Peppermint Purple SAL - Green Version

Happy Leap Year Day!!

This is the 2nd SAL I joined this year and again I’m late to the party, but only 9 weeks late.  There is lots of time to catch up because the patterns are released once a week for 52 weeks (1 year).  The patterns are FREE, but only available through The Peppermint Purple SAL Group Facebook group.  

I have been watching this SAL grow throughout the month of January and February over at the following blogs ...

 A Stitching Grandma - Cathy is stitching hers in different colours

 Tangled Threads - Rhona is stitching hers in variegated blues

Bonnie’s World - Bonnie is stitching hers in red with a black border

Please leave me a comment if you are also stitching this project, I’d love to stop by and see your version. 

I asked Dave to help me choose a colour..  He doesn’t have a favourite, but he LOVES his Big Green Eggs (which of course is green).  The photo below is from the Big Green Egg Canada website, it shows all the sizes available.  He has 2 different sizes, a Large (one on the far left) and a Mini Max (in the front).

and he works for a green company (logo is also green & yellow) so we decided on green.  

How many shades of green?  I finally chose a dark colour (DMC 986) to outline the shapes and a variegated (DMC 92) to stitch inside each shape.  I found another remnant mystery fabric that is big enough.  This one I know is definitely a 28ct Lugana, just don’t know what colour.

This is how much I got done just last night, it stitches up fast when you are only backstitching.  I should be caught up in no time.  I started in the middle (bottom square right side) and completed the left side and working on the top.  This shows how wide the project will be and half of the height.

Here is the outline shape for the 52 weeks.  You can also choose one of 5 borders to finish it off.  I might leave mine without a border, not sure yet.

Smalls SAL - February

Here she is Miss Strawberry Mouse from the Summer Mouse in a House series.  The pattern called for white whiskers, but I have made black ones for all the other mice I stitched.  I will have her assembled in time for the FFG on March 10.

Miss Strawberry Mouse

She is almost finished.  I still need to add her whiskers, I’m getting tired, so I’ll do them in the morning.  I thought you might like a sneak peak of the strawberries.  See you tomorrow for the Smalls SAL.

SYOA - Hogwarts House Crest - Revision

I know that I said Chapter 1 was finished and it is ... but the more I looked at the Hogwarts House Crest the more I wasn’t happy with it.  I didn’t like the light yellow that goes all away around the letter H.

Hogwarts House Crest before with the light yellow border around the letter H.

I had to frog all 4 colours (Red/Green/Gold/Blue) because of the 1/4 stitches.  It was easier and faster to pull all of them and leave the letter H and border.

Here is the Hogwarts House Crest after without the light yellow.  All 4 colours meet in the middle with the letter H.  It was worth the frogging, I like it much better because now you can see more of the 4 house colours. 

Just Nan ... Summer - Miss Strawberry Mouse

I started a new project for the Smalls SAL which will be this Friday.

Here are the DMC thread colours recommended in the chart.  I’m using a 28ct pink on pink mystery evenweave.  I’m thinking it might be from Picture this Plus.  I bought it years ago from my LNS at the time.  She was always selling small remnants which are great for doing my Just Nan projects.

Sunday nights progress.

Monday nights progress.

Birthday card for February

Today is my Mother-in-law Jean's 79th birthday.  This is the card I sent her.  I was trying out some new die cut shapes Lawn Fawn's Build a House (with flowers), and a garden set which included a tree, fence, grasses, birds, and bird house.  This type of card is called a Z Fold Card, but I forgot to take a photo of it standing up.

We also ordered her this bouquet of flowers from her local florist in New Brunswick.

Here is a sample of another Z fold card (standing up) that I made Christmas 2019.  I printed out the images below on white printer paper, then taped the 3 scenes to some Navy cardstock.  I cut out the scenes with an Exacto knife.  I took my time, and my closest friend Lisa loved the card.

SYOA - Chapter Outlines - updates #2

I finally finished stitching all the outlines for each chapter.  I’m not going to stitch the cream/beige colours yet on the edges of the chapters.  With all of all the frogging I had to do on Chapter 1, and just in case the brown outlines are wrong, I think it would be best to stitch the cream/beige as I do each chapter.  I really need to make a final decision on the top portion of my project, so I can start stitching the four house coloured swirls, wand, Hogwarts castle and Hogwarts Express train.

2019 Scrapbook Pages

Here are 8 of the 9 plays Dave & I saw in 2019.  There was one we didn’t really enjoy, so I’m not showing that one.  Of the 9 plays, 8 were based on movies (musicals).

Rocky, the Musical.  

We love the movie, but weren’t too sure about it being turned into a musical.  We were pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.  

This play is a musical about 3 drag queens travelling across the desert in a VW Beetle Van.  I have not seen the movie, but it sounded like a fun play.  We loved it, and now it is on my Amazon wish list.

Grease  

Do I need to say anymore?  I’m sure everyone has seen the movie.  I remember seeing this in the theatre as a teenager.  I have the DVD, which I have seen so many times.  We also have the soundtrack on vinyl record/LP.  I love listening to the music, you can’t help but sing along with the music.

Newsies (Disney)  

We have the DVD, so we knew what the play was about before we got there.


12 Angry Men  

This was one of our favourites so far.  Very powerful performance from all the men.  We have the DVD and can’t wait to see it again soon.


Annie

Another musical we have watched before on TV, but do not own on DVD.


Little Shop of Horror

We enjoyed this musical about the talking, carnivorous plant named Audrey 2.  We have the DVD of this and have watched it a few times.

Art

This was not based on a movie.  It was about 3 friends discussing how much Art costs, and how it makes us feel.  The main actor is Donny Most, you might recognize the name.  He played Ralph Malone from the TV Show Happy Days.

Here are photos borrowed from the internet.  This is what Donny Most looks like now.  We were sitting 12 rows from the stage, so we got to see him up close.  The other photo shows him on the Happy Days TV Show.

A few years ago, we had the opportunity to see George Wendt from Cheers on stage in Death of a Salesman.  This play was at the same location as Art above.  We always sit in the same seat, which is 12 rows from the stage.  Here is a current photo of the actor, along with a scene from Death of a Salesman.   We loved this play and he is an amazing actor to watch live.

SYOA - Chapter outlines - update #1

Last night I continued stitching the outlines.  I finished the bottom right and started on the top right.  I plan to work on some more tonight.

Today I finished my putting all the 2019 plays into my Theatre Book.  I’ll try and take some photos tomorrow in the day light.

SYOA - Chapter outlines

As you can see I’m stitching the outlines on each chapter.  I am working towards the bottom right corner.

SYOA - Chapter 1 - Happy Dance

I finally finished Chapter 1, which is the Hufflepuff House crest/banner along with the paper outline.  I plan to continue stitching the paper outlines for the other 5 chapters.  March 1, Chapter 2 will be released, so I have some time to catch up a bit.

SYOA Hufflepuff House crest - update #16

I finished all the gold diamonds on the background of the banner.

SYOA Hufflepuff House crest - update #15

I am continuing with the gold diamond background on the right hand side of the banner..

SYOA Hufflepuff House crest - update #14

I finally finished stitching under the letter H.  The yellows look so nice on the 28ct light taupe lugana evenweave.

SYOA Hufflepuff House Crest - update #13

I did a little more stitching last night.  The bottom part is almost complete.

SYOA Hufflepuff House Crest - update #12

Here is the latest progress on the project.  I’m continuing on the yellow/gold background.


I’d like to thank Kaye at Kitten Stitching for the lovely valentine I received.  Thanks again to Jo for hosting the event.  I’m already looking forward to the next blog hop.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

I’m so excited, this is my first time participating in the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop hosted by Jo at  Serendipitous Stitching.

A bunch of stitchers emailed photos of hearts/love to Jo and she randomly sends them back to the participants to show on our blogs.  You can see the list of participants on Jo's blog if you want to follow along with the rest of us.

Here is the beautiful heart that was sent to me.  I love how they finished it with the pink fabric.  Let me know if you stitched this one.  I’m off to see all the other beautifully stitched hearts.  

SYOA Hufflepuff House Crest - update #11

I finished the outline of Chapter 1 (brown/cream/beige) and started on the yellow/gold background of the Hufflepuff banner.  It is going to be a slow stitch to fill in the background.I’m not looking forward to all that yellow/gold.

SYOA Hufflepuff House Crest - update #10

I had to frog a small area on the brown outline on the left side.  Tonight I will try to finish the crossing all the cream colour on the left.  I still need to add the 2 beige colours on the left side.

SYOA - Hufflepuff House Crest - update #9

I just sat down and getting ready to stitch.  I didn’t have time to stitch last night because I went to visit a friend, so this is my progress from Sunday.  I continued working on the cream/beige colours on the bottom and left side.

FFG - February

Thanks to Rachel at Ten Hour Stitcher for hosting this SAL again this year.

Rosebud Tweet stitched

Rosebud Tweet assembled

Frosty Snow Mouse stitched

Frosty Snow Mouse assembled.  He is supposed to be a snowman with a carrot nose.

I love his little scarf and purple mittens.

He also has a cute pompom on his hat.

Spring Mouse, actually called Miss Pansy Mouse stitched.

Here is Miss Pansy assembled.  Now that I look at her up close, the purple on her belly is kind of weird, but that is because she was supposed to be stitched on purple (I forgot to change fabric colour, I had stitched the house on white evenweave and continued on the same piece of fabric).

I love all the purple, especially the new tails that Just Nan used in these kits.  I do think the flower stand out more on white fabric.

I didn’t stitch this, but I assembled it into a pillow, so I think it should count towards my FFG projects.  :)

This is a project that my close friend Lisa received sometime in the 80’s from a friend she grew up with in Alaska.  She showed this to me in December.  She wants to keep it, but it is out dated and would like to make it into a pillow some day.  Me being a cross stitcher and not enough things to do, told her I’d take care of it for her.  I took it home and that same night stitched the rectangle box around the pattern.  Then I had to figure out what stitch size it was so I could match the amount of stitches for the back panel.  I finished it in 2 days and gave it to her the next time I saw her, but just remembered to take a photo of finished pillow at the end of January.

The front is stitched on 14ct cream, ivory or antique white aida.

I used 28ct lavender or lilac evenweave to finish the back panel.  I happen to LOVE purple so this reminds her of me.

She LOVES it because it is from 2 of her cross stitching friends, one from her past where she grew up with in Anchorage, Alaska, USA and one from the present, after she moved to Cambridge, Ontario, Canada when she married a Canadian.  I have known her now 27 years.  We met when my oldest son was 3 months old and have been friends ever since.