Challenges 2020

I've joined several FB groups and there are many different challenges in each one. Instead of trying to keep up with blog posts, which only worked occasionally when I was able to keep up with everything, I'm going to try and have them all as pages. I'm not sure how well this will work with the Weekly Challenges, as they might get complicated. Possibly I'll add individual pages for each group if it gets too busy.

For now, if you check the top of my blog, there are tabs with Weekly Challenges, Monthly Challenges and Yearly Challenges. I'm hopeful I can maybe keep the pages up to date and post weekly a quick "Hey, check out the challenges if you'd like to help" kind of thing. :)

As of right now, I've worked on 3 full coverage projects this year. Mini Winter Magic, Mini Faery Tales and Mini Waterhole Master. They currently look like this:

HAED Mini Winter Magic on 28ct Monaco stitching 1 over 1 full crosses

 HAED Mini Waterhole Master on 28ct Sunrise by Crafty Kitten stitching 1 over 1 full crosses

HAED Mini Faery Tales on 18ct aida 2 over 1 full crosses

And for my non full coverage piece this year so far, I finished Ocean Curiosity!!

Ocean Curiosity by Who Knew?!? stitched 2 over 1 on 18ct aida with WDW Michael's Navy

I'll do my best to maybe update on Sundays with challenges, and please feel free to comment on the pages with suggestions or send me an email. I really appreciate the help!

I hope you're all having a good weekend. We had freezing rain and now it's snowed on top of everything, so it's time to stitch and not much else today. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Gifted Gorgeousness - September Edition

Come one, come all to this month's edition of Gifted Gorgeousness! Time to show off those projects we're stitching as gifts, or received as gifts, or any way you can shoe horn "gift" into the post. :) As always, please check out everyone's posts over at our supremely organized host's blog, Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.

This month I did manage another finish, and I stitched a fair bit on some of my other projects too, so hopefully there will be more finishes to share this year.

Let's begin!

Joy Snowglobe - for Grandma?

 Joy Snowglobe by Dimensions

stitched as charted with included threads on plastic canvas

Steotchalong

 Mystery pattern by Steotch, free if you join a group, so a gift from the designer. This is turning into some kind of Golden girls thing which I'm so uninterested in, so I've given up stitching it for now. 

Ocean Curiosity - DD

 Ocean Curiosity by Who Knew?!?

stitched on 18ct aida with WDW Michael's Navy

Butterfly Quote - DD

 Butterfly Quote by Jodyri Designs

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

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

I can't even tell you how exciting it is to have that side of the cave completed! I think I will try and continue on a bit upwards, after I check where the pages are at, as it's nice to do the filling, and maybe that would be good to do on the dragon as well if I want to move back over to the right. The initial idea I had was to move up to the top left corner as I prefer to start there in general, but wanted to make sure I hadn't counted incorrectly, so I started this one in the middle way back when. 

I hope you've all had a good month, and thank you as always for your encouraging comments!

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Gifted Gorgeousness 2019 - June Edition

Time again to post all your monthly progress on gifted stitching or gifts received. Link up with our fabulous host Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching too!

See Ya Later Alligator - for DD

See Ya Later Alligator by Jodyri Designs

stitched 2 over on 28ct Nuriels Forest by Chromatic Alchemy with random colours

I managed a few letters to get enough stitches for one of the challenges, it will say "Blow me a kiss GOLDFISH"

Land of the Dinosaurs - DD

Land of the Dinosaurs from WOXS October 2015 

stitched 2 over on 32ct Jobelan Summer Sky (wichelt?) as charted

Hopefully I can finish this before DD stops enjoying stories and things about dinosaurs. :)

Evening in the Shire - older brother

 Evening in the Shire by Cute Patterns by Maria

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

This one has miles and miles of backstitch, so at some point I'll start into that. It is gorgeous, so it will be worth it when complete. 

Twilight LeMans - DH

 Twilight LeMans by Heritage Stitchcraft

stitched 2 over 2 on 28?ct linen as charted

These are the headlights of both cards now, and part of them reflect in the road, so it's an interesting effect once you get the whole thing. 

Butterfly Quote - DD

 Butterfly Quote by Jodyri Designs

stitched 2 over 1 on 14ct unknown fabric with Pink Laydee, Sparkling Citrine (Jodyri) and purple WDW thread

I was debating if that purple is too dark, out of the other colour palette, but I like emphasizing that word, so I'm going to leave it. I'm happy to be moving this one along to a finish as well. 

April Flip-It - Grandma

 April Flip-It by LK

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

I hope to get this one finished next time I pick it up, there's not to much left to finish now!

Fleur de Lys - DH?

 Fleur de Lys by Brodeuse Bressane

stitched 1 over 2 on 32ct royal blue linen with Waterlilies 

I had started this with DH in mind, but might end up giving it to a family member. It will still take a good long while, so no rush there. 

Letters from Nora - L - friend - A FINISH!!

 Letters from Nora L by Nora Corbett

stitched 2 over 2 on unknown linen as charted except subbing one pair of butterfly beads because they were discontinued and the central beads were subbed because I didn't have the called for colour.

I'm so happy to get this one finished. It's for a good friend who gave me a lot of baby stuff when DD was born, and this is long overdue. I don't know if any of you remember me talking about this, but I have stitched K for her as well. Now to get them framed!

Ocean Curiosity - DD

 Ocean Curiosity by Who Knew?!?

stitched 2 over 1 on 16ct Colour Cascade fabric with WDW Michael's Navy

Since I've borrowed this chart I'm happy to get more progress here too. :)

Princess and the Dragon - DD

 Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations

stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct Amarinthine by Chromatic Alchemy

Still chugging along on P&D! 

As for gifts, the only one received was Jocondine's excellent travel package in my previous post, and today is the start of week 3, so check out her clues to find the new place she's selected. 

Happy Stitching, and don't forget to check out all the other GG stitchers on Jo's blog!

Tiffstitch

Zodiac SAL - Pisces

It's time again to catch up on my SALs. First off, we have the Zodiac SAL hosted by the exuberant Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching. Check out all the information on this month's sign, Pisces, at her page. 

I dated a Pisces for a while and the description on Jo's blog doesn't really fit that person at all. I married a Sagittarius and that one does align really closely with DH's personality. I'm a pretty solid Virgo beyond the extreme cleanliness, although maybe someone that knows me well is a better person to ask about that.

I stitched on a lot of things last month, so let's see what I can shoe horn into fitting with Pisces, a Water sign represented by 2 fish. 

Snow Rules - because what does snow turn into when it melts? 

 Fishing - naturally

 Ocean Curiosity - I'm detecting a theme...

 Yesterday stitched on Eye of Newt - newts live near and around water

Fabric from Chromatic Alchemy called Poseidon ;)

And the new shawl has these ripples which look a fair bit like waves, don't you think? 

skagen shawl pattern by Berroco, yarn is Araucania Huasco I think

Apparently there were quite a few to show off this month. I hope you've all had a good month and please check out the other participants listed on Jo's blog. 

Happy Stitching! 

Tiffstitch

Olympic Stitching and February WIPocalypse ** lot of photos!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Olympics! I had hoped to get a mini-post up some time during the Olympics, but that didn't quite happen. Maybe next Olympics. ;D

From the various Olympic stitching SALs out there, I decided to attempt to stitch one project a day from my WIP pile. Because I don't necessarily get stitching time every day, I tried to stitch on at least as many projects as days of the Olympics. Here's what I managed:

Kiss for a Snowman - last touched January 13, 2018

and now:

Dimensions Kiss for a Snowman kit with kitted fabric and threads

 Ocean Curiosity - last touched February 13, 2016:

and now:

stitched on unknown 18 ct purpley mottle fabric 2 over 2 with WDW Michael's Navy

Do Not Meddle - last touched August 21, 2017

and now:

last of the current stunt stitching with DMC 1 over 1 on 28 ct white fabric 

I Love You More - last touched January 12, 2016

and now:

Jodyri Designs with WDW Purple Majesty so far, 2 over 2 on Eye of Newt by Chromatic Alchemy

Xmas Dragon - last touched October 10, 2017

 

and now:

14 ct gold thread Aida with Caron Waterlilies Holiday

Joy Snowglobe - last touched January 30, 2016

and now:

Dimensions kit with kit plastic canvas and thread 

Fishing project - last touched November 30, 2017

and now:

on 28 ct Tempest by Chromatic Alchemy with called for DMC 2 over 2

 See Ya Later Alligator - last touched April 15, 2016

and now: (with a cameo by Max!)

Jodyri design with charted colours for the motifs and random threads for lettering, 2 over 2 on 28ct Nuriel's Forest by Chromatic Alchemy

Maple Leaf - last touched January 27, 2016

and now:

AAN design on 14 ct brown mottle fabric from Silkweavers? 2 over 1 with WDW Fire

Monochrome Link - last touched January 4, 2016

and now:

 Sprite Stitch pattern with called for DMC 2 over 1 on 16ct black Aida

Snow Rules - last touched February 23, 2016

and now:

 Lizzie Kate design, so crazy she's retiring! 

I'm not in love with this yellow and might trade it out for WDW Purple majesty from I Love You More, the other threads are Dinky Dyes silks from an Oops bag and I'm stitching 2 over 1 on brown 14 ct aida

Tribal Dragon - last touched August 30, 2017

 and now:

White Willow Stitching design on 25 ct pewter Lugana with Caron Waterlilies/Soie Cristale 1 over 1

and last but not least, Ballerina Dreams is here so far:

Dimensions kit with called for threads 2 over 1 on 18 ct Petra by Chromatic Alchemy

Knitting Projects

I started one project for the Ravellenics, a challenge to start and finish one project during the Olympics. This is a free pattern from Berroco, and I didn't get the sleeves on, but I almost have a vest done. :) I also managed to completely forget about the button hole rows and will attach hook and loops or something instead. 

Sawtelle WIP with Plymouth yarn

Shawl for Grandma - I decided on a new start while we were waiting to see Black Panther and I'm glad I brought something to do. It's an interesting one, despite the fingering yarn, and I managed 2 full pattern repetitions before the movie started. The shawl I'm making is called Skagen, a $ pattern from Berroco. 

I really enjoyed getting out some of these older projects, most from my epic January/February challenge of 2016 and there's a lot to go on most of them. 

The WIPocalypse question is what gadget can't you live without? For me it's Qsnaps. I will occasionally stitch in hand, but I love the tension you get with Qsnaps. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch