Smalls SAL - January 2024

The smalls SAL is now hosted by Rachel over at Ten Hour Stitcher, so you can find the link-up post on her blog. I have enough smalls that I should be able to finish at least one per month, and although I've already blogged about this one, here it is again:

MH18 - 2034 Santa Cruise

stitched with kit threads and beads on perforated paper

and I think this one counts as a small? It's certainly not as large as some of my WIPs!

Halloween Freebie by Passione Ricamo

stitched 2 over 2 

on 28ct Brittney evenweave Aries by Sparklies

And I also worked on another Mill Hill kit,

Winter's Feast by Mill Hill

stitched as charted with kit threads and beads on perforated paper

I might pick this one back up again as it should be a quick finish, but I'd like to finish a couple other things first. 

I'll see if I can keep up with this every month, it's a good way to try and work on some of my smaller WIPs. :)

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

1st Week of January 2024

Here we are, first update of 2024! Let's see if I can keep on track to post weekly. 

I did a new start on December 31, 2024 because the US way of writing the date made it so unique (12/31/23). I had plans for a Chatelaine, but haven't received the thread pack yet, so I decided another ridiculous one deserved a start. If I manage to finish this, it's for a friend that loves Halloween and cats. 

Paine Free Crafts Halloween Kitty with Pumpkin

and I managed a very tiny start. I'm still dealing with low energy from COVID, and needed a nap in the afternoon to make it all the way to midnight. 

Sorry it's a bit blurry. I have put it away for now, so can't get another photo yet. This was about 400 stitches into it. I ended up frogging some before this photo, but then thought maybe the stitches were correct after all? I realized I was too tired to keep stitching and stopped before I took out more stitches that were actually correct!

We all slept in the next morning and I was excited to start my New Year New Start. I don't love the fabric, it's 40ct linen, but it is gorgeous and perfect for this chart. Here's what I'm starting, which will be for my Mom. She has a big birthday this year. 

Her favourite animal is the loon, and when we were younger, we'd often go up to northern Ontario in the summers for vacation. Partly because it's beautiful and amazing, but also partly so Mom could hear loons. I had a few options on bird-related charts and had DH check them all over. He chose this one as the best for my Mom. Then he asked when her birthday was (June) and gave me a funny look like I thought I'd get this done by then. It's like he knows me or something? Then I gave him choices of all my blue fabric that was long enough and he chose this gorgeous one, which I knew he would, but linen (ugh!) and 40ct! (double ugh!) Anyway, here's my start. It wasn't too bad on the linen with my Ott light about 1 foot away...

Loon Lake by Crossed Wing Collection

stitched 2 over 2 full cross

on 40ct linen by BeStitchedMe

I think I'll try and pick this up a few times a month to get a few thread lengths into it. I'm not worried about finishing by June, it's the process that counts, not the deadline. 

Before I started on my monthly focus piece, I picked up a small I've been working on now and again over the past year. This is where it was last time I picked it up:    

and now it's a finish!

Halloween Freebie by Passione Ricamo

stitched 2 over 2 

on 28ct Brittney evenweave Aries by Sparklies

I don't think you can find this on their website any more, but it was a fairly quick and easy stitch. I used DMC Etoile for the moon and the BOO words, and the rest is DMC 310. The original chart had a witch's hat over top of the 2nd 'O', but I filled it in with black instead. I like the look of it without the hat. 

And now for my decision on the monthly focus! I've always enjoyed stitching on this one, even though it's got a lot of backstitch. Here it was last time I picked it up:

Evening in the Shire by Cute Patterns by Maria

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

and I've managed several thread lengths so far:

I think there's still more than half to go, and I plan on putting a few more thread lengths in before I might pick up another small or Loon Lake. I think this will keep my occupied for the month and we'll see how far I can get. I'm not expecting a finish, but you never know. 

I hope you've all had a good start to the year!

Happy Stitching,

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 #11

Thank you for your kind comments on yesterday's post. It was such a shock. I don't know whether the family will have a memorial or something since we're still living in pandemic times, but I'm checking to see when they post any information. 

Today I'm back to another seasonal project and this is a little larger than the previous ones, but still not really big. This is another one I'd saved, printed, and stuck in a binder ages ago. I don't think you can find this one any more, I was trying to find it on their website, but it didn't seem to be in the freebie section any more. Here's my start:

Halloween Freebie by Passione Ricamo

stitched 2 over 2 with DMC 310 

on 28ct Brittney evenweave Aries by Sparklies

I think you can tell this is a haunted house style mansion by this little start. It's mostly black with a little PTB to sparkle up the moon and there's a "BOO" phrase at the bottom. I might use some Etoile instead of the PTB, it has some nice sparkle as well and is so much easier to work with. 

I don't think I've stitched on Sparklies fabric before, it's very nice and the reddish colour seemed to fit this design. I can see why so many people prefer these fabrics. I don't think I'm too choosy about fabrics, as long as they're easy to stitch on. 

I hope you've all had a good day and happy stitching!

Tiffstitch