CJC – 7th finish of the challenge, a Christmas ornie and some WIP updates

Let’s start with the finish, really should have posted this last week, but just didn’t have the time. The Crazy January Challenge (CJC) finish is the cross stitched part of the wall hanging mail organizer I’m making for my mum. Now I just have to sew on to some fabric and make it into a wall hanging. Should have it in the mail for my mum next week (fingers crossed)

I also finished my Christmas ornament for March last week, it’s a Liz Almond design which was in the free Christmas design booklet which came with The World of Cross Stitch issue 170. I used Madeira Decora and Silk floss in green, red and gold, and some red Gütermann beads, and stitched it on plain old 16-count white aida. The pics aren’t great for this one, so I put in two (excellent logic, no?).

I’ve also been working on two WIPs.

Mostly it’s been my Sleepy Hollow Sampler by Raise the Roof. I really do love this one and can’t wait to finish it and frame it. There is still quite a bit to do, the story excerpt at the bottom and of course the border, but every single stitch is a joy!

This last one it’s been a while since I worked on, it’s the Stitcher’s Sampler. It’s a little slow going as I’m having trouble making the changes I want to it, but I’ll get there eventually. At least all the borders are done now.

Stitchy Saturdays – A Finish and Some Progress

I thought I’d take a leaf out of my friend Kell‘s book blog and instate Stitchy Saturdays here at Wikkid Woman. All in the name of getting some structure into my blogging and life 🙂 So for this first Stitchy Saturday I have a finish to share with you and some progress on other pieces.

My finish was started on Day 12 of the Crazy January Challenge, Lizzie*Kate’s All You Need Is Love. I stitched it on 25-count fuchsia lugana evenweave, and used my own floss choices, you can see them below:
Brown text and cupcake and heart outline – Madeira Silk 2008,
Cream on cupcake and inside heart – Madeira Decora 1523,
Flowers – Dragonfloss 201 Sweetheart,
Leaves – Dragonfloss 206 Wood Elf,
Variegated text and swirls at bottom– Dragonfloss 115 Hugs with Stitches,
Framing the A and bottom square– Dragonfloss 113 Greetings.

Now I just need to find the perfect frame, I know what it looks like in my head I just have to find it in real life 🙂

As for my progress, the one I have worked on the most is Raise The Roof – Sleepy Hollow Sampler. I just LOVE stitching this one, it’s so sketchy and atmospheric. I started stitching it on Day 5 of the challenge and have finished most of the middle motif now. I’m really enjoying the specialty threads, the GAST seems a bit wooly (maybe that’s just me, but I love the texture) and the WDW is just lovely too.

Another piece which has seen a little progress is the wall hanging I’m making for my mum. I finished the motifs on either side of the text and started a flower border thing at the bottom, but then I decided I don’t like the houses on either side and I’m gonna frog them and just have a flower border above and below. This was my first start of 2011 and it’s one I need to finish pronto so I’ll be picking it up again shortly.

ATCs from January

In January I participated in two ATC exchanges, on with CrossStitchForum and one with the Addicted to ATCs group on facebook

The theme for the Addicted To ATCs was Garnet, the ATC had to be stitched using a garnet shade. I went for a blackwork design by Liz Almond which was part of the Design Library in World of Crossstitching last year, Blackwork Garden I think it was called.
I stitched the design using Navy 16-count aida and DMC 817 and 815 (I think)

And here is the beautiful ATC I received from Jaki. I love the bling in the middle 🙂

For the Crossstitchforum ATC the theme was a bit more obscure. It was supposed to either have something to do with our forum names or something which represented us as a person. I had a hard time figuring out what to stitch, my forum name is a short form of my pen name so it had to be something to do with books. In the end I had hubby draw an outline of a book on my fabric and I back stitched the lines, then I found a romantic looking silhouette and stitched that as the cover. I’m really pleased with it.
The ATC is stitched on 32-count Belfast linen, using DMC 310, a DMC red (816 possibly) and the silhouette is in GAST Black Raspberry Jam (I just LOVE the color of it). I stitched the silhouette over one which was a nightmare, but as is the case with so many nightmarish things it was well worth it. I’m just sad i didn’t get to keep it.

I received this ATC from Ali-Cat, cleverly using a cat alphabet to illustrate her name. Isn’t it cute?

Crazy January Challenge – DAY 14 and 15

A bit late but here are my last two WiPs. On the 14th I started a freebie from Les tites’croix de Ludivine (if you scroll down it’s the one called Coeur), it’s being stitched on 32 count linen, one over one, using DMC 815 (or 816, can’t remember).
Didn’t get a lot done, and luckily I don’t have a deadline as the recipients don’t know they are getting it.

For Day 15 I finally got my water bottle started, although I wish I’d never started now. I went to buy fleece first of all, but fell for some lovely short haired fake fur fabric instead, it feels lovely and soft.
I tacked the waste canvas on and started stitching, got really into it as well and then put it down. When I picked it up again I realized it was all at a weird angle, so i had to rip it all out. Now the only thing on it is newly tacked waste canvas, waiting for me to start stitching again, but I’ve gone off it now.

Crazy January Challenge 2011 – DAY 5

As mentioned previously I started ‘The Sleepy Hollow Sampler’ by Raise the Roof Design yesterday. I’ve chosen to stitch on 32-count flax colored Belfast linen, using the specialty threads in the chart, namely GAST (Gentle Art Sampler Threads) and WDW (Weeks Dye Works).
I started stitching in the evening yesterday, and it was a joy to stitch, I’ve started from the middle and I’m working my way out 🙂 Reallyt didn’t want to put this particular project down, it’s not even like I can pick it straight up after the 15th, have 3 projects which need to be finished by the end of January so they will get prioritized. Oh well, just means I have lots of stitching to look forward to 🙂

Here is a not so great picture

Today I’m thinking it’s time for a Lizzie*Kate Design, check in tomorrow to see which one 🙂