Smalls SAL April update, plus, plus, plus....

... a Super Crafty Sunday and April Hallowe'en Ornie SAL update and a Santa's 12 Days of Christmas SAL update.  

Warning: Pic heavy and lots of stitching!

I had a super Sunday this weekend, in terms of being super productive that is.  I finished my  April Smalls SAL piece, my April Halloween Ornament plus some other finishing.

Let me show you....

First off the rank is, my Smalls SAL piece.

The Smalls SAL 2015 is hosted by the lovely Heather, from Stitching Lotus. On the last Wednesday of every month you sign into the sign in post on her blog, here and link to your Smalls SAL post. 

Basically, we....
"Stitch a small every month. You get to decide what a small is for you. 50×50 stitches? 100×100 stitches? It’s up to you."

This is my finish for April.
It is Tall Sheep (again!), slightly modified (again!) as I decided that the butterfly and the bee and flower buttons were going to make it too fussy.

I decided to be a bit adventurous in my finishing, so I hot glued some pretty ribbon to the front and the back and added an antique button to the top right corner.

I adore this backing fabric, I like to think that Miss Grace is the shepherdess of the Tall Sheep - lol!

Tall Sheep

Shepherd's Bush

28 ct Flax Linen

Mixture of CC and DMC threads.

Next up is my Halloweeen Ornie SAL, hosted by the wonderful Jo from Serendipitous Stitching.

Every month, a group of us post a Halloween Ornie based on that month's theme. April's theme was tombstones, can you see my tiny tombstones on the left hand side - a bit of a long bow re the theme but I just had to stitch that castle!

Happy Halloween

Freebie from La Comtesse de la pointe de croix

32 ct Belfast Linen 

Hand dyed "Evening Sky"

GAST Royal Purple

I have used this leftover quilt backing for the back.

You can check out everyone else's tombstones, here. 

Next month's theme is Pumpkins and I have already found a design I like from La Comtesse, so that is a good start.

Then I finished "Counting" as a long cushion for my Friends Swapaway.  I used the same leftover backing fabric for the front and back of the cushion.

Then, on Monday night I finished Day 9 of my Santa's 12 Days of Christmas SAL which I do every Sunday night with my lovely friend, Linda.

I think that Day 9 is my favourite Day so far.

On Sunday, I felt like Baking, as well, so I made some gorgeous peanut butter and choc chip cookies, named Outrageous cookies and some lentil soup - yum!

Earlier in the week, I had tried my hand at homemade crumpets.

Terribly fiddly to make but delicious with some blackberrry jam.

Lastly, I meant to show you my ANZAC biscuit tin last post.  Every year, Unibic, put out a limited edition tin of ANZAC biscuits for ANZAC day. The tins commemorate Australian soldiers in some way. This year reflects the 100 year anniversary of the Gallopoli landing.

Well, that is all from me, don't forget to follow the links to see what everyone else has been up to.  Maybe next post will see a pic of my finished scarf!

hugs, 

Wolf Hall

I started watching the wonderful BBC series of "Wolf Hall" last weekend.  I am a real Tudorphile and I can never get enough of the Tudors.

One of the reasons, I love watching shows such as this and "The Tudors" are the wonderful clothes.

There is an interesting Vanity Fair article about how the costume designers ensured the authenticity of the clothes for you to read, here.

How many other Tudorphiles are there out there in the bloggy world?

hugs, 

P.S. I am such a Tudorphile that I even have a FB group Tudor Tuesdays, where a group of us stitch on our Tudor-related projects.

Lest we forget.......

Today is ANZAC Day here in Australia. It is the day when we honour our soldiers for their sacrifice and commitment to our wonderful nation.

This year is especially important as it is the 100th Anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli in Turkey in 1915 during WWI.

You can read more about ANZAC day at these posts in previous years, here and here.

My photo above is from last night's AFL game, as it was ANZAC eve, there were a number of ceremonies before the game.  Traditionally, at the start of every game, the official cheer squad for each team make a large banner for the players to run through. They are a massive undertaking and usually have some pithy saying on them.  Last night, there was only one banner, uniting both teams under the words "Lest we forget" - it looked amazing!

Also amazing, were the crocheted red poppies at Federation Square in the city.

On the way to the MCG we saw the Eternal Flame from the Shrine of Remembrance being escorted to the ground by a troop of Lighthorse. It was a wonderful sight.

 Then, at the ground, the Flame was ridden around the ground before lighting a large bowl, which flamed throughout the entire game.

It was quite moving, especially when the Last Post was played.

Our footy team is the Richmond Tigers, can you see all of the clever light play on the side of the stands?

 The Tiger prowling around was particularly cool.

I hope that you enjoyed this year's ANZAC pics,

Thanks for stopping by everyone,


hugs,

It was a great success!

For me, IHSW this month was highly productive.  It really helped that TraderVic and I had a very quiet weekend planned and the weather was miserable - most inducive to staying indoors and stitching.

For those of you who do not know what I am talking about......

"International Hermit and Stitch Weekend takes place every 3rd full weekend of each month, from Friday till Sunday. In our very busy and hectic lives, IHSW is a chance for us to squirrel some time away for ourselves and "Hermit and Stitch." It is a time set aside to take care of us and our love for stitching."


It is hosted by the lovely Joysze from Random Ramblings and you can see who else signed up here.

So, why was it such a great success for me?

Well, I finally finished both of the designs for the round boxes for my Swapaway Gifts!  You know the ones, I was having trouble working out what to do?  You can read about that here.

I am so thrilled with how they turned out:

Modified Tall Sheep

Shepherd's Bush Designs

Stitched on 28 Ct Country French Linen - Spring Meadow

Using a variety of speciality and DMC threads.

I cannot express how happy I am at how they have finally turned out - at last I am satisfied with what I have accomplished!

I also found time on Sunday to stitch some more on my Sunday SAL with my dear Linda, Santa's 12 Days of Christmas.  Day Nine is one more Sunday away from being finished, I think!

 

Lastly, I have had some success in the garden, too, as my pansies have started flowering.  I just love sweet, little pansies.

So, I hope that your weekend was as productive as mine.

Love to all and stitchy hugs,

I blame it on Margaret...

... for me taking up knitting again.

Now, in my teens and over my twenties, I was an avid knitter.  I used to knit so much of an evening that when I went to bed my fingers would ache!  So much so, that TraderVic was very worried that I would get arthritis in them when I was old (so far so good). So, in the end, as life got busier with the children and work and as patchwork and quilting and cross stitch was kinder on the fingers, knitting somehow got left behind.


I used to knit quite intricate garments such as this christening gown (with matching bootees and cap) which all of my children wore to their christenings.  It was knitted in very fine 2ply and a row was hundreds of stitches (it was knitted in the round).

Anyway, my dear friend, Margaret from Days of a Sampler Lover, has been knitting like crazy the last several months.  Her great progress pics have been whetting my appetite.

I especially love this scarf, called the Walking Tour scarf, which she knitted. I adore Fair Isle knitting.

Isn't it gorgeous?  You can buy the pattern from The Feral Knitter via  Ravelry.

So, while I haven't quite committed to starting this as a project yet (it requires 36 colours!), I did visit Morris and Sons  and bought some gorgeous wool to knit an ombre cowl scarf.

I am about halfway through and I only started last Monday evening.  I am really enjoying knitting again. It is a bit like riding a bike - it has all come back to me.

Anyway, enjoy your Sunday everyone.  It is a wet, miserable morning so far here in Eaglemont so a good day to stay in and stitch and knit away!

love from me to all of you,

hugs,

P.S. Margaret, I don't really blame you - I am actually very thankful for you giving me back my knitting mojo!  Love to you xoxoxo