the seven new projects which made up last year's Summer Of New Starts.

When you last saw her she looked like this, the cat herself obviously being too shy to make an appearance!

Here she is before the backstitching:

And now all finished:

Christmas Cat With Present by Lucie Heaton (etsy)

Stitch count 55 wide by 56 high

Stitched on 16ct white with silver lurex aida 2 over 1

Started - 31st August 2019

Finished - 24th March 2020

Total Stitching Time - 13 hours 45 minutes

She's one of a set of four but I have no idea as yet when the other three will make an appearance - perhaps during the Spring Into Summer New Start Binge? Who knows?!


My second finish was Snow Globe Tree, finish number six from last year's seven Summer Of New Starts. I left it like this:

And now it's all finished:

Snow Globe Tree by Lucie Heaton (etsy)

Stitch count 56 wide by 56 high

Stitched on 16ct antique white aida 2 over 1

Started - 20th July 2019

Finished - 28th March 2020

Total Stitching Time - 18 hours 35 minutes

I made a couple of small changes, using beads for the baubles and white Etoile for the snow. The Etoile gives the snow a greyish appearance, as opposed to being pure white, but I like it; I think it reflects the weather as being cloudy as opposed to sunny.

So that's 12 finishes so far this year and two more WIPs crossed off my list. I would say only 45 more to go but that won't be true in a few weeks' time! Nevermind... I've only myself to blame (and I've got some lovely projects coming up so don't regret this decision at all).

Take care,
Rachel x

Summer Of New Starts #7 - Christmas Cat With Present

Hello again!

This weekend's new start is a reminder that Christmas is just around the corner! This is one of Lucie Heaton's four Christmas Cats:

Christmas Cat With Present by Lucie Heaton

Stitched on 16ct white silver lurex aida

Stitch count 55 wide by 56 high

Stitching time to date - 4 hours 35 minutes

Here is the set. The remaining three will be stitched 'at some point'. I think it's quite obvious which one I've started.

If you think these cats look familiar, they are the same as I stitched a while back, only last time she was having fun in the garden. Remember these?

This project now marks the end of my Summer Of New Starts. Needless to say, the new start craving I was yearning for has been satisfied. I do feel a little guilty I've added to my WIP pile when I was trying so hard not to, but all of the projects are small enough to be finished fairly quickly so it's not too bad. Anyway, two have already been finished so I'm pretty sure the remaining five will be finished by the end of the year.

By the way, I'm aware I have been posting a lot recently, especially towards the end of August, mainly because of these new starts. Things should quieten down now but thanks for sticking with me!

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - July 2019

Hello all!

It's the last Friday of the month so time for the Smalls SAL. Thank you, Mary, for continuing to run 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 July I stitched the third Christmas Cat out of a series of six: 

Christmas Cat Yawning by Design Works

Stitch Count 38 wide by 36 high

Stitched on 16ct Tin with sparkles over-dyed aida from sewitall.com 2 over 1

Started - 5th July 2019

Finished - 24th July 2019

Total stitching time - 6 hours 30 minutes

Unfortunately he isn't fully-finished yet because of an issue with the barley twist cord... I have 27 different colours and 26 of them are in my bag... guess which one isn't?! I'm assuming I took it out when I started this project but I guess the little pixies have taken a shine to it! I've ordered some more and will FFO this little cutie when it arrives (and before you ask, yes, I could have used a different colour but I wanted all my Christmas Cats to match).


For this Smalls SAL I'm also re-showing other qualifying small projects I've stitched during the month.

My birthstone of the month, July in ruby:

And my monarch of the month, King John:

So that's it for July. Next month I'll be prematurely welcoming autumn!

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - December 2018

Hi all!

It's the final Friday of 2018 so it's time for the final Smalls SAL posting of 2018. I hope your Christmas / holiday season is going well.

For December I couldn't not choose something Christmassy so stitched another little Christmas Cat. Back in July, when I stitched the first one, I asked you to vote for which of the five others I should stitch in December but there wasn't a clear winner, so I chose this one:

Dangling Christmas Cat by Design Works Crafts

Stitched on 16ct Tin over-dyed aida with sparkles from Sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch count 43 wide by 37 high

Started - 1st December 2018

Finished - 6th December 2018

Total stitching time - 7 hours 5 minutes

And need I even bother to say how he's been finished off?!

But there's also a bonus Smalls SAL piece this month since I had a couple of days spare and wanted to stitch something quick. So, appropriately for the busy build up to Christmas, here's Mr Rush, who's been finished off as a card to match the other Mr Men I stitched a couple of years ago.

Mr Rush available at my-cross-stitch-patterns.com (free)

Stitched on 16ct Lilac over-dyed aida from Sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch count 25 wide by 36 high

Started - 23rd December 2018

Finished - 24th December 2018

Total stitching time - 3 hours 5 minutes

So, that's it for the 2018 Smalls SAL. I stitched and fully-finished-off 13 pieces this year and look forward to being similarly successful in 2019!

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - July 2018

Good afternoon everybody!

Time for the monthly Smalls SAL check-in run by Heather of Stitching Lotus, who's back in blogland and has posted catch-up link-ups for April, May and June if you want to pop along.

The theme of Christmas in July is becoming quite popular in various forms of craft so I thought I would do the same. This little kitty comes from a set of six ornies (well, three that have also been reversed) by Design Works Crafts. Thanks to Hobbycraft already stocking Christmas goodies I was able to find some lovely little pom-poms with which to finish off the hat. How cute is that?!

Christmas Cat 1 by Design Works Crafts

Stitched on 16ct Tin over-dyed aida with sparkles from Sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch count 43 wide by 31 high

Started - 1st July 2018

Finished - 9th July 2018

Total stitching time - 6 hours 50 minutes

And she's been finished off in my usual way using grey snowflake backing fabric and dark grey barley twist cord.

I really wanted to use red cord to compliment the hat and brighten the ornie but it just didn't look right. Nevermind.


I bought the used chart off ebay but the original kit included plastic canvas for the stitching, seed beads for the eyes, little star sequins for the background and of course the pom-poms. I wouldn't have used the plastic canvas anyway and probably not the sequins, and french knots are sufficient for the eyes so I didn't lose out much as all I had to buy was a packet of pom-poms and at £1 for 50 that didn't exactly break the bank! I didn't think the charted gold star was necessary either, which is why I left it off.

You'll get to see another one from this set towards the end of the year, but I haven't decided which one - for once I'm open to suggestions!

In the meantime, next month's small will be bright and tweety.

Take care,
Rachel x