Smalls SAL - October 2021

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.

October is traditionally a Halloween small, stitched with Dark October in mind, and this year is no exception. This is another Spooky Hootie by Pinoy Stitch:

Witchy Hootie by PinoyStitch (etsy)

Stitch Count 29 wide by 40 high

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

Started - 1st October 2021

Finished - 6th October 2021

Total stitching time - 6 hours 5 minutes

I just love these little owls; small and quick to stitch, but so full of character! There are definitely more planned for future Octobers!

For November I start thinking about Christmas so next month will be the penultimate of six pieces started during November and December for the last couple of years.

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - September 2021

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.

This month it was a Patchwork Hootie, a design I always seem to stitch in September! I've previously stitched yellow, purple, blue and pink ones, so this time I chose green, swapping out the charted colours for ones I preferred. Here's the result:

Green Patchwork Hootie by PinoyStitch (etsy)

Stitch Count 41 wide by 42 high

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

Started - 6th September 2021

Finished - 15th September 2021

Total stitching time - 10 hours 25 minutes

Hopefully it won't be too long before he join the others.

Another Hootie next month, but this time one with a spooky theme for October.

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - October 2020

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.

For October I chose a Spookie Hootie, something which, I think, will become a regularity each October:

Witchy Hootie by Pinoy Stitch (etsy)

Stitch Count 29 wide by 41 high

Stitched on 16ct Wolf over-dyed aida

Started - 9th October 2020

Finished - 12th October 2020

Total stitching time - 5 hours 35 minutes

Isn't it sweet?!

In this Smalls SAL I'm also re-showing other qualifying small projects I've stitched during the month. This month's it's just my child monarchs, Edward VI and lady Jane Grey:

November's Smalls SAL piece will be he third in a set of six Christmas card designs by Durene Jones.

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - September 2020

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.

For September I chose a Patchwork Hootie, this time in pink

Pink Patchwork Hootie by Pinoy Stitch (etsy)

Stitch Count 41 wide by 41 high

Stitched on 16ct Sorbet over-dyed aida

Started - 22nd September 2020

Finished - 25th September 2020

Total stitching time - 8 hours 45 minutes

I've now stitched three of these Patchwork Hooties; once I've this one I'll show them all together.

In this Smalls SAL I'm also re-showing other qualifying small projects I've stitched during the month. This month's it's just my monarch, the tyrannical Henry VIII:

October's Small SAL will be another Hootie, but this time a Spooky Hootie in preparation for Halloween.

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

Smalls SAL - October 2019

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. This month it was a Spooky Hootie by Pinoy Stitch (etsy) and which which was relevent for Halloween:

RIP Spooky Hootie by Pinoy Stitch (etsy)

Stitch Count 29 wide by 40 high

Stitched on 16ct Wolf over-dyed aida from sewitall.com 2 over 1

Started - 5th October 2019

Finished - 7th October 2019

Total stitching time - 6 hours 10 minutes

I absolutely adore this little chap and his Halloween colours.

The charted pale grey RIP hardly showed up against the grey of the gravestone so I backstitched around it in 3799. It's still not that clear but then neither are traditional carved gravestones so everyone will just have to squint! OK, so I could have swapped the letters for black or white, or even a paler grey, but I thought a paler grey would not have made much difference and the others would have been too harsh a contrast.

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

My birthstone of the month, October In Tourmaline:

And my monarch of the month, Edward II:

For November's Smalls SAL I'm finally going Christmassy with both the design and the use of lots of Etoile threads! Yippee!!

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - September 2019

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. This month it was a Patchwork Hootie by Pinoy Stitch (etsy). I didn't know whether I would be stitching the blue, green or pink one and asked if you had any preference. Votes were tied between blue and green, so I chose blue to match my September birthstone:

Blue Pachwork Hootie by Pinoy Stitch (etsy)

Stitch Count 55 wide by 42 high

Stitched on 16ct Glacier over-dyed aida from sewitall.com 2 over 1

Started - 7th September 2019

Finished - 20th September 2019

Total stitching time - 10 hours 10 minutes

I didn't think the charted blues went together very well so I chose my own colours. However, two of the three looked so alike when stitched that they could have been mistaken for the same thread. So I did a bit of frogging and substituted the darker blue at the last minute. I don't think it works but, hey-ho, I've stitched it now and am not going to unpick it again. Anyway, seeing as owls are neither blue nor patchwork, any colour combination would work really!

What don't work, though, are the white dots in his eyes. Looking in opposite directions they make him look sinister so I'll probably change them before he's FFO'd.

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

My birthstone of the month, September in Sapphire:

And my monarch of the month, Edward I:

October's Small SAL will see another Hootie, although this time I'll be sticking with the charted colours!

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - October 2018

Good afternoon everybody!

Once again it's time for the Smalls SAL, run by Heather of Stitching Lotus. Is it me or do the months come round more quickly towards the end of the year?

For October I decided to stitch another Hootie. I chose this one because it's in colours I don't stitch with very often, so thought it would make a nice change.

Purple Patchwork Hootie by Pinoy Stitch (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Lilac over-dyed aida from sewitall.com 2 over 1
Stitch count - 41 wide by 42 high
Started - 1st October 2018
Finished - 4th October 2018
Total stitching time - 8 hours 5 minutes

The only colour change I made was to the two diamonds in the middle of his chest - the charted 208 was too similar to the 209 around it so I used the paler 211.

And... it will come as no surprise to you that he's been made up into a little hanging ornie using coordinating fabric and barley twist cord:

I'm not planning on stitching any more Hooties until this time next year, so my Parliament of owls will have to consist of just two for the time being.

Next month, I'm going bananas!

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - May 2018

Good evening everybody!

I'm a little late with this month's Smalls SAL, run by Heather of Stitching Lotus, as I've been pondering whether to post or not since no link-up has been posted for this month or last. I hope that our host is OK - does anybody know?

I've had a lot of Hooties on my wishlist since I first discovered Pinoy Stitches on etsy a few years ago. They've been in and out of my basket numerous times as I made a decision to buy them and then decided I couldn't justify the purchase because I didn't need any more stash, until one day I just thought stuff it, I rarely treat myself to anything, so on to my to-do pile they went!

This is the first one I decided to stitch:

Yellow Patchwork Hootie by Pinoy Stitch (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Tangerine over-dyed aida from sewitall.com 2 over 1
Stitch count - 42 wide by 41 high
Started - 1st May 2018
Finished - 6th May 2018
Total stitching time - 7 hours 45 minutes

I changed the colour of the spots (not that you can see them in the photo) for more of an orangey-yellow (743) rather than the charted pale yellow (445) but think I should have gone a bit darker. Nevermind, I love him anyway!

And, as is now my tradition, here he is all made up into a little hanging ornie:

Who can fail to love that backing fabric? Thank you ebay!

I'm planning to stitch only one more Hootie this year, but eventually(!) I'm hoping to have my own little Parliament. Until then the Gouldian Finch and Cockatiel, stitched earlier this year, are keeping him company.

Next month, something a little more summery.

Take care,
Rachel x