Grow Your Own - finished!

Hello everybody!

Oh, bleurgh to May and June!

With the start of 2022, I thought I'd left my stitching blips behind but, no, they have returned. So, rather than beat myself up about it, I've *shock horror* taken a step back from my monthly plans.

During June, instead of getting bogged down with deadlines and 'compulsory' stitching, I'm going to work on WIPs and aim for a few finishes. A change is as good as a rest, so it's said and, let's face it, finishes aren't exactly a bad goal to work towards!

First out of my h-u-g-e WIP box came a favourite piece, a Hannah Dale design I lovingly named Walter. There wasn't too much to go, so he became a finish quite quickly.

Here's how I left him back in January after 60 hours of work:

And here he is now, with his complete crop of vegetables:

Grow Your Own by Bothy Threads

Stitched on 16ct Tumbleweed over-dyed aida

Started - 25th December 2019

Finished - 13th June 2022

Total stitching time - 65 hours 45 minutes

Isn't he just gorgeous?! I think Walter has to be one of my top ten favourite finishes, and will always be particularly special as he was a birthday gift. Thank you so much again to the fellow stitcher who enabled the enabling - you know who you are.

Now I'm going to dive back into my box of WIPs and see which one calls the loudest. Depending on size, there may be more finishes this month.

Christmas In July

Next month the focus will be 'Christmas in July' with the intent of encouraging last-minute stitchers to make an early start on their Christmas ornies and gifts. I'll be stitching a Christmas Small and then working on Lizzie Kate's Merry Christmas By The Letter. There won't be a linky-thingy, or anything like that, but if you fancy a bit of off-season stitching, then please do join in!

Take care,

Rachel x

Grow Your Own - 60 hours

Hello all!

January continued to be a fantastic month for stitching so I was indeed able to get in another 10 hours on Walter. This is how I left him a week ago:

And now with the tomatoes completed and the onion stitched:

I'm so close to a finish, but Walter has to go away for a while now as it's time for the Winter Olympics!

Following on from last year's Summer Olympics, Tiff and I decided we also wanted to do something for the Winter Olympics, but NOT involving new starts! So we're both pulling out Winter-themed projects to stitch for the duration of the Winter Olympics, and then returning to our dragons for the Winter Paralympics.

There's no link-up involved, but if you fancy joining in with some Winter stitching, please feel free. Let's look past the Covid situation, and controversy surrounding the Games, and cheer on the competitors by stitching some snow!

Instead of posting daily like we did in the summer we'll be rounding up a few days at a time, hopefully with some fun little facts along the way.

Take care,

Rachel x

Grow Your Own - 50 hours

Hello all!

Walter's back!!! Or to give him his proper name, Grow Your Own by Hannah Dale for Bothy Threads.

Last year I promised myself I would finish this project but didn't even put in one stitch. This year, it's another promise and one which I fully intend to keep. If nothing else, I owe it to the person who gifted me the voucher to purchase him.

So here's how I left Walter on 31st December 2020:

And after another 10 hours of love during which I finished the radishes, added the potatoes and made good progress on the yummy-looking tomatoes:

I'm hoping to stay with him, so you may see another update before my focus turns to the Winter Olympics which start in less than two weeks on 4th February.

Take care,

Rachel x

Grow Your Own - 40 hours

Hello all!

After rekindling my love for Walter, and those gorgeous and colourful vegetables, I couldn't help but carry on working on him for the last few days of 2020 and then into January to take me up to the next 10 hour mark.

Last time I added the juicy carrots and some of the radish tops:

This time I finished the radish tops, added the cabbage and then had a few minutes left to start on the radishes themselves:

I'm afraid Walter has got to go away for a couple of months now so that I can concentrate on finishing off a few WIPs which don't require too much work. But he should appear again after Easter (ish).

Take care,
Rachel x

Grow Your Own - 30 hours

Hello all!

This month, for the first time since March, I spent some time working on Hannah Dale's Grow Your Own by Bothy Threads. This was a birthday gift last year and was intended to be finished this year, Well, that's not going to happen so it is now on the top of my 2021 to-finish list. Promise!

Here's how it looked back in March:

And now after finishing the lettuce leaf, and adding the juicy carrots and some of the radish tops:

What a difference the splashes of colour make. I'm really excited to be stitching this one again, and can't wait to get stuck into more of those juicy vegetables!

Sometimes I give the characters names when I stitch them. For some reason the name Walter popped into my head for this one. No idea why, but it stuck. Hopefully it won't be too long before you see Walter and his vegetables again!

Take care,
Rachel x

Grow Your Own - 20 hours

Hello all!

My stitching life continues to improve, so I was also able to work on Bothy Thread's cute little Grow Your Own bunny this month.

This is how she looked after the first 10 hours:

I'd already added 5 hours in December and another 45 minutes in January so only had to stitch 4h 15m in March to reach the 20 hour mark. That was enough time for me to finish off her body, add the fur and whiskers backstitching and add just begin to fill in the lettuce leaf.

So here she is now:

Going forwards, it's time for all those wonderful vegetable colours to start appearing, and that's really exciting!

Take care,
Rachel x

New Start - Grow Your Own by Bothy Threads - 10 hours

Hello all!

On Christmas Day I started this lovely project. It was bought with a birthday voucher from a wonderful stitchy friend (thank you again so much) who knows I have a soft spot for some of these Hannah Dale projects (remember Parrot On Parade from earlier this year?)

I am using the kit threads but have chosen my own 16ct fabric, rather than the provided 14ct speckled fabric) and here's how she's looking so far:

Grow Your Own by Bothy Threads

Stitched on 16ct Tumbleweed over-dyed aida

And here's how she will eventually look. As much as I am enjoying the many colours in the bunny and watching her adorable face come together, I 'can't wait' to get down to all those colourful and delicious-looking vegetables!

I will definitely continue on this until the end of the year.

I have one more post to make this year, which will be a year-end round-up, then it'll be on to the excitement of 2020. I've got so much (far too much) planned for the year but you'll have to wait until 1st January to find out exactly what. Sorry!!

Take care,
Rachel x