2024 Plans

Here we are with potentially a good year of stitching, unlike the last couple. I think starting the New Year with positive thoughts, without pressuring yourself is always okay. 

I'd like to try and focus on 12 WIPs next year, one each month. It's okay if I don't finish them, but it would be nice to catch up a little. Also, there are Olympics next year, so I'd like to join Rachel in stitching something unique or special for the Olympics. I'm debating about a new start that I keep stitching on, or find one of the BAPs that really needs some love. It's the Summer Olympics and Paralympics this year as well, July 26-August 11 and then August 28-September 8. Plus I can pick up smalls any time if I need a break from the focus piece. 

Here are my thoughts for 12 focus pieces:

In Harmony by Dimensions

Do Not Meddle by Dragon Fire Designs

Believe in the Magic of Christmas by Durene Jones

Universal Monsters by Witchy Stitcher

Stormlight Archive by Taylor and Cromwell

Quaker Christmas by Lila's Designs

Symphonic Romance by Summer House Stitche Works

Ondulations by Jardin Prive

Happy Christmas by Prairie Schooler

Witch's Gate by Whispered by the Wind

Evening in the Shire by Cute Patterns by Maria

My first project will be to locate all of these, then I can sort out the order for next year. 

These are my thoughts so far, what does your New Year look like stitch-wise?

Happy New Year everyone, and may you never break a needle!

Tiffstitch

June? Where Did You Go?

Wow.. end of the month and this is my first post. Maybe it's the multiple posts from last month, but I just never seemed to have time. Even now I'm trying to get this done at work before the next thing happens. 

I do have a sort of plan for blogging when September comes. I'm adjusting my schedule again, this time I'll be working a set Tuesday through Saturday schedule and I'm thinking Mondays will be blogging days. We're hoping DD will be back in school, so that might be the perfect time to have a little time on my own to keep up with blogging again. We'll see how it goes since there always seems to be something that eats away at my time. I'm also wondering if I could attempt a fully finished object on Mondays, which would help with the fullness of the drawer of shame with all these smaller projects I'm going to have. 

Enough chit-chat though, here's where the month of stitching has landed me:

Universal Monsters SAL B&W version by The Witchy Stitcher

stitched as charted on 28ct Trick or Treat by BeStitchMe

There's still a long way to go on this one, but I'm starting to get close to one of the rooms. I think I was working on a FB challenge, so stitched a lot of black on this one to get some stitches in. It shows up in Pattern Keeper, so that's a nice bonus. 

Shamrock by Erica Michaels, found on Rainbow Gallery freebies

stitched 2 over 2 with Morning Glory (forget which company)

on 28ct white Monaco

And it's a finish! I ran out of the Morning Glory thread, so decided to add a little text on the top to finish it off and my initials. 

Easter Bunny and Moon by Chatelaine

stitched 2 over 1 with called for DMC 310 and subbed DMC 726 for 727

on 14ct Aida (Realgar I think) by Chromatic Alchemy

Another finish! This was an enjoyable stitch as well. I added the whiskers just for fun. I know it makes no logical sense to see white whiskers and a white tail on a silhouette, but the tail was charted, so I went with it. 

Patch Christmas Tree 1 by Angie Designer

stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct white Monaco with stash threads

 unknown Dinky Dyes, Caron Waterlilies parrot, Dinky Dyes Down Under Blues and Jodyri Oz the Great and Powerful, another unknown Dinky Dyes, DMC 3799 and Kreinik gold start, Etoile 699 for the lines

3 finishes, what? :) This one was pretty close, so just took a night to finish up the purple and the lines around the tree, the pot and star. Another fun one I'd like to try and fully finish before Christmas if possible. 

Christmas Assisi Sampler by Kincavel Krosses

stitched 1 over 1 with Crescent Colors Bejeweled

on 22ct white hardanger

There was quite a lot of stitching left on this one and it took 3 nights to finish I think, getting 400+ stitches in per night. I do really love the finish and I don't think the photo really captures how pretty that thread really is. I'm looking forward to finishing this one into an ornament I think. 

Halloween Freebie by Passione Ricamo

stitched 2 over 2 with DMC 310 

on 28ct Brittney evenweave Aries by Sparklies

I spent 2 nights on this one I think and got the moon complete in DMC Etoile white and added more of the haunted house and bats. I haven't decided about the word "BOO" near the bottom if I'll stitch that or leave it out, plus there's a witch's hat I'll probably leave out. Maybe BOO should be in Etoile as well, if they have a good orange one? Or purple? What would look good with this fabric I wonder?

Stormlight Archive quotes by Taylor and Cromwell

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct black Monaco

with DMC as charted

You may notice there's quite a lot done on this one. It's almost 50% complete according to Pattern Keeper and it was a little hard to put down for the last WIP I'm going to show, but I did manage it. I really love how it's coming together and how fantastic each section looks once I finish it. So excited about this one! Maybe it will be a birthday or Christmas present for the end of the year. 

Amazing Animal Kingdom by Aimee Stewart charted by HAED

stitched 2 over 1 tent stitch on 32ct Experiment by Chromatic Alchemy

I'm at 31,000+ stitches on this one, which is 2 full pages complete, plus almost 2 more pages done. I joined a Full Coverage Fanatics group for the Tour de France which has you adding 3400 stitches to your chosen project. I have a long way to go on this one, but I'll try and keep adding at least a few stitches per day for the Tour challenge. 

I hope you've all had a good month! I'm sorry I was so silent all month, it wasn't intentional and next month I'll be working on the Olympics at least half of the month, so it won't be so long again. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Stitch Maynia 2021 Start #12

Hello again! Keeping with yesterday's theme, this is another Halloween project, but it is a larger one. However, I was able to finagle it into Pattern Keeper, so I'm very excited about that. This may look familiar:

Yup, it's the Universal Monsters SAL, only this time in black and white. I completely blame Michelle McGraw for this start. I think she started this one in the summer of 2020. I loved the look of it on the fabric she chose and I thought if I managed to get some of the same fabric, then I would do the same thing. If you haven't seen her FlossTube, I linked to it on her name and she's quite fun to watch. She's currently stitching a lot of ornament size seasonal projects over the year. 

Here's my start:

Universal Monsters SAL in black and white by The Witchy Stitcher

stitched 2 over 2 as charted

on 32ct opalescent This is Halloween by BeStitchMe

The fabric is a little more orange in real life, like this:

If you're not familiar with BeStitchMe, just like I wasn't until a few months ago, she's a dyer in the US and has occasional Friday Night Fight Night sales on her in stock fabric. You can order customs as well and I think it's a month or so to get the fabric, so fairly typical of hand dyed fabric orders. 

I managed to snag a few different ones at some fight nights and have only just started stitching on them. I think this is the 3rd different fabric I've tried from her, and that's all just this month. That was another reason I wanted to start a few different things, my fabric stash is starting to outgrow its current storage. 

I hope you've all had a good day and are staying well. Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

School of Magical Stitches and Literature Year 5, Weeks 5, 6, 7, 8

It's catch-up time again! Hope you've all been getting lots of stitching in. I need to catch up on blogs as well as posting myself. Here we go though, let's jump right in:

Week 5 - Stitching Army - if you've read the books, then you know around halfway through is when several scholars start up a group to learn defensive magic since Prof. Umbridge isn't letting anyone do any spellwork in class. Our tasks this week relate to some of the spells, as follows:

Task 1 - Expelliarmus - stitch 200 stitches with red beads or metallics because this spell gives off red sparks. I had some debate on this one, but eventually decided to stitch the ladybug with a blending filament doubled and that will give it a little shine, just like a little ladybird should have.

See Ya Later Alligator by Jodyri Designs

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

 Task 2 - Stupefy - stitch 200 stitches on something that is stunned, with explanation. I chose to go with a new start, and said the fabric was stunning, and that fit well enough for the graders.

Halloween SAL by Durene Jones through Lakeside Needlecraft

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Ashardalon Breathes by Chromatic Alchemy with DMC 310

Task 3 - Levicorpus - stitch 200 stitches on something in midair as that spell hoists a person up in the air by their ankle. I finished off Maple Leaf for this and did a bit more on Do Not Meddle

 Maple Leaf by AAN

stitched 2 over 1 on 14ct hand-dyed aida with WDW Fire

Do Not Meddle by Dragon Fire Designs

stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct Monaco as charted with DMC

Task 4 - Reducto - this spell can break things into pieces, so we were to stitch 200 stitches on something in pieces. SALs worked for this, so Universal Monsters came out to get a little farther along:

Universal Monsters SAL by Witchy Stitcher

stitched 2 over 2 as charted on 28ct Al's Dark Magic by Chromatic Alchemy

Task 5 - Expecto Patronum - this is the Patronus charmed used to banish Dementors, a tricky spell and everyone has their own Patronus. You had to stitch on something related to your own Patronus, not just a Patronus in general. Mine is a Chow as of last time I checked, so I could work on anything that had a dog on it. 

I got out this HAED Basset Hound that hasn't been touched in a good long while. 

 Bailey Basset by HAED

stitched 2 over 1 tent stitch on 25ct pewter linen

It will eventually look like this, only a bit more colour ;)  

And that was it for Week 5 and I got full points. I think there were bonus points too as the red beads/metallics really stumped some people. 

Week 6 - Change in Power

Umbridge has taken over at Hogwarts, and as everyone has been dreading this, we are to stitch 1000 stitches on our least favourite/most dreaded project. The one that you leave buried, that you're tempted to throw away, but you've worked on it, so you can't, etc. 

This was a bit of a challenge as I have a few of these. I decided in the end to work on something that I really want to get done, although it's a real pain in some ways. When I said I'd stitch it 1 over 1 for the recipient, my eyes hadn't quite needed the assistance at near that they do now, and this is a lot more difficult than when I started. So getting it done would be great. 1003 stitches went into this one:

Week 7 - O.W.L.s week - this week all the 5th year students have to take their Ordinary Wizarding Levels. That includes 7 core subjects and 3 electives. Our assignment was to stitch at least 100 stitches on the 7 core subjects with the electives being bonus points. That gave you a grade of Exceeds Expectations. If you managed to stitch 200 stitches on everything, then it was mega bonus points and Outstanding grade. And since I'm not at all competitive, I went for 200 on everything. :D

The possible classes are listed below and the reasons I was able to fit Universal Monsters into 8/10 classes. 

Core Exams:

1. Astronomy - has a moon on the pattern2. Charms - a charm called Lumos lights lamps, there are chandeliers in the pattern3. Defense Against the Dark Arts - learn about werewolves, there's a werewolf in the pattern4. Herbology - water plants in the Creature's room5. History of Magic - taught by a ghost, there are ghosts in the pattern6. Potions - there's some potions in the Invisible Man's room7. Transfiguration - can change yourself into a cat for example, there's a cat in the Mummy room

Electives - choose up to 3:1. Arithmancy2. Study of Ancient Runes3. Care of Magical Creatures - someone suggested Hagrid would have cared for the monsters4. Divination - can be a crystal ball, or a snowglobe, used Joy Snowglobe
5. Muggle Studies - Santa is a Muggle (nonmagic) construct - Joy Snowglobe

And here's the photos!

 I did it this way so you didn't have 8 photos of a little more stitching, then a little more stitching, and a little more stitching, etc.

Joy Snowglobe by Dimensions

stitched on plastic canvas as charted with kit threads

So excited to have another finish!! I'm really glad this group has made me get some finishes this year, it's a great feeling. 

Week 8 - Bulletin Board Notices  - this is the current week and the tasks are a little different, although not very complicated. It's a good break after last week. 

Task 1) 11 Death Eaters were defeated at the Ministry of Magic, so stitch 300 stitches on your 11th WIP. This is Happy Halloween by Satsuma Street and was last here:

Happy Halloween by Satsuma Street

stitched 2 over 1 on 20ct Fiddler's cloth? as charted

Task 2) stitch 300 stitches in any colour but pink now that Umbridge has been ousted. I will likely use Halloween as well and make sure I don't stitch in pink. 

Task 3) stitch 400 stitches as a bonus for the Weasley twins prank - this is a magical swamp. I've joined the Steotch-a-long for the first time ever. I heard about it from some of the people in the LOTR stitching group, and joined in with them. My reasoning for using this is it's a mystery and how to dispose of the swamp was a mystery since Prof. Flitwick could never get rid of it entirely. 

Steotch-a-long 2019 

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Rubescent by Chromatic Alchemy

That reasoning may not work, but I don't think I have time to stitch another 400 stitches and wanted to try and keep up with this SAL if possible. It has a lot of blended threads, so it's been interesting so far. 

Hope you've all been having a good week, 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