Smalls SAL - January

I’d like to thank Mary for hosting this event each month.  If you’d like to join, you can find all the information about this SAL at Mary’s Thread.

I am slowing working through my Just Nan Limited Edition 3D Miniature mice.  I decided to stitch the Frosty Winter Mouse because it is still winter.  This was sold as a kit (Frosty Winter Mouse in a House).  It takes too long to stitch the houses, so for now I will just stitch the mice in the series.  Some day I might go back and stitch the houses to go with them.

Tuesday night (Jan. 28), I started stitching.  Here is my progress after the first night.

Wednesday night, I finished all the cross stitching.  Here is my progress after the second night.

Thursday night, I finished adding the beads (silver crystal and white pearl).  Another Happy Dance!!  This is my 4th finish of the year already.

I hope to have the mouse assembled for the next Fully Finished Gallery SAL (Feb. 10).

After completing the beads on Frosty, I still had some time to work on SYOA (Harry Potter) Hufflepuff banner/house crest.  I finished the white and black on the badger, but instead of finishing the letter H, I started the vertical trim on the right edge of the banner.  Next time I will try to finish the dark colour (DMC 3371) at the bottom of the badger’s neck and the letter H.

Replying to comments on blogger

Hi everyone.  First I'd like to say "Thank You" to anyone who has posted a comment on my blog this past month.  I really do appreciate it.

I usually visit updated stitching blogs daily, but I rarely leave comments.  In the past, I have spent so much time writing a comment and then it doesn't work.  It becomes time consuming rewriting (and you never remember what you just said), so I get discouraged and don't want to leave comments.  Today, I am having issues replying to comments on own blog.

Here is a screen shot of my settings on blogger.  Any help would be appreciated.  You can email me if you can't figure out how to leave a comment.  :)

I have tried changing Embedded (but then I don't see the word reply under each comment).

I changed who to Anyone because I thought this was an issue stopping me or anyone else from replying.

I even changed Moderation to Never so that wouldn't stop me from seeing any comments.

Theatre Scrapbook - plays seen in 2018

This morning, I attached all the 2018 plays onto coloured paper, then this afternoon I was able to add all 11 plays into my Theatre Scrapbook.  

Dave & I LOVE musicals, so we always see at least 3 or 4 of those every year.

I hope no one is offended with this 2 page spread of The Rocky Horror Show.  We loved it, but I know it’s not for everyone.


I didn’t work on the Harry Potter cross stitch project because I was working on something for the Smalls SAL.

SYOA - Hufflepuff House crest - update #3

I made some more progress last night/early morning.  I’m almost finished outlining the H, just a few stitches to cross by the badger’s nose.  I have found the top edge of the banner/crest.  Tonight, I want to finish the badger and letter H before moving on to the black vertical trim on each side.

Reminder of what I’m working on.

On Sunday, I bought another scrapbook from my friend who used to sell Creative Memories.  Today, I am mounting tickets, photos, and programs for the 11 plays from 2018 onto coloured paper.  Once those are all done I’ll spend one day this week, putting them all into my Theatre Scrapbook.

SYOA - Hufflepuff House Crest - update #2

Finally a new colour (some white).  I thought everything was correct on the badger until I started adding white stitches.  That is when I found out I was off by one stitch again.  So, I pulled out more black floss again.  I really hope everything is correct now.

SYOA - Hufflepuff House Crest - update #1

I pulled out the black outline on the left side.   Here is my progress from this morning.  I think I used the wrong yellow on the far left edge of the H, because it looks a lot brighter.   The brighter yellow which is used in the diamond pattern in the background.  I have to finish the black column on the left side before I know for sure.

SYOA - Hufflepuff House crest

I finally started stitching today.  It is going very slowly.  I thought I got rid of the frogs by the time I finished Rosebud Tweet, but they are back.  I have pulled out as many stitches as I have put in.  Can’t seem to count today.

You can still join in with all the fun, here is the link to Cunning Cross Stitch.  I have added a photo of what is released so far, so you have time to catch up.  You will see throughout the year all the changes I have made to the top of my project.  It is supposed to be personal that is why it is called Stitch Your Own Adventure.  No two projects will be the same, as no two people think the same or like the same things.

Chapter 1 - I chose Hufflepuff because I am LOYAL to my friends and to my stitching projects (I try to stitch one at a time until they are complete).

Here is a close up.  I keep having issues with the black, which means the lighter yellow is wrong too.  I just removed a column of light yellow on the far left along the black.  I’m restarting that column, see now the black needs to come out and restitched.  Maybe I should do a small area at a time instead of outlining with black first.  If I do all 3 colours together I will see the mistakes faster, which means less to pull out later.

This shows where it is placed on the fabric.  I’m starting in the middle.  It is hard to hold that much fabric when stitching.  I try to do the sewing method more when in hand.  But I do prefer the look of the stitches when they are done by the stab method.   I will check tomorrow to see if I have a scroll frame large enough to hold it.

SYOA - Letters to Hogwarts

I finally got my fabric for the Stitch Your Own Adventure (SYOA) - Letters from Hogwarts.  I am using 28ct Lugana Light Taupe (fat half - 39” x 27”).  I started gridding the fabric last night.  I only did the center lines and then every 50 stitches.  Otherwise I’d be wasting all my time gridding and no stitching.  I’m way a behind in this SAL.  Cunning Cross Stitch released the top, frame and wand back in August 2019.  The first chapter was released on January 1, 2020.  I only found out about this SAL over the Christmas holidays (late December).

I’m not on Facebook so I cannot see other stitcher’s progress, but I have found some stitchers on instagram and twitter showing their progress.  After seeing some stitchers make changes to the Hogwarts castle so it has more detail, a phoenix for Fawkes, a frog, different owls.  I LOVE making projects personal, so I’m making lots of changes.  I am using Pattern Maker by HobbyWare to place everything correctly.  I’m still working on the changes, so no stitching yet.  I’d rather spend more time on the pattern instead of frogging.  

Here is a photo showing half of the fabric with grid lines.  The lighting is terrible in my craft room.  I’ll try to take a few photos tomorrow in the daytime.

Here is a close up so you can see the colour of the fabric.  I am really happy with it.


No stitching tonight.  We are watching Zombieland Double Tap.

Rosebud Tweet - Happy Dance

I finished it early this morning around 3:00am.  I even spent time assembling it today, but will wait to share a photo at the next FFG (Feb 10).

 

Rosebud Tweet - update #1

I have never had so many frogs visiting for one small project.  This was supposed to be an easy stitch, since it is only 30 stitches wide x 30 stitches high per side.  Last night, I did the first side white outer stitches with no problem, just stitched it a little closer to the edge of the fabric.  I always try to use small pieces, but this one was really narrow.  When I stitched the other side I tried to move it over a little bit ... well that is when the frogs decided to visit.  I think I have restitched the second side twice when it didn’t match up when I got to the end.  So I kept taking the stitches out until I thought it was correct and went to bed.  But today, when I added the light green floss I realized it was still wrong.  I restitched, but then the light green was off by one stitch.  I’m still hoping for a finish this week, but you never know.  I really need to get rid of the frogs.

Rosebud Tweet - a new start

I was out for supper tonight with some old co-workers.  We haven’t seen each other for a year.  We all worked together in 2017 & 2018.  It was nice to catchup.

I am still waiting for my fabric to arrive so I can start the Stitch Your Own Adventure - Letters from Hogwarts.  In the meantime, I have decided to work on one of my many Just Nan Limited Edition Kits.  Tonight I have chosen Rosebud Tweet.  I am stitching it on 28ct white evenweave.  Not sure which brand.  I’m using the DMC floss recommended in the pattern.

Plaid Trousers - Happy Dance!!

I just finished putting the last of the beads on Plaid Trousers.  I’m so happy to have this UFO completed.

Plaid Trousers - update #6

I just finished all the words on the poem Plaid Trousers.  I’m not a fan of french knots, so I still need to go back and add all the beads for dots on the letter “i’s” and periods at the end of the sentences.  I’m so happy to have this project almost complete.  I hope to finish it tomorrow and take a photo in the daytime showing the whole poem.

Plaid Trousers - update #5

Here is my progress from today.  3 1/2 lines (including the authors of poem) until I’m finished.  Then I still have to stitch the words PLAID TROUSERS in different colours.  Still hoping for a Happy Dance tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed.

Plaid Trouser - update #4

Here is my progress from last night before the weekend starts.

Scrapbooking - pages from 2017 Theatre book

Today, I finished applying the tickets, photos, etc onto coloured paper for the last 3 plays we saw in 2017.

I then started creating my scrapbook pages, which I will add to my new book after I buy it.  The first two pages have newspaper photos.

I still need to print some photos for the next double page spread, which I found online from Drayton Entertainment’s website.

Now I’m off to go cross stitch.  I hope to make some progress on Plaid Trousers tonight.

Plaid Trousers - update #3

I only stitched a few words on Plaid Trousers.  

Today I continued to work on my theatre scrapbook.  I stuck programs, tickets, and photos from 5 more theatre plays onto coloured paper.  I only have 23 more plays to go.  Then I will stick them all into the scrapbook.  Tomorrow I hope to finish the last 3 plays from 2017.

Scrapbooking - Kinky Boots

This week I started working on some scrapbook pages for the Live Theatre Dave & I have seen.  I just finished my 1st Theatre book which has plays from 1995 - 2016.  We started out going to plays for kids when our sons were 1 & 3 years old.  Eventually they didn’t want to go with us, so we now go by ourselves.  Occasionally, we take my mother-in-law with us when she visits from New Brunswick. The last few years we buy 7-9 plays through Drayton Entertainment, and the occasional one from Stratford Festival.

Yesterday, I added a double page spread for Kinky Boots which we saw in Toronto back in 2015.  

Today, I worked on 5 different plays from 2017.  I stuck the programs, tickets and any photos of the play onto coloured paper.   This part is time consuming because I use my quilting ruler to measure a 1/4’ around each item.  This will make it go faster when I start adding each play to my 2nd book. 

Next month, we will start going to live theatre again.  We have bought 9 plays already and plan to see 2 others this year.   

I have 33 more plays to go before I will be caught up.

2017 we saw 13 plays, 2018 we saw 11 and 2019 we saw 9 (33 plays in total).  

Last year, I added all the plays from 2013 - 2016 (which was 23 plays).

Plaid Trousers - update #2

I am so happy with my progress from yesterday.  I was able to stitch for several hours.  I finished 3 full lines of text, along with 3 half lines of text.

I need to go back and finish the line that says PLAID TROUSERS in coloured floss, still deciding what colours to use for stitching those words.  I will continue stitching with the blue hand dyed floss.  As you can see in the poem below, I am starting the last paragraph.  I need to frog the letter “P” in the last line I stitched yesterday ... Be proper and p, because I miss counted and it is too high.  I hope to finish stitching this project by the end of the weekend.

Plaid Trousers - update #1

Yesterday I started working son Plaid Trousers again.  I only got 2 1/2 lines completed.  I had to frog the first line because it was up to high and touched the line above it.  It is slow stitching because I wasn’t using a scroll frame.  It is a big piece of fabric to hold onto while stitching.  The fabric is also not serged and keeps fraying on the edges, so today I will reattach it to my scroll frame (floor stand) then I can use both hands to stitch.  Even with all these issues, I’m still very happy with my few lines of progress.  The line I’m working on is the half way point in the poem.

UFO's

I’m a one at a time stitcher most of the time.  I will sometimes have a huge project and a very small project going at the same time.  In the past, I have also put a project aside to work on something that has a deadline.  I have always tried to finish every project that I start, but I do have 2 that I put in the UFO pile over the years.

UFO 1 (my oldest)
Cabin Fever -  Started sometime in 2009.

I have already decided that I will never finish this project.  I bought it as a kit at Michael's.  I don't usually buy kits.  I should have used my own fabric, because I prefer 28ct evenweave and this kit has 16ct or 18ct aida.
Here is a photo from the last time I stitched on it August 2009.

Last year, I found a puzzle of the same picture/name I bought it right away.  After all these years, I will enjoy building the puzzle more than stitching it.

UFO 2
Plaid Trousers - Started December 20, 2012

The project is being stitched on 28ct light blue evenweave, and I'm using Caron's Watercolour called Twinkle.

I stopped working on this project because I disliked the chart/pattern.  It is supposed to look like handwriting, so every letter looks different.  I like things uniform and symmetrical, so it bothered me trying to stitch the pattern.  I tried to rework each letter as I was stitching, but it got confusing and wasn't centered on the fabric.  I pulled out almost every stitch I put in, so I put it aside in 2013.  

This is what it looked like in 2013 when I last worked on it.

Should I continue?  

Should I frog and start over?  

Should I rework the pattern in Pattern Maker by HobbyWare (cross stitch program I use on my PC). 

Every year I think about finishing it, but never get around to it.  Well this year, I made a decision.  I really want to finish it this year, so this week I reworked the pattern in Pattern Maker by HobbyWare. I'm only stitching the poem words not the decorations around it.  I will try to find some plaid golf pants (stickers or scrapbook paper) to decorate the mat around the cross stitch when I frame it.  

FFG - January 2020

I'd like to thank Rachel at Ten Hour Stitcher for hosting this SAL again this year.  

In 2019, I only participated for the first 8 months (January - August), but I did manage to fully finish 23 projects so I count that as success.  This year I hope to participate every month.

I showed this Lizzie*Kate project last week, but now I framed it.  I only use black frames for photos or cross stitch on the walls because our house decor is contemporary/modern style.  Nothing fancy, just a thin black frame (10" x 20") with a white matt.

2 Birthday cards for January

Here are the 2 cards I made for family and friends birthdays this month.  I made both cards blue because that is their favourite colour.

My friend Kim’s birthday is January 10.  I will drop off her card tomorrow during the day.

I will mail Dave’s sister Karen’s card tomorrow, so it has time to get there for her birthday on Sunday, January 19.