Smalls Report for October

 It's been quite some time since I last had any Smalls to show - five months at least. This month I set Christmas Dreams aside, and finished stitching the last of the Christmas ornaments on my 2020 'to do' list. 

So, here they are:

Two Baby's First Christmas ornaments: one for a friend's grandson and the other for a new little neighbour girl. A family tree ornament for a friend (very similar to the one I stitched for her last year, at her request. This one has two new grandsons included). And the final seven ornaments in the 12 Days of Christmas set I made for my own Christmas tree.

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary at Mary's Thread, and the reporting date is the final Friday in each month.

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for October

 I'm feeling a bit like Alice's White Rabbit - I'm late (yet again) with my Gifted Gorgeousness report. GG is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching, and the day for reporting is the 15th of each month. Anything stitched with gifted supplies, or stitched to be gifted qualifies for the GG report.

I have some gift stitching to show this month. I stitched and finished up this personalised Christmas Tree ornament for a friend. I stitched a similar one for her last year, and she asked me to make another to include the two new grandsons who joined her family this year.

I've added the names to the two Baby's First Christmas ornaments I stitched earlier this year, and I will be making up those two ornaments in the next day or so.

At the beginning of the year I planned to stitch one Twelve Days of Christmas ornament (using gifted supplies or supplies purchased with birthday gift vouchers) per month. This went by the wayside once I started stitching on Christmas Dreams in June. So, this month I have taken a little break from Christmas Dreams, and stitched the remaining seven ornaments to complete the set. I haven't yet made them up into ornaments; that is my task for the next few days.

Speaking of Christmas Dreams - there has been some progress, though it's been resting for the past two weeks. Here's where I was a month ago.

I finished the 6th row of charts, and am now working on the second page of row 7 (my 38th page). This is where I left off stitching 2 weeks ago:

Gifted Gorgeousness, September

  Another month gone - this year is disappearing fast. The 15th of each month is the day on which we can report our 'gifted' stitching - those items destined to be gifts, or stitched using gifted supplies.  

This month I once again have just one project to talk about. I have made good progress on Christmas Dreams, which I am stitching for myself using gifted chart, fabric and most of the floss. This time last month I had stitched 28 pages, today I am stitching on my 34th page. I still have a bit under a quarter of the 34th page to stitch, but I expect to finish the page tomorrow, as it's all plain stitching in just one floss colour (black). I have passed the half-way point now. I am keen to have Christmas Dreams framed and on my wall for Christmas 2021. However my immediate goal is to finish row 6 of charts by the end of September. 

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for August

 I'm a little late for the GG report this month, but better late than never as my Granny used to say. Jo at Serendipitous Stitching hosts the Gifted Gorgeousness Report on the 15th of each month.  Anything stitched with gifted supplies, or stitched to be gifted, qualifies for the GG report.

While I was touring in the caravan, I made these three cotton crocheted sundresses - two for Miss 3, and one for her doll.

And since I got home, I have been stitching madly on Christmas Dreams, and finished two more pages. It's not a great pic, but the best I could do today.  It actually looks so much better on the phone.  I have now finished 28 of the 66 pages.

Summer Blog Hop - Stitching Friends

Please be kind when reading my post. I am just at the end of a caravan trip through outback NSW and Queensland. I have only my mobile phone with me. Usually I can do a blog post on the phone with no problem. Horror of horrors, when I got onto my blog I didn't recognise it. It must have updated. All the soothing words have been replaced by icons that mean nothing to me. I have no idea how to put in links, for a start. Help! 

Jo at Serendipitous Stitching is hosting this Stitching Friends Blog Hop.

My stitching friend is a very busy crafter, with many years of stitching experience. As well as cross stitch, she likes quilting and knitting. Unlike me (I can cope with just one project at a time), she has a number of gorgeous projects on the go.  Again unlike me, she is not particularly fond of Christmas stitching, but she does like stitching Halloween projects, and she seems to be likely to choose band samplers and quaker-style charts. She stitches lovely gifts for her family.  She likes working specialty stitches, and  stitching with silks.  

I wish I was able to put up a pic of a project I think she would like, but I have a steep learning curve to master before I can do that. A chart I think she might like is Lila's Studio's Halloween Quaker. I found it on the 123stitch site.

 

 My stitching friend is Sandy 

http://stitchinginsunnycal.blogspot.com/

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for July

Here we are again - 15th of the month, and time for the monthly Gifted Gorgeousness report.  GG is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. Anything stitched to be gifted, or stitched with gifted supplies is eligible for the GG report.

My report will be short. All my stitching in the past month has been on my HAED Christmas Dreams.

This project counts for GG as the chart, fabric, and most of the floss was purchased with birthday gift vouchers. I am very pleased with my progress.  I brought CD down to my stitching corner on 11th June. This is what I had completed before packing it away last.

I had finished 19 pages, and was working on 20th page. I have been stitching obsessively on it every day, and I am very happy to have finished another 6 pages. I am now working on the 26th page, which is close to finished.

I'm about to head off in the caravan for a month or so (provided the state border remains open for holidayers), so after I finish this page Christmas Dreams will be resting again until I get back home. In the next stitching session (hopefully September) my aim is to reach my 50% complete goal. Three more pages should see that.

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!