Hooties year round minis – Jan & Feb

As well as the cross stitch project that I’m doing for the SAL every three weeks, I’ve started another Hooties stitch. There are so many projects in PinoyStitch’s Etsy shop that I want to do, but this one was calling the loudest. It’s a calendar of mini Hooties, with one themed for each month. I plan to stitch each Hootie in its month.

So far, I’ve done January’s Hootie, which I already posted in a SAL post. I’ll pop him here as well though. I’ve also completed February’s Hootie. I love stitching these. They’re small enough to be a fairly quick stitch and they’re really well designed, with a colour chart to make it easier to follow.

 

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SAL – Los gatos – 01

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs and I’ve started not one, but two new projects.

Last time, I said that I was torn between fishing out a kit or printing one of the many digital charts in my stash. After some rummaging, I decided to stitch the most recent of my digital acquisitions, Los Gatos. I love the unusual colour palette in this design plus it’s cats, so right up my street.

I got the chart at Jardin Privé. The designer is Camille Coljé-Camps. I’ve done a chart from there before, but it had a nice English version. Los gatos didn’t. It’s a long time since I studied French, but how hard could it be? It’s just a chart. Just to be on the safe side though, I asked Claire for help. Thanks Claire 🙂

So, Los gatos is started. I haven’t got much done on it, mostly because I was procrastinating when I should have been rinsing and pressing the fabric and gridding it. Once that finally got done, I made a start on the stitching and this is the progress so far. Usually, I only stitch one project at a time but I had a little look on Etsy, while I was considering which projects out of my stash that I was going to do. (It seemed like a good idea at the time.) Oddly enough I ended up buying two more charts.

One of them is Hooties year round minis from Pinoy Stitch. I did a Hooties stitch in 2019 and loved doing it so I’ve had my eye on some of the other ones. This one is a mini Hootie for each month of the year and I thought it’d be fun to do one Hootie per month. I’ve done January and he’s very cute in his little scarf.

I was very tempted to start a third project as when I popped to Jardin Privè to get the link, I found a design for a temperature cross stitch. I did a temperature crochet blanket a few years ago, which I enjoyed doing, but the cross stitch version would be a lot quicker to do each day and is very versatile in how many extra things you can add. I’ve bookmarked it for next year though as I think two at a time is quite enough LOL

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ,Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

Do allow for people being in different time zones, so not posting all at the same time, but it’s well worth doing a bit of blog hopping to see all the lovely projects that are being worked on.

SAL – Fellowship of the hooties #04

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs and I’ve finished Fellowship of the hooties. It’s taken me a little longer than I hoped but I loved stitching it and I love the design. I’m very tempted to buy more of the Hooties designs from Pinoy Stitch on Etsy as there are some brilliant ones.

I only had two owls left to do after the last update. This one is Boromir.And this one is Gimli, who was another favourite to stitch. This is the finished item. I’ve no idea how I’m going to finish this one off. I’ll pop it in the box for now and see if inspiration strikes.

I’ve already started pulling together a selection of projects for next year but I may stitch a bit on an old project for now and see how I go with that.

I think a few other people in the SAL have happy dances this time so lots of lovely new projects coming soon 🙂

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:
Avis, Claire, Gun, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie

Do allow for people being in different time zones, so not posting all at the same time, but it’s well worth doing a bit of blog hopping to see all the lovely projects that are being worked on.

SAL – Fellowship of the hooties #03

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs and I’ve been carrying on with Fellowship of the hooties. I was hoping to get a bit more done than I have but only managed another two owls. Just two to go and it’s finished though so hopefully a happy dance for next time.

This one is Merry.  And this one is Legolas.  I love his bow and arrows! He was one of my favourites to stitch.

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:
Avis, Claire, Gun, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie

Do allow for people being in different time zones, so not posting all at the same time, but it’s well worth doing a bit of blog hopping to see all the lovely projects that are being worked on.

SAL – Fellowship of the hooties #02

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs and I’ve been carrying on with Fellowship of the hooties. I was hoping to get another three owls done for today but have only managed two. Still, that’s two owls closer to a finish so I’m happy enough with that.

This is where it was last time. Next to be stitched was Pippin. In the centre of the design is, of course, Aragorn. He’s looking very regal. Next up is Merry, to finish the middle row, and I’m just about make a start on him.

If the migraines behave, I might get a finish for next time, but that’s pretty unlikely. We have three updates left this year so I’ll almost certainly get this finished before the new year. I need to start making a plan for next year to keep the ball rolling. Hmm, wonder if I should have a Disney year. I do have lots of kits to play with. What d’you think? Disney or several random projects? I feel the need to go and have a rummage 😉

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:
Avis, Claire, Gun, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, Daisy, Anne

Do allow for people being in different time zones, so not posting all at the same time, but it’s well worth doing a bit of blog hopping to see all the lovely projects that are being worked on.

SAL – Fellowship of the hooties #01

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs and I have a new start. I’ve been itching to start this one so as incentive to get a crack on with the other projects on this year’s list, I put it at the end. I’m bang on schedule so that tactic, surprisingly, has worked.

This is a chart purchased on Etsy from PinoyStitch. They have loads of owl-themed stitches, and I’m eyeing up a few of them, especially Hooties super heroes, and Hooties in space, but when I saw Fellowship of the hooties, I absolutely had to have it. (if you don’t know, Lord of the rings is my all time favourite book.)

It’s recommended to stitch it on white aida, but I dislike working on aida so wanted to use an evenweave. I’ve got some white jobelan but then I spotted a gorgeous 28 ct cashel in vintage blue in my stash. I do love stitching on cashel. It’s so soft to work on and the slubby bits make it a little more interesting. I think this piece is the offcut from when I stitched Outrageous Owls, so I guess this must be my go to fabric for owls *grin*

Once again, I’ve gridded the fabric before starting. I don’t know why I haven’t done this before. It’s a bit tedious doing the gridding, but it’s well worth the time. As a few people have asked about it, this is the stuff that I’m using.  I’m pretty sure it’s much like fishing line and I’m planning to take it into a fishing shop at some point and ask if they have something similar. I reckon it’d be cheaper than this stuff and now that Sew and So have closed, I’ve no idea where I’d get more.

Anyway, on to the stitching. I’ve made a good start and have completed Frodo owl. I used gold metallic thread instead of just gold-coloured thread to do the ring that’s round his neck. I thought it looked a bit more ring-like. Look, he’s holding Sting, the Elvish blade and has his leaf brooch holding his cloak. Love the details in this design.

I also finished Gandalf owl. And Sam owl with his pipe. I also managed to get the text done so I’m over one third done and am feeling rather chuffed with myself. To be honest, I couldn’t stop stitching. It’s such a fun design and really well charted.

This is where it is at the moment. Isn’t it brilliant! I love anything Lord of the Rings themed! I’m hoping to get three more owls done for next time.

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:
Avis, Claire, Gun, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,
Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan,
Deborah, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, Susan, Anne

Do allow for people being in different time zones, so not posting all at the same time, but it’s well worth doing a bit of blog hopping to see all the lovely projects that are being worked on.

A bit of optimism

Last year I managed to complete just one cross stitch project. The year before was the same. I have a rather large stash of charts and kits waiting for attention and if I carry on at that rate, I’ll never make a dent in them, which means that I really shouldn’t buy any more. That’s not good, as I’m constantly seeing shiny new charts & kits that I need.

This is my current stash of kits, plus charts that have been kitted up. I have a lot more charts that haven’t been printed off yet, plus charts in books and magazines. This gives you an idea of the problem though.

So, I’ve had a sort through and any that really called to me were put to one side as a possible next project. I ended up with five and I know this is very optimistic, given my record, but I’m hoping to complete all five before the end of the year.

This was the first one that called to me. I’ve had this one in my stash for over three years. I loved it when I first saw it as I love most things to do with Middle Earth, plus it has owls. Bonus. I think it’ll be brilliant fun to stitch and it makes me smile every time I see it.

Next to be put to one side was this one. This has been in my stash for at least four years, probably longer. It won’t take long as it’s tiny and I do love using WDW threads.

Then I found this one. I put it to one side, and then put it back in the box before getting it back out again. I fell in love with it at the NEC craft show several years ago and it’s been intimidating me ever since. I’m going to have a go at it, and if I make a hash of it, at least I’ll have tried, right? Finally I picked out two by CCN, one of my favourite designers. This one will be a fairly quick stitch and is so pretty. And this one shouted loudest to be freed from the box and has already been started. I thought it was perfect for this time of the year and it’s a nice simple design with only whole crosses, so very relaxing after the last project. Next Sunday is the SAL post and I’ll be showing off my finished Crazy Cat Lady. The following SAL post will be my start on Snowflake Serenade. Hopefully I’ll have quite a bit done on it by then.