People's Choice SAL - Birds

On the first Saturday of the month is time for the People's Choice SAL hosted by the gorgeous Jo, the hostess with the mostest from Serendipitous Stitching.  Thank you, dear Jo for hosting this SAL each month, although I must admit that I rarely take part but I do enjoy seeing what everyone has stitched or posted about for this SAL.  Each month there is a different theme.

This month's theme is. BIRDS

I have two confessions to make re this SAL for this month:

1. I am very late with this post - lol!

2. When I first saw the theme for February 2021, I thought Birds? I don't stitch anything with birds on it.  But, boy was I wrong! 

One of the projects I was currently stitching had two birds on it and when I went to my pile of finished stitching (but not FFOed yet), what did I find?  Yep, you guessed it... Birds, Birds, Birds!

So, do you wanna see my flock of birds?  

First up is this very cute Galah design which was sent to me by the lovely Jo herself!

The following are all at random and where I can remember the designer I have added it but sometimes I cannot just remember - sorry! I will try to update if I start to remember - lol!

Christmas Goose by Stacey Nash.

Unknown: Update: Probably the Drawn Thread, "Spot of Spring"

Unknown:

Blackbird Designs (I think):

Unknown: 

Unknown:

Unknown: Update: Probably Blackbird Designs

Unknown:

Summer Garden by LHN:

Blackbird Designs:

Unknown: Update: Probably The Snowflower Diaries

A freebie from La Comtesse de la point de croix

Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 of Prairie Schoolers Santa's 12 Days of Christmas:

  

And, lastly, here is my Happy Dance, Tulip Heart (not sure that I will finish it as a heart, though), a freebie which you can find here designed by Angela from My Happy Memories - she has a few lovely freebies on her blog, so definitely worth checking out. I stitched this for the Winter Challenge on Needlecraft Haven.

The fabric is an unknown 28ct overdyed pink fabric and I used a mixture of GAST and Threadworx variegated threads.

Please click here if you want to see who else showcased Birds this month.

But before I go, I did want to remind you to check out my 1000th Post Giveaway, 

which I would love you to enter.

Stay safe and well, my dear friends.

Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat.

hugs, 

1000th POST - Yep, i got there!

 I can't quite believe that I have actually written and published ONE THOUSAND POSTS!!!!!!!  Woo Hoo!  So, I have quite an agenda for you today:

1. January Smalls SAL post (one week late - so sorry!)

2. Announce the winner of my Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics Giveaway

3. 2021 January Reading Challenge Update

4. 100th Post Giveaway!

So, here we go.....

1. Smalls SAL_January 2021 Update:

Mary at Mary's Thread hosts the wonderful Smalls SAL. On the last Friday of each month (I know, I know, I am a week late and have only just squeaked into the deadline for linking on her blog) we share our small stitching items that we have completed but not necessarily fully finished. Mary has a link up post on her blog so we can pop over to see everyone's work. If you click on the image below you can see the check in post on Mary's blog.

Thank you Mary for hosting this again. 

. 

First, I have this sweet little Christmas Ornie, which I stitched for the January JCS Christmas Ornie 2021 FB SAL which is run by dear Jo.  

It is called Poinsettia by Pinochka from the JCS Christmas Ornie Mag 2020. It is stitched on unknown white linen, I did change the design up a bit by using silver floss instead of white for the snowflakes. I hope to get myself organised and fully finish it very soon.

My second Smalls finish is this gorgeous Winter Saltbox, a freebie from Pinker n Punkin Quilting and Stitching.  If you haven't checked out Melisa's blog yet, you should - she is very talented and generous with her freebies.

Just a reminder, please click on the Smalls SAL logo below if you would like to see what everyone else stitched this month.

2. WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!

The Winner of my first giveaway of 2021 (and my first giveaway for a long time now) is ......

LCP

Congratulations LCP, however, you are a no-reply-commenter, so I hope that you see this post as I cannot email you and when I checked out your blog, you had not posted since 2012!

Please email me on kayedep@gmail.com with your snailmail address.

[Note:  If I don't hear from LCP within a week, I will redraw a winner]

3. 2021 Reading Challenge...

Well, after the excitement of beating my 2019 Reading Challenge by two books ...

I went for broke in 2020 and aimed for 175 books, which surprisingly, despite Covid and a loooong Lockdown in Melbourne, I did not achieve - I blame it on Netflix - lol!

So, this year, I am being a bit more modest in my ambitions and I am going for 165 books.  I am currently two books behind but it is early days yet and I am blaming it on my reread of The Stand by Stephen King - such a huge novel - lol!

So, this is what I have read so far this year .....

A number of the novels in the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn - very lighthearted but lots of fun!

More novels in the Joe Pickett series, these are about a Game Warden in Wyoming - a bit violent but I really like the character and reading about Wyoming.

"Crumbling world" is the first novel in a dystopian series but so badly written that I am not sure how I managed to read the whole thing so I certainly will NOT be reading anymore in the series.

A couple of books in the Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch - these I love - Magic is alive and well in London and Detective Constable Peter Grant is going to make sure that it behaves itself!

The Stand by Stephen King, a beast of a novel sizewise but so good!

I really enjoyed the Arsene Lupin novel - dated in style but fun!

Lastly, for a bit of light entertainment, I am rereading the Alex Rider series of YA novels - about a teenage "James Bond". Such fun!

What are you all reading?  I would love to know.

4. 1000TH POST GIVEAWAY

To celebrate my 1000th post on this blog, I have three designs to giveaway - you can enter for one, two or three of the - just be clear which one/s you would like.

#1. Counting Bats by Just Nan

#2 Troubled Water by Ink Circles

#3 Water Hazard by Ink Circles

Giveaway "Rules"

1. Comment on this post on Kitten Stitching to enter - please be clear that you wish to enter the giveaway and which design/s you are interested in.

2.  I will post ANYWHERE IN THE WOLRD, although I cannot guarantee how long it will take for you to get it in this Time of Covid - lol!

3. Giveaway closes at midnight, February 28 AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Time)

4. Good Luck!🍀

Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat,

hugs, 

TUSAL Report_January 2021...

 Oh dear, it has been nine whole months since I wrote a TUSAL report - Mea Culpa.  The last one I wrote was April last year.

But, whilst I didn't write TUSAL reports for nine months, I did stitch like mad and create lots of ORTs and you can see the year's worth below, sitting on my current project, "Snowflakes, sledding and Chickens", a sweet freebie from Pinker n Punkin Quilting and Stitching, plus next to some of my favourite spirits _ Gin - I am a bit of a collector - plus there is a small bottle of whiskey which I collected on my travels plus some Baked Apple Schnapps which DS2's gf gave me for Christmas.  (Now, don't worry, I may have a collection of Gin, but I actually am not much of a drinker, evidence to the contrary - lol!)

If you would like to see everyone else's TUSAL reports for January, please go to Daffycat's Blog and check out the comments section 

OR

You can visit the FB group

Stay safe and well, my dear friends.

Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat,

hugs, 

FNSI_APRIL UPDATE

Well, here we are, another month has passed and we are slowly getting used to Iso (or maybe not in the case of TraderVic who is going absolutely stir crazy!) and it is time for my April FNSI (Friday Night Sew In), hosted by the lovely Wendy of Sugarlane Designs.

I decided to work on this UFO (dating from about 2014, I think). It is a freebie from Needleprint.

... and this is how much I accomplished last night.

So, this piece is on the move now, I think.

Click on the FNSI logo below, if you would like to see what everyone else got up to last evening.

Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat,

hugs, 

Smalls SAL_February 2020

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread. 

On the last Friday of each month we post about the Small designs that we have stitched in that month.

Let's See, what Smalls have I finished since the end of Jan?

First up is a freebie from Anne Les Petites Croix: Bonne Annee (Happy New Year) which I changed to Mon Amour (My love) for the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog run by the wonderful Jo of Serendipitous Stitching.

  

I stitched it on a scrap of unknown green linen which I had in my stash and chose my own pinks and greens and added white beads instead of white crosses.

... and I even managed to FFO it! 

The fabric in the border is what I used to back it with, too.

My second fnish is Christmas Bullfinch by Punochka, which is the February Ornament for the JCS Stitch Along on FB.

My third Small is PS Santa 2005 - I love the fact that he is holding a quilt and sewing equipment - this is for my PS Santa SAL with my dear friend, Marie (no blog).

Lastly, here is the third of my "Snowman's Quaker Christmas".

It is a sweet design that I found through Carol from Stitching Dreams.  It is a freebie from Midnight Stitching that you can find here.

You can see Carol's gorgeous finish here.

And, just as a reminder, here are the two earlier colourways of this design that I stitched.  Which of the three is your favourite?

The second is in icy blues using a gorgeous Threadworx floss, using Carol's finish as inspiration.

So, all up, I have four Smalls Finishes for February - not too shabby (although not as good as last month's Smalls post with six!).

You can see what all the other Smalls SALers stitched by going to this post on Mary's Threads.

Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat,

hugs, 

P.S. Don't forget to check out my latest Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics post where I stitch on a long forgotten UFO.