September Crazy Domino Event - Projects 13-16

I'm a little late posting about the end of the September event. I'm sure you're all very surprised by this with my sporadic blogging in the last couple years. 

I really enjoyed this event and it was great to get some good stitches into some WIPs that haven't had much attention in the last year or more. 

First up is yet another dragon project. For Project 13 I picked up Do Not Meddle because it also has dragons, like Mini Winter Magic (Project 12). I started here:

and although I only needed to stitch 1300 stitches, I ended up stitching 1420 because of some other FB games. I ended here:

Do Not Meddle by Dragon Fire Designs

stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct Monaco as charted 

If anyone remembers this one, I'm stitching it for someone that can't stitch much any more and I'm taking much too long getting it completed. I'm glad to get almost one half of the dragon complete, so hopefully I can get this one out again and get some more progress. 

For the next project, I linked them by saying I'm also stitching it for someone else. I chose Princess and the Dragon so I can get a little more done on it. It's so close! Here's where it was:

another 1410 stitches gets this moved along to here:

Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations

stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct Amarinthine by Chromatic Alchemy

Unsurprisingly, I had yet another dragon project I wanted to work on. This time I linked them through the fact that each dragon has a hoard. The above one has a hoard on the far left of the project, and this newer project you'll see some of it on the end point. Here's where I started on Project 15:

and after 1500 stitches, this is fairly close to a finish:

Messy But Mine by Dragon Dreams

stitched 2 over 2 as charted on 16ct Cirrus by Chromatic Alchemy

I feel like I need to go through my WIPs and see which ones just need about a week to finish. I feel like there's a fair number of them now and maybe that will be the December plan. Focus on a finish for as many as I can. This next one won't be in that category. It's still years away. And that is Bailey Basset. Those with good memories may note that I did make it to 16 projects this month, which is one more than my goal of 15. I'm very happy with that. I linked to this next project by saying I'd like to have a dragon as a pet, and I did have a basset hound as a pet. Here's what Bailey Basset will look like some day, and where it started:

and 1600 stitches, or 3200 tent stitches, moved it along quite a bit:

Bailey Basset by HAED

stitched 2 over 1 tent stitch on 25ct gray linen

And there we have it! The end of the September event and lots of stitching completed on several neglected WIPs. It was a thoroughly enjoyable event and I will definitely participate next year. Hopefully it won't be all the same projects. :)

I hope you're all well and 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

Gifted Gorgeousness: May Edition

It's mid-May and that means it's time to talk about all our stitching with gifted materials or for gifts, or for however you can fit the category. Check out Jo's blog for all the details and to see who else is participating this month. 

I've been participating in Stitch Maynia, which I made a WIP Maynia, so I have pulled out several projects since last month. Let's see where we're at with everything:

Fishing - for my uncle

with charted DMC 2 over 2 on 28ct Tempest by Chromatic Alchemy

Letters From Nora - L - for a friend

Land of the Dinosaurs - for DD

 with charted DMC 2 over 2 on 28ct Nimbus (?) by Chromatic Alchemy

Mini Winter Magic - for DD

 Dragon Under Glass - for DH

 Bailey Basset - for DH

 Spider Banner - for DD

I was so excited to get this one out again. Again, I think a solid week should finish this one off. So I could add this to the pile with Fishing and Tribal Dragon and get 3 finishes within the next month or so. We'll see how it goes. 

I also decided on a project for my co-worker:

And I'll start this after Stitch Maynia, so tomorrow! It can be found on Etsy here.

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch 

WIP Wednesday: Stitch Maynia 2018 Edition

I've continued to try and find all the old WIPs I need to work on. Most of these are BAPs as they seem to be the easiest to put down and try and finish something much smaller. 

Here are the stitches from Monday and Tuesday:

Dragon Under Glass was here:

I'm giving 2 pictures because I didn't have an update of the whole thing. And now it's here:

I tried to add some stitches in between the squares to make sure I don't get lines. The squares were for an HAED FB challenge. 

Bailey Basset was here:

and is now a little farther along.

I would love to spend some serious time on both of these as well, but again, ones that are closer to a finish should be finished first to get the pile down. 

Thanks for all your amazing comments and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch