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 – Some ATCs etc.

I’m really unorganized this month, not only did I not find my camera for most of it but once I did I forgot to take pictures. I do have a couple of things to show though.
First we have a few ATC, these first two are from the February exchanges on two facebook groups I’m a member of.
For this one we had the choice of two charts designed by Kell, a cross stitch one and a blackwork one. Below is my interpretation of the blackwork chart.

This one had a Valentine’s theme, and I used a Liz Almond chart which was in the WOXS Design Library she designed.

And as my March ATCs have been received I can show them off as well.

For the Cross Stitch ATCs group the theme was Transport. I wanted to stitch a more unusual mode of transport and settled on a Penny-farthing. It’s my favorite ATC that I’ve stitched (with the possible exception of the silhouette one), I used a DMC colour variations and stitched on 18 count aida.

In the Addicted to Cross Stitch ATCs group our theme was Luck o’ the Irish, and I stitched my atc putting together elements from a couple of Kell’s Irish designs.

One of nexts month’s themes is AOY (All Our Yesterdays) so at the moment I’m trying to decide which design to go with, I have at least 12 thanks to the Mini diary which was a magazine freebie.

I also stitched a square for LoveQuiltsUK, using the Brushstroke Butterfly chart which is a freebie over at CyberStitchers. I used some varigated Anchor (1335 methinks), as I was stitching on 11 count I uded about a skein and a half. Now I’m trying to find some more charts to stitch up. There are no specific childrens quilts at the moment, instead there are 4 stitch-a-longs, the themes being Butterflies, Purple, Green and Disney Characters. If you have some time on your stitching hands and have a chart which would be suitable to one of the themes head on over and sign up 🙂

I have also finished my March biscornu and a Crazy January Challenge piece, but need to take some nicer pictures of them before letting you see them 🙂 And then there are some mother’s day cards and other cards. Maybe I’ll have to make it stitchy Saturdays and Sundays 🙂

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?

Birthday stitch for Hubby

I did this back in January for hubby’s birthday, never did get it mounted in a card though. My current plan is to find a nice frame for it (possibly unpick the text as that kinda ruined it anyway) and then DH can have it at work.

The design is another from the Norton diary which came with World of Crossstitch (WOXS), it’s the May chart which hubby picked himself.
Like the other Norton design it’s really fiddly, the ribbons particularly as they are basically just fractionals, but the end result was worth it.
I stitched it on 16-count white Aida with the reccomended DMC floss, the less said about the text the better. Anyway, here it is.

Mother’s Day Cards

This year I stitched 4 Mother’s Day cards, one for my wonderful mummy for Norwegian Mother’s Day which was February 14th, and one each for hubby’s mum, grandma and nan for UK Mother’s Day which was March 14th. I forgot to take pictures once the cards were done so most of them you’ll see the stitching only.

This is the one I did for my mum. The design was in World of Crossstitching (WOXS) January issue I think. For anyone living in the uk it would have come as a free kit, but I just got the chart in the magazine. I stitched it on 16-count cream aida using the charted DMC floss. For the wording I used thr alphabet from a different design to write ‘Verdens Beste Mamma’ which is Norwegian for ‘World’s Best Mum’ which is what she is 🙂

This is the one I stitched for my MIL. It’s from the Norton Diary which was a freebie with the December issue (I think) of WOXS. It’s the smallest in size of the MD stitching, but it took the longest to complete, and it’s the most challenging of them, due to the many, many fractional. It’s stitched on 16-count white Aida using the recommended DMC floss.

This lovely Blue Tit was stitched for hubby’s Grandma, I just love how colourful he is, especially with the pink flowers in the background. The design is from CrossStitch Collection, January or February issue. I stitched him on 16-count white Aida, using the charted DMC floss.

Last, but not least I stitched this Victoriana silhuette of a gardening lady for hubby’s nan. The design is from Crossstitcher, January or February issue. The original was done on light green Aida, with the plants in two contrasting shades of green. Instead I decided to do it in yellow. I used 16-count Aida which I dyed yellow using Dylon Hand dye ‘Sunflower Yellow’. I then picked two shades of yellow from my stash and got stitching. It was a fun design to do and I’m already getting ready to stitch the remaining two cards, flower arranging lady and shopping lady. It looks really bright and cheerful in it’s yellow aperture card.