Smalls SAL - March 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.

This month I carried on with my Durene Jones cute animal calendar. The cake is supposed to have "best mum" written on it, but seeing as Mother's Day is not really an occasion in our house I decided to change it to simply "yum!".

March Calendar by Durene Jones

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

Stitch count 43 wide by 56 high

Started - 1st March 2017

Finished - 17th March 2017

Total stitching time - 8 hours 5 minutes

And the whole calendar so far:

I have to admit I'm really looking forward to starting April's animal tomorrow. I think it's going to be one of my favourites!

See you with that next month.
Rachel x

Blogoversary Giveaway Winner

Good afternoon all!

Sorry, I was supposed to post this yesterday.....

Thank you to everybody who left comments wishing me a happy blogoversary. Not many people seem to celebrate their blogoversaries anymore so it's nice to be different.

There were only 10 entries in the giveaway this year, giving you all a better chance of winning.

I found a free RNG, punched in the numbers, pressed the magic button and up popped number 10.

.....to Tiffstitch!

Please email me (address on left hand side) and let me know which store you would like the voucher for and I'll see what I can do.

Thanks go to the rest of you for entering, and if you didn't win, better luck next year!

All the best,
Rachel x

Little Black Cat Coffee - finished

Hello all!

I have a finish from Debbie's Super Duper Ultimate Crazy January February Challenge (DSDUCJFC) 2015.

I started him for day 33 of the Challenge and finished him a few days ago. He is the 18th finish out of the 59 starts (so still a v-e-r-y long way to go!)

Here's how he looked the last time you saw him at the end of February with not much left to stitch:

And now all completed:

Little Black Cat - Coffee

Heritage Crafts designed by Toni Goffe

Stitched on 32ct Light Blue Murano evenweave 2 over 2

Stitch count 68 wide by 68 high
Started - 2nd February 2015
Finished - 3rd March 2017
Total stitching time - 29 hours 20 minutes

(estimated 31 hours)

I debated whether or not to stitch the blue background, bearing in mind the colour fabric I was using, but am so glad I did as it gives much more depth to the cat himself. Yes, it might have used a skein of thread (exactly) and taken about 10 hours but I do not consider it wasted time.

This project was one of my first ventures into evenweave and if any of you are familiar with Heritage Craft charts you will know how essential it is not to stitch the majority of their designs on aida. I am not usually a fan of evenweave (although I'm gradually getting used to it) but there are so many stitches that use half the depth or width of a normal stitch that I think I would have given up if I'd attempted it on aida!

I'm not going to do anything with him until I have completed the other three in the series (Cream, Tea and Sugar) as I would like to frame them all together, so I'm afraid it's into my Box of Shame he goes. One of the remaining three is on my list to complete this year, the other two will probably have to wait until 2018 before they see daylight; but they will see daylight and they will be finished.

For now it's back to more of my DSDUCJFC pieces..... I think.

Keep stitching,
Rachel x

PS There's still time to enter the giveaway on my previous post if you want to be in with a chance of winning an e-gift voucher.

3rd Blogoversary Giveaway

Good morning everyone!

It's the third of the third and I'm three years old today!! Happy blogoversary to me!

Goodness me, just where has the time gone?

I started this blog in order to keep track of the big projects I was stitching at the time, but during the past three years have basically ditched them all in favour of lots of smaller projects. I would not have predicted that back then. What a good/bad influence the blogosphere and all of you wonderful stitchers have been on me!

So, on to the point of this post. Each year I celebrate my blogoversary by rewarding one of my followers with a voucher. I was trying to think of something different to do this year but have decided to stick to the usual format as it's quick and easy!

Up for grabs is a £10, or local currency equivalent, e-gift voucher for the store of your choice. All you have to do to win is:

1) be a follower of my blog via the link on the left (email followers will not be included) and
2) leave a comment stating that you would like to be entered into the draw

It doesn't matter if you don't usually leave comments, as long as you're a follower you'll be entered if you wish.

Simple!

You have one week until 9am GMT on 10th March 2017 to enter, after which a winner will be chosen by Random Number Generator and a post made. I'll get the voucher out to the winner ASAP once we've exchanged emails and your store has been selected.

Good luck!
Rachel x

February Progress on 2015/2016 Challenge Pieces

Good morning everyone!

Another month and another progress report. I'm sure that it's not going to seem like five minutes between these monthly postings.

For February I decided to carry on with one piece from January then pick out two different pieces for the rest of the month. I think that working on neglected pieces last month made me feel a little guilty that others also need to feel loved.

Here are the projects I chose to work on:

Dreaming of Dolphins from Cross Stitch Collection March 2001

started 7th January 2015; last stitched on 4th June 2015 (shame on me!)

almost finished the third dolphin - the pattern, fabric and blues are all lovely to work with

Little Black Cat Coffee by Heritage Crafts

started 2nd February 2015; last stitched on in January 2017

continued working my way down - so close to finishing this one

The Milk Train by Heritage Crafts

started 24th February 2015; not stitched on since then (shame on me again!)

continued working my way down, then in from the right as I needed a change from the really pale colours!

During March I am hoping to finish Coffee and stitch on three more WIPs. I already know which three they will be but you'll have to wait until 1st April to find out!

Back in 31 days with another month-end progress report.

Take care,
Rachel x

Spring Bird - started and finished

Hello all,

In between all of my WIP and Smalls SAL stitching in February I managed to fit in my second new start and finish of 2017.

Back in the spring of last year I purchased some Threadworx hand-dyed threads in seasonal colours not really knowing what I was going to do with them. Then I found a simple bird pattern which I decided I would stitch four times using these threads. Last year I stitched Summer and now I have stitched Spring:

Bird by Hobikolik (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Dried Petal over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitched in Threadworx 1006 Berry Nice

Stitch count 80 wide by 80 high

Started - 23rd February 2017

Finished - 26th February 2017

Total stitching time - 6 hours

Here's a reminder of Summer, stitched using Threadworx 11511 Jam Rock on Lime:

Looking back at my records I noticed that Summer took 7 1/4 hours to stitch compared to 6 hours for Spring. Why the difference? Because for Spring I was listening to music, for Summer I was watching TV. It just goes to show how distracting a screen can be!

Like Summer, Spring has gone into my Box of Shame... but... I already have the backing fabric to make them both into little cushions. Watch this space!

I say this about most of my projects, but I really did enjoy stitching this and am looking forward to stitching Autumn and Winter. However, they are not on this year's stitching plans so I'll have to pencil them in for 2018!

Back in a couple of days with a progress report on my Challenge WIPs.

See you then,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - February 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.

Continuing on from January, this month's small is Durene Jones' February Calendar animal.

February Calendar by Durene Jones

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

Stitch count 43 wide by 56 high

Started - 1st February 2017

Finished - 7th February 2017

Total stitching time - 8 hours 10 minutes

I have to admit the panda this month was not as enjoyable to stitch as the little squirrel last month, but with 12 different animals in total there are bound to be some I enjoy more than others. Here are the two together:

I expect I'll carry on with the calendar and do March next month.

See you then!
Rachel x