Turtle Trot...hmmm

Well there is not a lot to see on Turtle Trot pieces this month. I have worked on some of my TT pieces but as they are forming part of my DSDUCJFC none of them have seen much progress.

Halloween Town Mystery SAL - The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Henry VIII and his wives - DMC

Ye Olde Chocolate Shoppe - LHN

Honeysuckle Courtyard - Patricia Ann Designs

DSDUCJFC - days 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9

Well...you can tell that normal service has been resumed and the school holidays are over.  No time for blogging and not much more for stitching.

I had a mock maths exam on Wednesday so I have had to revise for that this week as well.  There's no rest for the wicked!

So on Monday (aka day 5), Rachael had chosen from the box. She picked Henry VIII and his wives. Here is the before and after photos.

As you can see, a bit of brown, a bit of red to the left hand side and that's it!

Then, it was Luke's turn to choose from the box for Day 6.  He picked LHN's Ye Olde Chocolate Shoppe which was WIP.  Here is the before...

...and here is the after!  A couple of lengths of threads down the left hand side...so much more exciting that the little black blob you got to see a few days ago...lol.

Luke's choice for Day 7 was Lizzie Kate's Santa which is stitched on some random fabric from my stash.  It is one of my new starts so no 'before' photo.

Day 8 and I chose Halloween Town by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  I had stitched Part 1 and 2 but as the SAL is long since finished I won't worry about stitching the other 2 parts as parts but will just stitch it as I feel like.

I started the pink border which will have Halloween Town stitched in it eventually.  So...not a lot!

On the 9th day of Debbie's Challenge, my stash box gave to me...LHN's Party Cakes.  As this was also a new start, there really isn't a lot to see.  

Gifted Gorgeousness projects

Our Serendipitous friend, Jo, is hosting a Gifted Gorgeousness SAL this year.  As she notes, we all have received gorgeous gifts, giveaways etc from other stitchers and this SAL is to encourage us to actually stitch them!  Follow the link to her blog to get the full rules.

I have been gifted or otherwise given quite a few things and have pulled some from my stash to work on this year.  Some of these are also going to form part of my DSDUCJC starts too.

I don't have a photo of Penguin Parade but just imagine a line of penguins!  The fabric was gifted to me by Jo.

gifted the chart and button

gifted the chart

gifted the chart

gifted the chart

gifted the chart

gifted the chart

gifted a gift certificate which I used to buy some of the threads

gifted the chart

As Jo is Queen of Shoehorning, I feel quite justified in saying that this fits the Gifted Gorgeousness by being something gorgeous that I will be gifting to Colin's parents in April.  That's my theory...and I'm sticking to it! (edited:  Argggghhhh...just re-read the rules and Jo has already allowed this...rats!)

A finish

I...have...a...finish!!!  Another one!

Don't faint, head between your knees helps to get the blood flowing to your head if you feel dizzy.

Long, long ago in the mists of time, I 'won' a travelling pattern - LHN's Home of a Needleworker.  I am ashamed to say that I have had this a lot longer than intended. So long in fact that I emailed Nic of Obsessive Cross Stitcher to check if she wanted the pattern back or for me to send it on its travels again.  Nic was more than happy for it to travel so if anyone would like to stitch it just leave a 'me please' type comment for me on this post and I will draw names next Sunday (23/8 or 8/23 depending on where you are from!)

This is what the pattern should look like when stitched.

This is my version of it...

As you can see I have made quite a few changes to it.  I didn't stitch the alphabets which meant that I would have had 2 borders next to each other which meant I needed to move the flowery one up and the name down.  This meant the crow/blackbird/whatever wouldn't fit in the space so I also turned the border with the flowers upside down with the intentions of turning the bird round the opposite way and fitting it in the space.  Then I decided that I didn't really like the random bird anyway so I replaced it with the heart that was between the lowercase alphabet and numerals but stitched 5 of them to fill the space better.  I am not totally happy with them though and am thinking of unpicking them and moving them up a row or maybe two.  What do you think?  The house is exactly as charted as is the 'Home of a Needleworker'.  Now to decide what to do with it!

Theme-a-licious update - late as usual!

Ok, Ok Ok...let's just ignore the fact that I was looking at the wrong year for the theme for June.  Post edited to reflect that we are now in 2014 and NOT 2012!

Firstly, I am trying to get Home of a Needleworker finished.  This is where I am so far.  Sorry it's a rubbish photo but I have joined a SAL on facebook to finish an old WIP and start and finish a new one too. Oh...this one fits as it has a little black bird in it (2013).  However, as we are stitching bright colours this one really doesn't fit with this month!

I have also joined The Frosted Pumpkin's Halloween SAL, I should have declared this in last month's SfS but forgot about it.  I will have to email Mel and see whether to add it retrospectively or in this month's figures.  This has some birds in it (2013). But of course for this year's bright colours theme, it is the pumpkins that grab the attention.  They are a gorgeous shade of orange that just doesn't look as good in this photo.

And a bit of progress was seen on the Cut Thru Stable too.  This one is DEFINITELY bright.  I love the colours in it.

July is 'Jubilee July' and we are either celebrating or in the biblical sense of jubilee 'setting free' projects that we no longer love, for whatever reason.  I have set free some of my projects that were started for the children when they were younger.  Cath took Tinkerbelle and Belle for Love Quilts as well as the Disney Princess RR that fell through as she thinks she can salvage something from that for charity too.  The 3 Thomas the Tank Engine designs were released to Steph whose son will enjoy them.  I also sent her the finished one too. 

I'm not sure what I will stitch to celebrate this month.  I am currently stitching a Christmas design and we celebrate Christmas so maybe that will count?

Crazy January Challenge - Days 2, 3 and 4

Oh dear...I used up my phone's whole month's data allowance uploading the video Rachael took of David Tennant to Dropbox in case I lost my phone whilst in London which meant I couldn't post to my blog.

So without further ado here are the missing days stitching starts.  I don't suppose it will surprise to learn that I didn't have time for much stitching?

So first is a start on Home of a Needleworker.

Then JBW's Christmas Tree.

 

And finally HAED's Santa ornament which I am doing over 2 rather than over 1 so that it is will be a bigger design rather than an ornament.  I am hoping that it is going to look ok but if not then I will restitch it over 1 instead.  I would like to turn it into a Christmas cushion eventually!

Wonderful Surprise and feeling very lucky!

When I got home from work today, Colin had left the post piled on the kitchen table for me to open.  There was one interesting looking package that had Shirlee's return address on the front but when it comes to post opening, I subscribe to the best til last theory so I first opened a bill, followed by a cute Christmas card from Shannon and only then allowed myself to fondle Shirlee's envelope.  The conversation between me and Rachael then went like this...
R - Wow, how many stamps do you need on a letter.
Me - A lot these days, especially when it is international postage.
R - Who's it from?
Me - Shirlee
R - Oh that's the lady that made our quilts.

So I am sorry Shirlee but in Rachael's eyes you are known as 'the lady who made our quilts'!

Anyway as I was talking, I opened the envelope and found a gorgeous, glittery Christmas card inside.  I also found a beautifully wrapped package.  First, I carefully opened the wrapping paper, then the bubble wrap that was protecting it.  As I got this off, I stood there saying 'Oh my word, oh my...' with Rachael laughing at me!!  You see, through the plastic bag that was then protecting the gift, I could see what was coming.

It was is beautiful!  Gorgeous stitching and finishing.  Stunning...and all for me!!!  Look at this!

And look at this backing fabric too...isn't it the perfect fabric for the design?  I love it.

Shirlee...it is gorgeous.  Everyone loves it and it now has pride of place at the front of the tree.  Thank you so, so much for thinking of me.  I was admiring this very design on someone's blog fairly recently and now I have my own!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!