Smalls SAL - January 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.

This month it was a Mouseloft kit called Robin on Postbox:

Robin On Postbox by Mouseloft

Stitch Count 26 wide by 28 high

Stitched on supplied 14ct cream aida 2 over 1

Started - 2nd January 2020

Finished - 3rd January 2020

Total stitching time - 3 hours 5 minutes

I'll be stitching a few Mouseloft kits this year. They are technically my mum's but she's more or less given up stitching so I agreed to stitch them for her. Shucks, it's a hard life!

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

My monarch of the month, Henry IV:

And 3 Advent Calendar pieces by JBW Designs. At 25x25 these definitely qualify as smalls!

See you next month!

Take care,
Rachel x

New Start - The Loneliness Of Autumn - 10 hours

Hi all!

If you read my stitching plans for 2020 you may remember that I have undertaken a mad long-term SAL with Leonore to stitch Leonid Afremov's The Loneliness Of Autumn, one colour at a time extreme cross country.

I'm stitching Artecy's version on 18ct 2 over 1 for an average of 20 minutes per day (which 'just so happens' to be about 10 hours per month!) whereas Leonore is stitching Love Thy Thread's version on 28ct 1 over 1 at an average of one thread length per day. Leonore is putting in roughly twice as many stitches as me but, as her chart is almost twice the size we are, in effect, stitching at the same speed. How good is that?!

Here's a reminder of the design:

Towards the end of the month I'm going to jump slightly ahead so that I can post a regular 10 hour update. If I didn't, the only time you would see my progress would be in my #24 post and, let's face it, this BAP deserves a post of its own, at least that's what I think!

My first colour is DMC 310, black, of which there will eventually be 5,718 stitches.

Here's the first picture:

And the whole piece:

As you can see, I made it all the way across the top of the chart and added a good chunk of tree trunk on the left. I don't count stitches but I reckon I'm about 25% through the black, or a whopping 1.88% through the whole piece!

Here's a link to Leonore's post if you wish to compare SALs.

Next month... more black!

Take care,
Rachel x

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 150 hours

Hi there!

Another 10 hours and another update.

This time I added lots of steam. I started with the steam clouds on the left, then my needle wandered to the steam clouds on the right it 'happened' to discover the bottom of the chart!!! It's now fairly clear exactly how much I have left to stitch.

Because I've now reached the bottom, there's no point in showing both the progress picture and the picture of the whole piece as they're the same, so here are just the pictures of the full piece before and after this latest ten hour stretch of stitching:

For those in the UK of a 'certain age', you might understand why I was mimicking 'phsss-chi-coof' (sp) to myself whilst stitching the steam!

Whereas previously I 'only' thoroughly enjoyed stitching this, I'm also now letting a tiny bit of excitement creep in as I'm getting closer to the end (although I reckon I've still got about 50 hours to go!) I deliberately left stitching the train to last and 'can't wait' for that first red stitch to go in... maybe not next time... but soon!

Take care,
Rachel x

A Little Wizard Of The Night - finished!

Hi all!

Although this is actually my 5th finish of 2020 (one of which hasn't appeared on my blog yet) this is what I would call my first major finish. It is one of my seven Summer Of New Start pieces from last year and is now the fifth of those seven to be finished. I didn't have a lot left to do, just the bat and the village really, along with the backstitching of course.

Here's where I left it at the end of December:

Before the two hours of backstitching:

And now all finished:

A Little Wizard Of The Night by Soda Stitch

Stitched on 16ct Dusky Sky over-dyed aida

Stitch Count 60 wide by 56 high

Started - 24th August 2019

Finished - 18th January 2020

Total stitching time - 16 hours 15 minutes

He's just so darn cute!

I would like to FFO this in the same way I did my other Soda Stitch, A Shower, which is as a little pillow with ruched ribbon around the edge, assuming I can find appropriate fabric and ribbon. I already know the ribbon will take a long time to attach, but at least it doesn't have to all be done at once, and the result is well worth it.

Now onwards and upwards... plenty more stitching time left in January yet!

Take care,
Rachel x

JBW Advent Calendar - Days 1, 9 and 21

Hello all!

Throughout the year I am planning to stitch JBW Designs' Advent Calendar. Each day will be stitched separately and in no particular order; I'll just pick whichever day appeals to me at the time.

I will be making a lot of changes along the way, though:
* none of the numbers will be stitched because, as you can see, I have a cunning plan
* a lot of the colours will be changed to make the motifs more uniform
* quite a few beads will be added for that little extra something
* the (expensive) recommended charms will be replaced with small ones from my stash

This month I stitched three pieces, all on 16ct silver lurex aida:

Day 1 - Wreath:

Started  - 4th January 2020

Finished - 14th January 2020

Total Stitching time - 2 hours 10 minutes

Day 9 - Stocking:

Started  - 5th January 2020

Finished - 14th January 2020

Total Stitching time - 1 hour 40 minutes

Day 21 - Baubles:

Started  - 11th January 2020

Finished - 14th January 2020

Total Stitching time - 1 hour 45 minutes

Because they stitch up so quickly they are great for a very satisfying one night start and finish, something which I don't ever think I've done before.

All three have been FFOd but I'll save those pictures for February's FFG SAL.

Only 21 more to go!

Take care,
Rachel x

A Monarch A Month - Henry IV

Hello all!

So I'm now in to year 2 of 4 of stitching Bothy Thread's Kings and Queens at the slow pace of one monarch per month. How the last year has flown!

This is monarch number thirteen, Henry IV:

Henry IV from Kings and Queens by Bothy Threads

Started - 3rd January 2020

Finished - 4th January 2020

Total stitching time - 5 hours 10 minutes

Here's my summary of  Henry IV's reign. Little seems to have been written about him, suggesting he wasn't one of the more interesting monarchs. Perhaps Shakespeare's Henry IV (parts 1 and 2) might tell you more but I'm not going down that route!

HENRY IV
Preceded by Richard II (cousin)

Succeeded by Henry V (son)
Lived - 1367-1413
Reigned - 1399-1413
Married - Mary de Bohun 1381 (died 1394) and Joan of Navarre 1403
Fathered - 4 sons and 2 daughters by first wife, and 1 or 2 illegitimate sons

Following a successful uprising by Henry against his cousin, Richard II, Parliament declared Richard a tyrant and Henry King.

England finally had their first monarch since the 1066 Norman Conquest whose first language was English rather than French!

Henry was also the first Lancastrian monarch which, unwittingly, initiated The Wars Of The Roses (note 1).

With rumours abundant that Richard was still alive, Henry spent much of his reign fighting off similar rebellions to that which had put him on the throne.

One of the biggest threats was from the self-proclaimed Prince of Wales, Owain Glyndwr. His rebellions were unsuccessful, but events escalated after Henry's cousin (and potential claimant to the throne) Edmund Mortimer was captured in 1402.

Henry wasn't really bothered by this, but Edmund's ally, Henry Hotspur was. With Welsh and Scottish support, Hotspur rebelled against Henry, culminating in the 1403 Battle of Shrewsbury, where Hotspur was killed.

Henry had Battlefield Church built to remember the thousands who had died that day.

Aided by the French, Owain Glyndwr rebelled again but Henry's son, Prince Henry, ensured the threats were quickly suppressed.

In his last few years Henry suffered bouts of illness. As a result, he allowed his son a limited regency.

Henry's crown was beside him on his deathbed in 1413 and it is said that, when it was thought he had died, Prince Henry took the crown, only to be reprimanded by his still-alive father for being too eager!

Henry is buried in Canterbury Cathedral beside his second wife.

So next month, Henry V.

Note 1 - It was the question of the male-only line of succession from Edward III which was responsible for The Wars Of The Roses - the Lancastrians (Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI descended from Edward III's third surviving son) took the male-only line of succession, whilst the Yorkists (Edward IV, Edward V and Richard III descended from Edward III's second surviving son but via a female descendant) did not. It was not until the succession of Henry VII in 1485 that the Lancastrians and Yorks were united (as far as warring families can be united!) under the Tudor dynasty.

Take care,
Rachel x

Link-up For Fully Finished Gallery SAL - January 2020

Hello all!

It's the 10th of the month so time for another Fully Finished Gallery SAL, the first of 2020, and the place to show how you have changed your sitting-in-drawers-or-boxes UFOs into displayable cross stitches.

The link-up for this SAL opens on the 10th of each month and stays open for 10 days, so you have plenty of time to turn those UFOs into FFOs and join in.

Please note that this copy of last year's logo should very soon be replaced with a nice new one for 2020.

The new logo will be of last year's winning entry by Suzanne H who, thanks to Jo's brilliant idea, kindly gave me permission to make it into this year's logo. Only it hasn't been done yet, ooops. Keep those entries coming during 2020; who knows, next year it could be your entry which becomes the 2021 logo!

Back to this month though...

I was hoping to achieve lots of FFOing over the Christmas break but, surprise surprise, it didn't happen! I did achieve two though - the Durene Jones Christmas-themed Smalls SAL pieces from November and December:

Happy Christmas...

... and Ho, Ho, Ho:

For the front I placed some wadding underneath the cross stitch and attached it to a piece of foam mount board. For the back I attached some sparkly fabric to another piece of foam mount board. After placing a hanging loop and a tassel between them, the front and back were stuck together and some tinsel wool attached around the edge to cover the joins (2 rounds of red or green and one round of silver). The tinsel wool was annoying to attach but well worth the effort.


Now it's over to you to show what you've been finishing this month. Will there be some more Christmas finishes, I wonder?

Please link-up using the URL of your FFG SAL post and not the home page of your blog, adding a thumbnail of a finish and either your name or your blog name as the caption. The link-up will remain open for 10 days, closing at 6am UK time on 20th January.

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And please don't forget to follow other links and see what fellow fully-finishers have been up to; you never know, other projects may give you an idea for your next finish!

Once the link-up has closed I shall update the FFG SAL page with the number of entrants and entries.

Next month's post will go live on 10th February at 6am UK time. Hope to see you there!

Take care,

Rachel x