Birds With Umbrella - 20 hours

Good morning all!

Birds With Umbrella is one of the new starts I planned for 2017. It only receives attention once I have completed my "compulsory" monthly stitching (i.e. Smalls SAL and Challenge WIPs) so progress has been fairly slow. Last time you saw it, early May after 10 hours, it looked like this:

And now, after 20 hours of stitching, it looks like this:

I've not shown you a picture of the completed piece but I think it's very obvious what it will look like. I only have the second bird and five more lines of ground to stitch so should easily have it finished before the end of the month.

I don't know if the gaps in stitching on the umbrella are supposed to be a pattern or raindrops but, either way, I don't like them. To avoid adding another colour to the minimalist palette, I'll fill them in using the same colour the second bird will be stitched in.

Back very soon with a finish then!

Take care,

Rachel x

6 Box Of Shame Finishes

Hello all!

A while back I ordered a few frames from my usual and trusted ezeframe.co.uk in order to finish-finish some pieces and further reduce my Box of Shame. So far I've only used one frame but as it contains 6 pieces I'm counting it as 6 finish-finishes!

This set of Woodland Folk by DMC went down a storm when I stitched them last year and I have always felt guilty about them being in my Box of Shame. But now they're free and looking fantastic on the wall. So let me reintroduce Toby Fox, Ollie Owl, Bert Badger,  Frankie Hedgehog, Molly Mouse and Sally Squirrel:

The frame is an 18mm mahogany frame with a mid-green top mount, off-white bottom mount and anti-reflective glazing. Each aperture could have been individually sized to fit each piece but I decided to keep the four side openings symmetrical as it looked more aesthetically pleasing. I'm really happy with the result even if it does make the kelp fabric look a little bit blue-ish.

As it currently stands I've now finished off 32 pieces this year out of the 67 which need/needed doing. I'll be framing 3 more next month and also hope to complete some of the pieces which need making into ornaments. But hope springs eternal!!!

Take care,
Rachel x

Little Black Cat Cream - finished

Hello all!

So this is finish number 22 out of 59 from Debbie's Super Duper Ultimate Crazy January February Challenge (DSDUCJFC) 2015 and a companion for Coffee which I finished in March

At the end of June I left Cream with only a little left to do:

Five hours later, thanks to there being a couple of good tennis matches on at Wimbledon, he was all finished:

Little Black Cat - Cream

Heritage Crafts designed by Toni Goffe

Stitched on 32ct Light Blue Murano evenweave 2 over 2

Stitch count 68 wide by 68 high
Started - 9th February 2015
Finished - 8th July 2017
Total stitching time - 29 hours

(estimated 31 hours)

The remaining two in the series, Tea and Sugar are not planned for finishing this year but will be completed in 2018. So for the time being Cream becomes an additional piece in my Box of Shame. At least I know it won't stay in there forever though.

Now back to seeing how much more progress I can make on my other pieces. The Red Foxes are calling me!

Take care,
Rachel x

June 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. My plan for June was to finish one piece and work on three more. And, true to form, I succeeded yet again!

I finished Gryffindor (posted previously) and worked on:

Cream by Toni Goffe for Heritage Crafts

started 9th February 2015; last stitched on May 2017
continued the background and stitched some of the spilled cream

Red Foxes from the Young-uns Collection by Gloria and Pat
started 14th February 2015; last stitched on May 2017
actually started the first of the red foxes and really did not want to put this one down!

The Lock from the Silhouettes range by Heritage Crafts
started 17th February 2015; not stitched on since then
filled in some of the sky at the top and the lock on the right

So overall another month of keeping to my plans and making good progress.

July plans are to finish Cream and work on three more (again). I really do sound like a broken record but why alter plans that are giving me the monthly finishes and progress I crave?

Take care,

Rachel x

Smalls SAL - June 2017

Good afternoon!

As it's the last Friday of the month it's time to post my project for this month's Smalls SAL. Thank you once again to Heather of Stitching Lotus for continuing to run this fun little stitch along.

So, this month brings us to the halfway point of the year (already?!!!) and therefore the halfway point of my calendar. For June we had a family of cute tortoises:

June Calendar by Durene Jones

Stitched on 16ct Nantucket from Sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch count 43 wide by 56 high

Started - 1st June 2017

Finished - 17th June 2017

Total stitching time - 7 hours

They were lovely to stitch, although I can't say I've ever come across tortoises this colour before, or wearing top-hats for that matter!

And another progress picture of the whole calendar:

As the months go past it's clear how the colours each month carry themselves through the whole calendar. Very subtle and very clever.

For July I'll be stitching some yummy looking strawberries so I guess we'll get another splash of red. See you then!

Take care,
Rachel x

Gryffindor - finished

Good afternoon!

So here we have another finish from Debbie's Super Duper Ultimate Crazy January February Challenge (DSDUCJFC) 2015. This is the 21st finish of 59 starts and a companion for Ravenclaw which I finished two years ago.

Here's how I left Gryffindor at the end of May with only the name banner left to do:

And now finished with all the boring details:

From theworldinstitches (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Cream Aida 2 over 1

Stitch count 95 wide by 117 high
Started - 4th February 2015
Finished - 4th June 2017
Total stitching time - 48 hours 50 minutes
(estimated 62 hours)

I like that I overestimated the stitching time so much! I remember doing the same with Ravenclaw and have probably done the same with the others. For some reason these designs obviously stitch up a lot quicker than expected - and that's a really satisfying feeling.

The finished piece has gone into my Box of Shame for the time being but won't be in there long. I've just had some frames delivered so hope to have another framing session soon to further reduce my unfinished-finishes.

As for the other two Harry Potter house crests, I plan to finish Slytherin towards the end of this year and Hufflepuff in 2018 - yes, my stitching plans for 2018 have almost been finalised!!!

Take care,
Rachel x

May Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Hello all!

It's the end of the month so time for another update on my Challenge WIPs. My plan for May was to finish one piece and work on three more. And I succeeded. Again!

I finished Dreaming of Dolphins (posted previously) and gave attention to the following three:

Gryffindor by Theworldinstitches (etsy)

started 4th February 2015; last stitched on April 2017

filled in the lion, so just the name banner to do now

Cream by Toni Goffe for Heritage Crafts

started 9th February 2015; last stitched on April 2017
worked my way down, filling in the background and continuing  the cream pot
(and I gave the cat his eyes!!)

Red Foxes from the Young-uns Collection by Gloria and Pat
started 14th February 2015; not stitched on since then
finished the rocks and greenery, although ironically haven't started the red foxes themselves!

Once again I'm happy with my progress for the month, finding that finishing one project and changing the others every week or so is really keeping my interest up. For those of you familiar with the term I suppose it's a bit like Turtle Trot..... but on speed!

In June, keeping to my plan, I aim to finish Gryffindor and work on three more WIPs.

Take care,

Rachel x