January WIPocalypse Update.....

Hmmm, I am thinking that my WIPocalypse is going to be an epic fail this month but let's see....

WIPocalypse is hosted for us by awesome SAL Mama, Measi's Musings.

Each and every month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.  

Following dear Jo's lead, I have chosen my "17 in '17" which are the 17 projects I want to focus on this year.  You can see the full list on this post here.1. Rainbow Gallery -  2004 Cross Stitch Surprise series (January to December)

So, this month I stitched on 5 of the 17 - not as poor a showing as I had imagined.  The five are:

Imaginating - Halloween Happiness - I finished the Moon for this month's theme for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL.

Fabric: 28 ct orange Lugana

Floss: My own choice of specialty threads

Jim Shore - The Twelve Days of Christmas

Not a huge amount of progress, just a bit of border, really, which I am actually planning to frog, as I have decided to go with a variegated floss (on the left).  This, originally, was my 12 Days of Christmas design for The Christmas Ornie SAL, but this has now been superseded by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery 12 Days.

The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery - The Twelve Days of Christmas - Good progress here, Day One finished and some stitching on each of the other days.

Eva Rosenstaad - Danish bell pull - this one is moving along nicely, as this is one of my two Ten-a-Day projects.

Scissor Tail Designs - Christmas Charm - also progressing nicely as this is the second of my Ten-a-Day projects.

As for SALs and other Stitching Commitments....  I have just a few of those - lol!

First Saturday of the month - The Alphabet Club - we are working our way through the alphabet, the next letter will be S.

15th of each month - Gifted Gorgeousness - link up with anything which was a gift to you or is intended as a gift, you have given or received in an exchange or you can shoehorn into the theme of being a Gift!

New Moon - TUSAL - Totally Useless SAL -let's see how many ORTs we can create in a month?

Last Friday of month - Smalls SAL - Show off anything Small (you decide how big or small a Small is) you have stitched this month.

Last Sunday of month - WIPocalypse - post before the End of the World!

Throughout the month I also have Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics, the Americana SAL blog, the Prairie Schooler SAL blog, the Tudor Tuesdays SAL blog, the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL blog, the Christmas Ornie SAL blog, and, for my sins, I have joined a couple of Facebook groups, and I have a couple of freebie SALs on the backburner plus The Six Wives Club SAL,  plus I try to post my stitchy progress regularly on Instagram, plus, plus, plus! 

I am also taking part in a more traditional SAL with Jo, where we both stitch the same design - The Drawn Thread's Spot of Seasons.  So far Jo has finished stitching A Spot of Winter and I have "lost" mine somewhere in my Girl's Nest! I need to find it soon, really soon, as on 1st March we will start Spot of Spring!

Dear Jo also runs some fabulous Blog Hops which I try to take part in each year. There are usually five a year; Easter, Summer, Hallowe'en, Advent and the next one which will be Valentine's Secret Stitching Sweetheart.  

So, lots happening for me in my stitchy/bloggy world each month.

hugs, 

P.S. If you want to see what the other WIPocalypsers got up to this month - please follow this link.

P.S. Feel free to check out my Easter Exchange - you have just a litte bit more time to join in the fun!

P.P.S. Don't forget to join in the fun of my second Girl's Nest Giveaway for 2017. Entries close on Feb 5th.  Good luck!

Back to Denmark.....

Well, this Friday Frolics  I thought that I should pull out my Danish Bell pull again - only about four more motifs to go and this very long term project would be finished.  You can read all about its provenance in this blog post - The Tale of Three Hatboxes.


This is what it was looking like on Friday before I started stitching again (sorry for the crumpled linen)....

Unfortunately, a bit of frogging went on but eventually I ended up here...

... and then by Sunday evening, I was here - just some backstitching to finish and another motif will be finished!

Well, that is all for me this week - off to work today to earn some money to pay for more stash!  lol!

Have a great week everyone, 

hugs, 

P.S. I also did some stitching on a Prairie Schooler piece - you can read about it here.

April IHSW report....

As promised in my last blog post, The Tale of the Three Hatboxes, , I did keep stitching on the next motif on the Danish bell pull found in the bottom Hatbox for IHSW.

So, here it is, one more motif finished....

Just to clarify, IHSW is International Hermit & Stitch Weekend and is hosted by the lovely Joyce - you can read all about it here and link up here.  This is a weekend where stitchers from all around the world try to stitch like mad, all together so to speak. 

Always a fun weekend.

Well, that is all for me for today - I am nursing myself today, just getting over a shocking cold, so taking it easy.

hugs, 

The Tale of Three Hatboxes ....

or The Shame of Kaye......

This week for Friday Frolics and FNSI, I thought that I should investigate my three hatboxes - I knew that I had some crafty projects in them but what they actually were, was anyone's guess!

These hatboxes sit as a stack at the top of the spiral staircase which leads to my bedroom.  I think that I have had them somewhere between 25 and 30 years - in the mid-80s these were all the rage as decorating items.

Of course, where they sit means that I pass them by several times a day but do I ever look in them?  No, not really, not until yesterday, that is.

So, do you want to see what I found?

I am sure that you do, as it was a treasure trove of UFOs - to my great shame (and delight, too).

So, the top Hatbox....

contained Flying Geese quilt blocks...

Oh, my goodness - looks at these gorgeous flying geese blocks for a quilt I was making many moons ago - there are quite a few of them, I actually think I have made all of the blocks - I just need to sew the sashing, put it all together and then I would have a quilt top!  

Okay, another project for my semi-retirment.

The Middle Hatbox.....

Hmm! Some patchwork fabbie but what is hiding underneath it?  Oh no, another half completed quilt top!

Oh, my goodness, I can see lots of patchwork and quilting happening for me in the near future!

Bottom Hatbox......

This is the largest hatbox and had the biggest amount of bounty UFOs.

Oooh, Goodie, the patterns for the two quilts above - phew!

But below these patterns is a wealth of UFOs!

(unfortunately some of them seem to have their patterns missing - probably carefully stored hiding someplace special)

(pattern)

(no pattern)

(no pattern)

(pattern)

(no pattern)

(no pattern and I have absolutely no idea what this could be!)

(no pattern)

This is all finished - just needs to be made into a pillow.

Here it is all ironed - it is so pretty - why on earth did I not finish it at the time?

 But the piece de resistance is this unfinished bell pull, which shows significant places in Denmark (now, the coincidence if this is that only the other day I recorded a movie on Foxtel to watch later, "A Royal affair", which was about the Danish royal family in the 1770s - so naturally I stitched on the bell pull whilst watching the film yesterday).

 

... so some progress has been made ...

I will keep stitching on it tomorrow as well and report back after IHSW.

So, that is my Tale of the Three Hatboxes or The Shame of Kaye but whichever title, lots of Friday Frolics projects for me to work on in the upcoming weeks.

So, that is all from me for now,

hugs,