Gifted Gorgeousness - July Edition

I'm just squeaking in before the end of the month to get my gifted stitching in. As always, please check with our fabulous host, Jo to get everyone's links if you haven't already since I'm about 2 weeks late getting this up. :)

On to the stitching!

Butterfly Quote - for DD

 Butterfly Quote by Jodyri Designs

stitched 2 over 1 on 14ct aida with Jodyri Pink Laydee, Sparkling Citrine and City of Oz and WDW 

I've had a burning desire to finish this one lately, so I'm glad it's fit into a lot of the recent prompts on Magical Stitches and the LOTR group. 

Princess and the Dragon - DD

 Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations

stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct Amarinthine by Chromatic Alchemy with DMC 310

Still filling in on this one, and it's going well. It will come up a few times this week, so I hope to get some more work done on this one. I'm not sure if I'll outline more or just continue to fill in until I move the Qsnaps. 

Maple Leaf - SIL

 Maple Leaf by Alessandra Adelaide Needleworks

stitched 2 over 1 on 14ct unknown aida with WDW Fire

This one is so close! I definitely need to finish it soon, it will be another big finish for this year. 

Kiss for a Snowman - DD

 Kiss for a Snowman by Dimensions

stitched 2 over 1 on on 16 ct included aida and kit threads

I don't think this will be an Xmas finish this year unless I really get a move on. It's fun to work on, but as we all know, these kits are more complicated than they look. :)

See Ya Later Alligator - DD

 See Ya Later Alligator by Jodyri Designs

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Nuriel's Forest by Chromatic Alchemy with stash threads

I've still got a few more sections to finish on this one. I'm debating about using some metallic reds for the lady bug as that would meet a magical stitches prompt for this week. It wouldn't be very fun though, as it's 200 stitches worth!

Full Moon - DD

 Full Moon by Cute Patterns by Maria

stitched 2 over 2 on Lazurite by Chromatic Alchemy with charted DMC

Still loving this one when I get it out and hope I can fit it in again soon with the homework. 

April Flip-It

April Flip-It by Lizzie Kate

stitched 1 and 2 over 1 on 22ct ivory hardanger with stash threads

Now that it's finished I need to make this into a card and it will be ready for next Easter. 

Thanks for all your wonderful comments and encouragement! 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

School of Magical Stitches and Literature, Week 1, 2, 3 and 4 Conclusions!

A long overdue catch-up post is here! July has definitely been a busy month, and let's go back to Week 1 of Magical Stitches.

If you want to check the original post, you can find that here. Our tasks were to stitch 300 stitches each on something boring, something out of rotation for over 5 months, and something without a face. I decided to stitch all 900 stitches on AAN Maple Leaf and got quite a bit done. It started here:

and after 900 stitches was here:

AAN Maple Leaf

stitched 2 over 1 on 14 ct unknown aida with WDW Fire

Week 2 - we were visiting 12 Grimmauld Place, Sirius Black's family home and therefore we had to stitch 500 stitches on 2 of 3 possible WIPs. We had to link our WIP list as well. Our choices were WIP 1, 2 or 12 on the list. I decided on 1 and 2, which were See Ya Later Alligator and Kiss for a Snowman. 

WIP 1

543 stitches later:

See Ya Later Alligator by Jodyri Designs

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Nuriel's Forest by Chromatic Alchemy with stash threads

WIP 2 was here:

and 501 stitches later:

Kiss for a Snowman by Dimensions

stitched 2 over 1 on 16ct aida with kit threads

Week 3 - I had posted about needing help here if you'd like to refresh your memory on this post. Basically we had to stitch on things Professor Umbridge likes, which included kittens, the colour pink, tea, RULES, and STRICT. 

Leonore saved my bacon by mentioning that the Universal Monsters SAL has a cat in it, and I had forgotten, so I stitched on that one for kittens and for RULES since it starts with "U" and the design had to start with a letter from that word. It's now here:

For tea, they decided leaves were allowed, so I pulled out Maple Leaf again:

This is a little farther along because I had used it for the Stitchy Quest for the one ring as well. It's practically finished really. 

For pink I was able to use Kiss for a Snowman again and moved it along to here:

and lastly, for a designer that starts with a letter from STRICT, I chose Charting Creations Princess and the Dragon:

Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations

stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct Amarinthine by Chromatic Alchemy with DMC 310

Week 4 - this week we're in detention because we keep speaking out in Umbridge's class like Harry Potter. We were to stitch 1000 stitches on something with words or 1000 stitches in black or blue (ink colours). I decided to pull out Butterfly Quote again which was last here:

and after 860 stitches (missed out on 1000 because of migraine Sunday)

Butterfly Quote by Jodyri Designs

stitched 2 over 1 on 14ct aida with Jodyri and WDW

It's a busy week again, so I'll try and post the Magical Stitches info and keep up with the Stitchy Quest as well. Thank you as always for all your help in keeping up with the homework!

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

The Stitchy Quest for the One Ring, Quest 9

Hello again! Time keeps skipping ahead and here it is awhile since I've posted anything, included Gifted Gorgeousness. I'll try and catch up, but as we're moving office next week, it might not happen this month.

The eagle-eyed among you might notice that this is Quest 9, not Quest 8. Part of the reason I hadn't posted about Quest 8 for the LOTR/Hobbit group was that we were "fighting" the trolls. And part of how we fought them was an admin would roll a 20 sided die and whatever came up corresponded to the amount of time we had left of a 7 hour ordeal and how many stitches we needed to stitch as a whole group to get out of it. It was in multiples of 10,000 stitches among everyone, and sometimes we'd move on to the next section in a day, other times we'd have to stitch 30K stitches and that would take a few days. It was fun as you could stitch on anything and add in whatever you'd stitched without having to worry about before and after pics, just add in your totals to everyone else's numbers.

Eventually, Gandalf returned and the trolls turned to stone and we were free. That leads us to Quest 9, where we've discovered the cave full of treasure!

We have 4 tasks and are supposed to complete them by July 30th. My parents were also visiting this week, so not much time to stitch or post about anything. They had to leave for home today and although I'm working, I'm taking a moment to reach out to you as I've missed discussing these quests. What's fun about this group too, is if I don't finish everything by July 30th, then there's always a monthly catch-up event where you can finish off a task if you're so inclined. For each task we're supposed to stitch for 3 hours or for 300 stitches.

Task 1 - A cave full of treasure must have a key, so we're to stitch on anything relating to keys or caves or something hidden. - maybe Princess and the Dragon? There's a big cave that I'm still somewhat near.

Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations

stitched 1 over 1 on 28 ct Amarinthine by Chromatic Alchemy

Task 2 - We found gold and jewels in the hoard, so stitch with metallics, gold/yellows or jewel tones. Not sure on this project yet.

Task 3 - Swords and knives - Gandalf and Thorin found swords and Bilbo found a dagger (Sting! although it's not named yet, but I've always loved that moment). Stitch on something with something sharp or words/letters because each blade they found had mysterious runes on them. - Princess and the Dragon has a sword, so that's another good choice for this one.

Task 4 - We couldn't carry all the treasure with us, so we decided to bury it for later retrieval. We need to stitch on something we've hoarded in our stash, special materials, fabric or a special chart, etc. I could use the Butterfly Quote with all hand-dyed threads maybe? Or there are other projects that would fit this description as well.

I hope you've all had a good couple weeks! Any ideas are always welcome.

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

School of Magical Stitches, Year 5, Week 3

Hello again, and no, you're not reading the title of the post incorrectly, I've skipped Week 2 because I need a little help with Week 3 and will get back to Week 2 and what I accomplished over Week 1 later this week I hope.

For Week 3, we're meeting a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge. This is the most hateful character in the entire series to my mind, and I'm not that thrilled about stitching anything with her in mind, but I will do my part.

We need to stitch 200 stitches on 5 different favourite Umbridge things.

1) Pink - I've started this one as the Kiss for a Snowman project has a lot of pink in the little girl's coat:

2) Tea or Tea cups - No clue on this one. It might need a new start. Lakeside Needlecraft has a little tea freebie, so I'm thinking of that and I have a friend that likes Tea, so maybe I could make a little gift bag or something.

3) Kittens - again, no clue. I don't think I have anything with cats on it, unless Tigers count. I'll have to check that

4) Any design/project that starts with a letter from RULES - Universal Monsters maybe?

5) Any designer that starts with a letter from STRICT - not sure yet, don't have an active Ink Circles, but have some kitted up.

This is a complicated one again, so if you have any ideas, here's my WIP list, or suggest a new start. I have a lot of charts I'd like to start, but ideally if I can work more on a WIP, that's preferable. :)

Thank you for any help!! And for your supportive comments too.

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

School of Magical Stitches Year 4 Wrap-Up and Year 5, Week 1

Thank you Rachel for your good advice in finishing up Week 8 of Year 4. I appreciate it as it gave me some good ideas :).

If you want to check the post, I was missing a project for tasks 3, 5 and 6. For task 3 we needed to stitch on a gravestone or graveyard scene. I don't have one in current WIPs, and I found a good small I could start with an obvious tombstone in it.

Haunted House by Heart in Hand

stitched 2 over 2 on 18ct? aida with stash threads

For task 5, I needed to stitch something with an ingredient in polyjuice potion. Rachel's idea was to stitch on a person in one of my projects. I chose the girl in Full Moon as she's a witch too and moved it along to here (yes, you've already seen this photo)

Full Moon by Cute Patterns by Maria

stitched 2 over 2 as charted on 28ct Lazurite by Chromatic Alchemy

And for Task 6 we needed to stitch on something that makes us laugh. I was going to use Monsters again, but Rachel's comment about how I completely missed the door in Evening in the Shire made me pull that one out to put a little more work into it. :) 

Evening in the Shire by Cute Patterns by Maria

stitched 2 over 2 as charted on 28ct Moonscape by Jodyri

Thank you again Rachel for the help! I always appreciate assistance of any kind. 

Year 5, Week 1

At the opening of Book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry and his cousin are attacked by Dementors. This week's tasks deal with the outcomes of that. 

Task 1 is to stitch 300 stitches on something boring because Harry's boring old babysitter turns out to be in the know of the magical world. I haven't decided on anything for this one yet, maybe Princess since there's a lot of filling in yet to do?

Task 2 is to stitch 300 stitches on something that has been suspended for 5 months or longer because there's some risk Harry will be suspended or expelled for doing underage magic, even though it was to protect both his and his cousin's life. I'm thinking about pulling out the AAN Maple Leaf for this one as it ties into the next task as well. It was last here in early 2018:

Maple Leaf by Alessandra Adelaide Needleworks

stitched 2 over 1 on 14ct unknown aida with WDW Blaze

Lastly, task 3 has us stitch 300 stitches on something without a face because the Dementors always hide their faces. The maple leaf would work for that as well and I'd get 600 stitches in which would get it well on its way to completion as well I think. 

If you have any other ideas, please let me know.

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

The Stitchy Quest for the One Ring: Quest 7 - A Most Mysterious Disappearance

We've progressed a little farther in The Hobbit, to where Bilbo has caught up with the dwarves and Dwalin has loaned him his green cloak and hood. Gandalf soon catches up with Bilbo's pipe and several pocket handkerchiefs. This cheers Bilbo up for a while, but soon the lack of 8 meals a day and the constant rain gets on everyone's nerves. And just as they'd like to find a place to camp, Gandalf disappears!

Task 1 - Stitch 150 stitches on something that has been gifted to you, fabric, floss, etc or 150 stitches in green. I don't think any of my current WIPs have any part that's been a gift, although if I have forgotten, please let me know. So I chose to stitch 150 stitches in green and got out Messy But Mine. Lots of green to be found here!

Last time:

153 stitches later:

Messy But Mine by Dragon Dreams

stitched 2 over 1 on 18ct Nimbus? by Chromatic Alchemy

Task 2 - for Gandalf's kindness in bringing Bilbo his handkerchiefs, we're supposed to stitch 150 stitches on something with fabric or clothing in it. I chose to pick up Full Moon as I was using that for a Magical Stitches task as well. It now looks like this:

Full Moon by Cute Patterns by Maria

stitched 2 over 2 as charted on 28 ct Lazurite by Chromatic Alchemy

Task 3 - Bilbo is really missing out on those typical extra meals Hobbits add to their daily regimen, second breakfast, elevenses, afternoon tea, etc. We need to stitch 150 stitches on a project with food in it. I chose See Ya Later Alligator, because some people eat those animals. :) Like sushi!

See Ya Later Alligator by Jodyri Designs

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Nuriel's Forest by Chromatic Alchemy with stash threads

Task 4 - this may be the easiest of all. We need to stitch 50 stitches on a project that something has disappeared, like you mislaid the thread, lost a needle, etc. This is pretty easy, so I may just plug 50 stitches into Princess and the Dragon as I've definitely lost needles with that project. I have found them again, but it meets the requirements. :)

This week's tasks are almost complete for LOTR, so I'll be able to concentrate on Magical Stitches and maybe get some extra credit done this time for Book 5.

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch