CAL – Last dance on the beach #16

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. As I’m struggling to find time to do any cross stitch, plus keep up with all the crochet that I’m doing, I’m going to use these posts for the Last Dance on the beach blankets. That’ll make sure that I finish them, and then I can get back to some stitching.

Blanket one is finished! Dance under the stars.

The joining took forever so I was happy to finish that. I’m trying not to think about the next blanket that’s waiting to be joined. I’m also happy that I managed to get all the squares the right way up.

It’s very soft and squishy. I really liked the Scheepjes yarn. It’s lovely to hook with and feels beautiful. It’s going to be great to snuggle under.

The border was supposed to be a bit wider but I liked how it looked after five rounds so decided to stop there.

I’m now debating whether to carry straight on with the other blanket or maybe do some cross stitch. Maybe I’ll surprise you next update LOL

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

Avis, Claire, Gun, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Susan,
 Kathy,  Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine,  Wendy

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

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CAL – Last dance on the beach #15

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. As I’m struggling to find time to do any cross stitch, plus keep up with all the crochet that I’m doing, I’m going to use these posts for the Last Dance on the beach blankets. That’ll make sure that I finish them, and then I can get back to some stitching.

Last time I finished the squares for the Rain blanket which was a huge milestone. This time I’ve finished the last squares for the Stars blanket! Whoo hoo.

That’s all the squares done for both blankets now. I am so chuffed!

As you can see, once again I decided not to go with the scheduled square and did one of the previous squares. I think this one, the corner to corner square, was probably my favourite to crochet. it’s so easy to do and works up so quickly.

The Stars blanket is definitely going to be colourful. This is all 48 squares, sitting in their piles.

Pretty, yes? So, while I’d got them all out, I got some paper out and labeled each square with its week number to make it easier to lay them out in the right order. The instructions come with a chart for how to do that and it’s very random so I needed to make it as easy as possible.

Once I’d done that, out of curiosity, I laid it all out on the floor. Just to see what it would look like.

And then, I somehow found myself with a crochet hook in hand, doing the zipper stitch to join the squares together. I haven’t finished the joining, but I have done all the vertical joins and two of the horizontal joins. It looks quite good.

It feels about three times larger than it actually is when you’re joining it as all the squares are on your lap at the same time but are all trying to go in different directions. I’ve been using stitch markers to hold the squares together, while doing the vertical joins, to stop them twisting as otherwise they flap about all over the place. The stitch itself is easy peasy, but wrangling the blanket is not. There’s not much more joining to do though so there’s every chance there’ll be a finish for the next update as I only have the border to whack on next.

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

Avis, Claire, Gun, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Susan,
 Kathy,  Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine,  Wendy

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

CAL – Last dance on the beach #14

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. As I’m struggling to find time to do any cross stitch, plus keep up with all the crochet that I’m doing, I’m going to use these posts for the Last Dance on the beach blankets. That’ll make sure that I finish them, and then I can get back to some stitching.

Last time I said that I was hoping to complete the squares for the Rain blanket, and I’m doing a wee happy dance because I’ve done just that.

Four lovely waffley squares for week twelve making a total of 48 squares altogether.

I’m itching to do the joins on them now but I also really want to finish the Stars squares too. Decisions…

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

Avis, Claire, Gun, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Susan,
 Kathy,  Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine,  Wendy

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

CAL – Last dance on the beach #13

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. As I’m struggling to find time to do any cross stitch, plus keep up with all the crochet that I’m doing, I’m going to use these posts for the Last Dance on the beach blankets. That’ll make sure that I finish them, and then I can get back to some stitching.

I haven’t made a lot of progress since the last SAL update. I managed to get the last red bobble square done, but it seemed to take ages as I was getting a bit bored with bobbles.

Then I started the final week’s squares. I could tell straight away that they’d be slow going. Each row consists of groups of half-trebles alternating with groups of slip stitches, making very shallow rows. Also, all the stitches are worked into the back loop, which is slightly more time-consuming.

The first square got about half done and had to be frogged as it was too small. I went up a whole hook size and started a second square, which again turned out to be too small. I increased the hook size and started again but it still wasn’t right. By this time, not only had I spent hours with nothing to show for it, but I was already finding the squares tedious, with eight still to go.

I’d had enough of square twelve by this point so rummaged through the previous squares to see which ones I’d enjoyed the most. It was a toss-up between the basketweave and the corner to corner so I’m doing the Rain blanket in basketweave and I may switch to corner to corner for Stars.

Basketweave is fairly quick to do compared to some of the others but with so much time wasted messing about with the other square, I only found time to do one of them.

Hopefully I can get at least the next three of these done for the next update.

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

Avis, Claire, Gun, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Susan,
 Kathy,  Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine,  Wendy

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

CAL – Last dance on the beach #12

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. As I’m struggling to find time to do any cross stitch, plus keep up with all the crochet that I’m doing, I’m going to use these posts for the Last Dance on the beach blankets. That’ll make sure that I finish them, and then I can get back to some stitching.

I took the yarn that I needed for the last twelve squares on holiday with me, hoping that I’d manage to get quite a bit done in the evenings while we were relaxing. It didn’t happen. I finished just one square so have three of the bobble squares for the Stars blanket done.

Just one more of those to do and then eight of the week twelve squares. Hopefully I can find the time to do at least a couple more squares before the next update in three weeks.

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

Avis at Sewing beside the sea
Claire at Claire93
Kate at Tall tales from Chiconia
Gun at Rutigt
Lucy at Lucyannluna
Sue at The Magpie’s nest
Constanze at Textile Dreamer
Jess at Ever the crafter
DebbieRose at Sew Rosey
Christina at Petals and Pins
Susan at SusanPblog
Kathy at Sewing etc
Margaret at The Crafty Creek
Helen at Stitchery Nook
Cindy at Home of a floss junkie
Steph at My making do adventure

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

CAL – Last dance on the beach #11

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. As I’m struggling to find time to do any cross stitch, plus keep up with all the crochet that I’m doing, I’m going to use these posts for the Last Dance on the beach blankets. That’ll make sure that I finish them, and then I can get back to some stitching.

I have another three sets of squares done, which I’m quite pleased with. Just twelve more squares to go.

This is week ten for the Rain blanket. I mentioned before that I really didn’t like the pattern for this. I could do it, but it was fiddly and time-consuming. If it had looked spectacular, that would have been fine, but it was just a rib so I felt it wasn’t worth that much effort. I found a shell stitch pattern that some others on the FaceBook group had used so tried that instead. It’s ok, but nothing special, although it was a lot faster to hook.

Rain – week ten

Next is the square for the Stars blanket, week ten. I found the pattern for this in one of my books and fiddled with it until I got it the right size. I rather like this one and it was a nice one to hook.

Stars week ten

Finally, I’ve just finished the last of the week eleven squares for the Rain blanket. This one has bobbles and was very easy to do. It’s not one of my favourite squares, but it’s ok and I’m hoping to get a crack on with the Stars squares next.

Rain – week eleven

I’ll be missing the next update in November, as I’ll be on holiday, but I’ll be back for the one after that, and will hopefully have found the time to make some progress on these blankets.

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

Avis at Sewing beside the sea
Claire at Claire93
Kate at Tall tales from Chiconia
Gun at Rutigt
Wendy at The crafter’s apprentice
Lucy at Lucyannluna
Sue at The Magpie’s nest
Constanze at Textile Dreamer
Jess at Ever the crafter
DebbieRose at Sew Rosey
Christina at Petals and Pins
Susan at SusanPblog
Kathy at Sewing etc
Margaret at The Crafty Creek

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

SAL – Garden Cat #6

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs and I have a finish!

I was a bit concerned with the white flower to the right of the cat. As the fabric is quite pale, I thought that the flower didn’t really stand out very well. I decided to do the other two white flowers in pale yellow to make them stand out a bit more and I’m really happy with how they look. I was thinking about frogging the one that I’d already done but decided that it was just about ok so left it.

I loved stitching this one and am looking forward to doing one of the other designs by Satsuma Street at some point. I have several in my stash 😉

I’ve no idea what I’m going to do next for the SAL. I seem to have very little spare time at the moment, which may have something to do with juggling three CALs, but we won’t mention those.

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

Avis at Sewing beside the sea
Claire at Claire93
Kate at Tall tales from Chiconia
Gun at Rutigt
Wendy at The crafter’s apprentice
Lucy at Lucyannluna
Sue at The Magpie’s nest
Constanze at Textile Dreamer
Jess at Ever the crafter
DebbieRose at Sew Rosey
Christina at Petals and Pins
Susan at SusanPblog
Kathy at Sewing etc

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

Flower Sampler Book – page 6

This is the scheduled post for the Stitch-a-long that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs.

I have not got a lot done. I have done some stitching, but on a simpler, less important piece, because Sammie is still mesmerised by the threads and fabric. I’ve started waiting until she goes to sleep (proper sleep, not a cat-nap) and then very quietly sneaking my stitching paraphernalia out and getting in an hour or two before she wakes up again. I don’t mind this as I love having a cat around again, and if she needs a lot of attention, even better. She is gorgeous.

So, I should also mention that I’ve skipped ahead to part seven of the sampler book and have started the  pulled thread section instead of the pattern darning. The reason for this is that for a large chunk of part six, you’re instructed to use whatever colours of thread that you like. As it’s a kit with a limited supply of threads, I’m not sure which ones I’ll have enough of, so I’m going to do the other parts first and then go back to it knowing which threads are spare.

This is it so far.

I’ve started on the right-hand side and have managed the frame for the cut thread work plus about one-third of the cross stitch and back stitch. At this rate it will take me several months to finish it, but it’s not a race so it doesn’t matter. As long as there’s some progress, I’m happy.

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

Avis at Sewing beside the sea
Claire at Claire93
Gun at Rutigt
Kate at Tall tales from Chiconia
Eleanor at Sun and cake
Alison at Minerva’s meanderings
Jule at From the boudoir
Elizabeth at Garden 4 therapy
Wendy at The crafter’s apprentice

Do pop over and have a look at their beautiful creations.

Flower Sampler Book – page five #2

This is the scheduled post for the Stitch-a-long that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. I’ve struggled a bit to get this piece finished in time as it’s quite hard to sew with a lively kitten on your lap. She was fascinated by the thread going in and out and I had to watch her closely so I could move the fabric before she pounced. I didn’t have the heart to move her as I seem to be her favourite place to snuggle up.

I did get it finished eventually though. I’m not completely happy with it as it proved to be quite a bit trickier to do Hardanger on 28ct linen than it is on Hardanger fabric which is usually 22ct. The cutting went fine though. Phew.

There aren’t many stitches but some of them weren’t as easy when I’ve done them before. The trickiest bit was tucking the points in after doing the cutting. I can usually get it quite tidy with Hardanger fabric but as fast as I stroked them behind the Kloster blocks, they popped back out again so it is a bit untidy in places.

You can just see them in the close up. I’m quite happy with the dove’s eyes and corner needleweaves, but the corner spokes weren’t easy and don’t look very neat.

The dove’s eyes in this side are a bit messier as I was struggling with them where they needed to go round Kloster blocks. The ones surrounded by needleweave were much easier.

I think it looks ok, given the problems that I had so I’m reasonably pleased. I think it’s pattern darning next, so that should be fun, especially if Sammie wants to help.

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:
Avis at Sewing beside the sea
Claire at Claire93
Gun at Rutigt
Kate at Tall tales from Chiconia
Eleanor at Sun and cake
Alison at Minerva’s meanderings
Jule at From the boudoir
Elizabeth at Garden 4 therapy
Wendy at The crafter’s apprentice

Do pop over and have a look at their beautiful creations.

Flower Sampler Book – page 5

I’m interrupting all the holiday fun for my regularly scheduled SAL post. I’m stitching along with nine other bloggers, and we’re posting our progress every three weeks. Links to my fellow SAL-ers at the bottom of the post.

Due to being on holiday at the moment, I haven’t got a great deal done on my Sampler Book this time. I didn’t bring it with me as it’s on 28 count linen and I can’t actually see it properly without my magnifying light. With this page being Hardanger, I really needed to see what I’m doing. Hardanger is scary.

This is where I’m up to so far.

I’ve done all the cross stitch, and outlined it with backstitch. All of the Kloster blocks are done too. I like doing Kloster blocks.

A couple of close-ups:

The next stage is the cutting, and then all the specialist stitches such as needle-weaving and dove’s eyes. I’m still slightly terrified of doing the cutting. I was getting fairly confident at it but it’s been over a year since I did any and this is on very fine, slubby fabric. Yeah, I’m pretty much terrified.

Hopefully the next SAL post will show all the cutting done, and perhaps the stitching. Maybe even a finished page. Alternately, I may be showing you what happens when you cut the wrong bit…

These are the ladies, from all over the world, that I’m SAL-ing with. Do pop in and see what they’ve been working on.

Avis at Sewing beside the sea
Claire at Claire93
Gun at Rutigt
Kate at Tall tales from Chiconia
Eleanor at Sun and cake
Alison at Minerva’s meanderings
Jule at From the boudoir
Elizabeth at Stitch 4 therapy
Wendy at The crafter’s apprentice