People's Choice SAL - Dragonflies

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 dragonflies.

Easy peasy - absolutely nothing! Nothing stitched, nothing WIPed, nothing in my stash!

They may be pretty but I have no inclination whatsoever to stitch any insect / bug / critter of any sort; such charts fall well below my radar.

But that won't stop me from posting! Good old Google came in really handy and I picked out a few dragonfly charts that looked interesting or pretty, just in case you might to stitch one.


This pretty little one is available from NonStopStitch on etsy. I like how the dragonfly subtly blends in with the flowers. It's definitely very high on the 'pretty' scale.

This one by Filigram available at 123stitch shows a variety of real dragonflies.

Then there's Lesley Teare's Dragonfly Alphabet, available at lesleyteare.com. I think this would look a lot prettier if the dragonflies were stitched in brighter colours, but then they might not stand out against the letters so well.

Finally there's good old Mill Hill who can be relied upon to have a design for just about anything! Here are their beaded Rose Dragonfly ornie and Dragonfly Capri kit.

And there ends my delve into dragonflies. Next month's theme is The Designer You Have Stitched The Most. That's going to be very interesting.

Take care,
Rachel x

#24HoursOfCrossStitch Challenges - May 2020

Hi all,

Time already for yet another monthly posting for the #24HoursOfCrossStitch Challenge, the brainchild of Jen from QuirksandStitches, where we have fun matching our stitching for the month to various challenges. I also find it a convenient way of rounding up my accomplishments for the month.

1) Stitch for 24 hours during the month, including a minimum of 24 minutes each day
Not too bad this month. I managed a total of 29 hours and 15 minutes, mostly at the weekends on my new starts. There were, however, 10 days where I stitched for 10 minutes or less, but at least I still stitched every day.


2) Fill in the acrostic HOURGLASS, explain the connections and pick a 24 minute, 4 hour, 8 hour, (or other) goal for each letter.
Here are the 9 projects I picked for May's acrostic, along with their goal and my accomplishments:

H - Basket Case by Heritage Crafts (new start)

Connection - the cat is hiding

Goal - make a start of at least 2 hours

Actual - 2h 45m

O - Kings And Queens by Bothy Threads (WIP)

Connection -it's out with the Lancastrians and in with the Plantagenets
Goal - start and finish (about 4 hours?)

Actual - 4h 30m

U - The Loneliness Of Autumn by Artecy (2020 WIP)

Connection - I should be going back up to the top

Goal - 10 hours of progress

Actual - NONE AGAIN :(

R - Hogwarts In A Bottle by CutePatternsByMaria (2019 WIP)

Connection - still waiting for that red train to appear!
Goal - 10 hours of progress
Actual - NONE AGAIN :(

G - Winnie The Pooh 2 by Designer Stitches (new start)

Connection - greedy Pooh has eaten all the hunny!

Goal - make a start of at least 2 hours

Actual - 5h 50m

L - Mouse Reading Book by CutePatternsbyMaria (new start)

Connection - books can be found in a library

Goal - make a start of at least 2 hours

Actual - 5h 5m

A - Duckling by Heritage Crafts (new start)

Connections - aahhhh, what a cutie!

Goal - start and finish (about 5 hours?)

Actual - 6h 20m

S - Winnie The Pooh 1 by Designer Stitches (new start)

Connection - he's scooping out the hunny

Goal - make a start of at least 2 hours

Actual - 2 hours

S - Wonderful Fright by Sue Hillis Designs (new start)

Connection - the fabric has stars on it

Goal - make a start of at least 2 hours

Actual - 3h 5m

So I met seven of the nine goals. In theory, and in normal stitching circumstances, I should have had time for everything but I've again had to choose between projects. Was it wrong to neglect my two larger WIPs in favour of starting 5 more new projects? Yes and no! The new starts have done me good but neglecting Hogwarts (which I'm desperate to finish) and The Loneliness Of Autumn (which is a SAL) not so good. I'll catch up one day.

3) Connect 12 or more of the given holidays to your projects and stitch for at least 24 minutes on each. Only nine projects meant doubling up on three of them, chosen at random, depending on what fitted!

Day 1 - Loyalty Day - Hogwarts In A Bottle - Hufflepuffs especially, are said to be loyal but throughout the whole Harry Potter series loyalty was important, whichever side the characters were on.

Day 2 - Baby Day - Duckling - a duckling is a baby duck.

Day 5 - National Teachers' Day - Mouse Reading Book - at primary school level teachers are brilliant at helping children learn to read (only for them to be put off at secondary school when introduced to Shakespeare and 18th/19th century 'classic' literature!)

Day 6 - No Diet Day - Pooh 1 - with Pooh's fondness of hunny there is no way he will voluntarily go on a diet!

Day 7 - National Tourism Day - Hogwarts In A Bottle - the Hogwarts experience at Warner Brothers Studio is a major tourist attraction. Can you imagine how many people would visit Hogwarts if it was a real place?!

Day 9 - National Windmill Day - The Loneliness Of Autumn - autumn is usually accompanied by strong breezes and strong breezes are needed to turn the sails of traditional windmills.

Day 10 - Clean Up Your Room Day - Basket Case - when tidying a room, a laundry basket, like the one the cat is hiding in, is often needed for all the dirty washing.

Day 11 - Eat What You Want Day - Pooh 2 - Pooh definitely eats what he wants, and that's always hunny!

Day 13 - Frog Jumping Day - Kings And Queens - jumping frogs implies leap frog and Edward IV certainly leap frogged Henry VI and his son and heir to take the throne - twice!

Day 16 - Love A Tree Day - The Loneliness Of Autumn - there are plenty of trees in this picture which could be loved.

Day 18 - No Dirty Dishes Day - Kings And Queens - with his huge appetite for food, I'm wondering if Edward IV literally 'cleaned' his plate!

Day 31 - Save Your Hearing Day - Wonderful Fright - with all the screaching and screaming going on with various ghosties and ghoulies at Halloween you need to cover your ears in order to avoid at least temporary hearing loss.


4) Additional 'Just For Fun' Challenge: list 24 things to watch or listen to whilst stitching
As usual, I won't list, just talk about. When I stitch I often find myself blocking out external noise without realising, so whatever I listen to or watch needs to be familiar so I don't miss out on anything important!
Listening tends to be either Planet Rock or the Harry Potter audio books. It doesn't matter if I miss a song or two on the radio, and audio books can easily be rewound if necessary.
With TV I'm not so fussed. Sometimes I'll just scroll through what's on and end up with a film or historical documentary which looks interesting. If I'm not impressed with the choices on offer then I'll usually end up with a favourite such as Star Trek TNG, Top Gear, or panel shows such as QI, Mock The Week or Whose Line Is It Anyway. A very selective and eclectic mix!


On a completely unrelated note to this post, one of the weird/annoying/frustrating (and now funny when you look back) things at the beginning of lockdown was the disappearance of toilet paper off the shelves in a matter of seconds. Well, follow this link and you'll find out where it all went. The chart's titled "The King Of Toilet Paper". I hope it brings a smile to your face!

Take care,
Rachel x

Spring Into Summer New Start Binge - #9 Wonderful Fright

Hi all!

So this week marks the half way point of this new start binge, an attempt to start 17 projects over the course of 17 weekends. Tiff and Annie have been mad enough to join me and are, hopefully, continuing to enjoy it as much as I am.

So, having started four projects on blue fabric this month I decided to end with something different. I think it's perhaps a bit too pretty for the theme, but it went with the colour scheme, so I thought I'd give it a go.

This week's chart is this one:

And here's my progress over the weekend:

It's The Most Wonderful Fright Of The Year by Sue Hillis Designs

(or Wonderful Fright for short)

Stitched on 16ct Fairy Dust Cloud Lilac over-dyed aida by sewitall.com

Stitching time to date - 3 hours 5 minutes

I don't do many projects with words, so this has made a real change, and stitching the individual motifs made it feel as if I have already finished a few mini projects along the way.

Next week, how about jumping from Halloween to Christmas?

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - May 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's piece was another I 'inherited' from my mum and is from the same series as the Polar Bear Cub I stitched a couple of months ago. After stitching the Polar Bear Cub on flimsy fabric, this fabric was the complete opposite; the cotton is so thick that the holes are tiny! It was well worth the perseverance though as it stitched up a treat.

Duckling by Heritage Crafts

Stitch Count 25 wide by 36 high

Stitched on 32ct Sparkle Snow murano 2 over 2

Started - 1st May 2020

Finished - 29th May 2020

Total stitching time - 6 hours 20 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, the always-hungry Edward IV:

Next month's Smalls SAL, it will be something from Australia I think.

Take care,
Rachel x

Spring Into Summer New Start Binge - #8 Mouse Reading Book

Hello all!

Welcome to another post about the mad new start binge Tiff and Annie and I are undertaking between April and July in our attempt to start 17 new projects over 17 weekends. Pop over to their blogs to see what they've been up to too.

This week I went for another cutie, one of a collection of 30 Merry Mice.

There are probably a dozen or so I would like to stitch so it was just a case of whittling it down to which one first. I decided on number 21 which I have aptly named Mouse Reading Book! Here's a closer picture:

I didn't have too bad a weekend for stitching so managed to achieve a good amount, including some backstitching:

Mouse Reading Book by CutePatternsbyMaria (etsy)

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

Stitching time to date - 5 hours 5 minutes

I've just realised that all four projects I've started this month have been on blue fabric so next week, and to mark the half-way point of this binge, I'm definitely going for a different colour. How does purple with white stars sound?

Take care,
Rachel x

A Monarch A Month - Edward IV

Hello all!

Time for another Monarch Of The Month and another History lesson. This time it's monarch number sixteen, Edward IV, doing something he enjoyed a lot - eating!

Edward IV from Kings and Queens by Bothy Threads

Started - 4th May 2020

Finished - 22nd May 2020

Total stitching time - 4 hours 30 minutes

Edward's ascendancy more or less brought The Wars Of The Roses to an end, with the House of York claiming victory over the House Of Lancaster as to who had a better claim to the throne.

However, behind these events, and those of the following decade, was Edward's cousin, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick - the Kingmaker - and I have had to be careful not to make this about him, as he was instrumental in many events in Edward's life including Edward's ascendancy and the return of Henry VI. Switching allegiances, depending on what would benefit him the most, was certainly Warwick's way of life!

EDWARD IV
Preceded by Henry VI (father's cousin)

Succeeded by Edward V (son)
Lived - 1442-1483
Reigned - 1461-1470 and 1471-1483
Married - Elizabeth Woodville 1464
Fathered - 3 legitimate sons, 7 legitimate daughters, and a handful of illegitimate children

Edward IV became king, twice, by deposing his father's cousin, Henry VI, twice!

Compared to the mentally fragile and indecisive Henry, Edward's confidence and overall demeanour made him appealing.

Edward's first reign began after the defeat of Henry VI in 1461 the Battle of Towton. Henry went into hiding, his wife and son fled to France, and Edward was crowned Edward IV.

In 1464 Edward married Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of a former prominent Lancastrian. It was a politically cunning marriage but also hugely unpopular, especially with Warwick.

Edward faced three coups from his brother, George, and Warwick, one in 1469 and two in 1470. The first two were unsuccessful and led to George and Warwick fleeing to France. However, after joining forces with Henry's VI's wife and son, the third was successful and the deposed Henry VI was restored to the throne.

But Edward fought back, defeating both Warwick and Henry's son in the Battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury in 1471. Henry was captured, imprisoned and 'conveniently' died a few days later, leaving Edward King once more.

George was forgiven and restored to favour, only to be executed for treason in 1478 after, among other things, questioning the legitimacy of both Edward and his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville.

Edward became ill in 1483 and died a short while later. He is buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor.

Prior to his death he named his other brother, Richard, Protector to his eldest son and heir, Edward, a decision not popular with Elizabeth who feared Richard and his plans. How right she was!

So next month, young Edward V.

Take care,
Rachel x

Spring Into Summer New Start Binge - #7 Winnie The Pooh 2/5

Hi all!

Believe it or not, we are already at week 7 of this Spring Into Summer New Start Binge, an attempt to start 17 new projects during the 17 weekends in April, May, June and July. There have been a few hiccups along the way but generally it's been so far so good.

Here are Tiff's and Annie's new starts this week.

For my seventh start I chose the second in the set of 5 Winnie The Pooh designs. In the first one he was eating the hunny, now in this one he's realised it's all gone!

Here's my progress over the weekend.

Winnie The Pooh And the Hunny Pot 2/5 by Designer Stitches

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

Stitching time to date - 5 hours 30 minutes

Stitching time is mostly very limited again but, thanks to the non-Eurovision Song Contest being on this weekend (which is an annual MUST watch) I was able to complete a good amount. I've discovered, though, that these designs are deceivingly larger than they look and will take me a lot longer to stitch than originally estimated. Not that it matters; a project is a project.

For start number eight ext week a cute little mouse will make an appearance.

Take care,
Rachel x