Smalls SAL (July)

 Mary at  Mary's Thread hosts the Smalls SAL on the last Friday of each month. It's been a few months since my last Smalls report, but I have a few finishes to show today.

I finished my Kooler 12 Days of Christmas set (designer Sandy Orton), and they are packed away waiting for Christmas. I really like this set. They are so bright and colourful.  I was stitching one Day per month till we got halfway through the year, when I started panicking that I wouldn't get them finished in time for Christmas decorating. So I finished the rest to make sure they would be there when I need them. This year I will have three 12 Days sets to display. They will be decorating an internal door.  I shall run ribbons right around the door top to bottom, and peg the ornaments to the ribbons. 

I stitched a Baby's First Christmas ornament for my newest great- niece, and another for a family friend (that one is not yet finished up). I have two more of these to make this year. The teddy design was an on-line freebie that I got many years ago. I've lost the details, but I think it was from DMC, though it is not on their website now.

I made some bead decorated Christmas trees (my own design).  I love making these!

These five ornaments are for a long-term friend and her  grandchildren  -  two sisters in New Zealand and two brothers in England.  The children's ornaments are Jeanette Crews designs.  I swapped beads for stitches in the angels' wings. My friend's ornament is adapted from a design by Susan Greening Davis published in JCS Christmas Ornament issue 2015

Finally, I made another 6 tiny stocking ornaments. The Santa in these stockings is adapted from Kooler's Littlest Stocking chart. The trees and the stocking finish are my own designs.

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for July

 I'm a few days late with this Gifted Gorgeousness report. Jo at Serendipitous Stitching hosts the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL, and the 15th of each month is the day to report.  Pretty much all of my stitching qualifies, as most of my stitching is destined to be gifted, and the few things that I stitch for myself are stitched on gifted supplies (my family and friends are very generous when it comes to birthday and Christmas gifts).

The first thing I have to show is my HAED Christmas Dreams, home from the framer and now hanging in my craft room.  I am so happy with the framing. For this photo I sat the frame on a 2 -seater sofa, and there wasn't much room to spare on the sofa.

The next group is also mine. This year I am stitching Kooler's 12 Days of Christmas, designed by Sandy Orton.  This month I finished up into ornaments Days 6, 8, 10, 11, and 12, and stitched Days 7 and 8.

I made a glittery Christmas tree ornament for Miss 11.

This group of ornaments are for the grandchildren of a long term friend - two boys in England and two girls in New Zealand. All the designs came from Jeanette Crews Designs One Nighters leaflet, "59 Christmas Motifs". I substituted beads for stitches in the angel wings.

These four ornaments will be take home gifts for Christmas visitors.  The message on the first one is adapted from Susan Greening Davis' design 'Memories' published in JCS Christmas Ornaments 2015.

This ornament is for a family friend.  The photo isn't good. The fabric is a pretty pale blue.

I stitched these Santa initial ornaments for the grandchildren of a cousin. I stitched the children's given names on the reverse of each ornament. This Santa alphabet was in LA's Alphabets Galore book.

My current WIP is this ornament for my newest great-niece.  I have had the teddy chart for over 20 years, and I know it was an internet freebie, possibly from DMC, though it is no longer on their website.

I now have 11 ornaments to make up, and that will be my task for the coming week.  

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for June

 It's the middle of the month, so it's time to report on my gift stitching. Jo hosts the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL at Serendipitous Stitching, on the 15th day of each month. Anything stitched with gifted supplies, or stitched to be gifted, qualifies for inclusion in the GG report. 

I finished up the rest of the tiny stocking Christmas ornaments I had stitched last month, and made another three. That makes 13 tiny stockings to add to the 7 completed earlier in the year.  The Santa design is adapted from one of Kooler's Littlest Stocking charts.

This group of Christmas ornaments is for eight siblings and first cousins. I stitched each child's name on the reverse of the ornament. The wreath alphabet designer is Susan Bates and I found the chart in Issue 22 (Christmas 2019) of 'Enjoy Cross Stitch at Christmas' magazine.

My niece sent me a picture of Bronte wearing the jacket and hat I crocheted for her. The jacket will fit her all winter, but I think she'll need a bigger hat pretty soon.

I got my crochet hook out again to make a beanie to give to a favourite niece as a birthday gift. It's quite a pretty thick blue wool, but the picture really doesn't do it justice.  I used Addydae Designs 'Perenni' beanie pattern, but omitted the flower row and added a simple border. My niece's children (boy aged 6 and girl aged 3) were so impressed with the beanie that I decided to make them one, in the same style as their mother's.  The wool I used was pre-approved by the children and their mother.

I'm stitching Kooler's 12 Days of Christmas this year, using gifted supplies. This month I stitched Day 6, and also Days 12 and 11. I've been stitching one Day each month, but I know from past experience that I'll have no stitching time from mid October on, and also I want to be able to display the complete set when I decorate the house in November. I'm now planning to complete the set next month.

I have also stitched, but not yet decorated,  another Christmas tree ornament for my Christmas visitors gift basket.

That's all for this month. I'm looking forward to seeing all the GG stitching  reports.

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for May

 Here in Australia it's 15th May, time for the monthly Gifted Gorgeousness report, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  Most of my stitching qualifies for GG, as pretty much all of my supplies are gifted to me or bought with birthday or Christmas gift vouchers, and a lot of my finished stitching is gifted to others.

This month I have stitched up ten more little stockings (adapted from Kooler's Littlest Stocking chart) for Christmas gifts, but I haven't made them up yet. That will be happening in the next few days.

I also stitched and finished up the 4th and 5th Day of Christmas ornaments from the Kooler set designed by Sandy Orton.  

I also made a little crocheted cardigan and beanie for my newest little greatniece.

Hopefully I'll get more stitching time in the coming month than I did last month.  I still have a very long Christmas gift stitching list, and this year is disappearing very fast. 

11.30pm 15th May - Edited to add a pic of the finished Santa stockings - well, 7 of them. There are still 3 that aren't finished up yet.

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for April

Another month has passed, and here we are once again at the 15th of the month, April this time. So, it's time for the Gifted Gorgeousness report, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. It's our chance to report on stitching which was done with gifted supplies, or has been done to be gifted. Most of my stitching qualifies, as most of it is gifted, and most of my stitching supplies are gifted to me or bought with gift vouchers.

This month I finished up the rest of the Christmas ornaments I stitched last month.

The little stockings are adapted from a Kooler 'Littlest Stocking' design, and the 12 Days ornaments are also Kooler designs. Santa is adapted from a Graphworks design, and the blue diamond is adapted from a Blackwork Journey design. The trees are my own creation.

I also stitched and made up another 5 little stockings, which will form part of the Christmas gifts for five of my great nieces and nephews.

And also two more ornaments which just grew as I stitched. One will be a Christmas gift for an angel-loving friend, the other will go into my take-home gift basket for Christmas visitors.

I'm travelling in the caravan in outback New South Wales at present, and have intermittent access to power as well as to the internet, so I doubt there will be much to report next month, but fingers crossed that I will manage to do some stitching, or at least some crochet.

Easter Treasure Blog Hop

 Honestly, I can hardly believe it's a year since the last Easter Blog Hop, but here goes. Jo at Serendipitous Stitching  hosts the Easter Blog Hop, and has done so for quite a few years.  Pop over to her blog and go hunting for letters.

My letter is 

Just in case it's not obvious - the letter is E

Jo asked us to post a picture of an Easter or Spring project.  I chose this Australian wildflower sampler I stitched way back in 2004.  I combined two charts from the book Australian Cross Stitch by Vivienne Chinnery, and added the names of the flowers.  I stitched it on 18 count rustico Aida over 2, so it is quite large. It is one of my (many) favourites, and hangs in my dining room, except during the Christmas season when it moves up to a bedroom to make room for a framed Christmas cross stitched piece.

I hope you enjoy the Easter blog hop. I know from past experience that I will.

Your next blog to visit is: https://theliberalladykay.blogspot.com/

Happy Easter!

Smalls Report for March

 It is a long time since I've had Smalls to report, so I am very happy that I have some to show today. I am happiest stitching little things, particularly Christmas ornaments. Today I have eleven stitched designs to show. So far only three are finished up, and the other eight are washed and drying as I write. Hopefully they will all be made up by the end of this weekend.

I'll start with tiny stockings I stitched  for a great-nephew and great-niece (siblings). I adapted the design from the Kooler plastic canvas chart 'Littlest Stockings' by adding the cuff, smoothing out the edges and adding a backing  to make a real little stocking.

Next in line for making up are Days 1, 2, and 3 of the Kooler 12 Day set designed by Sandy Orton. These are for me.

I stitched this next one for a nephew and his wife. They are not really into Christmas, but have a preference for the colour blue. I adapted this ornament from a chart in 2020 JCS Ornament issue, 'Blue Christmas' by Blackwork Journey. I did make a lot of changes to the charted design, including changing the fabric colour, the floss, and parts of the design. I learned a lesson on this one - blackwork is not my special skill!

This next one is for another nephew and his wife.  It's adapted from a chart in Graphworks Mini Motif Designs for Christmas Vol 7.

And I stitched four little Christmas tree ornaments to add to my gift basket for Christmas visitors. These just grew as I stitched.