Lady In Red - finished!

Hi all!

So my finishing streak continues, and another of Valerie Pfeiffer's Solos birds was successfully crossed off my WIP list in January.

Lady In Red was the 12th start during last year's Spring Into Summer New Start Binge and is now the third from that SAL to have been completed. As with the other birds she was an absolute joy to stitch.

Here's how I left her back in June after five hours of stitching:

Here she is after the completion of the stitching (except for three black stitches on her chin which I somehow missed!):

And now completed:

Lady In Red by Heritage Crafts

Stitched on 16ct Dried Petal over-dyed aida by sewitall

Stitch count 69 high by 49 wide

Started - 20th June 2020

Finished - 28th January 2021

Total stitching time - 13 hours 55 minutes

The flowers are very subtle but I can't help feeling might have been better defined with a bit of backstitching(?) I'm not going to attempt any so they'll stay like that, especially as the others in the set don't really have defined flowers either.

So that's three of these Solos birds down and one to go. The final one should appear in February; I can't have him feeling neglected now, can I?!

Take care,

Rachel x

Smalls SAL - January 2021

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.

I'm starting 2021 with the same designer I finished 2020 with - Durene Jones. This is first in a series of five cute dogs which I shall be stitching over the next five months. They are all freebies available on her FB page.

Let's Play by Durene Jones (freebie)

Stitch Count 35 wide by 39 high

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

Started - 1st January 2021

Finished - 3rd January 2021

Total stitching time - 8 hours 5 minutes

Isn't he just absolutely adorable?!

I know exactly how he will be FFOd, but it is dependent on me stitching the other four first, so you won't see the finished product until June at the earliest.

In this Smalls SAL I'm also re-showing other qualifying small projects I've stitched during the month. I'm not planning on many this year so, like most months, it's just my monarch:

See you next month for cute doggie number two!

Take care,
Rachel x

The Loneliness Of Autumn - 130 hours

Hi all!

Well, that's almost the first month of the year already gone... wow!

For this SAL with Leonore, January saw me adding more 814, completing pages 5-12 and making a very small start on page 13 of this 16 page project.

Here are the 120 hour and 130 hour comparisons:

There doesn't appear to be a lot of difference, but you can definitely see the red in the middle on the right hand side is a bit denser now.

According to my calculations (which haven't been too bad so far) I've got about another 5 hours of 814 left to complete the bottom row. So next month will see the introduction of colour number six, the gorgeous bright orange 742. I'd better go and check I've got some in stock!

Take care,

Rachel x

Humming Along - finished!

Hello again!

I have another finish; see, I do finish projects sometimes!

This is Humming Along, the second of the four Valerie Pfeiffer's Solos collection by Heritage Crafts. He was start number three of last year's Spring Into Summer New Start Binge and is now the second finish.

Here's how I left him after six hours of stitching:

And after adding the flowers and leaves:

And after 1.5 hours of backstitching:

Humming Along by Heritage Crafts

Stitched on 16ct Pine over-dyed aida by sewitall

Stitch count 70 wide by 68 high

Started - 18th April 2020

Finished - 21st January 2021

Total stitching time - 18 hours 25 minutes

The backstitching is very subtle on the flowers, leaves and body, but the little bits on his chin and head really do make a difference.

If all goes well, I am hoping to complete the other two in this set in February. Fingers crossed.

Take care,

Rachel x

Chick Berry - finished!

Hi all!

I have a finish!

This is Chick Berry by Heritage Crafts, one of a set of four birds in the Solos range by Valerie Pfeiffer. He was start number two of last year's Spring Into Summer New Start Binge and is the first finish from that SAL; only 16 more to go!

Here's how I picked it up after spending almost six hours stitching the bird and berries:

And after finishing the stitching:

And now all finished after adding 2.25 hours of backstitching:

Chick Berry by Heritage Crafts

Stitched on 16ct Provence over-dyed aida by sewitall

Stitch count 66 wide by 58 high

Started - 11th April 2020

Finished - 17th January 2021

Total stitching time - 13 hours 30 minutes

All four birds in this set contain a good proportion of fractionals, and the backstitching is certainly no easy ride, but I knew that before starting them all on aida. I'm not moaning though - fractionals on aida are second nature to me now, and not that bad really! Anyway, I had the perfect colours in aida so didn't see much point in buying more fabric, even if evenweave would have made stitching them easier.

I'm already working on finishing another from this set, so that should appear fairly soon.

Take care,

Rachel x

A Monarch A Month - James I

Hi all!

As you are all fully aware by now, I have been, and am, stitching Kings and Queens by Bothy Threads at the rate of one monarch per month. It's been going for two years already. during which time I have stitched monarchs 1-24. This year I shall be stitching monarchs 25-36, which will leave me only five monarchs, numbers 37-41 next year, followed by the beading, the title and some sort of border I have yet to design. In other words, I may be over half way through monarchs, but I'm only about half way through the whole piece.

So, we start of this year with monarch number 25, James I.

Here he is, reading a very important version of the bible:

James I from Kings and Queens by Bothy Threads

Started - 3rd January 2021

Finished - 6th January 2021

Total stitching time - 5 hours 15 minutes

As a bit of background information, James had already been King James VI of Scotland for 36 years (since the age of 13 months) before also becoming King James I of England. His mother was Mary Queen of Scots, famously beheaded by Elizabeth for conspiring to overthrow her.

JAMES I
Preceded by Elizabeth I (first cousin twice removed)

Succeeded by Charles I (son)
Lived - 1566-1625

Reigned - 1603-1625
Married - Anne of Denmark 1589-1619

Children - 3 boys and 4 girls (four died very young and another in his teens)

James became King of England in 1603 following the death of Elizabeth I.

He was popular in both Scotland and England and was eager to unite them under one Parliament; neither country agreed.

He was obsessed with witchcraft, contributing to the burning of hundreds, possibly thousands, of witches during his reigns.

Yet James tolerated Catholicism and believed in negotiating peace, rather than going to war, with other countries.

An unintentional tip-off about a Catholic attempt to blow up Parliament and assassinate James and his ministers (The Gunpowder Plot) was foiled in 1605.

In 1607 Jamestown was established as the first permanent English colony in America. Others followed, including the Plymouth Colony settled by the Pilgrims sailing on the Mayflower in 1620.

In 1611 he published the Authorised King James Bible, consolidating a number of translations in one volume.

1612 marked a turning point in James' reign when his 18 year old son and heir, Henry, and his Chief Minister, Robert Cecil, both died.

James had a second son, Charles, to succeed him. But Cecil (who had been instrumental in negotiating James' smooth succession) had no such successor and factions began appearing in the previously-conforming Privy Council.

With Parliament opposing his requests, and his increasing belief in the absolute power of the monarch, James dissolved parliament and ruled without them from 1614 to 1621.

In his final few years, arthritis, gout and kidney stones took their toll on his health and James' power dwindled.

He died in 1625, a shadow of his former self, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

So next month, his son Charles I, a man not born to be king but who would take his father's belief in absolute monarchy a bit too far.

Take care,

Rachel x

Grow Your Own - 40 hours

Hello all!

After rekindling my love for Walter, and those gorgeous and colourful vegetables, I couldn't help but carry on working on him for the last few days of 2020 and then into January to take me up to the next 10 hour mark.

Last time I added the juicy carrots and some of the radish tops:

This time I finished the radish tops, added the cabbage and then had a few minutes left to start on the radishes themselves:

I'm afraid Walter has got to go away for a couple of months now so that I can concentrate on finishing off a few WIPs which don't require too much work. But he should appear again after Easter (ish).

Take care,
Rachel x