July Gifted Gorgeousness

Gifted Gorgeousness was the brain child of Jo to get stitchers using those items in our stash that have been gifted to us, shoehorning is allowed :)

This month I have a few to share.

First is Miss New Year's Fairy.   I was gifted the chart, leftover CC and beads for her.

I will be passing the chart on to someone when I've decided how to go about it 

Next is Teresa Wentzler's Beginners Whitework Ornament

It's a freebie so fits in plus I was gifted the fabric to stitch it on

Little House Needleworks Needlework ABC's.

Lucy gifted me this for my Birthday this year

And lastly TW's Intermediate Whitework Ornament

Again it's a freebie on gifted fabric and with any luck I'll finish it this week if I can find time to stitch with Teejay here for the week

TUSAL time

Once again I'm behind in posting but I've decided to stop worrying about it.

Since last time I've added orts from Miss New Year's Fairy, Seasonal SAL, Angel of the Morning, TW's Whitework ornaments and Cirque

Lots of red and purple added from finishing my Pagoda box off and black from the Dragon Robe

Want to know more about the TUSAL then go here  and this one will take you to the post for this new moon

Help me decide

I need a new weekend project now I've finished the angel so I went through the drawers and pulled out those projects that I thought might make it this time.

I've had them sat on the sofa for a few days now and some have been ruled out already and I'm down to these 4.

They are in no particular order and I've included the finished pic as well 

Thread Bear

Cirque des Cercles

Dragon

Enchanter

Happy dance time :) :) :)

The last stitches went in Angel of the Morning around 2.20pm today :)

I started her back in 2001 when she was released.   She was one of those projects that I just had to do and as soon as I got the phone call to say she was in stock I was in the car and over the pennies to Wye Needlecraft to collect her.

She got put aside for some reason (most likely a model arrived) and got ignored for a few years then she went out on a UFO RR when she arrived home she was put away once more :(

In March fella and I split up and I could not (and still can't) face working on My Ark which had been my weekend project and was one for his grandchild so I had to find another one and she talked to me.

Click here to see how she looked when I pulled her out 

And here she is in all her glory.

The last section to be stitched

Not the called for beads, I looked up the colours and had a root round my stash of 15's to find one's that would work

These are the called for ones tho

I'm a little sad she's done because I've enjoyed working on her (apart from the linen, I think she's the project that put me off working on it) but I'm happy to cross off a PHD esp one so old

2017 Goals ~ Mid year (ish) review

I thought I'd do a mid year review of my goals for this year to see how I'm dong with them.

For 2017 I've said
Keep up with the TUSAL assuming it continues   So far so good, I'm mostly late posting it but it's up
Keep up with Gifted Gorgeousness  Again so far so good
Finish Santa's Village (fed up with saying this one so def going to do it this year)   I've done one of the 6 I had left at the start of the year so I better do something about it!
Finish more than I start    I have no idea a this point what the balance is!
Get my PHD's to 20 or lower (I've been working on getting this number down for 10 years now and I'm doing well as I started with 47!!)  Current total is 30 (at least it was at the start of the month)
Finish a TW  I've finished one but it was one I started last week so I'm not sure if I'll count it or not because I meant one that's a PHD
Finish a Silver Lining flower    Yeah one I've completed :)  My Daffodils were a Silver Lining pattern
Get at least 6 kits stitched from stash   No I've got a couple started tho

Dragon Robe progress

The beading I'm in on facebook has different challenges each month and for July (and August) it's to finish a PHD or however many you want to finish and earrings.

I've not made any earrings yet or finished a PHD but I have made good progress on one :)

I pulled my Dragon Robe out and got to work on it and it only went away again when I had to make some samples for WI craft group, I'm hoping I'll get back to it at some point soon.

Last time I posted about it was back in April 2016 and it looked like this in case you don't follow the link

And here it is now.  I've started the increase for the sleeves now and will soon reach the point where I will have to work straight up for a few rows and then add the rest of the sleeve width before I can go back to working straight rows

Angel Progress

I never got round to posting an update last week so you get a double one again today:)

Here's how I got on July 8/9

Most of her wing done and a chunk of over one this is also a really pic of the true fabric colour

This last weekend (July 15/16) 

I didn't have as much time with her this weekend but when I did work on her in the day I decided to concentrate on the over one neck and face and leave the 'normal' stitching to the evening when I use my daylight lamp, as good as it is you can't beat proper daylight :)

I'll carry on and do the same thing this coming weekend and there is a slim chance she'll be finished over the weekend but I may just carry on with her next week if I'm really close

Baubles

It was my Mum's birthday a couple of weeks ago and on a recent trip to Spellbound I bought a couple of bauble kits.  Both kits made 2 baubles and knowing Mum's birthday was only days away I made one from each kit for her.

This one is Medina

And this is the Art Deco

Now I just have to make the other two for me

Miss New Years Fairy finished

I put the last bead on this afternoon while watching Doctor Who 

The chart and threads along with the beads were gifted to me last year :)  She whispered in my ear for a few months until I finally got round to starting her on June 1st.  I had hoped to have her finished quite quickly but it wasn't to be with having to go back to Kent last week.

She's not the type of project I would normally go for but I have to say I've really enjoyed stitching her.

I used Dr Smiths Tonic from Sparklies which as may of worked out by now is one of my favourties :)  I also had to sub a different Crescent Colour for her dress and went with Lunar Eclipse after much trail and error.

A couple of rare (for me) arty shots to show her bling off better with the added bonus of a much better idea of the true fabric colour

I was surprised to discover that Mill Hill Magnifcas are in fact Delicas which I have a *cough cough* few of, I know that probably isn't news to a lot of you but I rarely stitch designs that call for beads so had no idea!    If anyone knows of a Mill Hill number to Delica Number conversion please point me in the right direction for future ref, thanks

Last Cheshire Show post for this year

Here at last is my completed entry

And the result

Angel progress

I finished the collar of her dress apart from the beads, did a tiny bit of the over one for face and neck and made a start on the other wing.

The plan for this weekend is to finish the wing and do a little more of the over one

Late once more :(

I really don't know what's up with me this year I just can't seem to post this even remotely on time although for this one I had just come back from Kent, had visitors for a few days and then had to return to Kent so I was somewhat distracted.

Not many projects added to my orts this time and most of the ones added came from Angel of the Morning!  there are some from Miss New Year's Fairy and Needlework ABC's tho

Even less has been added to my beading orts this time, with being away for most of the last 2 weeks I've hardly touched any but I do have a few small finishes to show

June progress & July Goals

For June I said
Finishing the Angel would be nice   I knew it was a long shot so I'm not disappointed I haven't
Start the Spring SAL  No :(
Stitch (and finish) the monthly NH challenge  No :(
Finish something else would be nice (no idea what)  No :(
Get at least a couple of hexie flowers done   Yes :)
Sell some stash   I can't remember if I have or not!!

For July I'd like to
Finish the Angel
Pick a new weekend project
Finish New Year Fairy
Start Autumn Seasonal SAL
Maybe start Spring Seasonal SAL
Get June's monthly NH challenge stitched and finished
Get July's NH monthly challenge stitched and finished if I like it (it's not been posted yet)
Get a couple of hexie flowers done
Sell some stash

I had my annual stitching weekend in June which greatly helped with my stitching time but I also ended spending a lot more time in Kent then was planned for which had the complete opposite effect :(  I was only due to go for 4 days but due to things I had no control over and 1 1/2 days being wasted by someone else I had to make a return trip :(   It has meant that July's stitching has got off to a good start tho because I'm in so much pain with my leg today that I can't do anything else!

So I stitched for 68 hours 20 mins in June, had 2 new starts and 0 finishes and 1 day with no stitching :(

Current PHD total = 30