June 2021 WIPGO Goals Review

 Numbers called for June's WIPGO board were #1 and #17.

My first project was Valentine Bakery from Stitching with the Housewives.  I bought this around Valentine's day and added it to my WIPGO board in the hope of having a little Valentine finish for next year.  The 10 hours of stitching time was enough to start and finish this pretty stitch.  I stitched on an 18 count aida that I hand dyed with Vintage Blue Nylon and briefly dipped in tea/coffee solution afterwards.  Not entirely sure I like the tea/coffee mottle - having trouble convincing my brain that it doesn't just look dirty.  But I guess by the time I cut it down and stitch into a little display pillow, I won't notice it too much.It's only small at approx 2.5" x 3" or so.

The Original - not my stitching

Number 17 is another new start project on my board.  It's the Love Lives Here pattern by Country Cottage Needleworks.  I love that house, the two sweet trees and the four birds on the fence.  Would quite like to live in a cottage like that - looks like a happy kind of place.  

This is what my 10 hour start achieved.  Not too bad and certainly a very pretty WIP to add to my ever growing basket!

I wonder what numbers July's draw will call for.  

Catch up on cross stitch finishes

I've been stitching a little faster than I've been blogging recently, so I have a few finishes to catch you up with.

True Friends is the design from my first ever Cotton and Twine Subscription Box back at the end of January.  I absolutely loved stitching this and enjoyed everything about the subscription box, from the pattern and threads to the frame that was included and the little sweet treat and gift heart too.  I will gift this to a friend later this summer, but for now I admire it as it awaits being passed on.

This design is from a new-to-me designer called Jeannine McGowan who designs under the name of The Blue Flower.  Jeannine released a number of patterns at this year's Needlework Online Expo in March and this is just one of three that I purchased.  It's called Language of Flowers: Spring.  

I stitched with the DMC alternatives to the silk recommendations.  It was a little too dense perhaps to use two threads on this 20 count fabric, but I needed double strands for the blended colour ways that were charted.  Next time I'll know better.  Gives it great texture and it still looks nice.

I also achieved a finish on the Shine On Sampler cross stitch SAL a teeny bit ahead of the Fat Quarter Shop SAL schedule.  I love that Bonnie and Camille made a cross stitch design of their new sampler quilt from the Quilt Bee book.  It was deceptive though - so many more stitches than I had imagined are in that piece, but I don't regret a single one. And, of course, the actual quilt sampler from the book is on my to do list, hopefully for 2022 ;-)

Cross stitch Stitch Along - La Finestra del Tempo

From the minute I first saw these Crocette a Gogo calendar months, I have been itching to stitch them.  

Currently, there are two releases of these La Finestra del Tempo (Time Windows), January to April in part 1 and May to August in part 2.  

I think they are beyond adorable, and I can't wait to see what the September to December release will bring!

So, I decided to invite my new Flosstube friends and you, too, to join in stitching them with me in a casual little SAL.

The plan is to start on Sunday 1st August, stitching one calendar chart per month, starting with January. We'll be sharing progress on IG using the #finestradeltemposal. I can't wait to see everybody's stitching and any colour changes, little tweaks along the way.

So, can I tempt you to join us?  

If you'd like to stitch along, just pick up the patterns from the Crocette a Gogo Etsy shop, kit them up with fabric and floss and have your needle poised for August 1st.  

Hope to see you then!

Create Every Day

Create Every Day - how many of us wish that every day was a day to create, to stitch, to indulge our passion?  Well, it might not be exactly possible, but we could try for as many days as we can, right?  It's good for our brains, good for our emotions and helps balance out our mental health.  I'm ALL for giving it a go ;-)

This cross-stitch pattern is a freebie by Teresa Kogut which I found on the Fat Quarter Shop website here.

Stitching this was the first time I ever stitched with Sulky 12wt thread.  This is a blendable (the Sulky name for variegated) thread from a mixed pack of Sulky Petites.  Each single strand of Sulky floss is said to be equivalent to 2 strands of DMC floss, so with Sulky there's no having to separate strands of floss, you just pull off the spool and go.  I was really impressed with my experience of this thread.  It stitched beautifully, had lovely coverage on the even weave fabric I used and was a gorgeous colour.  It was also a great feel to stitch with, so there will definitely be more Sulky stitching in my future.

I used the cross-stitch piece as a panel for a project bag because what could be more perfect than a project bag encouraging you to stitch more?  Paired with floral Liberty of London and some Essex Linen in Oyster, I love how this large pouch came together.

I trialled the Sulky for quilting this project bag also and it stitched beautifully.  It's a nice change for a slightly heavier weight look in quilting, perfect for a little embellishment on pouches and small stitchy pieces.

All in all, I love everything about this little project, and of course, it won't be long before I have another new start project to put it to good use!

Flosstube Alert!

 I did a thing today.  A scary thing!  

I put my face and my voice on You Tube for my very first FlossTube video.  I have no idea if anyone will ever watch it, but it seems to me that FlossTube is the place where the cross stitch community is hanging out and I'd like to be part of that, even if it scares the jeepers out of me to be so public.  

I've learned a lot in the last 24 hours about making basic edits to my videos, some clipping, some overlays, some text insertions and a title slide and am feeling very accomplished for a washed up middle-aged woman tonight.  Giving it a go to see if anyone's interested in the conversation.  Time will tell.

2020 Collector's Heart Cross Stitch

 I found another stitch finish that I have forgotten to share here.  

This is the Heart in Hand 2020 Collector's Heart pattern (there seem to be different heart patterns for different years).  It's quite small, maybe 2.5" x 7.5" in total if I remember correctly.  I think I will finish this on a little board or a mini cushion for displaying.  It's joining the finishing pile!

Lori Holt's Sew By Row Cross Stitch

 Lori Holt's Sew By Row cross stitch is finished!!

I tried really hard to catch up and keep up with the Fat Quarter Shop's SAL for this pattern, and almost did except for those might sewing machines.  Boy, there is a lot of stitching in those!!  Actually, deceptively there was quite a bit of stitching in a number of the rows of this design, but definitely all worth it in the end.

I've been protecting this little spot on my wall since we redecorated in the autumn and am so chuffed to hang Sew By Row right beside my Stitching Nook where I can see it often beside these other two pretties too!

Mother's Day in honour

You might remember that I had started stitching Jacob de Graaf's (Modern Folk Embroidery) free Mother's Day Pattern in honour of my lovely mum who left us too soon.

Here it is all finished and looking beautiful, if I do say so myself.  Thank you Jacob for the generosity of this free pattern.  I'm hoping that I will make it into a little cushion to fully finish, but am mulling that over for now.

Stitched on: Vintage Blue dyed, mystery 20 count even weave

Thread: DMC 48

March 2021 WIPGO Goals Review

Little bit late sharing March's WIPGO review with you but I did meet my goals in the month so another big smile on my face for that!  My WIPGO focus projects were numbers were my Bee Happy Needlepoint and the Shine On Sampler cross stitch.

I'm pleased to show you the before and after of my 10hrs progress on Bee Happy (a needlepoint kit from Historical Sampler Company).

   

Before March I hadn't quite finished the border.

Ten hours of WIPGO goal focus later and the border is filled out and I've made a good start on the central background stitches.  It's lovely to see this progress and in order to keep seeing progress, I've decided to make Bee Happy my Daily Thread project for April.  (My Daily Thread is a new to me motivating initiative whereby I will try to stitch at least one thread length into a given project every day of a month.)

The Shine On cross stitch sampler from Bonnie & Camille's Quilt Bee book was a completely new start for me since my book hadn't arrived at the beginning of the month.  It showed up a few days into March and I was able to make good progress in my 10 hour time goal, even catching up to the third week of the Fat Quarter Shop SAL.  I'm still up to date with that but just haven't managed any more recent pics.

WIPGO might seem rather arbitrary, but there are no WIPGO police and I have set the "rules" of my board, so I can change them if needs be.  So far, so good though.  I am managing the 10 hours goals on two projects a month and am still finding ways to stitch other things besides.

This weekend will be the first of my 10 hour focus sessions for April's numbers.  I'll share that with you soon.

Fabric Dyeing Experiment

Following the 'success' of my Baxters beetroot pickle juice dye effort and many Floss Tube videos where lovely folks shared an interest in dyeing their own fabric base for stitching, I decided to experiment a little further.  In search of various shades of blue aida and even weave I bought some vintage blue Dylon and spend an hour playing with fabric oddments in my kitchen.

I soaked a variety of scrappy pieces of aida and even weave in a roasting tray dye bath.  Some for 15 mins, some for 30 mins, some for 45 mins and a final few for 1 hour.  All very scientific (if you exclude the fact I forgot to dye a 'control' piece of the exact same fabric in each batch).

Here are my results.

I found it quite interesting to see how the different weaves and counts of fabric accepted the dye.  I mean, there wasn't much difference between the aida left for 15 mins (far left) and that left for 60 mins (far right).  However, you can see that some of the creamier base fabrics accepted the dye to take on more of a duck-egg hue (central fabrics shown above).

My favourite piece was some 25 count even weave which dyed unevenly.  Of course, as soon as it had dried out, I couldn't wait to put some stitches in it!

I've been missing my mum  dreadfully over the past number of weeks, so I chose this beautiful free Mother's Day design from Jacob de Graff at Modern Folk Embroidery in her memory.  I'm using DMC variegated thread no 48.  I love how it is stitching up on the slight uneven dye of the fabric.  

My little dye experiment was a lot of fun so I might try some other shades of Dylon one day soon.  Watch this space!

Valentine Stitching

As well as the Stitches From the Heart cross stitch, I found a few other Valentine themed stitcheries to play with this month.  

I finished up Bee Mine by Stitching with the Housewives. I cannot tell you how much I adore this fun, little design!

This pretty stitch is from a free pattern by The Primitive Hare.  I stitched this 1 strand over 1 thread on a 25 count even weave so it's teeny, tiny (3.5" embroidery scissors for scale).

And, just to keep exercising my ageing eyesight, this is another tiny one.  It's the 2020 Collector's Heart design by Heart In Hand.  I haven't made any further progress on this one, but maybe in time for next Valentines. Then, perhaps I'll make all of these Valentine smalls into little pillows or ornaments for a love-filled display.

February 2021 - Cross Stitch WIPGO

You know that cross stitch rabbit hole I fell down and all the shiny things I want to stitch I was telling you about?  Well, here's how I plan to help myself along with that - WIPGO. 

If you haven't heard of WIPGO, which I hadn't until a week ago, it's a kind of Bingo-like draw which encourages you to work on a list of projects you identify as part of WIPGO and goals that you set for it.  I guess initially, it was intended that you would nominate your WIPs, assign them a number on your WIPGO (bingo) board and work on those WIPs when the monthly numbers were randomly called.  Clear as mud?  Jessie Marie can explain it much better than I ever will.  Anyway, now WIPGO can include projects that are WIPs, new starts you want to make, whatever.  You are in control of the plan and the goal setting, just not the random draw of two numbers for each month.

Now that I understand WIPGO a little, I thought it would be a great way for me to deal with the question of "where do I start?" in terms of managing everything I see and want to stitch.  Since there are no deadlines for any of this stitching, I aim to keep it varied and fun while making a little progress and avoiding the forever UFO situation.  Those of you with a nervous disposition might prefer not to think about what this means in terms of projects on the go at any one time, or allowable new starts;-)

So, with apologies for the long pre-amble, here's my WIPGO board for 2021 (starting in February) - 

Working left to right across the rows and top row to bottom, the spaces are numbered 1 to 25.  Each month Jessie Marie calls two numbers randomly, and those will be my WIPGO focus projects for the month.  I have decided that my goal for each project on the board is to make time to stitch on that project for 10 hours over 2 consecutive days (most likely a weekend) when that project's number is called.

Numbers 4 and 20 have been called for February.

#4 True Friends - This is a kit from my first ever subscription box from Cotton & Twine. It just arrived last week, so I'm delighted it's going to be a new start under WIPGO right away!

#20 O Holy Night Advent Calendar - at the other end of the spectrum, this is my longest ever cross-stitch WIP. I've not stitched on it since about 2006!!! Time to show it some attention and hope maybe it encourages me to continue picking it up throughout the year.  So far I have only stitched some of the little ornaments that hang on it.  There's not a single stitch in the actual (rather huge) calendar backdrop!

Happy to have a plan.  I'm not expecting miracles, just progress.

January's Tiny Stitches

You may or may not know, but I used to cross stitch a lot years ago, before patchwork became my new love.  I've always loved the slower rhythms of hand stitching of all sorts and I'm sure if you've been hanging around here for long enough you'll not be surprised by that, and will have seen plenty of evidence in EPP patchwork, hand quilting, a little embroidery and occasionally a cross-stitch piece, too.  In the mayhem of 2020, I found solace and sanity in those slower rhythms again, something I think 2021 is also going to require.

At the end of last year, I fell down a rabbit hole of Floss Tube, SALs, new patterns and available freebies and I have so many things I want to stitch that I hardly know where to start.  Though I think I may just have figured that out, but more on that next week ;-)

In the meantime, the lull of a long January and the tightening of lockdown restrictions pushed me a little deeper into that rabbit hole. Patterns were printed off, online shopping carts checked out and project bags made ready, so I have a few little bits of cross-stitching to show you from this month.

Fat Quarter Stitch were offering this quilty inspired Stitches from the Heart pattern for free as part of their plans for #beminesal in February and I thought, why not? I found this satisfying as a stitcher and a quilter.  By the way,  if you are interested there is also a free quilt pattern for a Stitches from the Heart mini quilt and a wallhanging.

Of course, I couldn't resist the Lori Holt Sew By Row SAL hosted by Fat Quarter Shop either.  Though, I had to wait until a couple of weeks after the start of the SAL for the pdf of this pattern to become available to purchase.  It means that I'm a bit behind but I'll just try to maintain my own weekly pace rather than catch up.  There is a spot and a frame ready for this one just beside my sewing nook! Aren't those tomato pincushions adorable?

Then, watching Floss Tubes and Fat Quarter Shop I've gotten a little Valentine stitching bug.  If you knew this house, you'd laugh because we are the least Valentine's celebratory home in the world.  But that's not because of me, so I decided that I'm going to change that and celebrate Valentine's myself with cute stitches when I fancy.  It's a lovely excuse to stitch pretty little patterns, of which the 'Bee Mine' by Stitching with the Housewives that you see above is just one of many I have bookmarked for future reference.  Available from either Fat Quarter Shop or the Stitching with the Housewives Etsy shop.

You might be able to make out in the picture above that I had a go at dyeing my aida pink.  I used the juice from Baxters pickled beetroot!  With no real clue of the 'how to' I just pressed on and it's done.  I wet my aida with water, dunked it in the beetroot juice and took it out when I started to get nervous. Whether it'll fade dramatically I have no idea. I did try to 'fix' it with salt and then with heat, so maybe I'll get lucky.  Either way, I'm happy.  I have a little scrap of pink aida to stitch on and feel very 'Good Life' about it ;-)

This is my progress so far with 'Bee Mine' - 

It makes me happy!

Finally, having uncovered this cross stitch UFO in a box before Christmas I decided to take it out and finish it.  The pattern is from this lovely book by Barbara Hammet.

I'm not sure why I ever left it unfinished because honestly all there was to do was the little bit of backstitching on the butterflies and caterpillar, the honeysuckle stamen and the leaves.  It has been languishing for years for the sake of 45mins stitching! Anyway, it is now complete and awaiting a little framing attention so I can hang it in our bedroom. Winner!

I did tell you I'd fallen down a rabbit hole, didn't I?  And, like I say, there's lots more to come hopefully.

Good job I made some more project bags with the scraps leftover from the Kindred Spirits quilt ;-)

Homemade Happiness

I stitched some rather late gifts for our Threads Across The Sea visit that never was (thank you Coronavirus).  The other lovelies have long since spoiled me with their gifts which we would have swapped in person had we been able to.  I just didn't get my act together quickly enough in my making and when I did, I created another delay by not being sure I liked what I intended to make.  

Cue a little alternative inspiration from the Fat Quarter Shop Floss Tube channel and a root around my long forgotten cross stitch supplies and voila I had plans for these sweet hoops.  Although I've been tinkering with a little blackwork since Lockdown, it has been many years since I attempted any cross stitch.  I used to stitch a lot and it was nice to have a little play again.

There's one for Judith

one for Trudi

and one for Di too.

You can find the Fat Quarter Shop cross stitch pattern here. My hoop is just 5" since I stitched on 18 count aida instead of the 14 count suggested by the pattern, and I finished it with a little lace glued around the outer edge and turned over the lace picots toward the front of the hoop.

I'm really hoping my Threads Across The Sea buddies like them since they're a little diversion from a quilty gift.

My Christmas Decorations

You will have gathered that I like to indulge in my Christmas makes.  I think that Christmas decorations allow for so much more play and creativity and fuss than my normal style and that's what I enjoy so much about making for the festive period.  It seems to unleash my inner child.  This year I added the ultimate Christmas make to my collection - my Comfort and Joy quilt.

Gratuitous pic just to show it off again!

But I thought I'd show you some of my oldies - makes from years long past that predate my quilting days.  I'm going to say very little (are you relieved?) and just let you see the Christmas items I have created for our home.

Cross-stitch advent calendar - have lost the wee doodah that's supposed to hang on the date.

Cross-stitch banner

Knitted snowman

Noel Cross-stitch banner

Gift Sacks and Christmas Stocking - made from guess work before I knew
what I ought to have been doing.  Don't think I'd heard of applique
stitching at that time - these are all just bondawebbed in place - eek!

Santa and his Mrs

Normally I hate clowns, but this one just appealed to me in my knitting phase.
The postbox is my favourite though!

She is an angel, NOT a fairy OK?!

Would I make all of these again today?  No, probably not, but would I part with them?  No way.  These makes have history, reasons and sentiment attached no matter how lovely, tacky, twee they may be.

Bet you all have some of those too - you can't all just have cool Christmas decorations! (Please tell me I'm not alone.)

My favourite Christmas decoration is not something I have made myself though, and it's not colourful or "festive", but is what it's all about after all -

And, just so you can see my very latest Christmas creation ...

Customised slings anyone?


PS - Watch out for something special in this space on Tuesday!