Gifted Gorgeousness 2020 - April Edition

Hello, hello! It's mid-month time and that means Gifted Gorgeousness! Please check out all the participants over at Jo's blog and cheer on their excellent work too. Sometimes the ways we try and shoe-horn in the gifted part gets quite amusing.

I ended up with 2 small/medium finishes this month after participating in the Jodyri/KLT/Circus stitching games.

Look for Rainbows - this is a gift for DD. I'm wondering about a pillow finish if I can find something with darkish rainbow colours.

 Look for Rainbows by Circus Stitches

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Pink Elephants on Parade by Jodyri

the word "Stars" at the end is stitched in GITD Kreinik

Sleep is Good - this is for a friend with a 4 year old and a 1 1/2 year old that doesn't like sleep. Therefore she never sleeps either! But she's also a librarian, so I think this fits. I'm wondering if I can attach this to a canvas bag as a book bag?

Sleep is Good by Circus Stitches

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Bacchus by Chromatic Alchemy

with Caron Waterlilies Plum and Soie Cristal green

Rainbow Saturn - for DD, she still dreams of being an astronaut!

 Rainbow Saturn by mathysphere from xstitch magazine issue 6

stitched 2 over 2 as charted on 28ct navy linen

Finding Happiness - this might be for DD or it might be for a HP friend. It's almost finished, I should really get it finished off!

 Finding Happiness by Circus Stitches 

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Hurricane by PTP

with WDW Marigold and PTB 04 and DMC 310

Mini Waterhole Master - for DD

 Mini Waterhole Master by HAED

stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct Sunrise by Crafty Kitten

I'm at 8K stitches on this one!

One thing that being at home more seems to have done is given me the urge to finish things. I'm surprised I've managed to only have one WIP left after the March Jodyri/KLT/Circus challenge, and it's very close to a finish as well. Plus I even finished some socks recently!

Cabin Socks

Cabin Socks by Courtney Spainhower

knit with Wonderland Yarns and Frabjous Fibers Pigments of Imagination Mary Ann #5 and Silkworm Studios rainbow mini skeins

These socks are for me and fit so well and are perfect, yay! I had to reknit the toe on the purple one when I had originally made it a little short, but now they're both perfect. The pattern is free, so it's like a gift. :)

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Gifted Gorgeousness - March 2020 Edition

Here we are, halfway through March already and it's that time again to show off the projects we've been given or are giving away to someone.

Check out Jo's blog for all the fun and I hope you've all been staying safe and healthy! Also, thank you so much for your kind words. I am glad that I caught the flu well before COVID-19 showed up in the US and didn't have that worry as well. I do work in health care, so being extra cautious is the current norm. Stay safe everyone!

On to the fun stuff, stitching! All of these are likely for DD. :)

Mini Winter Magic got a fair bit of progress while I was recovering. I thought it would be good to work on some confetti since my stitching speed was fairly slow anyway and enjoy the process.

 Mini Winter Magic by HAED stitched 1 over 1 full cross on 28ct white Monaco

Princess and the Dragon - it's over halfway complete! 55% according to Pattern Keeper, and that app makes stitching this so much easier! I still feel a finish this year is out of the question, especially as the conference I usually stitch at is being reschedule for who-knows-when, but you never know. I'm very much enjoying it. 

 Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations

stitched 1 over 1 full cross on 28ct Amarinthine by Chromatic Alchemy

Letters from Nora (H) - look what finally came back out! I do think it's possible to get both this one and the G complete this year, so I think they may stay out for a while. 

 Letters from Nora H

stitched 2 over 2 as charted on 28ct Nuriel's Forest by Chromatic Alchemy

Butterfly Quote - this has come out recently for the Jodyri/KLT/Circus competition this month. It's on Facebook if you're interested, although we're well underway at this point. At certain times you have to stitch with hand-dyed thread, or on a Jodyri/KLT/Circus design, so this is a Jodyri design with Jodyri thread mostly. It may get a little more work this month as well. 

 Butterfly Quote by Jodyri Designs

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

Look for Rainbows - this is a new start for the competition and I liked the concept of this one, even though it's quite simple. 

 Look for Rainbows by Circus Stitches

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Jodyri Pink Elephants on Parade with Soie Cristal Mer and as charted for the rainbow letters

Mini Waterhole Master - I hope to get another 2K or so into this one this month and then pick up Faery Tales again. I'm trying to work in 4K blocks to see decent progress on each one before switching. 

Mini Waterhole Master by HAED

stitched 1 over 1 full cross on 28ct Crafty Kitten Sunrise fabric

And I'm back full in the swing of stitching, plus the current level of stress has me stitching more to help my anxiety, so look for more progress coming up. 

Fingers crossed we can get ahead of this globally. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Gifted Gorgeousness 2020 - February Edition

GG time! Please check out Jo's blog for everyone else's posts and the Secret Stitching Sweethearts if you haven't yet.

It seems appropriate that GG comes so close after Valentine's Day since there are so many fun Valentines to give people, or to give loved ones cross stitches for Valentines Day. This year the plan is to give DH this one, which you have seen before:

I Love You More Today by Jodyri Designs 

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Eye of Newt by Chromatic Alchemy

And I haven't stitched anything new for DD like the last couple years. I'm debating about giving her Somebunny, which is finished, but hasn't been given to anyone yet. I finished this a couple years ago if you remember:

Somebunny from WOXS 183

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

As for other WIPs in progress to be given as gifts, let's catch up from last month. 

 Kiss for a Snowman by Dimensions

stitched as charted, 2 over 1 on 16ct kit fabric

This will be for DD, and since it's early in the year, maybe it will get finished this year?

 See Ya Later Alligator by Jodyri Designs

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

This will be another gift for DD, and it should be finished soon. I started it February 19, 2016, so maybe I can get it complete for the 4 year anniversary?

 Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations

stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct Amarinthine by Chromatic Alchemy

Another gift for DD, and can I tell you how excited I am about reaching the top left corner!!! So excited, it's so amazing to have one entire side stitched! I'll continue to work across the top set of pages and hope to get some good progress in before the March conference. 

 Mini Waterhole Master by HAED

stitched 1 over 1 full cross on 28ct Sunrise by Crafty Kitten as charted DMC

DD is claiming this one too, although I don't think she realizes how long it's going to take me to finish it. By the time I'm done, she may not be interested any more. 

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

Tiffstitch

#24HoursofCrossStitch Marathon Weekend

I hope everyone had a great last weekend of January! I decided to join into the 24 hours of cross stitch marathon and managed about 16 hours total. Some people stayed up all night to get 24 hours straight, which seems insane to me, as I've fallen asleep stitching before, and the result is not pretty. But hey, if they can do it, awesome!

If you're interested in joining the group, it's on Facebook here. I believe this is a monthly event and they have other events too that you'll from other bloggers, like Rachel does some of the themed ones. Please check out her blog for more info on those if you're interested.

I've been trying to get 4K stitches each month on each of the new full coverage projects, Mini Faery Tales and Mini Waterhole Master, and because of this event, I have managed it!

I started here on Mini Waterhole Master:

and managed here at the end of Sunday:

I'm stitching on 28ct Sunrise by The Crafty Kitten and stitching 1 over 1 full crosses. You can see a bird in a tree at the top there now, and hopefully it will become clearer with more work. I'm missing a couple colours, or haven't found them yet, so the top left corner isn't complete yet. I'm working somewhat cross country, somewhat by 10x10 diagonal box. Basically, I'm choosing a colour in a box and stitching either across or down with it, depending on where it takes me, and when I finish one thread, go back to that 10x10 box and choose another colour. It's working so far. :)

This was a fun weekend to get things ahead on this one, and will likely be handy if I'm able to participate most months in getting both projects to progress. 

Hope all is well with you!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

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