Zodiac SAL - Cancer

Yes, yes, I am VERY last minute again, but mostly, I am proud that I have sat down today to finish this and with it my last goal for the month - I think I'm getting better with deadlines and obligations and estimating how much I can actually get done!

Here's July's ornament - unfinished, as per usual:

 I did catch up on finishing a little with the March ornament, so there's that:

I usually do my finish-finishing on the weekends, and those have been very busy lately. But surely I can find time for one or two more in August..? We'll see!

July IHSW

I know I've been awefully quiet - live has been busy, and will continue to be so for at least another month, so blogging hasn't been that high up on my list recently. Stitching has, because I really need to to counterweight all the business! Last week we celebrated IHSW again, and thanks to a really 'convenient' summer cold, I actually managed to get quite some stitching in, but first, I want to start with something I actually finished before IHSW (and, you know, wanted to make a seperate post about, but life happened, and stuff).

So before I get into my IHSW stitching, I have one finish to share that happened the week before (I wanted to make a seperate post for that...but again, blogging...not very high on the list for now). Remember that little Corgi I showed in my last update? He's all finished now, and so cute! He's my first contribution to a charity stitching project, so he's on his way to be made into a quilt for a little boy, but it was seriously hard to part with him.

When IHSW came around, I got to start it off with a big celebratory happy dance - a finish on Ink Circle's 99! I was so happy to get those last few bottles out, and I'm very pleased with the result. It's awaiting framing now, which should happen within the next couple of days.

And then, even so I really don't need a new start, I just couldn't help myself - I celebrated by getting a little all-beads Mill Hill kit out that had been in my stash for over a year now, and ever since I got it, I couldn't wait to start it! It's Flower Trellis, a kit containing two perforated paper ornaments done and finished with tons of beads. All the beads are attached with half crosses and use the same thread colour, so it stitched up pretty quickly. I've already finished 1/3 of the first ornament, but put it away again for now - this will be a little treat for myself for whenever I need it!

Apart from that little excursion, I used IHSW to focus on Fire and Ember - UnconventionalXStitch was hosting a Stitchathon event from the 20th to the 30th, so I was aiming for a page finish during that time frame (spoiler alert: I made it!). On IHSW, I got the first two colours in, which already amounted for a fair bit of progress:

July Gifted Gorgeousness

And as promised, it's Gifted Gorgeousness time, the wonderful SAL held by our wonderful hostess Jo! This SAL is super easy for me at the moment, as I seem to work on hardly anything that is NOT a gift. Also, I'm not going to annoy you with a hundred pictures from the longest Day SAL yet again, but only show what I've worked on since then :)

As you might have expected, I've been working on 99...I didn't quite make it to a full finish yet, but I only have a little over four bottles left to go, so I should finally get there this week!

I've also pulled out an older WIP, this fluffy cat a friend asked me to knit for her. I recently realised that I hadn't worked on it in over a year, so I decided to settle down and really get her done now. I already finished the head and body and most of her face - I have two ears left to knit, an arm to attach, and the second arm, two legs, and tail left to knit, but it's going well.

Then I had a small new start - a little freebie by Maria Brovko and my contribution to a charity quilt project. I have until mid August to complete this, but the sooner the better :) The little crogy is almost ready for back stitching now.

And last but not least, I've been working a little bit on The Mermaid and added a bit of the next blue. This really needs a lot of more attention...and I hope she will get just that once 99 is done.

Carla's and Leo's Halloween SAL 2018

I know, I know, I've been bad at blogging (but not at stitching this month), and I will be back later today or tomorrow with my Gifted Gorgeousness checkin, but first, I want to tell you about Carla's and mine yearly Halloween SAL that kicks off one month from now - I'm super excited and can't wait to get started, but there is still plenty of time for you to join in!

This is our 4ths year, and after patterns from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, Cloudsfactory and Satsuma Street in the last three years, we have something really special for you this time. Firstly, we have two artists and a total of seven patterns avaiable:

First, there is Pippa from LuckyStarStitches on Etsy. She has a six Halloween patterns currently avaiable, and they are all really small and fun!

   

   

    

And theeeen my dear friend Ashley aka PinkyThePink joined forces with some of her amazing artists to create our very own pattern for the SAL! We'd been throwing around ideas for a while and there was some seriously creative juices flowing, and I am super pleased with the end result now:

 

So if you want to join us in stitching one or more of these patterns for Halloween this year, please do! We do have a facebook group as well as posting progress on blogs and/or dA, and anyone can join. Our kickoff day is August 15th and while we try to finish by Halloween, we are more than happy to see progress pictures after that as well - finishing up all the stitching has been more of a year long effort for some of us!