SAL “together we are magic” #11 and a finished “Tiny Treasures”

Hello everyone! Today it’s our 3-weekly meet to motivate each other with SAL projects.  My current WIP for this is “together we are magic”, a kit by Letitstitch.  It’s a bit of a slog, I have to say, but little & often will see it done eventually.

Last time I was here

saying that if you squinted you could see unicorn ears.  I hope that today’s photo makes it easy to see the unicorns.

Still a very long way to go but I’ll think you’ll agree, I’m getting there.

Other photos to share a festive happy dance with you!  You’ll remember Avis and I both stitched “Tiny Treasures” from Sept 2020 – April 2021.  I’d chosen red, green & gold to stitch mine.  With Christmas only a few weeks away now, I’m pleased to share my finish. (The plastic clothes hanger is only temporary – need to find a nice rod of wood, and sorry about the stray pet hairs on white!).

I sewed 3 blingy gold buttons along the top and made 3 loops, with button holes. That way, I can remove loops and use this piece as a table runner if I choose to.  I might sew on 3 buttons along the bottom too, just for balance, or so I can hang it the other way up!.  Fabrics were all from my stash.

Linking up with other SAL members

Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny,

Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen

And our next update will be 19th December.

ScrapHappy # november

It’s 15th of the month, time to link up with ScrapHappy members world wide!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule,
Gwen, Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear,
Carol, Preeti, Edith, Debbierose and Esther

For this month, I’ve been thinking ahead to Christmas.  When I stitch a large xstitch piece, I always keep the bands of aida that I trim off around the edges of a finished project before framing or finishing in any way.  Which results in me having quite a few lengths of aida that are only very narrow, and not good for much other than stitching very small projects (or bookmarks, possibly).  So for November, I am using up some of my aida scraps and getting ahead, making a few little decorations.

These bands are only approx 28 stitches across, so I found a nice little design only 20 x 20 stitches, and, while I have chosen a full skein on DMC 666 for the bright red, I’m using leftovers from my thread bags for the other colours. This design was in a freebie chart book (designs by Lucie Heaton) that came with a cross stitch magazine several moons ago.

I also had some wider strips I cut into squares.

And chose another design (by Durene Jones) from Cross Stitch Crazy issue 260.

 

SAL “together we are magic” #10

Time to show progress on my xstitch SAL project, which is currently the only xstitch piece getting any attention these days.  Last time I was here.

Three weeks on and it looks like this.

If you squint, you can see the beginnings of unicorn ears.

I’m being motivated to stitch on this piece thanks to the SAL of other members, who all post 3-weekly updates. Full list of members here.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny,

Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen

We’ll be back again on 28th November.

SAL “together we are magic” #9

It’s time for the 3-weekly link-up with other SAL members.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny,

Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen

who have all been busily stitching (I hope!) on their currents projects.  Mine is a kit by Letitstitch, and last time I had just begun on page 2 (of 4) of the chart.

Since then, I allowed myself to get distracted by other projects, so sadly, I didn’t get much done.

Still having to juggle with lots of different blues for the background, but I did also add some beige which is the beginnings of an ear.

We’ll be back in 3 weeks time, on 7th November.

SAL “together we are magic” #8

It’s the 3-weekly meet-up with other SAL members, organised by Avis, to show photos of the projects we’re stitching.  We’re an international group, all working on different projects, with the SAL being our way of motivating each other.

Full list of members.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny,

Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen

Last time I had managed to complete page 1 (of 4) of the chart of my project: “Together we are magic”, a kit by Letitstitch.

For this time, I began work on page 2.

Next update on 17th October.

a bit of this, that & the other (sept)

My time is often spent flitting from one crafting project to another, simply because I can.  So today, a little mish mash of photos of what’s taking shape.

A dolphin cross stitch design, kit by Royal Paris.  I don’t pick this up very often therefore progress is slow, but there’s no hurry.

A new crochet project.  I was going to jump in and start hooking a third doll, but after a rummage in my yarn stash, I came across a couple of sunglass-worthy coloured yarn that I’d bought in a local discount store a couple of years ago.  A quick flick through my big pile of crochet books and I found a pattern that tickled my fancy.  I’m not going to tell you what I’m making just yet . . . it will become more obvious the more body parts I make.  Let’s just say that shocking pink isn’t the colour one would expect, but I reckon the finished design will be very cute!

I’ve begun a new diamond painting project.  Working in various shades of blues & teals . . . overall picture will look like this.

Again, there’s no rush to have this finished.  It’s just a new hobby I discovered recently, and I enjoy putting in a few hours from time to time.

For those of you wondering how the husband is getting on with the mirror . . .

He has begun cleaning up the back (while still debating about how to repair the stucco on the mirror side).  Took out these short planks and discovered

This, stamped on the back of the mirror.  So, his original guess of approx 1870 was out.  Stamp reads 1897, 31st March, Paris.  Renovation work continues.

SAL “together we are magic” #7

It’s time to link up with a world-wide group of stitchers, to share progress on the diverse projects we’re working on.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen

My project is a kit by Letistitch: “together we are magic”. It’s 152 x 200 stitches big, stitched on 16 count aida and is full coverage.  I decided, from the start, that I needed to grid my fabric and take this one page at a time, otherwise I’d get lost (and lose motivation) along the way.

Last time I showed you this photo

For this time, I am rather proud of myself, because . . .

this is where I’m up to.  Although I haven’t added backstitch detail yet, I have completed page 1 (chart is printed on four pages of A3) and, if you look at the bottom right of chart, you can see the arrows that mark the centre of the design.  I said design is 152 x 200 stitches. Page 1 covers stitches 80 x 110  which means I’m more than a quarter of the way through, even if I’ve still got 3 pages to tackle.

Here’s a close up

And here’s a reminder of what I’m actually working on.

 

It’s slower going that I had originally thought, but I’m feeling motivated knowing I “only” have 3 more A3 pages to follow!

Next update on 26th August!

SAL ” Together we are magic” #6

Today’s SAL update happens to fall on 15th of the month, which is also ScrapHappy day . . . so if you came looking for that, it’s in a post published earlier today.

For SAL members . . . summer weather, hot sweaty hands, and sticky needles, mean I got distracted with other crafting these past 3 weeks, and only put in a couple of stitching sessions on unicorns.

This is the photo I posted last time.  I’ve been filling in.

Still working on page 1 (of 4) but the picture is beginning to take shape!  Apart from the second butterfly, you can now make out one of the unicorns, with the neck & jawline appearing (if you squint) bottom centre of this photo.

I’ll be plodding along and hope to finish page 1 over the next 3 weeks. In the meantime, I’m going to see what other SAL members have been up to.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

and we’ll be back on 5th September.

SAL “Together we are magic” # 5

Hello folks!  Time to share progress and encouragement with other SAL members on this our 3-weekly posting.  Here’s where I was last time.

And this is what things look like today.

I’ve given up trying to work in 10×10 sections, as that isn’t how I like to work. Instead, I’m just working on page 1 (of 4) of the chart, which means anywhere with a 90 x 110 stitch grid.  This method seems to be working better for me, allowing me to follow symbols around, and occasionally fill in on confetti stitching whenever I have a small length of thread on my needle that needs using up.  That first butterfly, for example, is just missing 3 stitches & backstitch.

Still a long long way to go but I’m enjoying it a lot more.

Here’s a list of fellow SAL members. Everyone is working on different projects, and it’s lovely to see the variety.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

We’ll be back on 15th August.

SAL “Together we are magic” #4

Oh dear!  I’ve really slowed down with cross stitching lately.  So many other crafting projects calling to me, that I can’t get up the motivation in the evening.  Three weeks ago, I’d already begun to fall behind my self-imposed target

and I’ve fallen behind some more.

Oh well, it’s still progress, even if nowhere near as much as I had hoped.  There’s a second butterfly taking shape, but no real hint of a unicorn yet.

and still lots of fabric to cover.

I wonder if other SAL members were more industrious?  Here is the full list of links if you want to hop along and visit.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

And we’ll be back on 25th July with a fresh update!