I took up a challenge to make it to 2000 stitches on Guardian of Wayfarers this month...I still got a couple stitches to go, but I did get to 100 hours, so you'll get to see my pretty dragon again!
I made it through most of the folliage, as the top of the circle comes down on the right there will be a couple of bigger trees and lots of blues. I might be running out of stuff to say about this one, but I'll never tire of showing him off!
Welcome to one of my favourite SALs of the month, Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness, they one place stop for all things gifted or giftee! Since so many of my projects are gift related, I usually use this place to showcase those that I don't get to show off otherwise, which most of the time comes down to some knitting or crochet, and this month is no different.
I have made very little progress on my big blanket (this endless row of popcorns is really killing my drive...) but I did finish little Yoshi, who was missing just a couple parts last month, and is now on the way to his new owner/friend/dino parent. It also took well over two hours to assemble everything, but I think it was well worth it, as he turned out very cute (even though he's a little bit cross eyed).
One of my stitching groups was having a Maynia challenge this month (or probably I should say IS having, as it is still May) and there was a Monogamaynia option which involved working 200 stitches a day on a WIP for 15 days or until it was done. I'm still in the mood to get my number of WIPs down a litte, so I decided to participate using a WIP that I could actually finish: Join the Circus by Circus Stitches, which I only worked on once before in 2020.
It's not a big design, in fact I was almost 50% done on it, so just 9 days later (at 200 stitches a day) it was all done! Now I'm looking for a fun way to frame it, and I already got an idea or two...
There is just something about stitching letters...especially big, fancy ones, that I love very much. I think I only have one more text WIP now, so when I get back into a new start mood, I might have to include some!
Tradition dictate that I sneak in for this SAL on the last day possible, and traditions are important, so who am I to break with them! I'm talking, of course, about Rachel's Fully Finished Gallery, that tries to motivate us each month to do something with all those lovely finishes, besides shoving them in a box.
This month, I was half working out of that box, half finishing new things, because the following finish uses four squares, two of which were already done and two of which I stitched up in late April and early May. All four were part of the Mini Mystery SAL, a SAL my friend Magical525/Galdra Stafir held throughout most of the the 2020 lockdowns, with a total of 18 (I think?) small patterns, and a new pattern with just a couple of stitches releasing each day. I started doing these in 2020, finishing them up into several little toolies (I got a pincushion biscornu from patterns 1+2, and a needlebook from 3+4), and now I stitched 5-7 and an extra 'backside' pattern to make into a special scissors fob.
The idea for this I had back in 2020, but I only got it halfway done, stitching the first two patterns on 22ct fabric. Now I went back and stitched to more on 18ct, and then I took some time to make a loooong braid and finish it all up with beads. I finished the two different sized ornaments seperatly, but connected them with a bit of braid, for a fancy two part fob that is bright and big enough for me to never lose my scissors again...or so I'm hoping!
Welcome to Jo's wonderfully versatile all-purpose SAL! Each month we (aka her faithful readers and participants) pick a new topic, and post the most beautiful pictures we can get away with shoehorning into that topic. The checkin for this is traditionally the first Saturday of the month, but since I am notoriously bad at making it, we don't talk about that kind of stuff here!
At any rate, this month the topic is Embelishments. Not the kind you use to make yourselves look better when telling a tall tale, but the kind we use to make our stitching look even prettier! Beads, charms, lace, whatever we can think of. So as usual, I'm going to take a deep dive into my picture collection and see what I can come up with...
I mostly use beads, but there is the occasional button, charm or sequin too. Even some lace! And what all of them have in common: They are a lot of fun to use!
Sooo. I'm still about two weeks behind on my blog reading and commenting...and I just realized I got about six posts lined up to write as well! Good thing we have a long weekend coming up, because I'm hoping to get a lot of catching up done (and also a lot of stitching, I hope!) So to get started, here is Nan's garden, a WIP I started as a SAL with dear Jo, uh, *years* ago, and dug out again in April, when I was still trying to get my stitchy bug back on track. It fit a prompt on one of my challenges for 200 stitches, and once those were done I realized there really was only one and a half bands and a couple beads left to do. What a shame I put it away this close to a finish!
This time, though, I pulled through, adding the cute little hedgehogs in the penultimate band, and then those pretty white shells in the last one. I really enjoyed this with all the adorable critters and soft colours, and as usual with Just Nans, there where plenty of fun specialty stitches to enjoy! I got a bunch more of her couples in stash, so might start an other one soon. Not right now, though, as my number of WIPs is dwindling, and I'm really enjoying it!
Speaking of stash and Just Nan, this chart was originally meant to have a little frog charm in the center of the fifth band, but as I got the chart used, I didn't have that. I did, however, buy a collection of mixed charms last year, and went through that to find the right one for this design. And I found this little tortoise - isn't he adorable, sitting between his stitched buddies?
Beads and threads also came from my stash. While the threads are mostly DMC as charted, for the beads I just picked the best matches I could find - this design isn't heavily beaded, so no use buying tons of new colours. I like the outcome, at any rate!
When I was hunting for my stitchy bug in early April, I tried out a couple of different projects to see which would keep my attention, and one that really 'stuck' was Bellatrix. I hadn't worked on her since July of last year, so it was high time anyways!
As my stitchy bug was hibernating, I didn't want to test its patience with boring background work, so I dove right into the shawl that's draped over Bella's right arm, introducing a whole new set of greens to play with. And I had so much fun! In fact, I spent a little over eleven hours to get the shawl finished on this side, adding 1,891 stitches and pushing Bella to 23.38%! (Don't ask why my phone is in that picture, I only noticed once I had packed her away again!)
Hopefully, it won't be another nine months before I pull her out again - I'm thinking of using her for a facebook challenge that needs a number of stitches in black, and she has a total of 3k to go - it would mean jumping around a little, but also get some potentially boring background (or rather, frame) out of the way, so why not?
