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