Serendipitous Jo's Thirtieth Frolic of the Year

My goodness, where is the year going?

Fourth Friday means Brooke's Book's Stitcher's Alphabet stitching.  This is always a tricky one because I don't want to show the finished piece until my Alphabet Club post on the first Saturday of the following month!

So here's a sneak peek of the little Mouse at the bottom of the block:

stitched on 28 count afghan

And also, my progress on Ink Circle's Ghostly Mandala which I stitch on each evening:

stitched on 32 count Autumnal Woodland by Crafty Kitten

Flashin Scissors' (5)

Whoops! I hope you've not forgotten me, it's been so long since I joined in!

I have been stitching most Friday nights, just not Cross stitch.

Last week DH and I went shopping, and visited John Lewis in Oxford Street, London! They have one of my favourite haberdashery departments (see usual disclaimer here .... this is my opinion, etc.!)

How could I resist? I don't go to London everyday! I bought a new magnifying glass with lights, one that hangs round the neck, so I'm hoping to be stitching faster now! At least ... that's the idea! I bought a few other trinkets too, but I resisted the temptation to buy fabric.

Last week I picked up my Cocoa Sampler, and if you haven't seen this sampler before you can read more about it here on my blog The Flashing Scissors, and also see the whole sampler so far!

Cocoa Sampler

I thought I'd stitch the grey shading on the little lamb jumping over a fence - see picture below. As soon as I started I realised my fence was uneven, and, I have to admit, I bodged it, with no frogging! No one will ever know other than you and I; I can't see where it was, and I'm sure you can't  either ..... can you?

During the week I stitched the mauve and turquoise squares in the header, mainly to check I'd spaced the frame correctly, and added a few more stitches to the top gold coloured line. You might have wondered why I'd left so many uncrossed ... there are two reasons, firstly it helps me judge my spacing, and secondly to remember in which direction I am working.

Do you do anything to help you remember which way you are stitching? Or is it just me that has this trouble?

Last night I added some peachy coloured stitches for the little lambs face, although you won't see that today as I haven't taken any pictures yet .... and, if I delay to add any more photos I probably won't be able to post for another week.

It's been so hot here it's hard to find time to even look at the computer!

I hope you are keeping well. I'm off to try to catch up with some blog reading now!

Take care all!

Hugs,

Barbara xx

Serendipitous Jo's Twenty-Ninth Frolic of the Year

A Frolic and a Happy Dance too!

 

I started Elizabeth back in January 2015 as part of the DUCJC2015 on Day 14 then I stitched on her each IHSW weekend since then as the photo collage shows.  She is stitched on the 30 count linen and with the AVAS silks provided in the kit.  I was not a fan of the linen, it was quite rough, I guess it's similar to the linen Elizabeth would have used in 1820.  I also found the count quite large, I would have preferred 36 or 40 count for this project but again the count was chosen to match Elizabeth's original.  The silks were lovely to use and the chart was great, really clear with HUGE overlaps between pages so it was easy as you went from one part of the design to the next to see where you were.  Scarlet Letter have charted the sampler as it is today, which means there are gaps in the motifs where the thread has worn thin.  Coupled with Elizabeth's complete disregard for symmetry in places means this is not a chart for OCD sufferers!  I did resist the urge to correct the symmetry as I realised I could be recharting the whole thing at that rate and went with the chart.

I also added a little personalisation to the design.  The kit was a gift from my friend Nicola for all the help I gave her in setting up the Scarlet Letter Blogs so I added our pairs of initials rather than the charted ones.  I might add my signature and the date to the bottom too.  I always forget!

Serendipitous Jo's Twenty-Eighth Frolic of the Year

This Friday was the second in the month so that means Christmas stitching!  I am stitching the Christmas Cubes by The Primitive Hare for the Christmas Ornie SAL Blog.

This month we had a Free Choice.  As luck would have it, one of the block didn't fit into any of Kaye's themes so it was perfect for the Free Choice.

This is exactly as charted apart from the substitution of B5200 for Blanc.  I wasn't looking forward to the large block of the house, but once I'd done the windows it was actually fairly quick, just filling inbetween the white.

Here are the five so far:

stitched on 35 count Country Mocha from Willow Fabrics

Serendipitous Jo's Twenty-Seventh Frolic of the Year

More dragon!

The first photo shows the addition of the yellows:

And this photo shows the addition of the pinks:

Stitched on 28 count lilac evenweave

Serendipitous Jo's Twenty-Sixth Frolic of the Year

Half-way through the Frolicking Year already!

Last Friday I stitched on my Teresa Wentzler dragon design; You Were Hatched.  And I've done the same thing this Friday so look out for another update soon!

Here's where it was last weekend:

All the Blues completed

And here's where it was as of yesterday before this weekend's stitching

All the Greens completed

What are you Frolicking on this weekend?  Don't forget to post a picture!