Naughty November New Start #1 - Moonrise Ornament 1

Morning all!

And welcome to Naughty November!

If you don't know by now, Naughty November is a means of slipping in four cheeky new starts before the end of the year. It really worked for me last year so I am running it again this year, and will likely continue running it in the future, even if it's only me taking part!

My startner-in-crime, Tiff, and I both had lots of new starts back in the summer for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics (and Tiff even more during the year for Maynia) but that hasn't stopped us looking forward to Naughty November!! We do, however, appreciate that these new start binges do not appeal to many, so invite you instead to laugh along at our madness! 

My four new starts are all going to be from a set called Moonrise by Whispered By The Wind, the same company who designed my recently-finished In The Gloaming. You'll easily see the resemblance, especially since I have also used the same fabric.

The four designs don't have names, so this first one (the third from left) I have called Gravestone:

And here's my rather fantastic start over the weekend:

Moonrise Ornament 1 'Gravestone' by Whispered By The Wind

Stitched on 32ct Vintage Dark Grey Murano

Stitching time to date - 6 hours 30 minutes

I've just the moon, the inside of the gravestone and a bit of backstitching left to do, so this shouldn't take too long to finish. In fact, all of them are relatively small so should be finished before the end of the year.

If you are joining in with Naughty November (and I believe there are only two?) and want to link up, here's the linky-widget thingy which will be open for 2 weeks. I look forward to seeing your new starts!

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Back next Monday with new start number 2!

Take care,

Rachel x

People's Choice SAL - Funny

Hello all!

It's the first Saturday of the month so time for the People's Choice SAL run by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching. Continued thanks to Jo for hosting this unique SAL which has a different theme each month.

This month's theme is Funny.

Humour is a very personal thing in that what one person finds funny, another might not even crack a smile at.

If I manage to smile or huff a giggle then I consider something funny so, based on that, let's see what I can find in the way of cross stitches.

Back in 2016 (and I believe it still runs) there was an April A-Z Challenge to post something to do with a letter of the alphabet each Monday-Saturday during the month. I stitched this Humerous Alphabet. This is more clever or groan-worthy than funny, but since it's called Humerous Alphabet it counts as 'funny'! My posts are all tagged on the left under A-Z Challenge 2016 if you're interested.

The late great Margaret Sherry was known for her cute animal designs, some of which also have that giggle factor. I've stitched a couple of her Cattitudes. These are Cantankerous and Contentious (and the other ten are on my to-do list!):

However, I think this one - Cat On Washing Line - is much funnier!

This next chart always makes me smile, even though it's a sad reminder of the selfishness of some people at the beginning of the pandemic. It's called The King Of Toilet Paper by PatternsBySAStitch on etsy. Like me, do you still feel guilty when buying a big packet of toilet paper, even though the shelves are plentifully stocked? I feel like the dragon is saying, "It's mine, all MINE! Mwah-ha-ha!"

And this one always makes me giggle. I first saw it when Katie stitched it a few years ago. It's by Heritage Crafts and called Think Big! Now, who hasn't seen at least one dog try something similar?

Talking of Katie, her posts could usually be guaranteed to raise a smile, be they about her life adventures, joining in with another SAL, having another bunch of new starts, or buying a stash of charts which Santa will just 'happen' to give her for Christmas! She always brought more to a post than her stitching. I'm sure I'm not the only one who misses Katie, wishes her well and hopes everything's OK.

And that's it! Next month's theme is Fancy Finishes.

Take care,

Rachel x

In The Gloaming - finished!

Afternoon all!

Dark October has ended for another year, and what better way to celebrate than by joining Tiff with her In The Gloaming happy dance?

In The Gloaming was the first (and my favourite) of the 17 pieces I started for the Spring Into Summer New Start Binge 2020 and is now the seventh to be finished... literally scraped in on the final day of Dark October!

Here's a reminder of the 50 hour progress picture:

And now finished!

In The Gloaming by Whispered By The Wind

Stitched on 32ct Grey Murano

Stitch count 112 wide by 121 high

Started - 4th April 2020

Finished - 31st October 2021

Total stitching time - 59 hours

I swapped out the colours of the monument from those charted (which looked nothing like the cover picture) to 167, 738, 3823 and 3865, and include Etoile in the moon and railings for a little bit of bling. The moon looks a little lost against the fabric, but I don't think the design really needs it so am happy with it being subtle. And no, I didn't backstitch the railings - 'twas a silly idea!!!

My only regret is that, despite looking at the cover picture numerous times, I didn't notice how the top of the middle railing is not curved like the others. The straight bit between the two birds looks really weird. It's a bit annoying, but not enough for me to want to frog and restitch that section!!!

So now Dark October's finished it's time to move on to November and that means the Naughty November SAL and four (more!) new starts - one during each weekend of the month. My chosen projects are by the same company as In The Gloaming and I've been looking forward to starting them for ages, so am glad Naughty November's finally arrived!

Each Monday I shall post my progress along with a linky-widget thing, so if you fancy being naughty and joining in please feel free. Note - they don't have to be weekend starts, and you don't have to do all four weekends, just start and join in as and when suits you best. Maybe see you there?

Take care,

Rachel x

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

The Loneliness Of Autumn - 210 hours

Hello everyone!

I am so happy to be catching up with this project and am now where I should have been at the end of September - so only one month behind.

This is, of course, The Loneliness of Autumn by Leonid Afremov which I am SALing with Leonore extreme cross country one colour at a time.

During this ten hours I started a new colour, 741 tangerine. It's fairly evenly divided between the top half and bottom half of the chart, and in relatively chunky blocks around the yellow already stitched. As luck would have it, it took me exactly ten hours to complete the top half! Hopefully you can see the difference, especially in the branches of the left tree and around the streetlight on the right:

If my timings are correct, the end of this colour should just about coincide with the end of the next ten hours of stitching. Wouldn't that be great!

Take care,

Rachel x

In The Gloaming - 50 hours

Hi all!

Well, Dark October has been good, and allowed me to put in another 10 hours on In The Gloaming.

Like I thought, I carried on and finished the monument but was then soooooo desperate to stitch the railings that I had a couple of late night into early morning sessions to do just that; a lovely treat for which I paid the price when the lack of sleep caught up with me!

Here's how it was at 40 hours:

And after the couple of long stitching sessions:

I'm still quite a way off finishing but think another 10 hours should be enough. However, I need to get back to The Loneliness Of Autumn so doubt I will be joining Tiff in her Dark October In The Gloaming Happy Dance.

I'm also cautiously wondering whether or not to backstitch the railings. It would require a lot of work, and would definitely make them 'pop' more, but then would I also have to backstitch the monument?

Another deciding factor is that I'm stitching a similar project, Gatekeeper, and if I backstitched the railings on this one I would have to do the same on that one and, as you can see, that would be a mega undertaking, so maybe not afterall!

Thoughts?

Take care,

Rachel x

The Loneliness Of Autumn - 200 hours

Hello everyone!

This is The Loneliness Of Autumn by Leonid Afremov which I am SALing with Leonore one colour at a time extreme cross country.

I'm still playing catch up but am now at the 200 hour mark - where I should have been at the end of August.

As predicted, I finished the current colour at roughly the same time I hit the 200 hour mark. I've got a few loose tails to finish off, but since they won't take more than a few minutes, I'll call it quits.

First up are the 190 and 200 hour comparison photos. I think it's quite obvious where the current colour, 741, colour was added in the bottom half as the yellow areas are much denser:

Then these are the comparison photos after finishing the 7th and 8th colours. Again, the change in the density of the yellow areas is quite obvious. This is now 39% complete after 26,169 stitches:

So moving on... the next colour is tangerine 740, requiring 2,343 stitches (only 30 less than the previous colour). This is mostly around the streetlights again so should give this piece even more of an autumnal glow.

This may not be a Halloween project, but at least tangerine is a great colour for stitching during Dark October.

Take care,

Rachel x