October In Tourmaline - started and finished!

Hi all!

First things first... a little celebration as this is my 500th post!!! I would not have imagined when I started this blog I would get to 500 in 5 1/2 years. Just goes to show how much I have to say! Here's to the next 500.  :)

Now back to reality...

At the beginning of each month I will be stitching a little calendar piece, by Palkolp, in that month's birthstone colour. This idea was inspired by Jo's People's Choice SAL Birthstone posting and from her link to a website about birthstones.

October's birthstone is opal (or tourmaline):

October's child is born for woe
And life's vicissitudes must know
But lay an opal on her breast
And hope will lull those woes to rest.

Visit here if you would like to read little interesting snippets of information about opals and tourmalines. The opal is particularly interesting.


October is my birth month and, given that I am not keen on opals, I chose to stitch a pink tourmaline version although, where tourmaline is concerned, it seems that almost any colour could have been chosen!

October by Palkolap

Stitched on 16ct Dried Petal over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1
Stitch count 47 wide by 47 high

Stitched with DMC variegated 48 and Miyuki Opaque Pink seed beads

Started - 1st October 2019

Finished - 5th October 2019

Total stitching time - 5 hours 40 minutes

I added a couple more bows to the pattern to make the fabric under October look less empty and love how it turned out. Now to FFO it!

Take care,

Rachel x

People's Choice SAL - Cats

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 is the 13th month of this SAL, so it's ironic that this unlucky number should be accompanied by a lucky theme - cats.

I'm not a 'cat' person as such but we did inherit a couple from the previous owner of the first house we bought as he couldn't take them with him. Both were totally gorgeous and totally black apart from Bagheera had a white mark under his chin and Midnight had a white tip on her tail. But they have long since departed and I'm not sure my cockatiels would appreciate it if we had any now!!

But I digress...

Off the top of my head I couldn't think of many projects in my finished, WIP or stash piles which have cats on them. Then I looked through my spreadsheet and found I'd actually finished 31 pieces, have 7 WIPs and have well over 40 in my stash; obviously I'm drawn towards cats much more than I thought!

Now I'm obviously not going to show all of my cat pieces, so here are a random few.

These Purr-fect Pets were stitched from a magazine chart back in 2000 before I kept accurate records. I think there are only three or four colours in each one so were really quick and easy to finish.

Sleepy and Big Eyes Kitty are two of a set of six sepia kittens by DMC. Sleepy was stitched between 2007 and 2012, and Big eyes Kitty in 2014. They could have been shown in the monochrome-themed SAL but I thought I'd put them in this one instead. I do have the other four in the set; I'm just waiting for that elusive 'one day' to arrive!

(the stripes you can see in the background are the spokes of an

umbrella I was using to try to stop reflection.)

This set of four magazine charts, called A Taste Of Tuscany, were some of the first pieces to appear on my blog when I started it back in 2014 (as was Big Eyes Kitty above, actually) so hold really strong memories of becoming a part of the online stitching community. I have no idea at all why they appeal to me, they just do!

Out of my 7 cat WIPs, one is a large chart, so is on hold, and the other 6 were started for DSDUCJFC 2015 so are on my list to be finished sometime during the next four years. I'll only show the biggie which is OMG Tigger Is Out by UnconventionalX (etsy) which I've barely started. I'd love to stitch more though (famous last words!) since the confetti isn't too bad and the colours quite soothing to work with. Seeing the gridlines, I think this is the only project I have actually gridded, presumably to help with the confetti.

Finally, on my to-stitch list is this set of 12 monthly Nelson and Tibbs charts which were in a free-with-magazine calendar. I'd definitely start with my favourites and may not even do them all. Not that's it's worth thinking about at the moment as that 'one day' is still light years away!

There, I've tried to keep it brief and am very surprised I wasn't tempted into showing lots more. No doubt I'll be able to fit them into other categories at some point.

Next month's theme is autumn colours - perfect for the time of year and right up my street!

Take care,
Rachel x

Dark October - the beginning

Hi all!

Dark October is a stitching SAL which has been around for a few years. It was the brainchild of Michelle Cozyegg and Emily Eclectic Possessions (thanks, Jo, for pointing me in the right direction there) with the idea (I think) of stitching on just Halloween projects for the whole month, whether that be one project, a few projects, or even a new start every day.

I love the idea of Dark October but the format doesn't really fit in with my current stitching schedule. So I had two choices; either change most of my October schedule to make it 100% Dark October, or make Dark October work alongside my original plans. After much procrastination I chose the latter (although, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking if changing my mind again!) mainly because I thought knew the former would tempt me into one or two far too many new starts.

So now my October plan is as follows - stitch on the pieces I had planned to stitch on anyway, but for about 20-30 minutes each day work on one of these Dark Shadows projects by Sue Hillis Designs. That way I can do my planned stitching and participate in Dark October too, if only a little.

Here is yesterday's start. I think you should be able to tell which one I've chosen to stitch first. And if I finish this one then I will start another, and so on, until the end of the month.

Stitched on 16ct Purple Potion by sewitall.com 2 over 1

There are going to be a few changes to the designs - to give them a bit of sparkle I'm substituting the charted blacks and greys with their closest Etoile counterparts, and for the chain-y bits on the candelabra and chandelier I have some silver-lined dark grey beads which I would really like to use. I don't know if they will work but it's worth a try so fingers crossed.

I would say wish me luck, but it's not exactly going to be the most difficult SAL in the world (except perhaps the putting-down-after-only-a-short-while bit!)

Take care,
Rachel x

#24HoursOfCrossStitch - September Challenges

Hi all,

Here is my monthly posting for the #24HoursOfCrossStitch Challenge, the brainchild of Jen from QuirksandStitches (blog fairly inactive but she does do Facebook, Instagram and Flosstube).

As usual, there is a lot of fun shoe-horning in here. I hope you can follow my logic; it does make sense, honest!

September follows the same format as previous months, so let's get going, shall we?


1) Stitch for 24 hours during the month.

I stitched for a total of 44 hours 15 minutes during September, split between just six projects. Here's a recap of the projects with the time spent on each one:

Christmas Cat with Present - 4h 50m - progress
(goal was to stitch on it for at least 2 hours)

September In Sapphire - 5h 35m - started and finished
(goal was to start and finish it)

Blue Patchwork Hootie - 10h 10m - started and finished
(goal was to start and finish it)

Kings and Queens (Edward I) - 5h 15m - started and finished
(goal was to start and finish it)

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 15h 30m - progress
(goal was to stitch on it for at least 10 hours)
(close up of over 4.5 hours of backstitching added since 100 hour post)

Winter Bird - 2h 55m - finished
(goal was to finish it)

2) Fill in the acrostic SHORTER DAYS (Hogwarts was used once, all the other projects twice)

S - September in Sapphire - the month is September
H - Winter Bird - the designer is Hobikolik
O - Blue Patchwork Hootie - the hootie is an owl
R - Kings and Queens - monarchs are royalty
T - Blue Patchwork Hootie - because owls go 'twit-twoo'
E - Kings and Queens - my monarch this month is Edward I
R - Christmas Cat With Present - the presents are on a red rug
D - Hogwarts In A Bottle - the headmaster of Hogwarts is Dumbledore
A - Winter Bird - another word for bird is avian
Y - Christmas Cat With Present - the present has a yellow bow
S - September in Sapphire - the birthstone is sapphire


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 12 in total. See above for time spent on each one.)

This is where I struggled. A lot! But all in good fun. Bear with some of the links, they do make sense, honest!

1st - Random Acts Of Kindness Day - Christmas Cat With Present - because giving presents is kind.

2nd - World Coconut Day - Christmas Cat With Present - because coconuts produce milk and cats like milk.

4th - Newspaper Carrier Day - Blue Patchwork Hootie - at Hogwarts owls carry in newspapers and post for the students.

7th - World Beard Day - Kings and Queens - like most men of the time, this month's monarch, Edward I, sported a beard.

9th - Bluebird Of Happiness Day - Winter Bird - because my winter bird is blue so a 'blue bird'.

12th - National Day Of Encouragement - Hogwarts In A Bottle - because schools are (hopefully) places where children receive lots of encouragement.

13th - International Chocolate Day - September in Sapphire - in the US state of Washington there is a glacier called Chocolate Glacier. This project was stitched on fabric called Glacier, hence the connection to chocolate!

20th - National Doodle Day - Winter Bird - because the design looks a bit doodle-ish.

23rd - Family Day - Kings and Queens - my monarch of the month, Edward I, loved his family.

26th - Forget-Me-Not Day - September in Sapphire - because forget-me-nots are (sort of) blue, like sapphires.

28th - National Ghost Hunting Day - Hogwarts In A Bottle - because Hogwarts has a number of resident ghosts (including the mischievous Peeves who was played by Rik Mayall but completely cut out of the films... boo!)

29th - International Coffee Day - Blue Patchwork Hootie - because owls have big wide eyes, which is what we have if we drink too much (caffeinated) coffee!

Oh, how I loved making those connections!

There are going to be two Challenges for October; one based around autumn, the other Halloween. We don't have to do both but I probably will - double the challenges, double the fun... bring them on!!!

Take care,
Rachel x

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 100 hours

Good morning all!

I had a really successful time stitching on Hogwarts last week so have another update already! It's hard to believe I'm already 100 hours in... 100 hours! Doesn't time fly.....

As hoped, I filled in the gap between the buildings on the left and the right with the addition of more gloomy sky, a turret and some roofs. As you can see, I tend to jump around a lot when stitching so am not at all bothered by missing chunks, but I do like that it looks a bit tidier now.

Last time:

This time:

And the full piece:

I'm quite amazed at how well-defined the buildings are without the backstitching; it's so easy to distinguish one from another and pick out the windows, etc. Next time, before delving into more blues and browns, I'll be adding lots of backstitching. We all know what a difference backstitching can make but no doubt my jaw will still drop at the difference!

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - September 2019

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 Patchwork Hootie by Pinoy Stitch (etsy). I didn't know whether I would be stitching the blue, green or pink one and asked if you had any preference. Votes were tied between blue and green, so I chose blue to match my September birthstone:

Blue Pachwork Hootie by Pinoy Stitch (etsy)

Stitch Count 55 wide by 42 high

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

Started - 7th September 2019

Finished - 20th September 2019

Total stitching time - 10 hours 10 minutes

I didn't think the charted blues went together very well so I chose my own colours. However, two of the three looked so alike when stitched that they could have been mistaken for the same thread. So I did a bit of frogging and substituted the darker blue at the last minute. I don't think it works but, hey-ho, I've stitched it now and am not going to unpick it again. Anyway, seeing as owls are neither blue nor patchwork, any colour combination would work really!

What don't work, though, are the white dots in his eyes. Looking in opposite directions they make him look sinister so I'll probably change them before he's FFO'd.

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

My birthstone of the month, September in Sapphire:

And my monarch of the month, Edward I:

October's Small SAL will see another Hootie, although this time I'll be sticking with the charted colours!

Take care,
Rachel x

Winter Bird - finished!

Hello everyone!

A few of you correctly guessed that it would not be long before I finished this little project. He was the second of my seven new starts over the summer and is now the third one to be completed.

Here's a reminder how I left him after a weekend and 4 hours of stitching:

And now all finished:

Bird by Hobikolik (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Stormy Sea over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitched in Threadworx 1140 Moonlit Skies

Stitch count 80 wide by 80 high
Started - 27th July 2019
Finished - 17th September 2019

Total stitching time - 6 hours 55 minutes

He was. as always, an absolute joy to stitch; those colours are so soothing and Threadworx threads a delight to stitch with. He will be FFOd to match the other three in the set, after which I will photograph and show all four together. I wonder if I (or you) will have a favourite?

Take care,
Rachel x