July Mini Months - The Drawn Thread - FINISH

I'm pleased to be able to share my third finish of 2018.  This is the July Mini Months from The Drawn Thread.  It is charted with an American flag and fireworks in the background but as I live in the UK I chose to leave these off.  

It's stitched on 32 count Jobelan in Pixie Dust from Crafty Kitten.  I did use the Silk n Colors threads charted but subbed the others out with threads from my stash.

I do enjoy stitching these charts as although they are quite detailed and have some speciality stitches they do come together very quickly.

Keep stitching and smiling

Fragile Landing - KLT Charting - FINISH

I picked up Fragile Landing to work on as my next piece.  I started this during Stitch Maynia 2016 and hadn't worked on it since.  I had a piece of 28 count opal evenweave in an ice dye from Jodyri Designs and thought this design would look good on it as it lets the fabric show through all the gaps.  I stitched it with DMC 310 for the outlines and the Dragonfly was stitched with a hand dyed cotton from Crafty Kitten called Aurora.  Unfortunately this chart is no longer available.

I certainly didn't expect to finish this piece on this round of stitching but I was really enjoying it so just kept going. 

The bottom left hand corner of black lines was out somewhere, so at this point I had to unpick most of that section.

Keep stitching and smiling

Into the Jungle - Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

After setting all my New Year goals and swearing to myself that I was not going to sign up for any mystery SALs once again I broke my own rules.

I saw part one of the new Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's 2018 SAL - Into the Jungle and could not resist - that sloth was just too cute!

I purchased the chart and the Picture This Plus recommended fabric (Shale - I chose 28 count evenweave) from The Homemakery in the UK.  I've always wanted to try Picture This Plus fabric and by buying it from a UK stockist I knew at least I wasn't going to be hit with customs charges.

I joined the SAL as part 2 was released - so the parts released up to now are block 1 - Sloth, block 2 - toucans, the frames for all the other blocks and the top and bottom border.

I am using the charted DMC colours but there was one Weeks Dye Works charted which I couldn't find in stock anywhere so I subbed out two Classic Colorworks flosses I had in stash - 95 - Bejeweled and 191 - Grasshopper.

The whole piece is 131 stitches across so I decided to make the top and bottom border more manageable I could stitch a column of each border, each month.

So up to now I have completed the two released blocks and 31 stitches across of both the top and bottom border.  I have also stitched some of the borders for each block just to make sure I had the stitching right.

If you've managed to read through all that waffle you deserve to see some pictures now right!

Keep stitching and smiling

Class Schedule SAL - Potions - Armada Designs

I have to admit being disappointed with the first block of this mystery SAL.  Seeing how other people have adapted it shows just how good it could have been.  I was holding off judgement on whether or not to continue with it until I saw this months block.

The February block is Potions and it was a lot more appealing than block one so I decided to continue.  At the end of the day I have a son and two nieces who adore Harry Potter so I know this piece will find a good home even if I am not completely enthralled by it.

The only thing I changed in this piece was the colour of the steam from the cauldron.  I thought it might look a bit more mystical with some coloured steam rather than the grey charted. 

Keep stitching and smiling

March - Mini Months - The Drawn Thread

I started this project on 28th January and finished it on 1st February.  I subbed out all the charted colours with threads from my stash including Jodyri Designs and Classif Colorworks.  My plan is to stitch all 12 months and display them in some way that I can switch out each month.

I stitched March on Crafty Kitten's 32 count Jobelan in Pixie Dust.  This was a quick and fun stitch and I look forward to stitching the other months.

I love the satin stitches that make the roofs of the houses.

I love the speciality stitches used for the leaves.

I'm still not decided on how I'm going to finish these but I'm looking for inspiration wherever I can find it.

Keep stitching and smiling