SAL update – Unicorn #7

Things are seriously starting to take shape with “Unicorn and Maiden” by Joan Elliott.

For the update earlier this month, I showed you this

Since then, I’ve been stitching in lots of shades of grey as well as some white . . . and the unicorn is coming to life.

In October, I’ll continue working all the greys and white . . . lots of unicorn still to do including his flowing mane . . . so don’t forget to come back on 16th October to see more progress.

And, if you have time, do a little blog-hopping to visit my fellow SALers blogs.  Lots of different and gorgeous stitching going on there.  Avis, Gun, Carole, Wendy, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, SusanP and Kathy.

happy unbirthdays in September

More little parcels winged their way to various parts of the country, and abroad, with unbirthday gifts for September.  Lavender bags being the main thing again this month.

To two forum friends, who share the same first name: Cathy and Katy

To Agnès (fuzzy photo, sorry)

One zany cushion without lavender . . . because it makes her sneeze . . . to my good friend Avis

And something totally different to my daughter, aka Lindashee

a couple of sachets of pickled veggies and ginger, Japanese style. 

can’t get enough purples & greens

You all know how much I love purple and green . . . these two colours just seem to pop up in my crafting, be it cross stitch or patchwork.  Of course, with patchwork, the result is, a box of scraps with various small bits of fabric just waiting to be used.

And, with lots of lovely lavender to be used up . . . what better way, than a few more decorative and scented cushions?

A batch in purples and . . . a batch in greens and PINK!

Who’d have thought, eh?  Me, using bright pink lol.  These were a brilliant way to use up my very last scraps from the keyboard cover I made my niece earlier in the year.  And, some of those lovely stripes used only recently.

That’s over 40 little lavender cushions made so far lol . . . next job is to make myself a full sized cushion which I’m going to fill with lavender . . . but I need to build up some more bright scraps first.

more “vignettes” in progress

Do you remember these?  I showed you three thread holders I made the other week, using these gorgeous prints . . . what I didn’t tell you is I didn’t have just one set of 6 . . . I had a few more.  Two more sets of 6 to be precise.

I therefore sliced them up, and squared them all up to 3 3/4”.  Rifled through my fabric drawers in search of something yummy but not too busy.  My first reaction was to go purple . . . but after a few fabric auditions I decided to go green (with a splash of purple & gold).  I had the most gorgeous fabric in my stash (bought last year) which seemed to be crying “pick me!”. So I did.

Used the quick method of making my first lot of little blocks.  And made 48 of these.

Then I made HSTs using the subtle background fabric and a light marbled green . . . so I had 48 more smaller blocks . . . and then started assembling my rows of three.

You can see what I was up to . . . yup, I decided to make more of the Indiana Puzzle block.  I really like this one. 

Colours of last photo aren’t very good

but it gives you an idea of progress so far.  I have my 12 blocks . . . I now need to stop and think about the next stage. 

everyone’s moving!

2016 seems to be the year where our three off-spring have all made the decision to move home.  None of them have moved far from their previous homes . . . it’s just been a question of down-sizing, upsizing, or looking for a better rental deal.

Eldest son moved in May – down-sizing from a shared rental into his very own bachelor pad, but going up in the world since he now gets to pay back a mortgage rather than rent.  I marked the occasion for that, by designing a very quick stitch card (which I already showed you) and looked like this.

Just as eldest son was moving in to his new flat in May, second son and girlfriend, N, were starting to look at properties on the market in their corner of England.  Property prices are crazy in some parts of England!  Anyway, they’ve got their first foot on the property market now with a mid-terraced house and a 20 year mortgage.  They moved into their new home this month (once some necessary DIY had been perfomed) . . . that is call for celebration.

A little card stitched up, with a design found in June 2007 Cross Stitcher magazine.

And our daughter, aka Lindashee, also moved this month.  She’s still in rental, but has moved to something slightly bigger & better for the rent money . . . hopefully she’ll be warmer this winter.

Lindashee rather likes Michael Powell designs . . . the above aren’t MP but Joanne Sanderson . . . from April 2008 Cross Stitcher magazine.

Anyway, two lovely colourful cards to plop through the letter box and greet them in their new homes.

F2F2 – Miss September

Another month has whooshed by . . . and we’re now well into September.  This month, blocks were made and sent to Moira in the US.  Her colour choice: red, blue, and gold.

Here are the blocks I made and sent.

A big thank you to Kate who is keeping us all organised for the swap.  You can see photos of blocks made by other members in the gallery Kate set up especially.

SAL update–Unicorn #6

More stitching these past few weeks in an attempt to have some decent progress to show for the SAL and the Joan Elliott design I am stitching: “Unicorn & Maiden”.

Last time I showed you this photo

Since then I’ve been flitting about on the chart . . . finishing off a few isolated stitches of flowers in the grass, completing the yellow/gold stitching of the gown, and stitching lots of grey for the unicorn.

I’ve also started adding some back stitch on unicorn’s legs.

Still lots of “holes” on the gown which will need filling in with seed beads later on.

In the meantime . . . please take the time to check out other SAL members’ blogs. We’re an international group, all working on different projects but stitching together to keep motivated. There’s Avis, Gun, Carole, Wendy, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, SusanP and Kathy.

Next update on 25th September.