2/3 Complete! and Just One July Details

I managed to complete one more owl over the last few very busy days:

Owl #8 KLT Charting SAL

outline in DMC 823 - 4 threads over 2

filling with Jodyri Tropic Blooms 3 over 2

I really like this thread colour, it's a really pretty variegated design and I have some left to work on another small project too. I started a little bit of Owl #9 as well. 

I haven't completed my Totally Nuts needle book yet since I didn't have any fusible interface and no time to get any. I finally was able to get to JoAnns last night and pick some up. I hope to get the needlebook completed tonight if possible and mailed away tomorrow since it's a long weekend here. No hope of getting it there by her birthday, but I will send a note so she knows it's on its way. 

Just One July

If you're thinking of putting some solo effort into a project, you can join us for Just One July, an idea by the very creative Justine. I decided to have a little fun with my choice and have a giveaway posted here. All you have to do is take a guess on which project I might choose to concentrate on in July. 

The winner(s)? will receive a piece of fabric by Chromatic Alchemy. I say "winners" because there's a very good chance I will complete the project I start with and continue on with a second project from the list as well. 

Good luck everyone and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

And Another One Done, Another One Bites the Dust!

It's time to adjust my DUCJFC counter again since I managed to finish Totally Nuts last night. 

From JCS October 2015 on L'Amour by Chromatic Alchemy 

I even managed the backstitch outline of this piece and another piece of identical fabric, but then realized I had no fusible interface to iron on the backs. Finishing this into a needle book will have to wait another day or two until I can pick some up. 

I've also managed a little more on the Rainbow Butterfly, although I had to frog some of the red. 

Plus when I realized I was out of fusible interface I finished off Owl #8's stitching and started a little bit of filling in, but I forgot to take a photo. 

Instead, why don't we have a little game? I'm going to join Justine for Just One July and I have to decide what to stitch. In case you're not a follower of hers, in April she took one project and worked solely on it (Faithful April) and managed to get a large chunk complete. Mii and others joined her and also managed significant stitching.  

I have quite a few large projects that would be nice to get them moving along. So here's a top 10 list and if you guess right I'll send a piece of Chromatic Alchemy fabric your way. 

TOP 10 CHARTS I'D LIKE TO FINISH

1. KLT Charting Owl SAL - there's a bonus chart if you finish this by the end of July and I've competed 7/12 and started #8

2. Tribal Dragon

It doesn't have that much more to go really, a month might do it. 

3. Vermont - a gift for a co-worker, due by Xmas

4. Sleigh Ride Stocking

I'd love to finish this by Xmas for DD and there's a lot to go!

5. Spider Banner 

I really enjoy stitching on this one!

6. Reflections of Canada

This one is so fun and I'd love to get more completed on it. 

7. Rejoice Tree

This will be for my Grandma and since she's doing better, but still not herself, I'd really like to finish by her birthday in November

8. SHG - Letters from Nora for DD that I hope to finish by her birthday (also November)

9. See Ya Later Alligator

10. Butterfly Quote

So guess in the comments and you'll find out who wins July 1st! 

Happy Stitching and guessing!

Tiffstitch

IHSW June Conclusion

Joyce let us know it was IHSW this weekend, but I didn't catch her post until yesterday, so I signed up, and here it is, the conclusion. :) Check out everyone else who signed up and her finishes at Random Ramblings.

I did get out Totally Nuts for my friend and this one is totally nuts! I didn't realize/pay attention to the fact I should have been stitching with one strand until it was far too late. The squirrels are supposed to be made from Smyrna cross stitch and they are, but they're quite.. ummm... dense. 

The acorn tops are the beige-y brown blobs and they're stitched correctly with one strand over 2 and using Italian cross stitch. That was new to me and I had to look it up. It's almost like stitching a cross stitch and then backstitching the sides and bottom, but leaving the top open. And odd stitch, but it does look good as an acorn top. 

I think another few nights will let me finish this off and make it into a needlebook. Then I'd like to finish off my Rainbow Butterfly for the Facebook group making quilts for the victims of the Orlando massacre. 

Here's my start:

Hope you all had a great weekend and you can also check out the Stitchery Link-up to keep track of everyone's weekly progress.

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Let the Bells Ring and the Banners Fly!

I loved seeing this cartoon when I was younger. My little brother and I would run all over the house repeating it, "I'm here, let the bells ring out and the banners fly!".

It seemed the best way to announce I finished the page!! I'm very excited to have finished my first ever page on an HAED. I have 6(?) WIPs that are HAEDs and this is the first page finish. Here it is!

Page 3 complete out of 8, 3 are full, 3 mostly full and 2 that are a column and a half. 

And I love it! I wish I could keep on with this one, especially to finish the far right side, but I must get cracking on Totally Nuts for my friend. 

It hasn't been touched since the DUCJFC and it looked like this:

It should be a quick finish to stitch and then it's attempting my very first needle book! Again, I will rely on your encouragement and tips to help me finish it up well. 

Thank you again for all your comments on Mini Winter Magic! It really helped. 

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

June Gifted Gorgeousness

A plethora of posting these days since I forgot GG again, but at least I'm not late this month. Check out GG at our wonderful host's blog, Serendipitous Stitching and learn all about this fun monthly event. We post about gifts we've received or are working on or anything else we can fit in the "gifted item" description. 

Here's my update this month:

More Owls! 
KLT Charting SAL Owl #6

and Owl #7

this was a gift from a dear friend across the pond. There are 5 more owls to go and hopefully I can finish by the end of July to receive the free chart gift for finishers. :)

Mini Winter Magic for the HAED Challenge #2 was a gift from a Yahoo group I belonged to and used to be active. This was a December gift from 2012 and I'm finally getting back to it. 

almost done the page!

And that's it for this month. I'm sure there will be more next month.

On the gift theme, there's a new group on Facebook called Rainbows for Peace and Comfort. The idea is to stitch a few squares that can be made into quilts for the victims and survivors of the massacre in Orlando, Florida. I hope to stitch a few for them by the end of the year. They hope to have many stitchers join in, so if you're looking for a way to help out, this may be it. 

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

So Close!

Not quite finished yet, but another decent amount of stitching, and staying up a little too late! I may do that again tonight to get this finished, but hopefully it won't take me too long to get the last stitches in. 

Here's where I started last night:

And where I finished:

A lot of the gaps are filled in, but there are still at least 100-150 stitches spread out across the page. I think it's possible to finish, at least I hope so!

Thank you again for cheering me on!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Getting There...

Another update for you and no more hockey rants. :) 

I left off Sunday here:

Please pardon the very blurry photo, and after last night I'm here:

It's really filling in, but I don't know if tonight will be enough time to fully finish it! Plus I just realized I might have forgotten to sign up officially for the challenge! Gah! Oh well, it's still good to challenge myself even if I didn't. I really like the look of this one and it will be hard to put down, but I must finish the birthday gift after the challenge is over!

My strategy is to pick the next colour on the left most vertical branch and fill that in everywhere, then move on to the next, etc. It seems to have really helped fill in last night. 

Thank you for all your encouragement! It definitely helps. 

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Closer and Closer - the Weekend Wrap-up

I hope everyone had a good weekend! On the long drive to my in-laws I managed some stitching. And DD even had a short nap at their house which let me stitch a little bit more as well. There's still a fair bit to go before the finish and I hope I can manage it by Wednesday!

Here's where I finished off Saturday:

And the little extra I managed Sunday night after hockey:

I really needed to stitch even though it was late. I'm playing in a sort of low level league that has mostly players with little experience, but there are a few "ringers" (really great players) on every team. We have a couple and the other team last night had several. One was playing really dirty hockey, I'm not sure if I've ever played with someone that was so aggressive and dirty. She fired a shot at our goalie's head _after_ the whistle. That is a huge issue for me. The goalie might have been looking away since you know, the whistle had blown! Fortunately our goalie was paying attention. The worst part is I complained to the ref about it and he agreed you can't do that, but still didn't call a penalty or move the face-off to the other end of the ice... Grrrr

Hopefully I won't have to play her team again. There are only 2 games left and I'm not going to play in this league again, not because of that player, but because it's not a good fit for me. I look forward to maybe taking a break for a couple months before it starts back up in September/October. 

Thanks for listening to my rant, it's clearly still on my mind, but this should help me get over it. :) 

Wish me luck to finish by the end of Wednesday! It will be close!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

WIP Wednesday

I've managed a decent amount more on Mini Winter Magic, and thank you all very much for your encouragement! 

The page is definitely getting there. I think there's maybe 1200 stitches to go. The right hand page border is the vertical line of light blue thread at the top right corner. 

Fingers crossed I can get it done, and then pick up the birthday gift. :)

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

Weekend Wrap-Up

I hope you all had a good weekend! I had no stitching time Sunday because of a late hockey game, but I had a decent amount on Friday and Saturday. We ended up losing our game in a shoot-out. That means we ended the regular game tied, then 3 shooters from each time started from center ice and tried to score on the goalie without any defenders in the way. Our goalie stopped all but one shot and their goalie stopped them all, so we lost. It was a good game though and I had some decent shots on net. 

So here's my update on Mini Winter Magic!

It's really getting there now. The small gap below the blue on the right is about where the page ends, so I only need to fill in maybe 2000 stitches or less. Hopefully that will be possible over the next 9 days! There's a lot of one colour on the left and I've started that one already on the upper portion. Then it's some confetti and this Saturday we're traveling to my in-laws, so that will impact my stitching time as well. 

After I get this finished I need to finish up Totally Nuts so I can send it to my friend in time for her birthday I hope. I'm going to try and make my first needlebook for her. 

Fingers crossed I can make all of this happen and check out Super Mom No Cape for the Monday Stitchery Link-up!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Super Saturday and a Sale!

I finished the blending filament on Mini Winter Magic!!

1 over 1 full crosses on 28 count monaco 

I also started the next colour, DMC 775, so now to me it looks like the skull has hair... I think that will change once I fill things in a little more. The last few rows on the right side are part of the next page, so they're not completely filled in. 

I'm also still loving my needle safe from Cirrus Creations. Great way to keep me from misplacing my needles. 

After the 775 there's another colour that takes up a fair bit of the left side and then it's mostly confetti. I have a little over 10 days to get it finished up, and it might be possible. I've skipped switching to the owl this week as I hope to finish this up in time. 

Also, for the sale, please check out Seba Design's Etsy shop! She has to shut it down soon because of country regulations, so she's selling all of her amazing patterns at $2!! Yes, $2! She has some fantastic blackwork designs as well as cross stitch. I picked up another 13 to add to the 3 I already had. :) I'm sharing this info with her permission, so browse away!

Happy Stitching and I'm getting back to it!

Tiffstitch

WIP Wednesday and Weekend Wrap-Up

A very late WIP Wednesday post, but here it is! 

It was a very long weekend. 10 hours to my parents' house on Friday, visiting Grandma twice on Saturday and Sunday 25 minute drive each way and 10 hours back on Monday. Then work yesterday, today and tomorrow, then hopefully Friday and Saturday off again. That will be nice. 

I didn't have to do any of the driving, so I managed to finish Owl #7 from KLT Charting's SAL:

Again it's DMC 823 4 over 2 and this time the filling is WDW Blue Topaz 2 over 2. This one was very fun to finish, and no mistakes so far on this row. I did manage to start a little bit of Owl #8, but then realized I'd made a large mistake that I had to completely frog. Oh well, I'll get back to it on Friday. 

I also managed a small amount of work on Mini Winter Magic and I'm almost done the blending filament. I'll show before and after since it may be hard to tell :)

Before:

After:

I keep seeing a lizard skull or something in it, but that should fade once I fill in the blending filament. You can really see where the tree branches will go now. The top photo has better colours. 

I might still make it by June 15, fingers crossed!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch