Spring Into Summer New Start Binge - #4 Pretty Little Toronto

Hi again!

If you don't know by now, Tiff and I are starting seventeen new projects each weekend during the months of April-July and have named it the Spring Into Summer New Start Binge. This is now (already!) week number four of seventeen.

This week's new start is the biggest of the seventeen and one that has been on my list for a long time. There was a reason I chose to start it this particular weekend.

You must have twigged that the number 10 is significant in my life; well, the number two is too. For example, we have have 2 children born 2 years 2 weeks and 2 days apart, 22 was the first house we bought, and Saturday was our 22nd wedding anniversary, which brought back wonderful memories of honeymooning in... Toronto, so starting this project was a no-brainer!

Unfortunately, stitching-wise, both Saturday and Sunday were a complete wash-out with me just scraping in a few stitches before bedtime. So here's my piddly achievement for the whole weekend, the beginning of the cloud on the right:

Pretty Little Toronto by Satsuma Street

Stitched on 16ct Winter Sunset aida by The Crafty Kitten

Stitching time to date - 20 minutes!

Obviously I'm looking forward to returning to it, especially given this pathetic start.

Next week's new start will be something to do with hunny I think.

Take care,
Rachel x

Pretty Little Paris - finished and framed

Hello all!

So here we have this month's finish from Debbie's Super Duper Ultimate Crazy January February Challenge 2015. This is finish number 34 out of the 59 starts and is, of course, Pretty Little Paris by Satsuma Street.

At the end of September I had made this much progress:

And now with final additions of Sacre Coeur and the Montgolfier Balloon:

Pretty Little Paris by Satsuma Street

Stitched on 16ct Apricot Sunset hand-dyed aida by The Crafty Kitten 2 over 1

Stitch count 111 wide by 104 high
Started - 19th February 2015
Finished - 9th October 2018
Total stitching time - 39 hours 15 minutes

And, continuing my fully-finishing-off streak, here it is framed. I really wanted a blue frame to bring out the Eiffel Tower but my usual frame supplier, easyframe.co.uk, didn't have the right shade, so I opted for the same as London - a 13mm red stain frame with non-reflective acrylic glazing.

Here are London and Paris together:

As it turned out, the two frames are slightly different in both colouring and texture, even though they are supposed to be the same. I guess, like most things, different batches are not exactly identical. Not that it bothers me; it was never my original intention to frame them as a matching pair anyway.

I really enjoyed stitching both Paris and London this year, watching landmarks take shape in weird in wonderful colours. It's no wonder the Pretty Little Cities are popular although, having said that, I haven't seen any around for a while.

I have a few others Pretty Little Cities I would like to stitch 'one day', the first of which will be  Toronto. But don't hold your breath waiting, I am fairly certain it will be quite some time before it makes an appearance!

Take care,
Rachel x

September Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Hello there!

Another month gone and another month of steady progress to show you on a couple of projects I started for Debbie's Challenges back in 2015/2016.

During September I finished and framed Tea from the Little Black Cat range (posted previously) and made progress on:

Pretty Little Paris by Satsuma Street

started 19th February 2015; last worked on last month
finished the bridge and added the Arc de Triomph

Winter Alphabet by Lizzie Kate

started 26th January 2016; last worked on in March 2016
continued alphabetically, adding two more rows

In October I plan to finish Pretty Little Paris, make further progress on Winter Alphabet and bring the final Hogwarts House Crest, Hufflepuff, out to play. If all goes well, all three pieces will be finished by the end of the year.

Take care,

Rachel x

August Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Hello there!

So we're now 2/3rds of the way through the year and I'm slowly but surely keeping up with making progress on some of the pieces I started for Debbie's Challenges back in 2015 and 2016.

During August I finished Summer from The Four Season (posted previously) and made progress on:

Pretty Little Paris by Satsuma Street
started 19th February 2015; last worked on last month
finished Notre Dame, added the trees on the left and started the bridge
(much better representation of fabric colour)

Little Black Cat - Tea by Heritage Crafts
started 23rd February 2015; last worked on in December 2016
filled in some of the background
(much better representation of fabric colour)

In September I plan to finish Tea, make more progress on Pretty Little Paris and bring the final Lizzie Kate Seasonal Alphabet out of its bag for some much needed attention. Fingers crossed.

Take care,

Rachel x

July Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Hello there!

Another month, another progress update on a couple of pieces I started for Debbies' Challenges back in 2015 and 2016.

July was another successful month, finishing Lizzie Kate's Summer Alphabet (posted previously) and working on:

Pretty Little Paris by Satsuma Street
started 19th February 2015; last worked on last month
finished The Eiffel Tower, stitched The Pompidou Centre, The Louvre and a bit more of Notre Dame

Summer from The Four Seasons
started 8th February 2015; not worked on since then
worked down one colour at a time

The gaps I've left are because I've found a mistake on the chart! I don't know about you but this is quite rare to me. Here's the original chart and as you can see the gaps should be stitched in a creamy-peachy sort of colour.

But this is the colour given on the chart, which I have a slight inkling is not quite right!

Actually, I think it's a simple typo and it's supposed to be 3771 not 3371 but seeing as I rarely pick up my stitching until after 10pm it's not something I can correctly check in artificial light (even with a daylight bulb).

If I actually remember to check during natural daylight hours, Summer will be finished in August (which means that all four seasons will have been completed) Pretty Little Paris will grow some more and the final Little Black Cat will make an appearance.

Take care,

Rachel x

June Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Hello there!

Time for another progress update. Let's see how I did in June on those many WIPs I still have left from the projects I started back in January/February 2015 and January 2016.

During June I finished Sugar (posted previously) and made progress on:

Summer Alphabet by Lizzie Kate
started 12th January 2016; last worked on last month
continued alphabetically (gotta love the little pink fishy!)

Pretty Little Paris by Satsuma Street
started 19th February 2015; not touched since then
more of the Moulin Rouge as well as parts of Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower have appeared

So far this year I have kept up with my plans; very slowly but surely my Challenge pieces are being worked on and finished. Fingers crossed that will carry on during the second half of the year too.

Frustratingly, however, my stitching time has been down by about 1/3rd for the last three months so I've hardly worked on the Haunted House Bell Pull. Even if I don't make much progress on it in July I am determined it will be finished during August.

Take care,

Rachel x

3 Box of Shame Finishes - Dolphin, Red Foxes, London

Hello all!

I have 3 framed pieces to show you today. All frames are courtesy of easyframes.co.uk. and all have my usual anti-reflective glazing.

First up, the fabulous Dreaming of Dolphins which I finished last May (was it really that long ago?!) After a lot of deliberation I opted for a plain 22mm Confetti Dark Blue frame with no mounts. I say a lot of deliberation because I really liked it with mounts, but because the fabric picks up different colours in different light (greens, blues, purples), and because I couldn't guarantee an exact match I decided to play it safe and opt for the frame only. I certainly didn't make the wrong choice:

Then we have the adorable Red Foxes, from the Young'uns collection by Gloria and Pat, finished last September. No mounts for this piece, just a simple 13mm mahogany frame. I just adore these little cuties and definitely need them on display.

Finally, Pretty Little London by Satsuma Street completed last October. I had a slight issue with this piece because I literally had only 15mm of spare fabric on the left and right - it was a case of ordering a piece of fabric onto which the project just about fit, or ordering a much bigger piece and having more waste. I'm afraid meanness won! I originally chose a dark grey frame to match the colour of the cloud but then thought that this was a fun design so needed a fun frame. So I opted for a 13mm Red Paint frame which clashes beautifully with the pinks in the fabric but definitely brings out the reds. Mounts were never going to be an option for such a colourful piece as this:

Most of the remaining pieces which need framing are parts of sets so I'm going to wait until I have completed all of the parts before framing them together. Hopefully that won't be too far away.

Take care,
Rachel x

Pretty Little London - finished

Hello all,

I'm late again with posting another Debbie's Super Duper Ultimate Crazy January February Challenge (DSDUCJFC) 2015 finish as this should have been posted three weeks ago!! During October I finished Pretty Little London. You won't have seen this project for a couple of months, as I did not post a September update, so here are the final progress pictures and the finished piece:

How you last saw it at the end of August:

At the end of September:

And all finished:

Pretty Little London by Satsuma Street Designs (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Sunset Sky hand-dyed aida by The Crafty Kitten 2 over 1

Stitch count 123 wide by 110 high

Started - 5th February 2015

Finished - 23rd October 2017

Total stitching time - 44 hours 45 minutes

Obviously I'm going to say I thoroughly enjoyed stitching it, especially when London means so much to me. It seemed to start off really slowly but once past the halfway mark it roller-coastered along. I'm not quite sure yet how I'm going to frame it - the colours in the fabric and stitching aren't going to make it easy but I'm leaning towards dark grey at the moment. We'll see.....

Pretty Little Paris was also started in 2015 and is on my finishing list for 2018.

Speaking of 2018, I've devised two stitching plans - one heavily concentrated on finishing more WIPs and one more skewed towards new starts. At present I'm not feeling the excitement in finishing projects, nor in starting new ones so it's still very much up in the air which direction I'll go. I haven't lost my mojo, nor my interest - I suppose I'm just plodding along until something screams out to me which isn't happening at present but will one day!

In the meantime, there should be another finish soon.

Take care,
Rachel x

August Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Hello all!

It's time again for another month-end round up on the progress I've made on my Challenge WIPs. So, here we go.

During August I finished The Lock (posted previously) and worked on:

Red Foxes from the Young-uns Collection by Gloria and Pat
started 14th February 2015; last stitched on July 2017
stitched the second fox's head and added some more backstitching

Pretty Little London by Satsuma Street
started 5th February 2015; last worked on July 2017
reached the bottom and then continued working left

Slytherin by Theworldinstitches (etsy)
started 25th February 2015; last stitched on January 2017
added the border and most of the snake
(the fabric is not that cream but I simply couldn't get a good photo today!)

I was hoping that the school summer holiday would have allowed me a bit more stitching time but it was not to be. Still, progress is progress and I'm happy with my achievements.

I shall finish Red Foxes in September and work on three more, as usual.

Take care,

Rachel x

July Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Hello all!

Time for another month-end round up on the progress I've made on my Challenge WIPs. By now you know what I'm going to say about my plans and how successful I was!

I finished Cream (posted previously) and worked on:

Red Foxes from the Young-uns Collection by Gloria and Pat
started 14th February 2015; last stitched on June 2017
finished stitching the first fox and backstitched some of the fox, leaves and rocks

The Lock from the Silhouettes range by Heritage Crafts
started 17th February 2015; last stitched on June 2017
continued working my way down

Pretty Little London by Satsuma Street
started 5th February 2015; last worked on 26th May 2015
reached the bottom right and continued working left

Another satisfying stitching month for me there then.

I have now recommenced working on all of the Challenge WIPs I hope to finish this year so there will be no more to show over the coming months - only more progress and finishes.

In August... surprise surprise... I intend to finish one, The Lock, and continue making progress on three more. With it being the school summer holiday, and therefore not having to work for the whole of August, I hope to have a little more stitching time and be able to work on a few other projects too. Who knows what might sneakily slip into my plans?!

Take care,

Rachel x

May Progress on DSDUCJFC 2015 Pieces

Hello fellow bloggers!

It's the end of May so time for another Challenge progress update.

At the end of April I set myself the task during May of finishing one of my remaining 50 Challenge pieces and working on four more. I also asked for suggestions as to which pieces you would like me to stitch. Replies included Dreaming of Dolphins, any of the Margaret Sherry mice, the Harry Potter crests (especially Ravenclaw), Friends Forever and Pretty Little London.

With all that in mind I set about my May stitching.

I surpassed my targets because I finished not one but two pieces during May.....

* My Treasure from 27th February
* Friends Forever from 12th January

..... and made progress on another seven:

Ravenclaw from 18th February

finished the section above the banner

Autumn from 15th February

completed the sky

Hufflepuff from 11th February

continued with the outside of the shield (mostly)

Tea from 23rd February

finished stitching the teapot

Pretty Little London from 5th February

finished the top of Big Ben and continued with Tower Bridge

and the buildings on the bottom right

Dandelion Time from 15th January

backstitched the mouse where possible

(I was not enthused about stitching this one)

Dreaming of Dolphins from 7th January

started the second dolphin

I really enjoyed the additional challenge this month of trying to stitch on as many projects as possible, as suggested by my lovely commenters. I won't ask for suggestions for June but probably will again for July.

My June Challenge targets are again to finish one piece and stitch on at least four more. I've already decided which ones I'm going to work on but you'll have to wait until the end of June to find out!

I hope Debbie would have been proud of my commitment to and progress on her Challenge. :)

TTFN
Rachel x