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!

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.

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.

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for February

February 15 is the day for our Gifted Gorgeousness (GG) reports.  GG is hosted by Jo at  Serendipitous Stitching.  Any projects stitched using gifted supplies, or stitched to be gifted, qualify for inclusion in the monthly GG report.

I've been stitching more ornaments in the past month, and I also finished up last month's stitched ornaments.

So far only five of this month's stitching have been finished as ornaments. One is the ornament I am stitching for myself, using gifted fabric and floss. It's Day 2 of the 12 Days of Christmas set I am stitching this year. I made a few changes to the design, eliminating the charted dove cote, and adding the second dove, the borders and the text.

Adapted from design by Lesley Grant 

in The Cross Stitcher (UK) December 1995)

The other four finished ornaments are tiny Christmas stockings (just under 7.5cm or 3" long) which I made for extended family children. I adapted a Kooler Designs Studio chart for plastic canvas, from LA 3428 'Christmas Ornaments'. I added a 'cuff' for the child's name, and a backing piece to make real little stockings.  I'll be making 5 more tiny stockings this year, if my patience holds (they are particularly fiddly to make up).

This one is for my oldest great-nephew. The Santa with 'D' is from LA's Alphabets Galore booklet (1998). I did make a few tiny changes to the charted design.

I stitched this little angel for an 

angel-loving friend whose favourite colour is purple. I changed some floss colours, eliminated the musical instrument, and added the heart charm and border.

Adapted from design by Patricia Behrens,

 from her Two Hour Cross Stitch book

The next four ornaments are for the grandchildren of a long-term friend.  Snowmen for two young English brothers, and Santas for two young Kiwi sisters. The designer is Alma Lynne, and I found the charts in Alma Lynne's A-Z Christmas Alphabets & Borders. 

This pair of Santas were designed by Barbara Mock, from her Christmas Quickies booklet. They will be Christmas gifts for two neighbour children (sisters).

This one is for my favourite Aunt. I found the  'Joy' chart on line as part of a freebie design, and I added a tiny Kooler angel and the border.

I think that I will be spending the rest of February making these stitched designs into Christmas ornaments.

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for January

Here we go again - 15th January means it's time to share our 'gift' stitching. If it's stitched using gifted supplies, or stitched to be gifted it qualifies for the Gifted Gorgeousness Report, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.

I have 10 stitched pieces to show this month. They will all be made up into Christmas ornaments. Nine will be given this year as Christmas gifts  the tenth is stitched with gifted supplies and will be on my own Christmas tree this year.

For the first two I used a slightly modified Santa Alphabet from LA's Alphabets Galore booklet (1998). These are for a 6 yr old great-nephew and a 5 year old greatniece.

 I stitched this one for a 3 yr old greatniece. It's a Barbara Mock design (with a few little changes) from Christmas Quickies II.

This next design is one of my favourites. It's a Dale Burdett design. This one is for a 1 yr old greatnephew.

Another Barbara Mock design, for a 3 year old greatnephew.

Three more Santa initials, for 3 neighbour children.

And finally, a tree sampler stitched for my oldest nephew and his wife.  I will add some beads and charms when I make this one up.

My own ornament is Day 1 of the 12 Days of Christmas I have promised myself this year.  I chose a Lesley Grant design  published in the British Cross Stitcher magazine December 1995 but immediately ran into little problem when I found I wasn't a fan of the partridge in a pear tree from that set. So I substituted a design by Linda Calverley  conveniently published in the same magazine.

And that is all my 'gift' stitching for January. I will stitch one more, then make them all up before the end of the month.