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

Fully Finished Gallery SAL - September Finishing Frenzy

It's the 10th of the month, so check out Rachel's blog to see all her lovely finishes and the link up for everyone else's.

I had today off, and it was a school day, so I drove off to the local ReSource (Habitat for Humanity thrift shop) and Goodwill stores. I found all I wanted at the first ReSource store, 3 canvases and one rectangular frame. I decided to stop there for now and finish with the materials I had instead of collecting finishing materials as well as finishes.

As an added precaution, I actually measured the size of each finish in my drawer of shame finishes, so I knew what I was looking for and what might work. In the end I have 4 finishes to show you. One was finished before partly, but not fully complete and hanging up.

If you've picked yourself up from your chairs in shock at all these finishes, here's the photos! :)

 Somebunny from WOXS 

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

 I Love You More Today by Jodyri Designs

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

Canada Mandala by Ink Circles

stitched 2 over 2 with Ruby Slippers by Jodyri on 28 ct ivory fabric 

Dog Lessons by Lizzie Kate

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct beige fabric with some thread changes and modified the dog to look more like our dearly departed basset hound. 

The bottom 2 are already hanging up in the house and Somebunny might be a birthday gift for DD, and I Love You More for DH's birthday in a few months. 

Happy Stitching and thanks again for the inspiration Rachel!

Tiffstitch

Updates and TBT Halloween Stitching

Thank you everyone for your comments about photos, it's good to know more is better as long as they're all resized easily to different devices. I definitely appreciate your feedback!

And now the bad news. As I was editing the photos and moving them to the correct album, then trying to delete them from the wrong album, they were deleted completely! Except fortunately Google Photos is used to people like me, so they can be recovered from the Trash folder for up to 60 days. Phew.... that was an unpleasant start to the morning.

Here's Somebunny from my last post:

and now:

That's the start of the awesome purple boots with white polka dots. I didn't have as much time to stitch because I worked on some Halloween projects too. 

20. Durene Jones Bat has progressed:

21. Boo House has a new corn stalk started:

22. Halloween Monster is fully finished!

I backed him onto some thick DMC felt. The monster was stitched with WDW Meadow, WDW Okeefeenokee for the mouth and hair, DMC 414 for his neck bolts and WDW Bethlehem for the border and running stitch to attach it to the felt. I also made a WDW Bethlehem cord secured with the Rhodes stitch in the top left. I think it's a fun little finish. :)

23. Midnight Manor - finished last year

This is one of my favourite stitches ever, despite an error I made in counting. No one can really see it, so I didn't bother frogging it. I really liked using the slightly different blacks and grays for all the details and the manor itself is dark navy. The glow-in-the-dark ghosts and moon were Kreinik thread leftover from a Mill Hill finish. 

Here's the best photo I could get of the GITD thread effect. I have yet to fully finish this one, so it sits in the drawer of shame for now. :) 

This chart has 2 patterns, you can see the smaller finished design here on Rachel's blog. She had a really cool idea about adding light to the windows. 

8 more Halloween photos to post before Tuesday, I hope I can make it! 

I hope you're all having a great week and thank you as always for your comments and advice!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Somebunny Update and Halloween Stitching

I hope you all had a good weekend! Work was crazy yesterday and we're still dealing with computer issues at home, so I wasn't able to get my post up. 

I'm pretty happy with the progress on Somebunny though. It started here in January:

and after Sunday night was here:

and after last night it's here:

I'm stitching 2 over 2 with recommended DMC on 28 ct Aether Lugana from Chromatic Alchemy. It has a subtle blue/pink tone to it. I'm fairly certain I can have this finished and framed by DD's birthday. It will be close to 7 inches square when completed, so an 8x8 frame should work well. That is fairly easy to find at the local stores. 

I also pulled out more Halloween stitching and have a new start!

17. Bat by Durene Jones

This is a free pattern on her Facebook page and I'm using the recommended DMC threads, stitching 2 over 1 on 16 or 18 count scrap Aida. I couldn't resist how cute this one is. I was tentatively considering finishing him for a party last Friday, but that certainly did not happen. Still a cute addition to my house though!

18. Boo House

19. Halloween Monster

All done except the outline box around him. That should be fairly quick to do, and pop him in the mail after fully finishing. 

A question for all of you, do you like seeing before and after pictures on everything? Or only things that haven't been out recently? I didn't add before shots on the Halloween photos, but did on Somebunny, so please let me know if you have a preference. I don't want to overload you with photos either. :)

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Halloween Stitching and a Crazy Idea, Plus Giveaway at Crafty Sasha

I hope everyone has been having a good stitchy week! Things are busy as always, but fortunately stitching is always there to save my sanity. :) And there's creative people like Crafty Sasha always thinking up new gadgets I want need. She's having a giveaway of needle minders right now, so check it out if you're interested. 

First let me catch you up on my Halloween stitching photos!

Halloween Monster by Heart in Hand
11. 

almost done the WDW Meadow for his face and neck!

12. Boo House

Getting a move on this one as well, in fact, this is only Tuesday's photo, after last night I'm here:

13. Boo House

If possible I like to try and stitch these one colour at a time and then take the threads of the completed colour out of the thread pile and put them in the front of the kit section so they don't get all tangled up. 

I think I've finished 6 colours now. I still think this could be a Halloween finish. :)

On to my crazy idea! 

I've been thinking if I really buckle down I might be able to complete a project for DD's birthday coming up in November. I was debating about what project would be closest to completion, and could be fully finished in time. That takes Letters from Nora out, because they'll have to be custom framed. 

My choices are (I think):

Tribal Dragon

still needs to look like this:

Somebunny to Love:

Joy Snowglobe

should look like this:

or a Frosty Friend:

I'm leaning towards Somebunny to Love since it's definitely more for her than the last 2, although they would likely be the fastest. I'll see what I feel like. I'm thinking of maybe stitching through the weekend on Somebunny and get a feel for if a finish is possible. That would still give me time to complete one of the smaller designs. 

Any thoughts or other ideas, please let me know!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch