Final Gifted Gorgeousness of 2017

It's hard to believe that a year has almost gone by. It's been my first year to participate in Gifted Gorgeousness and I've enjoyed it. It's been fun seeing what other stitchers have gifted and received. Thank you, Jo for hosting this.

Well as this is December, it is no surprise that there is a theme in these photos. I received this lovely Hardanger Santa from Clare (Aimetu's Stitching).

 Hardanger Santa from Clare, Needlecraft Haven

 As previously posted, for our Needlecraft Haven Christmas exchange I made this for Angi ...

Deck the halls - JBW Designs
Fabric: 28ct Zweigart Cashel light mocha
Threads: Suggested DMC threads

 and received this from Gill.

Needlecraft Haven gift from Gill

I also particpiated in the Friendly Stitchers Christmas exchange and I received this ornament, fabric and thread from Vivian in New Brunswick (no blog, I think). Unfortunately her card features its own watermarks as it got wet in my postbox. This bell finish is so well done. I want to try one.

Friendly Stitchers Christmas Exchange 2017 from Vivian

I forgot to take a photo of the ornament that I stitched for Christine at Friendly Stitchers. It was free design from Madame La Fee called Bouquet of December which can be found here.

Needlecraft Haven Christmas exchange

First of December was opening day for Needlecraft Haven's Christmas exchange.

I stitched 'Deck the Halls' from JBW Designs for Angi (no blog) and finished it as a hanging flat fold ornament. I also included some 'icy' blue/white fabric but forgot to take a photo of it.

Deck the halls - JBW Designs
Fabric: 28ct Zweigart Cashel light mocha
Threads: Suggested DMC threads
Embellishments: red beads substitued with French knots and
star charms were replaced with stitched silver stars.

I received this lovely ornament with a stitched card, thread and chocolate from Gill (no blog). Given my sweet tooth, you will not be surprised to read that the chocolate didn't last long.

Needlecraft Haven gift from Gill

Not much stitching has taken place recently as I'm busy crocheting Granny squares for my blanket. If I get a bright day soon, I'll take some photos to show my progress.

I've started to crochet a blanket

Late last year, I bought wool to crochet the Vibrant Vintage Blanket from Cypress Textiles. This was a free SAL that she ran during 2016. Well, this weekend I finally got my crochet out and made a start. These four squares are not perfect and I admit there was a lot of 'reworking' at times but I finally got there.

I've realised that if I make an effort I could have this blanket completed in time for Christmas. I like the thought of it, so watch this space. :)

Gifted Gorgeousness - November

Gifted Gorgeousness is the brainchild of Jo of Serendipitous Stitching where we showcase the stitchy gifts that we have made and received. For further information on what it is and how it works, please visit Jo here.

A short post this time as during November my stitching has been mainly for Christmas exchanges, which means that I don't have much to show this month. However, now that Clare (Aimetu's Stitching) has received the ornament that I made for her church Christmas tree, I can post a picture. You can read more about Clare's church Christmas tree here on her blog.

Snow Happy - Glory Bee
taken from 2011 Just CrossStitch Christmas ornaments issue.
Fabric: 28ct Cashel Ice Blue
Threads: recommended DMC

Chart Giveaway - winner!

Sorry for the delay in posting this. Thank you to those who expressed an interest in the charts. DH has pulled  the winning name from a bowl and the winner is Terri.

Terri, please email me with your postal address so I can send these charts to you.

Happy Stitching everyone.

Chart Giveaway - 2 Halloween designs

As promised in an earlier post, I am giving away the following two charts (pictured below):

1) Frightful Halloween from Shepherd's Bush which includes 7 orange beads and a couple of strands of Tobacco Road. I received this chart from Sally of Stitchyangel's Treasures and I am now passing it on.
2) Boo! from Brittercup Designs which includes some Carrie's Thread 'Halloween' (for the border, if you wish) and a small Scarecrow charm.

If you would like to receive them, please leave me a comment for this post. If more than one person is interested I will randomly draw a recipient. The giveaway is open until Tuesday 14 November 2017.

Gifted Gorgeousness - October

Just squeezing in for Gifted Gorgeousness this month. As my 'show and tell' this month is all Halloween related,  if I don't do it now it will seem very out-of-date come mid November. As always for further information on Gifted Gorgeousness (what it is and how it works), please visit Jo of Serendipitous Stitching.

Some of this you will have already seen from my Halloween Blog Hop post. First up is the ornament I stitched for Mouse as part of Friendly Stitchers Halloween exchange.

Boo! - Brittercup Designs
Fabric: 28ct Cashel Light Mocha
Thread: Suggested DMC threads with the border
completed in Carrie's Threads 'Halloween'

In exchange I received this package of goodies from DJ of Tickled Pink in Stitches . DJ also made the Halloween themed scissor fob that came with the scissors. Thank you, DJ.

Friendly Stitchers Halloween Exchange
from DJ

To finish - I finally completed the needleroll that I was gifted from Sally of Stitchyangel's Treasures in her November giveaway last year. Thank you Sally, this was a fun stitch. I would now like to pass this pattern on, so I will do a separate giveaway post for this and the Brittercup Boo! design later this week. You can start your Halloween stitching early for next year ☺.

Frightful Halloween - Shepherd's Bush
Fabric: 32ct Belfast lilac
Threads: Recommended DMC and
Weeks Dye Works threads

Right side of needleroll

Left side of needleroll

Halloween Treat or Treat Blog Hop 2017

It's time for things that go bump in the night! It's also time for the Halloween Trick or Treat Blog hop organised by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching. Follow the blog hop to collect a letter to complete a mystery phrase. Comment on Jo's blog with the correct phrase and you could win a Halloween themed chart. A list of this year's participants and full details can be found here.

I completed two pieces of Halloween stitching this year. First up is Boo! from Brittercup Designs. I sent this to Mouse in the Friendly Stitchers Halloween Exchange.

Boo! - Brittercup Designs
Fabric: 28ct Cashel Light Mocha
Thread: Suggested DMC threads with the border
completed in Carrie's Threads 'Halloween'

Last night I finally finished Shepherd's Bush 'Frightful Halloween' needleroll. This was a gift last year in a giveaway from Sally of Stitchyangel's Treasures .

Frightful Halloween - Shepherd's Bush
Fabric: 32ct Belfast lilac
Threads: Recommended DMC and
Weeks Dye Works threads

Left side of needleroll

Right side of needleroll

Finally, for those of you collecting the letters for the mystery phrase, here is mine.

For your next letter, please go to http://firefliescatsinthegarden.blogspot.fr/ 

Happy hunting!

Gifted Gorgeousness with finishes - September

2017 has so far been the year of 'smalls' for me and this month's Gifted Gorgeousness is more of the same.

I have three finishes to show and it would have been four if I could have found one project that I had 'safely' put away. I think that this missing piece is telling me in no uncertain terms that I need to reorganise my crafting materials. Some labelled storage boxes would help rather than my current method of putting stuff in folders and hope that I remember what I put where!

But on to my finishes. First up is Lizzie Kate's 'Dog leave paw prints'. This is the fourth time I've stitched this. This one is a gift for a dog-mad cousin who I will be visiting shortly in Canada. It is sitting on the fabric that I used for mounting.

Dogs leave paw prints - Lizzie Kate
Fabric: Zweigart 32ct Belfast Light Mocha (I think)
Threads: Recommended Weeks dye threads except for Kris' Bon Bon
which was replaced with DMC 898

We had a Holiday Exchange at Needlecraft Haven where you received from your partner a Christmas design with fabric and threads to stitch and complete as you wish. Christine of The Alchymyst's Study sent me the materials for this 'Joy' design (a copy can be found here) which I stitched and finished as a mounted flat fold. As usual, when trying a new to me finish, I used Vonna, The Twisted Stitcher's YouTube finishing instructions.

Joy - La Comtesse & Le Point De Croix
Fabric: The Crafty Kitten 32ct Murano Moondust 
Threads: Anchor 19, 876, 879, 1042, 1086

Finally, I stitched 'Promises' from Just Nan. Yes - another Just Nan design!
This has been finished as a wedding card as I will be attending a wedding whilst in Canada.

Promises - Just Nan
Fabric: Zweigart 28ct Cashel flax linen
Threads: Recommended DMC threads and beads

 If you are unfamiliar with Gifted Gorgeousness where we share gifted crafty items, pop over to Jo of Serendipitous Stitching to learn more and find out how to take part.

I wanted a relatively small, quick project, so this week I stitched and made up this Just Nan biscornu. I didn't add the suggested ribbon on the corners as I wasn't keen on it. However, it is ages since I made a biscornu so I overstuffed this one. I realised that when I found it difficult to get the central button sitting as I wanted, but I got there in the end.

Jingle biscornu - Just Nan

Fabric: 28ct evenweave White

Threads: recommended DMC threads and embellishment pack

I'm still doing the Ten-a-day Facebook group challenge and here is my current progress (Day 250) on Just Nan's Mermaid Heart. It will be finished before the end of this year as I think it has less than 3,650 stitches.

Mermaid Heart - Just Nan
Fabric: 32ct Rue Green Belfast linen
Threads: Recommended Au Ver a Soie

I have a couple of other small projects which have been stitched but now need to be finished, finished. I will hopefully show them in my Gifted Gorgeousness post, later this month.

Gifted Gorgeousness - August

Gifted Gorgeousness (GG) has come round quickly this month but then when you've only made your last GG post a couple of weeks ago, that's no surprise ☺.

I haven't done much stitching over the past couple of weeks as I have shingles. I didn't realise it could be so painful and tiring. It's one experience that I would gladly have given a miss. But on to stitching.

This month I get to show the completed stitching on Plum Street Samplers' 'Halloweenies'. I put this away back in April as I was so fed up with the counting errors I was making. This time, I managed to avoid making any.
To be honest, I would like more thread coverage on the fabric. I've stitched this one strand of thread over two but when I tried two over two it seemed too heavy. The original design suggested 36ct linen but I got 32ct. I have no idea why I did that. However, I'm expecting it to look better when I've finished it as a pillow.

Halloweenies - Plum Street Sampler

Fabric: Lakeside Linens 32ct Vintage Sand Dune

Threads: recommended  Gentle Art Sampler threads and Crescent Colour

As a reminder, Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. Each month ideally around the 15th, we post about a project that we are stitching which uses anything that has been gifted to us or which we intend to give as a gift. If you'd like to sign up, you can find out more about it, here.

Christmas in July Exchange

Now that my exchange partner has received her gift, I can now post about the Friendly Stitchers Christmas in July exchange.

I received this lovely ornament from Roz (no blog). The design is from the 2014 issue of Just Crossstitch Christmas ornaments.

Here is the ornament I sent to Deb (no blog). For those of you familiar with my designer preferences, it will come as no surprise that I stitched a Just Nan ornament. I think this is my first circular finish and it's definitely my first attempt at a double coloured cord. I followed Vonna Pfeiffer's YouTube instructions for the cording. Thank you Vonna.

Blitzen Glistens - Just Nan 2008 Christmas ornament
Fabric - 32ct Zweigart Natural Opalescent linen
Threads: Recommended DMC threads and beads

Gifted Gorgeousness - July

Getting in just in time again for Gifted Gorgeousness. Things seemed to be so busy at the moment with visiting friends or having visitors.

As a reminder, Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. Each month ideally around the 15th, we post about a project that we are stitching which uses anything that has been gifted to us or which we intend to give as a gift. If you'd like to sign up, you can find out more about it, here.

I haven't done a lot this past month but I have been stitching on this dilly bag. All the small pieces have been stitched together and my next task is to quilt these before adding the other parts of the bag. Even though I have the instructions, I'm not entirely sure how I will put it together as I have to add a top part, the base and an interior fabric. It I get stuck, it won't be finished until October as that is when I return to my patchwork group. I'm one of those people who finds it easier to follow instructions when someone shows me how to do something rather than reading a given set of 'how-to' directions. It I can picture it in my head, I can make progress.

This bag is for me to hold my stitching notions when I go to patchwork but the fabrics for it were gifted to me by Deb (no blog) and Mouse (Tales of a stitching mouse). By chance they each gave me red and white fabrics and I have enjoyed using them for this bag.

Dilly bag in progress

My 10-a-day

It's 5-a-day for fruit and vegetables but I'm supplementing my healthy intake with 10 stitches a day :)

I've haven't done a progress update on Just Nan's Mermaid Heart since February when it looked like this.

Mermaid Heart - Just Nan
Fabric: 32ct Rue Green Belfast linen
Threads: Recommended Au Ver a Soie

At day 194 it looks like this. I am over halfway in completing this.

Mermaid Heart - Just Nan
Fabric: 32ct Rue Green Belfast linen
Threads: Recommended Au Ver a Soie

As always the photo doesn't do the project justice. The pinks and purples really 'pop'. I was beginning to lose interest in this project but now that I'm stitching the infills, the colours have renewed my interest.

As a reminder, this is a Facebook SAL where the objective is to stitch 10 stitches per day on a project with about 3,650 stitches so that you have a finish by the end of the year. This will be a lovely finish for the end of 2017.

Gifted Gorgeousness - June

Between a holiday and visiting family and friends, I've been travelling most of this month so I'm getting in just in time for June's Gifted Gorgeousness.

Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. Each month ideally around the 15th, we post about a project that we are stitching which uses anything that has been gifted to us or which we intend to give as a gift. If you'd like to sign up, you can find out more about it, here.

First up are the beautiful gifts I received from Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. I was a winner in her Easter blog hop and knowing my love of Just Nan designs, she sent me the pattern and rabbit charm for Tiny Bunny Biscornu. Thank you, Jo. I love this design and the mini eggs, of course. My love of stitching and chocolate satisfied in one fell swoop. ☺

Easter blog hop treasure hunt prize
from Jo of Serendipitous Stitching

Those of you who know Clare of Aimetu's Sitching will be aware that she had a bad fall some weeks ago. In the hope that it would brighten her day, I made and sent her this project envelope.

Front

Back

Interior

Once I saw these two fabrics, I immediately thought of Clare. Knowing her love of France I had to make her something from them. I followed Vonna,The Twisted Stitcher's YouTube instructions (found here) but made a slight amendment by cutting the external fabric so that I could have the Eiffel Tower standing upright when the envelope is closed (Back). I was pleased with the end product.



Now that I am back home, I will be able to get back to stitching and will hopefully have some new projects to share with you soon.

Finished - Patchwork de Chouettes

I've enjoyed stitching this project as the colour combinations have been so delightful. I've got Eiffel Quaker lined up for my next Jardin Prive project later this year. It will only need 3 different coloured threads compared to the 22 different colours that there were in this design.

Patchwork de Chouettes - Jardin Privé
Fabric: 32ct Light Mocha Belfast linen
Threads: recommended DMC threads

Gifted Gorgeousness - May

It's time for Gifted Gorgeousness again. This is hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. Each month on (around) the 15th, we post about a project that we are stitching which uses anything that has been gifted to us or which we intend to give as a gift. If you'd like to sign up, you can find out more about it, here.

I haven't touched Halloweenies during this past month but I managed to progress some patchwork. As a result I have a finish and a WIP to show.

I finally finished the doll's quilt last week and it is now with its new owner. Her dolls love it, she tells me :)
It was definitely a learning experience on this small quilt as I made a few errors such as making my binding too narrow. Oh well, live and learn.

Over the past couple of years I have received fabric in exchanges with Mouse (Tales of a stitching mouse) and Deb (no blog). I am using them to make a dilly bag (a small bag) for myself. Is there another name for this style of bag? I can only think of dilly bag. Please let me know as I am interested in that type of thing.
I like my mix of red and whites. All being well, it will be finished for the next update.

Pour l'Amour du Fil - Nantes

On the 20th April, I was in Nantes for the Pour L'Amour du Fil exhibition. It was my first time and I was looking forward to seeing the work of international quilting designers, as well as doing some shopping.
The exhibition did not disappoint. I got to meet the lovely Judy Newman who signed her new book for me.

I had a great time. It truly was an international exhibition - exhibitors, retailers and attendees. If you ever think you would like to go, I'd definitely recommend it. Nantes city was lovely and it made a great weekend break.
What follows are some photos of the work I saw displayed.

Pendle Hill - Di Ford Hall
I'd love to make this

Embroidered Friendship postcards

Haven't got the designer's name