Smalls SAL link up - January 2025 (including three Small WIP finishes!)

Hi all!

And welcome to the first Smalls SAL of 2025!

Entries can be anything Small you have cross stitched during the month, be it an individual piece, part of a set, a portion of a big design, or even an unfinished Small if you haven't been able to complete it. All Smalls, or part(s) thereof, are welcome!

As happens to a lot of us in January, I'm off to a flying start with four - yes, four - entries! One was a January new start, the other three were WIPs.

First is one of the Nordic Advent Calendar pieces which I would like to stitch at one a month specifically for this SAL. As usual I have left off the number and adjusted the pattern a little:

Nordic Advent day 7 - Heart by Zindagi Designs (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct White aida with pearl/iridescent flecks

Started - 1st January 2025

Finished - 10th January 2025

Total Stitching Time - 6 hours 45 minutes

So having finished the Smalls SAL piece I was free to work on whatever I wanted, and that gave me a choice of 63 WIPs!

I started with one left over from Mischievous March 2024, having decided it was small and simple enough to not require much brain power. There is supposed to be a spider on the left of the pumpkin but that is one thing I absolutely won't stitch. Here's the finish:

Halloween Pumpkin (magazine chart)

Stitched on 16ct Azalea aida

Started - 11th March 2024

Finished - 20th January 2025

Total Stitching Time - 11 hours 55 minutes

Then I went right back to my fourth oldest WIP. I started this back in 2008 and wasn't sure why I had never finished it. Then I discovered that I was using some of the DMC metallic threads, including for the backstitching, and they are really awful to work with. I'd left it with only the two eyes, the eight crumbs and the majority of the backstitching to do, so just over one hour (and a lot of frustration) later I had another Small finish:

Greedy Robin by Mouseloft

Stitched on 14ct cream aida

Started - September 2008

Finished - 21st January 2025

Total Stitching Time - 4 hours 5 minutes

Then I picked up another WIP from 2008. This one was put aside after stitching just the giraffe's face as it had bad memories attached to it. But 16 years have made a difference so I bit the bullet and finished it in just under two hours:

Giraffe by Mouseloft

Stitched on 14ct rustic green aida

Started - March 2008

Finished - 23rd January 2025

Total Stitching Time - 3 hours 5 minutes

So not only is that a good Smalls start, it's also a good start for the year, and clears out three old WIPs, which made me question why I'd never finished them sooner! Only 60 WIPs now left to choose from!

Now it's your turn.

Please link up using the URL of your Smalls SAL post, with a title (usually your name) and a thumbnail. The link will stay open until 10th February.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

Back next month, but probably not with four Smalls!

Take care,

Rachel x

Mischievous March New Start #2 - Halloween Pumpkin

Morning all!

Weekend, and start, number two of Mischievous March 2024 has been and gone.

This week I chose a Halloween project. It's one from a set of four designs, two of which I completed in 2016 and the other two of which have been on my to-do list since. I thought this would be a good time to start another.

And here it is. I spent one day on the border and one day on the pumpkin. Ideally I would have liked to have completed the border but, seeing as it's called Halloween Pumpkin, I thought I'd better actually stitch some of the pumpkin itself!

Halloween Pumpkin (Cross Stitch Crazy magazine chart - date unknown)

Stitched on 16ct Azalea overdyed aida

Stitching time to date - 3 hours 50 minutes

I love how the pumpkin, at the moment, looks a bit like a crescent moon wearing a party hat!

I think I've decided on the third Mischievous March start but as it's not a small-small I'm not totally sure. Still a couple more days to decide.

Take care,

Rachel x

Naughty November New Start #4 - Moonrise Ornament 4

Hi all!

So this was the final weekend of Naughty November and the four-weekend mini new start binge. Each weekend I have been starting a Whispered By The Wind Halloween ornie...

... and this weekend was the last one:

Moonrise Ornament 4 'Memorial' by Whispered By The Wind

Stitched on 32ct Vintage Dark Grey Murano 2 over 2

Stitching time to date - 4 hours

For this one I changed the colours of the memorial from those charted to those I used for In The Gloaming. So, from darkest to lightest, 840, 841, 842 and 3866 became 167, 738, 3823 and 3865 respectively. Maybe they're a bit too bright for a spooky effect, and maybe they would look better in greys? That's a good excuse as any to stitch it again, don't you think? But not yet!

Here's the linky widget thingy if you want to link up for Naughty November week 4:

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

I have no doubt that Tiff will also be stitching this ornie, but have no idea what Faith has chosen, having so far varied between geometric, Easter and Christmas. Mary also joined in last week with three starts on projects which will be stitched in 2022. I hope there's a fourth this week.

I also hope you've enjoyed our mini new start binge; now all I have to do is finish them before the end of the year.

If you fancy having a small new start binge, Mischievous March will return next year. ;)

[You may think I have a lot of new start binges (and you'd be right!) but, Olympic ones aside, they're a way for me to control the number and size of new starts I have - better to have the satisfaction of four fairly small, and quick-to-finish, new starts together than numerous ad hoc new starts during the year which just remain WIPs, right?]

Take care

Rachel x

A Little Witch Of The Night - finished!

Hi all!

During Dark October I wanted to work on Halloween projects where possible. This has resulted in me already finishing one of my WIPs!

My finish was A Little Witch Of The Night by Soda Stitch, the final one of my seven Summer Of New Start pieces from 2019 to be completed. She's very high up on the cutesy scale, so I appreciate she will not appeal to many, but at least I've finished her at the right time of year.

Here's where I last left her:

After the stitching but before the backstitching:

And finished after almost three hours of backstitching:

A Little Witch Of The Night by Soda Stitch

Stitched on 16ct Dusky Sky over-dyed aida

Stitch Count 60 wide by 55 high

Started - 17th August 2019

Finished - 24th October 2020

Total stitching time - 17 hours 20 minutes

She will be FFOd in the same way as my other Soda Stitch designs (a mini pillow edged with gathered ribbon) which I know will be very time consuming so may not happen for quite a while.

I now have a week left to work on something else Dark October related, and I know just the one!

Take care,
Rachel x

Hocus Pocus - finished!

Hello again!

I have another finish, the last from the Dark Shadows set I started during Dark October.

This is how you last saw it:

And now finished:

Hocus Pocus by Sue Hillis Designs

Stitched on 16ct Pink Pixie over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch Count 51 wide by 72 high 

Started - 27th October 2019

Finished - 15th December 2019

Total Stitching Time - 8 hours 35 minutes

I do admit to missing out a large section of this one as there should be a yellow crescent moon behind the writing. However, I thought it was too big (I suppose I could have made it smaller) and since there's nothing like it on the others I thought it looked a bit odd anyway.

Here are the six finishes together:

What do you think? Not bad, even if I do say so myself!!

Hocus Pocus will probably be my last finish of 2019; I could probably squeeze in another one but Hogwarts is calling and then I have a lovely new start planned for Christmas Day which will see me through to the end of the year. However, I do have a lot of posts planned so there's no getting away from me (unless of course you ignore them!)

Take care,
Rachel x

Haunted Library - 10 hours after restart

Hi all!

At the end of October I started Haunted Library by Mill Hill.

I'd spent a lot of time procrastinating over whether to use the supplied perforated paper or use 14ct or 16ct aida, and whether to use two or three strands of floss, but finally made up my mind to go with the kit's instructions.

I made a really good start but the whole project just wasn't sitting comfortably.

So I decided to restart it on 14ct aida to see if that made a difference. And it has; I'm enjoying it so much more. I don't think it looks as effective but I can always fill in the gaps with dark blue thread if necessary to make the building and beads stand out more.

Here's my restart:

Haunted Library by Mill Hill

Stitched on 14ct Confederate Grey aida 2 over 1

Compared to the original:

I certainly don't consider the time spent on the first one as a waste of time; it was something new to me and something I had to try in order to find out I didn't particularly like it. I'm just glad I did something about it sooner rather than later.

Take care,
Rachel x

Candelabra - finished!

Hello again!

I have another finish! This is the fifth of the six Sue Hillis' Dark Shadows projects I started for Dark October. Those of you with keen eyes may have spotted this finish in my #24 post, but here's the post with all the details.

This is how I had left it:

And now finished:

Candelabra by Sue Hillis Designs

Stitched on 16ct Purple Potion over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch Count 47 wide by 73 high 

Started - 26th October 2019

Finished - 29th November 2019

Total Stitching Time - 5 hours 45 minutes

It was stitched in 310 Etoile, to give it a tiny bit of sparkle, and silver-lined beads to represent the chains.

Only one more of these Dark Shadows projects to go, which I am confident will be finished in the next couple of weeks.

Take care,
Rachel x

Boo! - finished!

Hello all!

I've been continuing with my one or two (ish) thread lengths per pay Dark Shadows projects started during Dark October and have now finished Boo!

Here's how you saw it at the end of Dark October:

And now completed:

Boo! by Sue Hillis Designs

Stitched on 16ct Pink Pixie over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch Count 52 wide by 81 high 

Started - 25th October 2019

Finished - 24th November 2019

Total Stitching Time - 9 hours 30 minutes

It almost looks like the witch is carrying a sandwich board which is slightly too big!!

I think I know how I want to FFO these Dark Shadows projects but will wait until all six are finished before making my mind up. I've only got two more to go so if those are finished before Christmas I can plan a good FFOing session sometime over the Christmas holidays.

Take care,
Rachel x

Bird Candelabra - finished!

Hi all!

I have another little finish to show you. This was the third Sue Hillis Dark Shadows project I started during Dark October and now the third finish.

Here's how it looked at the end of October:

And now finished:

Bird Candelabra by Sue Hillis Designs

Stitched on 16ct Purple Potion over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitched with black Etoile and Miyuki silver-lined gunmetal seed beads

Stitch Count 50 wide by 67 high 

Started - 24th October 2019

Finished - 8th November 2019

Total Stitching Time - 5 hours 15 minutes

Actually, it's not completely finished as each bird is supposed to have a french knot for an eye, the same as the bats in my previous finish, Trick or Treat. However, having attempted the eyes numerous times (including with beads) and not succeeded to make them look at least partially realistic, I left them out. I don't think it spoils the overall effect; afterall, the designs are supposed to be silhouettes, right?

Next up as my two-thread-lengths-a-day project will be Boo!

Take care,
Rachel x

Dark October - the end

Hi all!

The idea of Dark October is to stitch on only Halloween projects for the whole month. I couldn't commit to that so had the idea of slowly stitching one or two small projects alongside my other planned projects.

However, plans can change and they certainly did, with some of my planned non-Halloween projects being swapped for Halloween ones, and some new starts being added in towards the end of the month.

In my previous Dark October post you saw the completed Chandelier and the progress I'd made on Trick or Treat:

Chandelier

Trick Or Treat

What you didn't see was that these were stitched alongside my Smalls SAL piece, RIP Spooky Hootie, and two Halloween WIPs, A Little Witch Of The Night and A Little Wizard Of The Night, which I swapped in and made some progress on.

RIP Spooky Hootie

A Little Witch Of The Night
(continued her face)


A Little Wizard Of The Night
(finished his body and added the broom)

Then, in the final week I went a bit berserk (well, berserk for me anyway).

I increased the time spent on Trick Or Treat each day so that it would be finished before the end of the month:

Trick of Treat from Dark Shadows by Sue Hillis Designs
(with a few alterations to the letters and bats)

Stitched on 16ct Pink Pixie over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch Count 51 wide by 72 high

Started - 17th October 2019

Finished - 31st October 2019

Total Stitching Time - 9 hours 40 minutes

And started the four remaining pieces from Sue Hillis' Dark Shadows set:

Bird Candelabra (crows? ravens? rooks?)

Stitched on Purple Potion 16ct over-dyed aida
Started 24th October 2019

Boo!

Stitched on Pink Pixie 16ct over-dyed aida
Started 25th October 2019

Candelabra

Stitched on Purple Potion 16ct over-dyed aida

Started 26th October 2019

Hocus Pocus

Stitched on Pink Pixie 16ct over-dyed aida

Started 27th October 2019

And then I started yet another new piece, Haunted Library by Mill Hill, which you saw a few days ago:

Haunted Library by Mill Hill
Stitched on supplied 14ct dark blue perforated paper
Started 28th October 2019

I think all of the above means that, in the end, I actually made quite a good contribution to Dark October! In fact the only non-Halloween projects I stitched during the month were the Birthstone, the Monarch and Hogwarts. Not bad, considering I had originally planned on stitching just one or two of the Sue Hillis designs!

Next year I shall ensure there are no intrusions and that October is set aside for 100% Halloween stitching. I can't wait... 335 days and counting!

For now I'm going to try to continue stitching on the four remaining Sue Hillis projects a little each day. It would be nice to have them all finished by the end of the year.

By the way, does anyone know of any other similarly month-long themed challenges like this one? Christmas in July perhaps? I don't want to join them, just curious (although a month long Christmas in July does sound appealing; I might have to think about that!!)

I'm now looking forward to seeing what others have achieved during Dark October.

Take care,
Rachel x

Dark October - week 3 progress

Hi all!

Three-quarters of the way through Dark October and my small Halloween projects are steadily progressing.

At the end of week two the Chandelier was almost complete:

And now it is!

Chandelier from Dark Shadows by Sue Hillis Designs

Stitched on 16ct Purple Potion over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1
Stitched with black Etoile and Miyuki silver-lined gunmetal seed beads

Stitch Count 61 wide by 81 high

Started - 1st October 2019

Finished - 17th October 2019

Total Stitching Time - 8 hours 30 minutes

I used black Etoile for the chandelier, regular DMC for the flames and Miyuki silver-lined Montanna seed beads for the chains, which I think really work and make it look more like a chandelier than using plain crosses.

So, having finished the chandelier I was free to start another. But which one to start next? Here's a reminder of my choices:

I decided on Trick Or Treat (top left) and here is my progress so far:

Stitched on 16ct Pink Pixie over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

I very much doubt this will be finished by the end of October but you never know. You'll find out in my final Dark October posting at the end of the month.

Take care,

Rachel x

Summer Of New Starts #6 - A Little Wizard Of The Night

Hi again!

Well, having started A Little Witch Of The Night last week, how could I not stitch her Little Wizard male companion for summer start number 6?

This time I started with the sky, but once I reached his cute little head of hair the needles just kept working. I'm a little frustrated that my eyes gave in before his face was completed but nevertheless I am really happy with my progress over a very successful weekend:

A Little Wizard Of The Night by Soda Stitch

Stitched on 16ct Dusky Sky over-dyed aida by sewitall.com

Stitch count 60 wide by 56 high

Stitching time to date - 5 hours

And how he will look when finished:

If I don't manage to get back to him before the end of October, he'll definitely return for a bit of attention at Halloween. Well, how could he not?!

Take care,
Rachel x

Green Halloween Banner - finished!

Hello everyone!

Here's a Happy Dance for a much anticipated finish. Yes, Green Halloween Banner was completed last night.

Last time you saw it I didn't have much left to stitch:

I stitched the tree-thing, filled in the remainder of the black and here it is, all finished:

Green Halloween Banner by Artecy

Stitched on 16ct cream aida 2 over 1

Stitch count 57 wide by 201 high

Started - 25th January 2019

Finished - 22nd August 2019

Total stitching time - 69 hours 10 minutes

I really really enjoyed this one and would love to be able to start the other three in the set but, alas, I have a million-and-one other things which I ought to work on first. One day...

In the meantime I know exactly how I want to FFO the banner, and it's with this gorgeous and perfect fabric:

But whether imagination and reality will successfully merge is another matter. The finish is a bit complicated and potentially fiddly so I'm not going to rush it.

Take care,
Rachel x

Summer Of New Starts #5 - A Little Witch Of The Night

Hi again!

Staying with the Halloween theme for summer start number 5, this cute Soda Stitch chart has been high on my to-do list for quite a while.

I was really looking forward to working solely on the little witch over the weekend but the first stitch didn't actually go in until 11.45pm Saturday! At least I got a couple of hours in on Sunday to make up for it. Here's my start on her hair and adorable little hat:

 A Little Witch Of The Night by Soda Stitch

Stitched on 16ct Dusky Sky over-dyed aida by sewitall.com

Stitch count 60 wide by 55 high

Stitching time to date - 2 hours 35 minutes

And here's how she will look when finished (without the numbers):

Those with a very keen eye may have noticed I've changed the aida colour since teasing this as a new start. My original choice was a sort of dirty browny/greeny mixture called Smudge. However, when I purchased this Dusky Sky fabric I immediately fell in love with the steely blue/grey colours (even though the screen picture indicated it was a mid-dark grey!) There would have been nothing wrong with using Smudge but the characters have a cute and fun element which I think is more suited to a less-dreary colour. Needless to say, I'm delighted with my swap.

I'll be using this fabric again next weekend.

Take care,
Rachel x

Summer Of New Starts #4 - Scaredy Cats

Hi all!

Summer start number 4 sees me keeping with autumn colours but moving on to a Halloween theme. This week I chose Scaredy Cats by JBW Designs. Obviously block stitching makes for rapid progress so this was my achievement over the weekend:

Scaredy Cats by JBW Designs

Stitched on 16ct Mushroom over-dyed aida by sewitall.com

Stitch count 151 wide by 33 high

Stitched with DMC variegated 51 and black

Stitching time to date - 4 hours 50 minutes

The finished design will look like this:

The DMC Colour Variation thread I originally chose was a bit too autumn-y rather than Halloween-y (not surprising considering it was called Fall Harvest!) so I swapped it for the darker half of DMC variegated 51 Burnt Orange. Much better for giving that fiery-look I wanted.

After seeing me tease this as a new start, Shebafudge started her version. She's using similar thread colours (we both agreed the cats should definitely be black) but on a gorgeous spooky purple-y fabric.

I'm just under half way though, so this is another project which will not take too long to finish when I pick it up again (I think I've now said that for the past three weeks!)

Finally, there's still plenty of time to enter the FFG SAL in the post below this one. Go on, fully-finish off a UFO or two... you know you want to!!

Take care,
Rachel x

Halloween Banner - 60 hours

Hi all!

And so the black continues, lots and lots and lots of black, with a little bit of green and yellow thrown in for good measure.

Last time you saw the banner looking like this:

And now it looks like this:

Apart from three rows of black border, I'm excited to announce I've reached the bottom of the chart, which means next time you see this piece it will be as a finish!

Take care,
Rachel x