IHSW August 2014

As this month's IHSW comes to a close I have a few things to share even through I didn't stitch as much as I would have liked to.  Normally Saturday evening is when I get the most stitching in but this Saturday night was Cirque Du Soleil "Amaluna", this was suppose to be hubby's birthday gift last Saturday but sadly he was sick as a dog and we missed it. Thankfully I was able to reschedule for last night's show and it was FUNTASTIC!   Now I didn't exactly stitch this during IHSW but I did finish part two of the Joan Elliott Mystery SAL, as I mentioned before this is what Joan called "Cottage Cat", who us stitchers named Hayzie Elliott.

As you can see I stitched his eyes, ears and nose 1 over 1.  I just love the way the eyes turned out, and here is the over all picture.

After that finish I decided that I should really get to work on the August Birthday cake but this is as far as I got.

And this other mystery SAL started calling me... it is "Early Witches" a Halloween Mystery SAL from The Primitive Hare. I actually haven't gotten too far on this one either.

   As I say,(and I'm making this up right now) any stitching is progress. And with that little pearl of wisdom I'm off to make some more wonderful little xxs. Thanks for stopping by.

August WIPOCALYPSE 2014

It's WIPOCALYSPE time again and I think I can dig up a few things to share to show that I haven't just been sitting around doing nothing. Lets see shall I start with my big finish for the month:

"Africa" is designed by Joan Elliott and is stitched on 28ct Jobelan, the color is Light Moss with DMC,  Kreinik and Mill Hill beads.  As soon as I find a frame worthy it will be framed.
Next up are my once-a-monthers, July Calendar Girl from LHN

 And of course my July Cake from Brook's Books Publishing, I think it's gorgeous.

Next is the next to last part of AW80S, it's part 23 but has to parts to it

                                                      

Just one more and it's a done deal. The next item is a new start, yes, I started something else. It is "Love Never Fails" by Isabella Abbiati from The Primitive Hare, stitched 28ct Cashel linen color Light Mocha with DMC color variation #4240 (Mid Summer Nights).

And another new start is "World Cross Stitch Day" this is a compilation of several designs by my good friend Phyllis Grundy. She along with several other friends in our Facebook group decided that we wanted to extend our SWAT (Stitch Week A-Thon) to everybody and created an annual WCSD. We started promoting it for the 2nd Friday, (08-08-14) in August. For a short notice event I think it was a great success and we hope next year will be even better. Next year WCSD will be 08-14-15 so mark that day on your calendar or you can pick up a button that you can add to your blog.  On this design I will stitch the dates of each WCSD.

Unfortunately I didn't finish yet but it's coming. The picture for your button is here

and the link is www.facebook.com/worldcrossstitchday

 Last but not least as you remember I am stitching the Joan Elliott Mystery SAL on Facebook and I shared the first part (Guardian Angel) a couple of post ago, here is the beginning of the second part (Cottage Cat) "Hayzie Elliott".

This months question or topic was "Tell us about your oldest and newest wips.  Well I really can't remember which is the oldest but "Africa" was one and then there are 

Rose Sampler

Three Kimonos

these poor babies have been neglected for some time now and  you've seen my newest above.  I know you are probably tired of me by now so I will stop here and go back to making some of those wonderful little xxs.  Thank you all for stopping by.
                                                       

   

July TUSAL

All of the goodies I shared pictures of in my last few posts produced lots of orts and they had to have somewhere to go, so they were collected in my little ball jar to become my July TUSAL. Actually I missed posting my June TUSAL so this is a double dose.

I know this is not the same without Mr. Jenkins, he had another engagement and couldn't make this post.  He will be here next time.
I wanted to share my "Guardian Angel" the first face in Joan Elliott's (facebook group) Mystery SAL.  The skin is stitched one over one on 28ct evenweave.  One over one stitching took longer but it was well worth the time.  Of course now all the other faces will have to be stitched one over one.

There are beads to be added in the empty spaces at the end.  I love this one.

I am a member of several facebook stitching groups and the group that has the SWAT (stitch week -a-thon) several times a year decided that maybe cross stitchers should have an annual World Cross Stitch Day it is   the 8th of August. Hopefully this will help preserve the art of cross stitching and show the designers that we love what they do. If you are interested and have a facebook account go to the WCSD page www.facebook.com/worldcrossstitchday and "like" the page. Join in the fun of stitching with other people all around the world.   Now back to making those wonderful little xxs. Thank you all for stopping by.

July IHSW 2014

With all of the stitching I shared in my last post this one is really light.  For the IHSW I concentrated on my Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery Stitch Along.  It is being stitched on 28ct DMC Charles Craft Monaco in white, all of the flosses are DMC.  I am trying to decide if I should stitch the skin 1 over 1. I want to but if I do all of the other faces will have to stitched that way too.  Anyway here is as far as I got.

Thank you all for stopping by, got to go make some more xxs.

M. I. A.

Not to worry, I have returned to my previous activities. Since I have some very important things to do on Saturday I will share my WIPOCALYPSE report today, first to answer this months question:  Do you start your holiday stitching this early?  Well I don't normally do holiday stitching unless there is  a specific ornament I want for myself or someone ask me to stitch one for them.  So the answer is no.   I do like to stitch for Halloween and this year I have already stitched two Halloween ornaments one I can't share yet it's for an exchange and the other is:

Double, double...

This is by from Prairie Schooler and is stitched on 32 ct Belfast linen (Limestone) with DMC black and RG Silk lame' braid for the eyes and flames. I stitched my June Calendar Girl from LHN with the suggested threads with exception to the skin tone.

June is my birth-month so she had to be a little like me.  I of course completed the 22nd part of AW80S, I can almost see the light at the end of this very long tunnel.

There are only three empty spaces left.  The backstitching on the these Ladies was completed.

This one was so much fun to stitch. I showed you the beginning of a set of cat names I was making for my sister, here is the finished set.

In case you can't read them, they are Mahogany, Lucky, Willow and Lourdes. She loves her Persians, they're her babies. I also finished another gift for a friend's birthday, you've seen it before but not like this.

She loves turtles and I think this was perfect for her, it even has a turtle charm at the bottom.  I gave another oldie a little attention and this one is nearly done.

Last but not least is a chart I saw in one of my Facebook groups and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.

This is by Primitive Hare and is named "Freedom 1865".  My version is a little different.

I wanted it to have a little more detail. so I changed the font so everything would match and added the complete date and the name of the holiday. It isn't a federal holiday but is recognized and celebrated in some parts of the country. This design is stitched on 28 ct PTP  (Ale).  I plan to make this one into a pillow.  Well I hope my returning post was worth the wait, thank you all for visiting and I hope you come again.  I'm off to make some more wonderful little xxs.

  

WIPOCALYPSE JUNE 2014

I will start this post by answering the question for this month, which is “Have you ever been to a stitching gathering such as a retreat or a festival? And I am to tell you about it. Well unfortunately I have never attended a retreat or stitching festival, but I do go to a stitch night at my local needlework store. It’s on the first and third Wednesday nights.  We have lock-ins about 3 times a year where stitchers from all over the area come and we stitch, we eat, there are drawings and special discounts on charts and fabric.  Well that’s my answer for this month now for some progress pictures.  

This month "Africa" got a little attention, there is only one corner of border and the last basket to finish and then the back stitching and beading fun can begin.

I completed the 21st part of AW80S, WOW! surprisingly I am still up to date on this one.

Here is my June birthday cake, compared to the others this one is really plain, I may have to bling it up a little.

I started this project for my sister (name pillows for her 4 Persians),Lucky is the first, three more to go. I can't remember where I got this chart for the cat letters, but I think it is so cute.

I just today finished up the first part of a Facebook based Joan Elliott Mystery SAL. I can hardly wait for the next part.

I now have about two weeks to start and finish my LHN June Calendar Girl, so I best get started making those wonderful little xxs.  Thanks for stopping by.

May's TUSAL

TA DA!!  Here is my TUSAL for the month of May complete with Mr. Jenkins. Back from vacation, all rested and on the job of presenting for your viewing pleasure a full and colorful ort jar.

Those beautiful color are courtesy of the "Ladies with Baskets" that I worked on for several SALs going on at the same time a couple of weeks ago.

All of the xxs are done now and I've just begun the back stitching so I'm off.

Thanks for stopping by.

May IHSW

Yes we have come to the end of another IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend) and try as I might I didn't get as much stitched as I would have liked but it was very productive. I decided to start something new (as if I really needed too). I know I said before that it is hard to find inexpensive African American charts, however I did find some beautiful African designs that I could afford and here is the first of them. This one is called "Ladies with Baskets" from Hannes Needlecraft the designer is Liz Pasqualini, I am stitching on 28ct Cashel and the color is Meadow Mist. You probably can't see it in the picture but the fabric is a light blue/green. The flosses are all DMC.

I think I will continue on this for a while and I'll let you see how it goes from here. Now to make some more wonderful little xxs. Thanks for stopping by.

May Wipocalypse

Yes it's Wipocalypse again and this months topic is "What designs or themes do you really wish you could find? What do you think is missing among stitching designs?" Well I would like to be able to find more African American themed charts, that are in my price range. Not the over priced kits I have seen.  As for my current stitching designs this month I have stitched the May Calendar Girl from LHN

I also stitched my May Birthday Cake from Brook Nolan

This is where I am on my Sea Goddess by Joan Elliott

I finished a key chain fob for an exchange but I can show it right now and I started this little beauty a couple of days ago and all it needs are the beads. It caught my eye because of the specialty stitches. It's called "A Welcoming Spot" and it's from Papillon Creations.

I think that's about it for this month.  I will be stitching in a few SALs this weekend, a couple with some Facebook friends and of course IHSW starts Friday so who knows what I will have to share next week.  Thanks for stopping by, but I've got to go make some xxs with beads. 

April 2014 TUSAL

Mr. Jenkins will not be presenting my TUSAL this month due to him being on vacation, he will be available for the next one.  So please try to enjoy the picture with just a trusty pair of scissors used to cut all those little thread ends.

xxs.

April IHSW

I hope everybody had a Happy and very blessed Easter, I sure did.  I didn't stitch much this IHSW, if you don't know what this is visit Joysze or scroll down and click on Hermie the crab at the right.
On Friday I finished up the stitching on "Turtles All the Way Down" from Ink Circles. I stitched it on 28ct Lugana color Summer Khaki. Now to make it into a bell pull.

 
 I also started stitching the outline for the 20th part of AW80S and decided that since there were only a few parts left I would stitch all of the remaining outlines too.

 So this is what I have and it's now time to work on the specialty stitches.
Thanks for stopping by.