#24HoursOfCrossStitch - March Challenges

Hi all,

Here is my monthly posting for the #24HoursOfCrossStitch Challenge, the brainchild of Jen from QuirksandStitches, where we can have fun matching our stitching for the month to various challenges. Let's see what happened in March...

1) Stitch for 24 hours during the month, including a minimum of 24 minutes each day
The beginning of March saw me beginning to slowly return to my usual stitching routine. Then, like a lot of people, I found myself in virtual lock down so was able to take advantage of some of the additional 'free' time when I would usually have been working. My total stitching time for March was therefore a very pleasing 56 hours.


2) Fill in the acrostic MEASURE TIME, explain the connections and pick a 24 minute, 4 hour, 8 hour, (or other) goal for each letter.
At the beginning of the month I set the goals as I usually would, suspecting I wouldn't be able to achieve all them all. And then this madness happened, so this is how much I actually achieved for the 11 projects I'd planned:

M - Kings And Queens by Bothy Threads (WIP)

Connection - my monarch is a month late!
Goal - start and finish (about 4 hours?)

Actual - 4h 45m

E - Polar Bear Cub (new start)

Connection - he's being stitched on evenweave

Goal - start and finish (about 8 hours?)

Actual - 7h 40m

A - Advent Calendar Day 16 (new start)

Connection - the design is an angel

Goal - start and finish (about 2 hours?)

Actual - stitched for 40 minutes, did not finish

S - Advent Calendar Day 6 (new start)

Connection - the design is a snowman

Goal - start and finish (about 2 hours?)

Actual - stitched for 45 minutes, did not finish

U - Daisy Umbrella (2015 WIP)

Connection - the daisy is being used as an umbrella

Goal - at least 4 hours of progress

Actual - 5 hours

R - Hogwarts In A Bottle (2019 WIP)

Connection - still no sign of the red train!
Goal - at least 8 hours of progress
Actual - 10 hours

 E - Snow Globe Tree (2019 WIP)

Connection - I'm using etoile thread for the snow
Goal - at least 4 hours of progress
Actual - finished in 8h 40m

T - The Loneliness Of Autumn (2020 WIP)

Connection - more tree trunks should appear

Goal - at least 8 hours of progress

Actual - 10 hours

I - Advent Calendar Day 7 (new start)

Connection - the design includes ice skates

Goal - start and finish (about 2 hours?)

Actual - stitched for 40 minutes, did not finish

M - Grow Your Own by Bothy Threads (2019 WIP)

Connection - the bunny is munching lettuce

Goal - at least 4 hours of progress

Actual - 4h 15m

E - Christmas Cat With Presents (2019 WIP)

Connection - because opening presents is exciting!

Goal - finish (about 4 hours?)

Actual - finished in 3h 35m

3) Connect 12 or more of the given holidays to your projects and stitch for at least 24 minutes on each. 10 of the 11 projects went on one holiday, the biggest (The Loneliness Of Autumn) went on two. Here are their connections:

Day 2 - Old Stuff Day - Daisy Umbrella - this is an old WIP from way back in 2015.

Day 3 - I Want You To Be Happy Day - Christmas Cat With Present - because giving presents is usually a good way of making someone happy.

Day 5 - World Book Day - Hogwarts In A Bottle - this represents some of the most famous books in the world.

Day 9 - Panic Day - Polar Bear - because if you came face to face with a polar bear, you'd panic!

Day 11 - Napping Day - The Loneliness Of Autumn - the bench looks like a good place to sit and take a nap.

Day 13 - Blame Someone Else Day - Kings and Queens - because monarchs would never admit they were wrong and always find someone else to blame for their errors.

Day 14 - National Pi Day - Snow Globe Tree - Pi is used when calculating things to do with circles, and this snow globe is a circle. Sort of!

Day 16 - Everything You Do Is Right Day - Advent Calendar Day 16 Angel - if you do everything right then you're usually referred to as a little angel.

Day 19 - Let's Laugh Day - Advent Calendar Day 6 Snowman - because building a snowman is usually a lot of fun and causes a lot of laughs.

Day 20 - World Sparrow Day - The Loneliness Of Autumn - there could be quite a few sparrows hiding in the trees.

Day 23 - Near Miss Day - Advent Calendar Day 7 Ice Skates - I had a near miss once when I fell over ice skating and saw the blade of a fast skater pass very close to my fingers!

Day 30 - National I Am In Control Day - Grow Your Own - if you grow your own vegetables then you are in control of eating a healthy diet.


4) Additional 'Just For Fun' Challenge: list 24 reasons to stitch instead of...
For this task I tend to waffle a bit instead of making an actual list, and this month is no exception!

I don't think stitching is my hobby; it's part of my life I can't do without, almost an obsession if I'm honest. Therefore I would try to find any excuse I could to stitch. Given a choice, I would easily choose stitching over things I don't enjoy much such as housework and cooking. However, my work is important to me, as is spending time with my children (although being late teenagers that doesn't happen very often) so those would always take priority. But other than that stitching is preferable to just about anything else.

And that's it for March. Back in April!

Take care,
Rachel x

Christmas Cat With Present AND Snow Globe Tree - finished!

Hello again!

Bearing in mind I will be starting 17 projects over the next four months (yes, I know I'm completely, utterly and insanely mad!) I spent the last few days of March trying to finish off a couple of WIPs so that there would at least be two less in my tottering pile.

And I succeeded! In fact I almost finished three, but not quite.

The first finish was Christmas Cat With Present, This was finish number five from the seven new projects which made up last year's Summer Of New Starts.

When you last saw her she looked like this, the cat herself obviously being too shy to make an appearance!

Here she is before the backstitching:

And now all finished:

Christmas Cat With Present by Lucie Heaton (etsy)

Stitch count 55 wide by 56 high

Stitched on 16ct white with silver lurex aida 2 over 1

Started - 31st August 2019

Finished - 24th March 2020

Total Stitching Time - 13 hours 45 minutes

She's one of a set of four but I have no idea as yet when the other three will make an appearance - perhaps during the Spring Into Summer New Start Binge? Who knows?!


My second finish was Snow Globe Tree, finish number six from last year's seven Summer Of New Starts. I left it like this:

And now it's all finished:

Snow Globe Tree by Lucie Heaton (etsy)

Stitch count 56 wide by 56 high

Stitched on 16ct antique white aida 2 over 1

Started - 20th July 2019

Finished - 28th March 2020

Total Stitching Time - 18 hours 35 minutes

I made a couple of small changes, using beads for the baubles and white Etoile for the snow. The Etoile gives the snow a greyish appearance, as opposed to being pure white, but I like it; I think it reflects the weather as being cloudy as opposed to sunny.

So that's 12 finishes so far this year and two more WIPs crossed off my list. I would say only 45 more to go but that won't be true in a few weeks' time! Nevermind... I've only myself to blame (and I've got some lovely projects coming up so don't regret this decision at all).

Take care,
Rachel x

The Loneliness Of Autumn - 30 hours

Hi all!

The Loneliness Of Autumn is a SAL with Leonore, which we are both stitching extreme cross country one colour at a time.

March saw another 10 hours of black. I've now reached the bottom on the right hand side and am gradually working towards the bottom on the left:

Leonore's progress post for March will be linked here once it's up.

Next month I just might finish the black, and that means a second colour may make an appearance - not that there will be a marked difference since it's DMC939 dark blue.

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - March 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 another kit 'inherited' from my mum. This little polar bear was enjoyable to stitch and watch come together, although the cotton evenweave I chose to stitch him on was quite flimsy. I guess it's probably because I'm so used to aida. Anyway, here he is:

Polar Bear Cub from the 'Little Friends' range by Heritage Crafts

Stitch Count 35 wide by 35 high

Stitched on 32ct cloud blue sky over-dyed evenweave 2 over 1

Started - 3rd March 2020

Finished - 22nd March 2020

Total stitching time - 7 hours 40 minutes

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

That's all for this month; see you next month with something very pink!

Take care,
Rachel x

Spring Into Summer New Start Binge

Hi all!

I hope you are all keeping safe in these scary and uncertain times.

I never thought I'd live to see the day the world shut down but have had most of my faith in humanity restored watching political leaders and most of the populations across the world taking it seriously and abiding with, let's face it, unprecedented and draconian legislation.

Naturally I hope you all stay healthy and out of danger.


I have been asked what is happening with the Tokyo Olympic Stitching Challenge I had planned for later this year. Well, as yet, the IOC/Japan have made no formal decision about the Olympic Games but I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that they will have to be postponed. It therefore looks likely that this SAL will similarly be postponed.

EDIT: It has now been confirmed the Tokyo Olympic Games will be postponed for a year. Therefore this SAL will now become the Tokyo Olympic Stitching Challenge 2021. Put it in your diaries for next year - you've got plenty of time to plan for it!


Bearing that in mind, and assuming that we are all going to be in lock down for at least a month or two, does anyone fancy a new start binge?

An enthusiastic Tiff and I have decided that that's exactly what we need so I have come up with a Spring Into Summer New Start Binge. For the months of April and May we are planning to start a new project each weekend, making nine in total. If, after that, life is still on hold we talked of extending into June and maybe even July as that would, rather neatly, add up to the 17 new starts originally planned for the Tokyo Olympic Stitching Challenge. But that decision will be made closer to the time.

We appreciate it's fairly short notice, but does anyone fancy joining us for the next couple of months, maybe longer?

But don't worry... like the original Olympic Challenge, it doesn't have to be all new starts, it could be all WIPs or a combination of WIPs and new starts, or even spend those weekends concentrating on one WIP you really want to finish or don't usually enjoy working on. Whichever you choose, it's all about the weekends.

If you need any more convincing, look at the Spring Into Summer New Start Binge as:
* a replacement for the Tokyo Olympic Stitching Challenge
* something to look forward to each weekend for the next few months
* a way of staying sane whilst cooped up
* a way of spreading stitching happiness during these dark times

And if that isn't enough, just do what Tiff and I have done and consider it a damn good excuse for a new start binge!

I really shouldn't be doing this, but what the heck - most of the circumstances I have had to deal with since the beginning of the year have basically now been taken out of my hands, and there's only so much housework / family time I can cope with in a day now that everyone's home all the time!

Yes, it'll take my WIPs over 50 (which I said I never wanted to happen again) and yes, I'll probably regret it later but, like I said, what the heck!

I have been reasonably sensible though - despite some bigger projects screaming to be started, I've chosen mainly smallish (under 20 hours) ones for the first two months, so nothing too excessive or large to over-burden my WIP pile. However, if we carry on into June and July that will more than likely change!

If you do fancy joining us for a run of new starts, or pulling out one or more older/neglected WIPs have fun stash or WIP diving! The first weekend will be 4th and 5th April and I'll be posting each new start update on the following Monday. Maybe see you there?

Take care and stay safe,
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

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 160 hours

Hi there!

I didn't get to work on this project at all during February and must say I really really really missed it. I was determined to make up for it in March and thanks in part to having a couple of 'self-care' (i.e. stitching!) days I managed the full 10 hours I'd hoped for.

I usually work from right to left but finishing the outside of the bottle was far too tempting. So I did that first then continued to fill in more of the mountains and steam.

Here are the pictures from January:

And now:

Next time around I plan to finish off the steam on the bottom right, the outside of the bottle on the bottom left, and add all the backstitching I can. Then, if there's any time left, I will finally allow myself to thread some red and start the train - I've definitely left the best for last!

Take care,
Rachel x