Gifted Gorgeousness Report for June

This year is just slipping by for me, despite the changes we have all been experiencing recently.  As it's the 15th June, it is time for the monthly Gifted Gorgeousness Report, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  The things that qualify for GG are items made with gifted supplies, or items made to be gifted. Most of my stitching qualifies for inclusion.

I have two name samplers to show this month. There is a little story about them.  Way back in 1993 I bought my first real cross-stitch book, because I really liked the cover chart- which was Allura's Australian Alphabet designed by Guy Hayes. It ticked many of my boxes - I have a particular fondness for stitching samplers, alphabets, birds, and animals. Over the years I often looked at the chart, but didn't have the opportunity to actually stitch from it.

Eventually, a niece moved to New York, married and had a baby boy. I decided to stitch a name sampler for Jude using the Aussie alphabet, to remind him of his Australian heritage.

My niece and her family have since relocated back home to Australia,
and when I offered to stitch a design for each of her other children, she asked me to use the Aussie Alphabet again. So, the book came out and I have just finished stitching the samplers.  This time I followed the chart more in using the different colours for the letters (though I did swap some of the colours around). I also added more backstitching to the birds and animals, and I swapped acacia (wattle) for the Australian flag in Niva's 'A', just because I thought the acacia was more appealing to a small child. Boden's sampler is stitched on pale blue 28 count evenweave, and Niva's is stitched on antique white 28 count evenweave.

I will be taking these to my framer, along with George's birth sampler which I finished last month, just as soon as he reopens. Fingers crossed that he does reopen. Lots of businesses here are closing. When framed, these samplers will be Christmas gifts.

I've almost finished my 2020 'to stitch' list, so I have brought out my HAED WIP, 'Christmas Dreams' (artist Dona Gelsinger, charted by Michele Sayetta). I categorise this as a gifted project, since I used birthday money and vouchers to buy the chart, fabric, and most of the floss.  This one is being stitched for me. I started stitching this in 2016, and when I last packed it away I had stitched about 31% of the 260,000 stitches, and was stitching on my 20th page - just 46 more pages to go.  When finished and framed, Christmas Dreams will measure about 89 cm wide and 64 cm high (that's around 35" x 25"). The stitched area will be 74cm wide x 49 cm (28.5" x 19"). It's my biggest project so far.
Hopefully, one day I will have something like this hanging on my wall.

My floor frame wasn't wide enough to take the fabric, so I am stitching this project sideways, which has been quite challenging.  It has caused  me quite some angst at times. It's been quite a steep learning curve! For a start, I had kitted it up prior to realising it would be stitched sideways, and as is my habit, I had carefully drawn the 90 floss symbols onto the floss cards. It is amazing how different a symbol looks when the chart is turned 90 degrees. Since lots of the symbols are similar shapes reversed or rotated, it made stitching harder than necessary. This time I have made new floss cards, complete with rotated symbols, so I am hoping it will be easier on my ageing mind. I have also learned to check and double-check where the repeated rows and columns on each page are - they are never the rows marked on the chart as repeats. I spent a month learning just how important it was to get it right, when I stitched a page with 3 duplicate rows along the top. It took twice as long to frog the area than it had to stotch it. I'm not going there again!

So, here is where I was when I took Christmas Dreams up to rest in December 2018.

And here it is on the frame, ready for stitching. It always takes me a while to get back into the swing of it, but I really hope to be making some real progress on this over the next few months.

And finally, a photo taken at the end of tonight's stitching session. I have finished the 20th page and moved on to the 21st (which is actually page 37).

I always enjoy reading all the GG posts, and I am sure that this month will be no disappointment. In this time of social isolation, the diversion is much appreciated!

Gifted Gorgeousness report for May

It's May 15 - time for the monthly Gifted Gorgeousness (GG) Report. Jo at Serendipitous Stitching hosts GG.  Anything that is stitched to be gifted, or is stitched with gifted supplies, qualifies for the GG report.

I have no Christmas ornaments to show this month. Hopefully there will be a few next month. I do have some gift stitching, though.  have stitched a birth sampler for my newest great nephew. I used the same dinosaur alphabet (designer Clare Cromoton) I had used for his first cousin's birth sampler a few years ago. I am hoping that my framer will be able to re-open his business soon so I can get it framed for his first birthday in September. I had intended to use the dinosaur alphabet for his second name, but I was limited by the size limits of my lap-frame, so I reduced the letter size and eliminated the dinosaurs to fit his second name on the fabric width I was using. I added the dinosaurs on the bottom row for balance. I was quite happy with the result. The photo really doesn't do it justice. The fabric is a pale blue 28 count evenweave.

My second piece is an unfinished name sampler for another young great-nephew. I have just one more letter to stitch - the B to make the name Boden. I'm using Allura's Australian Alphabet (designer Guy Hayes) for this one.  For non-Aussies, the O is a native orchid, the D is a Delicate Mouse, the E is an echidna, and the N is a numbat. The B will be a brolga (a native bird). Again, the photo is not great. The fabric is the same pale blue evenweave I used for George's birth sampler. I used DMC floss instead of the charted floss, and changed floss colours  in some of the letters.

I'm working my way through my 2020 stitching list. Just one more name sampler (for Boden's sister Niva) and a few Christmas ornaments left. I am starting to think about bringing my HAED Christmas Dreams out to the stitching corner. It's been a long time since it saw the light of day. My memory is pretty hazy, but I think it's over 3 years since I have touched it. I can recall stitching on it in February or March 2017, but not since then.  It's about 30% finished, so there's a lot of stitching waiting to be done.  

Smalls Report for April

The last Friday in each month is the day for the Smalls SAL Report, hosted by Mary at Marys Thread.  Today marks the end of our seventh week of self-isolation. It's starting to feel quite normal  which is a bit of a worry.

I have more Christmas ornaments to show. I have now stitched all of the Christmas ornaments on my 2020 Christmas gift list. Two still need to be made up into ornaments - they are waiting for names to be added once the babies are born.  I do have seven ornaments to stitch for myself, so it's not the end of my ornament stitching just yet.

Here are my April ornaments:

And here is a pic of all the ornaments I have finished so far this year:

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for April

This past month has been a very quiet one for me. Like many others, I have been self-isolating at home. I'm not a very social person, so I was surprised that I found it so difficult. I now treasure my weekly trip to the supermarket, which is the only time I get to leave the house.  I yearn for food cooked by somebody else. When this is over, and we get back to something resembling normal life, I plan to eat out for a week!

So, it's the middle of the month - time to report for the Gifted Gorgeousness (GG) SAL, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. Basically, if it's stitched to be gifted, or stitched using gifted supplies, it qualifies for the GG SAL.

If you've visited here before, you'll probably be aware that most of my stitching is Christmas- related, and it's mostly Christmas ornaments. I have stitched some ornaments this month, but I'm starting with something different - a bib which will be a Christmas gift for a great-niece born in March.  I took elements from three bib designs in Linda Gillum's 'Bibs by the Bunch' (LA #939), and added a few tiny butterflies ( 'The Omnibook of Quickies', Jeanette Crews #805).

I also stitched a Christmas ornament for Niva. The teddy design is a DMC on-line freebie that I found many years ago. I have also stitched two more DMC teddy ornaments for babies who will be celebrating their first Christmas in 2020. I'm waiting for names to finish the ornaments.

This ornament is for my second sister, who has a fondness for cherubs. The designer is Karen Brittan, and I found the chart for the Romantic Cherubs alphabet in an old issue of UK Quick & Easy Cross Stitch magazine.

Two more TIAG freebie angels (with a few changes). This year all my nieces and two of my sisters are getting TIAG angel ornaments for Christmas.

This little tree is a JBW design, from the 2017 JCS Christmas Ornament issue. I did make a few amendments- changing all the floss colours, and replacing the cross stitch at the top of each tree with a tiny gold star. This one is for my youngest sister.

The next  two ornaments will be hanging on my own tree this year. They are stitched with gifted fabric and floss. Four Calling Birds and Five Golden Rings for my 12 Days of Christmas ornament set.  I chose to stitch kookaburras as my calling birds, because I love their call. If you don't know kookaburras, they are large solid birds of the kingfisher family. Their call is long and loud, and is reminiscent of laughter. You can hear their call  here.  I was inspired by a little kookaburra design by Di Noyce, published in an early Jill Oxton Cross Stitch Australia magazine, but I did make quite a few changes.  The 5 Golden Rings is from  a set by Lesley Grant which I found in UK Cross Stitcher December 1995 issue.

Finally, three little button and/or bead decorated Christmas tree ornaments. I doubt I'll be getting Christmas visitors this year (I anticipate the restrictions on gatherings of more than 2 people will still be in force), so these will go in the gift basket for 2021. Surely we will be out of this crisis by then!  No designer to credit - these trees just grow as I stitch.

That's my lot for this month. I hope you can stay safe, wherever you are.

Easter Blog Hop

I am pleased to be participating in Jo's Easter Blog Hop again this year. You can find Jo's blog here.

My letter is:

The next blog to visit on the letter trail is:

https://stitchinggrandmacathy.blogspot.com/

Jo has asked us to show a picture relating to Easter or Spring. I've chosen this cross-stitched Baltimore Quilt Sampler which was a SAL project stitched in 2004 by two Canadian and one US stitchers, and me. We each stitched 3 motifs, and when it came home I stitched the border.  It is one of my favourites, and hangs in my study.  The floral designs remind me of Spring.

Happy Easter

Smalls Report for March

I'm running late for this month's Smalls SAL. Not only late - also not finished! I got off to a good start, then got sidetracked by life's little diversions.


Here's what I have finished.  First up, my little gingerbreads. The chart for the first 2 photos was in LA's Christmas Caboodle #4 leaflet, and the third photo is a Barbara Mock design from Christmas Quickies II leaflet.

Next up, a batch of Told in A Garden angels - five finished up, and three waiting to be made up into ornaments:

My Twelve Days ornament for March. The three hen chart was in a DMC leaflet called 'La Ferme'.

Another ornament featuring my favourite Dale Burdett teddy (A Mini Christmas booklet):

Here's a group photo of this past month's
finished  Christmas ornaments:

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for March

This year is slipping by way too quickly for me. The 15th of each month is the time to post our Gifted Gorgeousness (GG) reports. GG is a SAL hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  Basically, anything stitched using gifted supplies, or stitched to be gifted qualifies for GG. Pretty much everything I stitch meets one or both of  the GG requirements.

This month I have 11 stitched designs to show. They will all be made up into Christmas ornaments.


First, three little gingerbread babies for three of our extended family dogs. I found the gingerbread chart in LA's Christmas Caboodle #4 leaflet (1986), and I did make just a few little changes. I used the same chart to stitch Oliver's ornament.

I do like stitching gingerbread designs, so I stitched another pair for a great-nephew, using a different chart by Barbara Mock from the Christmas Quickies II booklet.

This Santa Teddy is one of my all-time favourites. Most of the children I know have one of these hanging on their Christmas Tree. The designer is Dale Burdett, and my chart is from A Mini Christmas (1990).

Another favourite design (on reflection, I have rather a lot of favourites!) is this little DMC on-line freebie. This one is waiting for baby's name. Baby is already 12 days old, and her parents have chosen a name but can't decide on the way to spell it.

This next Baby's First Christmas is for a new little neighbour, a girl not yet named, expected to arrive in April.

Two little angels adapted from TIAG designs. The first one is for one of my oldest friends.  The second one is for a nephew and his partner.

Adapted from one of the charts

 in TIAG's Band of Angels

Adapted from the TIAG 1986

Amish Angel on-line Christmas freebie

Last but not least,  Three French Hens, the third of the 12 Days ornament set I am stitching for myself this year. I took this design from a DMC leaflet called La Ferme.

I will be stitching a few more designs in the next week or so, and plan to make them all up into Christmas ornaments before the end of the month.