Sigh .... June already?!?

Not much stitching to show .... May was a super craptastic kind of month .... but here's what I stitched so far this month.

First up is Frank N Stein from Pickle Barrel Designs and my choice for June's Halloween Ornament SAL.

 

 

The designer had him in 3 pieces but that's too much finishing for me .... sooooo, I put him back together as a whole monster and now he's    A L I V E!  

 

 

My second piece is a Facebook group project.  It's a little quilt that's making it's way through our group and will be auctioned off to benefit cancer.  The theme is woodland things.  I picked a bluebird and flowers from a pattern that was gifted to me (Joyful Summer from CCN).

 

 

And while I was at it, I took a picture of the whole quilt to date ... isn't it adorable?

 

 

I guess since I used part of a gifted pattern, this will be June's Gifted Gorgeousness update.

 

Oh!  I almost forgot .... I did a little on the Autumn Log Cabin in May but didn't get a pic of it yet.  That'll be for the next update ... unless I forget again ;)

 

 

 

Gifted Gorgeousness -- May edition

I missed WIPocalyse this month but got lots done on my Gifted Gorgeousness SAL.  I love the pastels, the whimsical flowers and all the little butterflies in this project. 

Before

 

Current

I'm adding a project to this SAL.  It is itself a SAL from the Sampler Life yahoo and Facebook group.  It's a Gifted Gorgeousness because each square is a gifted freebie from the most wonderful designers.  The first square on my project is from Faby Reilly, the second from Jane Hubble.

Thank you, ladies!

Late for almost everything in April :(

Unfortunately, my stitching schedule went out the window for April.  My dad was in the hospital for a few weeks so the month was mostly spent in the car driving back and forth to visit him.  He's out now so things should return to normal.

Anyways, for April's WIPocalypse I didn't get as much done as I planned.  Only 2 projects received any attention.  The tulip sampler has one more square finished:

And the great pumpkin conspiracy has another pumpkin and some blue zigzags:

For the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL I finished Nevermore (which is a birthday present for a friend):

 

For the Halloween ornie SAL (this month's subject being tombstones) I took pieces of Nevermore for my ornament:

 



 

And then I started a new project that the Sampler Life group is stitching.  I love this square from Faby Reilly:

 

 

 

Just what I need .... another project ;)

 

And last but not least, for the final days of April, I decided to pick up Primitive Santa and put in his coat sleeve.

 

 

 

And that's it for April's stitching.  I hope May is a better month.

 

 

March's Gifted Gorgeousness

I'm  a day late for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL  mainly because my weekend was so busy doing non-stitching stuff.  But better late than never ....

To begin, I put the pretty pansy in it's frame and gave it to my friend (that took care of my Saturday).
 

I also started a DMC kit I received in an online exchange.  This is what it will look like

 

 

and this is where I stopped

Now it isn't going to look exactly like the finished picture because I substituted the mint green aida fabric with 35 ct white linen.  Even though I don't usually stitch on Aida, I wanted to use what came with the kit because it was such a pretty color.  Unfortunately, there was a nasty crease right smack dab in the middle of the Aida and no matter what I tried, it proved to be permanent.   Because I changed the fabric, I had to change the yellow thread to a slightly stronger shade for it to show up.  There is virtually no fear of running out of thread since I'm using 1 strand instead of the called for 2 (unless something horrible happens).  I'm not sure I like the light green of the butterfly because it matches the blue square so closely.  I may rip it all out and pick another darker green and restitch it.  I really like the soft pastels of this project ... perfect for Spring.

Switching seasons now to Autumn, I have Nevermore almost finished for the upcoming birthday gift.  It would be almost completely finished if I hadn't stitched the moonface about 5 threads to the left.  Of course I didn't notice until it was finished and I tried to add the 'hair' to it.  Rip, rip, rip :(



That's it for the Gift Gorgeousness update but there's more to report.  This time we switch to Christmas and my Santa for this year.  I decided to start on him early because I'm stitching him on black fabric (my least favorite to stitch on).  I was afraid if I didn't start early, I wouldn't get him done in time.  This is another kit with Aida.  Again I switched out the Aida for linen but this time I dyed my own black fabric.  I picked linen because I reasoned it has larger 'holes' and might be easier to stitch.  I used black Rit dye with salt, heat, crumpled and stirred the linen and let it set for over 4 hours.  I thought I would get a nice solid black piece of linen.  What I got wasn't solid, but mostly black with a dark purple cast in bright light.  Hmmm.  After letting it set for a couple days I decided I liked it and wouldn't try to get the solid black coverage. 

 

Here's what Santa will look like

 

 

 

And here's where he is so far

 

You can't really see the purple cast to the fabric in this picture ... well, maybe (?) a bit near the lighter areas.  Anyway, the really, really great part about this is that I'm having absolutely no problems stitching on this black fabric.  Woohoo!  In fact, I didn't want to put him down for another project.  Perhaps I'll stitch on black fabric more often now.

Happy St. Paddy's day everyone!

 

 

 

 

A Tale of Two SALs

Well I'm a day late but hopefully not a dollar short for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL.  I added another gifted item to this SAL because it's pretty and calls for Spring to get it's sorry arse here asap.  I'm sick of the cold and snow already!

This was a fun little stitch and all I need to do now is put it into the frame it came with.  The kit used ivory Aida but it was so horribly stiff I didn't want to use it.  I changed the fabric to a soft white 28 ct even weave I had on hand.  I'm going to give this to a friend who loves pansies.  I like it so much that I'm going to stitch it again for myself .  But first I have to match the dmc thread colors to the kit's threads.  I received this lovely kit at an EGA function.  I can't remember if it was at a past Christmas party or maybe the summer picnic.  

I also have an update on Nevermore from Prairie Schooler which will be a birthday present for a friend.  It's coming along nicely and should be on time for her birthday.

 I also finished February's skeleton for the Halloween Ornie SAL.  It's a redo but one I'm keeping for myself.  And since the first one was in brown and I'm tired of stitching with brown right now, I changed the palette to a cooler blue/grey.  What do you think of the effect?  It looks creepier and kind of ghostly to me compared to the more realistic brown.  And, yes, I'm going to add another spider but it'll be silver instead.

Thanks for stopping by!

January's Gifted Gorgeousness SAL and more ....

Since it's the 15th of January, it's time for my first ever Gifted Gorgeousness SAL post.  And I actually have a finish!  Now before you let out a big congratulatory 'woohoo' .... please note that I didn't set my stitching sights too high for my first gifted gorgeousness project.  Here you have it, an adorable (albeit teeny tiny) Cuddly Dog by Mouseloft:

I also worked on part 4 of Rocking Round the Tree (not part of the GG SAL) and am almost finished with it:

I've stitched other projects since my last post but didn't get pics of them, so they can wait for another day.  I do have one more project to show, however.  I finished this one sometime before Christmas but never took a picture until now.   Pat's Papillon Sampler .... all I need to do is finish it into a small wall hanging for my friend and give it to her.

 

 

Happy Stitching!