#24HoursOfCrossStitch - August 2019

Hi all,

So I'm back again for the #24HoursOfCrossStitch Challenge for August. Another month where some parts were easy whilst others were challenging and frustrating. Hello shoe-horning!

For August the three challenges were similar to July. For challenges one and two I was determined to include each project at least once, for challenge three each project was included twice.


1) Stitch for 24 hours during the month

I stitched for a total of 57 hours 15 minutes during August, which is w-a-y above the required 24, thanks to the school summer holiday. Because of quite a few new starts the time was split between ten projects this month. Here's a recap of most of my stitching this month:

August in Peridot - 3h 40m - finished
(stitched bottom decoration and border)

Autumn Twirls - 6h 35m - started and finished

Kings and Queens (Henry III) - 6h 10m - started and finished

Green Halloween Banner - 9h 10m - finished
(stitched bottom left tree and black behind it)

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 4h 15m - progress
(not really enough progress to make it worth showing; you'll see it in the next 10 hour update)

Autumn Bird - 7h 45m - started and finished

Scaredy Cats - 9h 40m - started and finished

A Little Witch of the Night - 2h 35m - new start

A Little Wizard of the Night - 5h - new start

Christmas Cat with Present - 2h 25m - new start
(you'll be seeing this as a new start tomorrow so I'll save the photo for then)

2) Fill in the acrostic XSTITCH DAY (each project was used once)

X - Green Halloween Banner - because it's now been x'd (crossed) off my WIP list.
S - Scaredy Cats - S is for scaredy in the chart name.
T - August In Peridot - because it was mostly stitched on trains.
I - A Little Witch Of The Night - I think she's out looking for ingredients for her potions.
T - Autumn Twirls - T is for twirls in the chart name.
C - Autumn Bird - the bird has a very curly tail.
H - Henry III - H is for Henry's initial.
D - Hogwarts In A Bottle - I continued stitching the turrets which house the dormitories.
A - A Little Wizard Of The Night - because wizards are associated with the word 'abracadabra'.
Y - Christmas Cat With Present - because Christmas just about marks the end of the year.


3) Connect 12 or more of the given holidays to your projects and stitch for at least 24 minutes on each. (each project went on two holidays, so 20 in total)

This was really hard, but that was half the fun!

1st - National Mountain Climbing Day - Hogwarts In A Bottle - because Hogwarts is on the top of a mountain (well, more of a hill I suppose but we'll call it a mountain!)

2nd - National Colouring Book Day - August In Peridot - because peridot is a colour.

3rd - National Watermelon Day - August in Peridot - watermelon skins are green, like peridot. Just!

6th - Wiggle Your Toes Day - A Little Wizard Of The Night - he's riding his broomstick barefoot and your can see his cute little toes.

7th - National Lighthouse Day - Christmas Cat With Presents - in recognition of The Lighthouse Keeper series of books, one of which is called The Lighthouse Keeper's Cat.

8th - World Cat Day - Scaredy Cats - I think 11 cats in this design is a good enough contribution to World Cat Day.

10th - Lazy Day - Autumn Twirls - as the leaves lazily fall to the ground in the gentle autumn breeze.

11th - Son And Daughter Day - Henry III who was the first English monarch to actually really love and care about his children.

12th - World Elephant Day - Henry III because he kept a menagerie at the Tower of London, which included an elephant gifted to him in 1255 by the King of France.

13th - Left Hander's Day - A Little Witch Of The Night - she's holding her broomstick with her left hand.

14th - National Creamsicle Day - Autumn Bird - the colours of the bird look like vanilla, butterscotch and toffee ice cream.

15th - Relaxation Day - Christmas Cat With Present - because Christmas Day is a time for relaxing.

18th - Serendipity Day - Scaredy Cats - because black cats are a symbol of good luck.

21st - Poet's Day - A Little Witch Of The Night - in recognition of the ditty always associated with witches, 'Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble.'

22nd - Be An Angel Day - Green Halloween Banner - because I feel like an angel for having finished it!

23rd - Ride The Wind Day - Autumn Twirls - because leaves ride the wind as they float to the ground.

29th - More Herbs, Less Salt Day - A Little Wizard Of The Night - I don't think wizards would put salt in their potions, but they definitely would put herbs.

30th - Frankenstein Day - Green Halloween Banner - Frankenstein's Monster is usually portrayed as being green, and certainly appears regularly in Halloween pictures.

31st - International Bacon Day - Hogwarts In A Bottle - because another name for a pig is a hog!


Phew! So that's August finally completed. I'm interested to see what others have done for August and now can't wait to get started on September!

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - August 2019

Hello all!

It's the last Friday of the month so time for the Smalls SAL. Thank you, Mary, for continuing to run 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 one month from a year long set by Bent Creek. This is the best link I could find which shows them all and the rhyme they make if all stitched together, but here's the original for November:

I have no intention of buying or stitching the others but liked November. However, I made some changes - I swapped 'November' for 'Autumn', I changed every thread colour from their recommended DMC to colours I liked better, and, instead of using the snaps provided, I added some tiny matching autumn-coloured buttons. The differences aren't that obvious but here's my version:

November Twirls by Bent Creek

Stitch Count 50 wide by 50 high

Stitched on 16ct Ochre over-dyed aida from sewitall.com 2 over 1

Started - 1st August 2019

Finished - 8th August 2019

Total stitching time - 6 hours 35 minutes

It'll be made into a little ornie at some point - I'm a bit behind with my FFOing at the moment.

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

My birthstone of the month, August In Peridot:

And my (unfinished because the Leopard doesn't have his spots) monarch of the month, Henry III:

In September I will be stitching a Hootie, although I haven't decided yet if it will be the pink, blue or green one. Decisions, decisions! Any preference?

Take care,
Rachel x

Scaredy Cats - finished!

Hi all!

With the mini heatwave we've just had - 3 days of 30C+ temperatures (which I know is nothing for some of you but really affects me quite badly) - I didn't feel like working on a big project so pulled out one of my small and easily finishable recent new starts.

Here's how I left Scaredy Cats after working on it for a weekend:

And after a couple more days of attention:

Scaredy Cats by JBW Designs

Stitched on 16ct Mushroom over-dyed aida by sewitall.com

Stitch count 151 wide by 33 high

Stitched with DMC black and variegated 51

Started - 10th August 2019
Finished - 29th August 2019
Total stitching time - 9 hours 40 minutes

I moved a couple of cats very slightly but other than that it's as charted.

I had an idea about backstitching around the cats to give them a bit more definition but, as it's one of those designs that looks better from a distance, decided against it. Anyway, if I did the cats then I'd probably have to do the letters too and I'm positive that would spoil it.

I have the fabric ready to FFO the piece but free evenings, when I usually FFO, have been in short supply over the summer holidays so my UFOs are gradually piling up. But life will return to 'normal' soon so FFOing can once again happen.

Take care,
Rachel x

Autumn Bird - finished!

Good morning all!

With so little left to stitch I think it was quite obvious it wasn't going to be too long before this little birdie was completed. I had a 'spare' evening before starting my weekend new start (and didn't want to get Hogwarts out for just one day) so decided to work on this piece until finished.

He was the third of my Summer Of New Starts binge and I left him like this:

Now he's been given the rest of his wings:

Bird by Hobikolik (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Peach Cobbler over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitched in Threadworx 1076 Honky Tonk

Stitch count 80 wide by 80 high
Started - 3rd August 2019
Finished - 23rd August 2019

Total stitching time - 7 hours 45 minutes

I'm really pleased with the way he's turned out. I have the fabric and the cord so now all I have to do is FFO him. I've got a few pieces piling up in my Box Of Shame but hopefully he won't be in there too long.

Take care,
Rachel x

Summer Of New Starts #6 - A Little Wizard Of The Night

Hi again!

Well, having started A Little Witch Of The Night last week, how could I not stitch her Little Wizard male companion for summer start number 6?

This time I started with the sky, but once I reached his cute little head of hair the needles just kept working. I'm a little frustrated that my eyes gave in before his face was completed but nevertheless I am really happy with my progress over a very successful weekend:

A Little Wizard Of The Night by Soda Stitch

Stitched on 16ct Dusky Sky over-dyed aida by sewitall.com

Stitch count 60 wide by 56 high

Stitching time to date - 5 hours

And how he will look when finished:

If I don't manage to get back to him before the end of October, he'll definitely return for a bit of attention at Halloween. Well, how could he not?!

Take care,
Rachel x

Green Halloween Banner - finished!

Hello everyone!

Here's a Happy Dance for a much anticipated finish. Yes, Green Halloween Banner was completed last night.

Last time you saw it I didn't have much left to stitch:

I stitched the tree-thing, filled in the remainder of the black and here it is, all finished:

Green Halloween Banner by Artecy

Stitched on 16ct cream aida 2 over 1

Stitch count 57 wide by 201 high

Started - 25th January 2019

Finished - 22nd August 2019

Total stitching time - 69 hours 10 minutes

I really really enjoyed this one and would love to be able to start the other three in the set but, alas, I have a million-and-one other things which I ought to work on first. One day...

In the meantime I know exactly how I want to FFO the banner, and it's with this gorgeous and perfect fabric:

But whether imagination and reality will successfully merge is another matter. The finish is a bit complicated and potentially fiddly so I'm not going to rush it.

Take care,
Rachel x

Summer Of New Starts #5 - A Little Witch Of The Night

Hi again!

Staying with the Halloween theme for summer start number 5, this cute Soda Stitch chart has been high on my to-do list for quite a while.

I was really looking forward to working solely on the little witch over the weekend but the first stitch didn't actually go in until 11.45pm Saturday! At least I got a couple of hours in on Sunday to make up for it. Here's my start on her hair and adorable little hat:

 A Little Witch Of The Night by Soda Stitch

Stitched on 16ct Dusky Sky over-dyed aida by sewitall.com

Stitch count 60 wide by 55 high

Stitching time to date - 2 hours 35 minutes

And here's how she will look when finished (without the numbers):

Those with a very keen eye may have noticed I've changed the aida colour since teasing this as a new start. My original choice was a sort of dirty browny/greeny mixture called Smudge. However, when I purchased this Dusky Sky fabric I immediately fell in love with the steely blue/grey colours (even though the screen picture indicated it was a mid-dark grey!) There would have been nothing wrong with using Smudge but the characters have a cute and fun element which I think is more suited to a less-dreary colour. Needless to say, I'm delighted with my swap.

I'll be using this fabric again next weekend.

Take care,
Rachel x