Fully Finished Gallery SAL_February 2021 Update

 It is that time of the month again - time to show off my Fully Finished Objects...

                                       

 Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

This is a great SAL, designed to motivate us all to do something with that box of Finished pieces instead of just storing them under the bed or in my case, in a drawer! The idea is to link up on Rachel's blog on or after the 10th of each month (10 Hour Stitcher - 10th of the month)..... 

So, how did I go this month - pretty good, I think with SIX FFOs!

#1:  "Santa's Sleigh Ride" by JBW Designs, which I finished stitching in February, 2018.  I finished it a a long pillow using this cute oversized check or plaid fabric in matching colours to the stitching. I found the fabbie in my stash.

#2: "Well behaved Women" by Lizzie Kate, which I finished stitching less than a month ago. I finished this as a large cushion, again using fabric from my stash.

#3: "Winter Saltbox" by Pinker n Punkin Quilting.  I used my favourite white pom pom trim and another favourite, a blue and white snowflake fabric for the back.

#4 and #5: Horse and Candelabra from "A Christmas in Scandinavia" by Gazette 94. I used some more of my white pompom trim and this very nice red and white spot fabric.

#6: Is "Poinsettia" by Pinochka, which I finished only a few days ago.  I am so thrilled with this finish.  I'm not a very confident finisher and I feel that I often struggle with ideas and this one was a ROUND design - aggghh!!!!!  Nevertheless, I took my courage in both hands and give it a good old go!  And this is the result....  I am so proud of it!

I used the centre of a spool of ribbon as the frame and laced it to one side. Then I glued some of this very cute mistletoe felt, which I found as a scrap in my fabric stash.

Then I found this matching mistletoe ribbon in my ribbon and trim stash and then sewed red pompom trim on both front and back.

Then I fastened the ribbon to the spool with a staple!  lol!

So chuffed with how it all turned out!

If you want to see what the other Fully Finishers got up to in February- please check them out HERE.

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

which I would love you to enter.

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, 

Fully Finished Gallery SAL_January 2021 Update

Hello all, sorry to be so very late with my FFO post for January 2021 (it should have been posted on January 10 and here we are - eight days later!!!!), but since this is actually the first one that I have posted since March last year, I am actually pretty chuffed that I am posting it!

 

Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

This is a great SAL, designed to motivate us all to do something with that box of Finished pieces instead of just storing them under the bed or in my case, in a drawer! The idea is to link up on Rachel's blog on or after the 10th of each month (10 Hour Stitcher - 10th of the month)..... 

Now, don't worry, I am not going to show you all my finishes since March last year but I will show you some of my favourites.  

#1 In November, I FFOed this gorgeous ornament from one of my old Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornament Mags - I've been searching but I can't find which one - when I do, I will update you all.  This was actually stitched at the start of 2020.

#2 was also from a JCS Christmas Ornie Mag.

I am very happy with my fussy cut of the Angel on the back but I do wish that I had given it a good brush before I took the pic - lol!

#3, another one from a  JCS Christmas Ornie Mag.  This one is from 2001 and the designer is Earth Threads (whom I had never heard from before) but isn't it a cute design?

#4 and #5 are the same design but personalised for my two cats (Milo - sadly now deceased - and Furio).

A dear GF lent me the pattern but for the life of me I cannot remember the name of the designer 🙃.   Update: Thanks to dear Jo from Serendipitous Stitching, I can now tell you that the designer is Brittercup Designs. 

#6 is also from JCS Christmas Ornie Mag 2001 (you can tell that there is a bit of a theme with the JCS Christmas Ornie mags, can't you? lol!)

#7 is the hand embroidery on this very cute Peter Rabbit quilt (a good friend kindly did the quilting for me) for a friend's baby (pictured).

#8 is a freebie from PinkernPunkin Quilting and Stitching called "Christmas Barn". You can find it here.  She has a whole series of them called "Barnyard Christmas". Just scroll down on the post to find the links. These are so cute and just great Smalls, I plan to stitch more.

#9 is from the 2020 JCS Christmas Ornie Mag, isn't the caravan cute?

#10 Is this very cute little Elf which I found on Pinterest and finished him with a cute Christmas tree button and a tartan bow.

For #1,  I chose this rather sweet design by Nikki Leeman from Country Cottage Needleworks (CCN) called "Visions of Sugar Plums" from, you guessed it, JCS Christmas Ornie Mag, 2009. The first pic is the image from the magazine but you can see that I changed it a little as I placed the phrase "Sugar Plums" above the "lacework".  The reason for this is quite simple - I am an idiot!  I made a fundamental mistake from stitch one by not centreing my stitching correctly - Aaagghh!  However, I think that I have overcome the error and with the help of one of my favourite ribbons (pink with red dots) and a gorgeous backing fabric, I have produced a pretty ornament.  Oh, and I also changed the pink in the rug and the wording for a deeper pink.

... and lastly, #12 is a Prairie Schooler design from Book #177 "January". 

So, that is it for me - twelve projects finished this post - over several months, of course! lol!

If you want to see what the other Fully Finishers got up to in January - please check them out here.

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

hugs, 

P.S. I meant to remind you all that I am having a Giveaway - you can check out all the details by clicking on the picture below.