Happy Christmouse

 with the back stitch done 

all becomes clear .

I did make a small ohps  but I don't think it too obvious or distracting from the feel of the pattern.

This is a cover kit from WOX.

BFF RAL once more

 so for me this time that equalled felting.

Stabby stabby 

Through a template this time, something I saw on a Facebook video.

I think it is working, but I don't expect to be sharing the result for awhile.

I rather enjoyed seeing the progress Roni was making on her RAL this evening. 

Pop on over to my BFF's  blog to see her pretty pretty progress once she posts it that is.

Snowman has a home

 well a frame. It has been waiting a long time to get a frame.  I finished this 13 years ago and like my dragon from my friend it has waited such a long time (and yes it is still the same carpet on the stair, been the best carpet ever)

So at last E.T the Snowman will go on display for Christmas this year, having benefited from the little framing splurge my BFF instigated.

A Felt Father Christmas

I saw a little kit in the charity shop for 50p. Ah I am a sucker for 50p items. 

I started putting it together but I had issues with the glue, it would not stick so well and then a bit went an odd shade.

So I put it away, waiting on me remembering to get glue that was strong enough.

And then there was glue, and a few little pearls added from my stash to cover up the yellowed spots and

ta da !

He does have a slightly gloomy look about him.  Perhaps that's just me .

Nice for 50p, well plus glue, which was also bought for sticking other things.

This is how the kit looked when I bought it.,

Star letter and prize.

 I have had letters to the WOX published in the past, A wedding sampler ,A dog a lady in dress and cone figures 

After completing the snow man and the reindeer, I had another cone kit arrive with the WOX .

I added pearl beads and a bow to this one.

took a picture of the whole group together

And sent it off to the WOX and to my surprised delight it was published as Star Letter. I am currently subscribing so no rush to the shops or e-bay to get a copy this time.

I have waited to post about this for the prize to arrive.

I will admit that the delight over the Star Letter has been somewhat tempered by my father being unwell at the moment, receiving the three kits perked me up just a little. I have other project that I am working on to keep my sanity, so nice as these kits are I don't expect to be starting them immediately. 

Perhaps for next year.

Sunday Stitchings, Technical version 2

 The Zoom meeting was more successful this time, the speakers easier to hear (there was a slight echo) , the music and singing was still not audible.

But it was appreciated progress, and nice to see a few familiar faces.

There was not a lot of stitching time due to technical adjustments and checks to see if I could get rid of the echo. And an attempt at the closed captions which had such difficulty with the local accents it was no assistance whatsoever.

So a bit of sewing to the Songs of Praise on the BBC, to give my mother the singing missed.

BFF RAL not Sal

 An act of total BFF'ness in helping me out of a sleep depriving situation shared said sleep deprivation around which resulted in no off camera SAL stitching and the prospect of dotting about being a bit daunting. So SAL became RAL.

For me that was adding the back stitching to a project planned for posting next month and which made so much difference to the weird look of just the cross stitch.

although you could probably make a good guess.

Then back to needle felting and that hand, no picture of that for now.

I was intending t post this on Thursday, having been too tired Wednesday. However, before that could happen another episode of sleep deprivation occurred, the situation started and ended earlier but felt in its way even more draining as this trip to A&E ended with me leaving my loved one at the hospital.

Happily just an overnight stay for monitoring. Another friend helped me get home in the wee hours of the morning. Today I am waiting for him to come home, the hospital are arranging transport, I don't / can't drive. But they could not give a time. They said he could go 5 hours ago and still waiting for him to be home. So update blog to pass the time as I sit and wait.

CLICK HERE to see my BFFs post.

Gifted Gorgeousness doubled

 my Pen Pal sent me a cross stitch of a Dragon (yes she knows me well) a large magnificent dragon sewn on black and with blending filament which is not the easiest of things to work with.

I have had it for more years than is reasonable waiting on the right frame. I thought I found one but it was too small.

Then, well it became a thing to look for, the dimensions saved onto my phone just in case I came across the right frame.

Then this November my BFF and I were talking about frames and the unframed pieces we have both accumulated (although mostly our own work and not that of others) and as I recalled my waiting dragon she said that she might have just the frame.

She kindly popped over with it, I popped the dragon into the frame and then the frame onto the wall and I am delighted with my gift in a gift now on my wall.

wow, it has been ever so long, it was long last time I mentioned it in this blog click here for that back in , wince, 2017.

Blue Dragon

  and he is off the first page of the pattern. So I would allow myself a bit of knot work and the soothing use of one colour.  I had contemplated doing the ones at the cardinal points a different colour. Then nah! a tiny bit of keeping it simple occurred and I will do them all the same.

So this is the point reached.

After deciding that. 

well, the life issues have for the moment gone beyond a level this distraction  helps with so there will be a pause with this I think.

BFF SAL 21 Not Blue

 I was looking forward to not blue, to some green. Much as I am enjoying the result of all that blue on my dragon project a little change would I thought be fun. Not sure why as it wasn't last time either!

After one over one confetti you would think that a little two over one on 14 count would be jolly.

Hm nope not the headspace I was in this evening. I was finding the dotting about green I still had to do annoying. I think perhaps my recollection had been that there was less left to be cross-stitched than was the case.  My expectation was therefore frustrated.

I did get all the cross stitches done, just not as early in the session as I had anticipated.

As you can see I did manage to get started on the backstitch and even just the facial features and bow make so much difference.

My BFF has special dispensation to stitch up to this point off camera, then we might get the backstitching finished next time.

We had a thought for  next, but we are rethinking it just because we think we might stop with  the seasonal stitches and do something else. Then again until we start it who knows what we might do next.

Sunday stitching technical version

 well not for the stitching itself, but for the Sundaying part of it.

We are still challenged to get there in person, as are some others due to health issues. So an attempt was made to have the service also available via zoom.

Logging in worked fine, and the picture was good but there was something not quite right with the sound.

Perhaps it was too directional, none of the music was picked up and practically none of the singing. Just the occasional part word or sound.

It was sadly very frustrating, nothing I could do from the viewing side to fix it.

We even had difficulty hearing people who were using the microphone,

So we had to give up, it will be tried again hoping some changes can make it work out.

So shorter time equalled less stitching.

A bit of ear and a shade of pink.

A question of size.

 I know that most people have one hand slightly larger then the other.  Sometimes it is the dominant hand, which is the case for me,

But this needle felting is taking it to extremes, I don't know why the right hand is just not compressing down. This is my second try,

I will work on it some more and hope there is some reduction. Its going to be the one used either way, I have added the sleeve colour now so  whatever stage it gets to , it is getting used!

BFF SAL 21 feeling dotty

 if you have visited my blog recently you know I have been doing a complicated design with confetti, lots of blue dotting about.

So it was nice to be stitching something other than blue.

However, the greens also dotted about and felt more irritating here than in the blue.

The first green went in as a single strand by mistake, or perhaps habit. Once I realised the mistake I left it for the green I made the mistake with.

Still some cross stitches to go and the backstitching that will make all of the difference.

Pop over to my BFF's blog, there is a link in the blog list to the right and see how her stitching is going.

There is going to be

 a lot of hunting Ninja stitches on this I can tell.

I have indulged myself with another bit of the knot work, which is very soothingly in the one shade, as I have made steady progress on the dragon.

 

It is very satisfying when a ninja is found and eliminated.

Even better if like pulling up buttercup plants, one leads to another.

And a link to a piece of music interpreted by the Leader of FORESTELLA . 

It felt appropriate. 

Sunday Stitching

 well it was done on a Sunday, just not one at church. That is still a bit hit and miss between health and transport.

We watched the Remembrance Sunday Service and parade at the Cenotaph on the TV and I only stitched in poppy colours of red and black.

 

which had a rather interesting result.

Hands

 are never easy.

Felt hands certainly are not. I had the two hands done with the core wool, then I started adding the skin tone on the right hand (which is the one on the left in the picture of course) and it went wrong.

the reasonable hand shape went all mitten on me and then it just kept getting bigger. Which is odd. I had not added more wool to it but instead of getting tighter and smaller it just felt looser. I am going to have to start that hand /arm again and be more careful with the left hand when I get that far!

No BFF anything

this evening as the lurgy has found its way to my BFF's home.

So out with the mini harpoons once more (there has been a bit of work since last I shared this. However there is still quite a long way to go.

 

Much more shading and stabby stabby with little harpoons.

I know one thing this is not a mobile hobby.

Blue

 many stitches in many shades of blue.

With the occasional touch of gold knot

Both feel reflective and appropriate just now.

Congratulations

 to my BFF on her new job. Gave me something else to try my metallic paints on.

A little card for the occasion.

As for the fist time in over 35 years we won't be working for the same employer, yet we sort of still will be?

The Frogs and Toads are a running joke since her OU days.

Halloween and a pumpkin

 

This is on black paper, with metallic watercolours. 

It has a look of a chalk painting here.

I am having fun with these little pictures with metallic paint.

I'd not thought of adding paintings into the blog before this. 

Possibly as these little paintings are for adding to other things  that I thought of it at this time. The pumpkin went onto note paper for a letter to my pen pal for instance.

Maybe, as I come across them I might share some previous paintings, and perhaps I might get back into doing some on occasion just because? Because I have paint and brushes and well why not.

I don't have a pumpkin song link so the song from Ghost in the shell it is. And because I am drawn to it even when some of the blending sounds are not my usual thing still I delight in them.

If you would rather have cross-stitches on a Halloween theme, you can search using the Halloween label or the search bar. There are some pumpkins!

BFF RAL after all

prewarned that Roni's ta da stitching finish needed more time for a fully finish so we might RAL not SAL. I hunted out my wire, plyers and a long waiting project.

And little harpoon and stabby stabby needle felting commenced.

and there was chatting and laughing and the very odd but satisfying sound of the needle felting.

As I was in full on stabby mode when Roni finished her "TaDA" we did not switch to the SAL, which had been the original intention, I kept on with the stabby stabby, thank goodness for leather finger protectors, and Roni picked up a "something different" project of her own.

Not sure when she will post an update, she is busy busy but here is a link to her blog for when she does.

Click HERE

 

Sometimes

 I need an easy stitch when things are not going quite how I would like them to do in my life beyond the crafts. And sometimes I need something so complicated and bitty it can help to shut out all the argh and negative thoughts trying to take over.

In this instance I am going for the latter.

The dragon begins to take shape

I need to go back to the neck ninjas and not get too drawn into the wing, after all I am approaching the area that was the starting point of my first attempt (the one I had to pick out).

Tomorrow we will be back to the SAL as Roni has had a Ta Da finish with her time sensitive project. 

 

BFF RAL

 Roni had a time sensitive project to work on so we went back to RAL for this week.

So I kept working on the dragon.  There is not a lot of progress from the previous update.

Some ninjas, some extension stitches.

However as it has been a busy and stressful week these stitches are a win for me.

I am putting the Link To Roni's blog but I am not sure if she will update as her stitching is gift bound.

Here I go again

 doing what you may ask! Starting my one over one, close shades and lots of confetti project.

On a new piece of fabric and starting in a different place as from the middle was not being helpful. And this time I will try not to be drawn into following tempting swathes of a colour cross country which may well have resulted in my inability to count.

The section of knot all in the same thread was wonderfully soothing.

Hopefully it will go better this time. and in and moments of frustration well I can just take a break and keep at unpicking the last attempt, I am almost done. I knew if I had to wait till that was done to restart I quite likely never would. 

For Hanbok Day 21 October

The World of Cross Stitch magazine has a design request section, I have never made a request for a particular design myself. However, I have found the small designs that have resulted from other peoples requests to be quite useful.

In the delightfully titled Wishes Granted section of the March 2025 edition a request was made for something in the traditional Korean clothing. Hanbok and the result was a petite design of a lady in Hanbok.

For some years, indeed so many I can't recall the exact number I have had a small snatch of material, possibly a curtain sample. A light mushroom pink with darker and lighter leaves on it. I always had in mind that it would be good for an Asian themed embroidery or cross stitch. The issue was one of size and coverage. It is a small bit of material and I wanted to utilise the pattern on it within the finished piece.

So it has waited and waited and then with this little lady the wait was over. .

The figure is stitched one over two, the red Chima (that's the skirt) follows the original pattern whilst the Jeogori (ribboned jacket) was originally a brighter blue and I used softer shades with a slight sheen. In retrospect that was perhaps too subtle and I should have used something brighter, or maybe not? I waver between liking the subtlety against the material and wishing I'd use the blue which would pick up the blue tones in the other pieces that it hangs amongst on my wall.

Offsetting the figure to one side at the bottom edge left the majority of the leaves in the pattern uncovered .

Whilst I was pleased with how the figure came out The piece itself somehow felt incomplete.

The solution to what was missing was made itself known when ,as I was listening to a favourite piece of music, Hijo de la Luna by Forestella. What was missing was the moon. She was looking at the moon. I could stitch a moon that sat behind the leaves and the picture would become a story. (there is a link to  recorded versions of the song at the end of this post)

The moon is mainly one over one, with a few half stitches, a few compressed stitches in both the vertical and horizontal to give the moon a subtle texture. I am pleased with the overall result.

The gold frame has a slightly aged look with little flecks of red visible which work well with the red in the figures clothing. Its slightly distressed corner also fits in with the pieces vibe and it goes well with the Celtic Knot Tree which has a similar vibe and of course la-sacpigliata both of which it will hang with.

I finished it back in April but I have waited until today to post it having found that there is a particular day of the year on which the traditional Korean dress is celebrated.

I am English, and we don't have a traditional dress. There are some more iconic outfits from particular periods, or occupations, like the Beefeaters from the Tower of London who still use the Tudor period uniform, or Morris Dancers, or even bowler hats and umbrellas. However, we do not have the one thing that you could consider a traditional dress. Bit sad that. The other three nations that make up the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland well they do, nice but not much help for me.

Oh, I sent the picture into the WOX and it was published.  

And of course it has to have a Forestella link and well it has to be for the song that inspired the addition of the moon. So here it is as promised. Well choosing one version was difficult so here are several.

I did say it is one of my favourites, but then most of what this group sing is a favourite piece of music so perhaps I should call it a favourite favourite! 

.

BFF SAL upside down

 yet still correct, amazing!

I completed the dark yellow with added gold filament ( I have a little bit of gold filament to use up) in my 15 mins off screen time.

So tonight I was starting with the mid gold. (also with filament, I have a little to use up you know) and with the bell at the bottom right. Yet somehow I managed to turn the piece upside down and was actually stitching on the upper left bell. And yet, well it was still in the right place within the bell when I turned it the right way up..

I think I have all of the colours in so just lots of green to do now and the backstitch of course.

Click HERE to pop over to see how my BFF is getting on

The problem with counted cross stitch

 is counting.

And the times apparently I cant count.

Things were going quite well with this, three projects that have been going for between 1 and 17 years all finished and all the threads and material to hand for a new start.

And then ah there is something out with the count. It will be just the one stitch that is in the wrong place but all its friends around it well they will have followed along.

So, it needs a good hard stare so I can see where that miscount occurred and just how much is going to have to come out. And unpicking when you are stitching over one takes more time to ensure the material stays intact.

ah well these things happen!

update, I think I may just have to start again..hmmm as the where is not becoming apparent and much as is done fighting to see what is wrong and what is right may take more effort and consume time than just starting again.

Conference stitching October 2025

 usually this would be stitching on Millennium, guaranteeing it at least two outings a year to be worked on.

However, as my newer project is one over one (and I had just realised there is a miscount) and I am still on the one over one on Millennium I was not feeling it at all.

So Sunday stitching (which due to various factors meaning we have not been getting to church) has not been worked on for some time got a little work on it.

Not a lot, some purple fill and some black which should (if in this instance I have managed to count correctly) will give me lots of jumping off places.

The oddity of visitor numbers and the question of real people rather than some AI glitch raised its head last month. As there was a sudden spike in numbers which dropped as soon as October came along back to more normal levels.  In September 2025 I had 103,433 views. Given the total views I have had since 2013 when I started this blog is 675,972 you can see why I might wonder what was going on.

Much as I would like to think there was a sudden interest by real people realistically some random glitch in code has to be responsible, oh and of those 103,433 views there were four comments from three people , hooray and thank you.  

A journey to the loft

 because of some pink material left over from backing A Stitch for Grace made me think of the pink squares for sun bonnet Sue. And just how long it had been since I made any.

So the pattern, well that was downstairs in an envelope.

Finished Sues had been popped into the loft out of the way at some point and never been un-popped since.

But trips to the loft for one thing don't always result in that thing, or not perhaps in just that thing.

In this instance I did find the Sun Bonnet Sue's (and the pattern which I thought was downstairs and which at some point I must have moved!) and the bag of bits, and totally forgotten about  several pre-cut base squares, so the material I was intending to use is just not needed.

I brought them down.

They were in my bag from the pair of bags an earlier trip to the loft had inspired back in 2020! Funnily enough I had just been wondering what I had done with / used this bag for.

It also contained a previously started as DISTRACTION from sizing up the Sampler Quilt and had then been relegated to "a bag" (anyone else hearing that as the line from The Importance of being Ernest? No? Just me then.) for later action.

And having brought them down, did I immediately make a start on any of them? That would be a no!

They have become another project waiting in a bag and I will need to get skirt bits cut out ready for the next time I have the sewing machine out.

That may be some time as I appear to be in a cross stitch and painting mode at the moment.

..

BFF SAL 21 filling up

 the ears.

Needed something relaxing to do with my hands whilst chatting with my friend.

My picture is a bit blurry. Feels reflective of my evening.

Click Here to see how my friends evening went.

A Beginning

This is the project I have been wanting to start, the project I checked my thread box for and was surprised that I had none of the threads already, oddly I had the numbers either side of the ones needed for the project but none of the threads. So I ordered them all and planned to finish off a lingering project (seasonal and for later) and it needed some blending filament, I went to get that, I keep in in a separate little box. And next to it is another little box that gets used randomly. In this case to hold all of the bobinanted threads I had pulled from my main thread storage ready to do this project! Ah, that would be why they were all missing when I went looking for them. I had done it already and completely forgotten about it. I guess I won't be worrying about running out of thread at least.

So the pattern is on 14 count two over two and I am stitching it on 28 count, one over one.

There are no fractional stitches so that should not be a problem.

The original is on white but I want this piece to work alongside some others on my wall and so the goldish beige is a better choice and it is nice to use some of the stash. 

Well this is newer stash I bought from a nice lady on Facebook.

A little something different

 and fun.

I bought some metallic watercolour paints. Whilst I do occasionally paint I am not that good at it, and certainly not with water colours but sometimes I see a pretty looking craft item and well..

So with low expectations I drew out a couple of dragons ( what else, well there was else but I might share them later) and gave it a go.

I like them, I like the way they look on the black and I like knowing that them drying out is not an issue as is the case with my acrylic metallics.

If you have been visiting me for some time you will have seen these dragon designs before.

Celtic Knot Dragon

The sheen only shows a little bit on the picture compared to reality.

It was fun, so I tried something seasonal, for sharing later and am already thinking about what else I can paint to try the other colours. 

A Finish !

 Flowers of the Month Picture is done, well the stitching is done.

Ta Da!

The finished size is 14" by 18" (the kit suggests the matted size would be 18" by 22") it may wait awhile to be finally finished.

I did consider adding some little green beads as I have a tube of them but I have held off, impressed with myself.

The musical link is a little different due to the events of the weekend past. To everything there is a season.

The Double Guilt within the Satisfaction

As I work on this long-paused project, I’m struck by a double layer of guilt — the kind that comes from not working on other projects that are also waiting. Why double? Because this one involves both cross stitch (Millennium Comet and Earth) and embroidery (Hark the Herald Angels), meaning two beloved pieces are being side lined. I genuinely want to finish them; they have a place, a purpose, a future. Yet here I am, stubbornly pushing through a project I haven’t been enjoying much, and honestly, I’ve no idea what I’ll even do with it once it’s done.

However, I know that once it is done there will be satisfaction at finally getting it finished. I have even started thinking of a little Deborization on the project (So far I am resisting that).

The stitching on the last empty month finished it was time to turn back to the edge where many a lazy daisy stitch was required.

As I worked them I realised there were places that the stalks for the lazy daisy leaves were not all there. I had missed a few. In going to add them I recalled I made an error when doing the stems in the first place, using the wrong colour. Fortunately I had some of that thread left. 

I kept sewing longer than I should thinking to finish this section and just have the names of the months left to do. With a contented sigh I put the threads away and took a picture.

Ah! still missed one! Can you see where it should go?

It will just have to wait till the next outing to get done. I have put the needle in the spot as a reminder so as not to get excited by how near to completion this is and going directly to the lettering.

As for the Forestella link well this is a long one as a compilation.  I wonder if the popularity of  the Netflix K-Pop Demon Hunters will inadvertently lead to more people finding  them through the auspices of AI algorithms. I however don't have that particular subscription so have not seen that animation.

BFF SAL 21 a seasonal stitch

 as oft is the case my BFF and I started in the same place and with the same colour and diverged.

and this is where I got up to. 

I expect my BFF's post on the pattern will be a bit easier to see what is is.

Click Here to see my BFF's progress.

It was nice to be back with a SAL, but I think I will keep plugging away at that other project anyway so watch out for updates.

What Knots

 well they are knots of some sort, I did not follow the directions this time. I tried something a little different that felt more logical to me. Although I will note that the instructions on the pattern are the correct ones. Its just me not getting on with them yet. 

To be honest I don't think it worked better than the set method however, nor do I think they were worse.

Either way they are done, and unless there manages to be a ninja Bullion Knot then they are all done with.

There are I think two  French Knot s left, on satin stitched berries, so next is the currently empty square that is for October. July and August are now done.

And a Forestella link,  well mainly because it is the piece I was listening to as I drafted this post and as it is also a season.

BFF RAL after all

 I was all set to put the project with many an odd stitch and very maddening pattern away for the BFF and start a new SAL.

However, that was not to be, Rudolph was not quite ready so neither was Roni.

So, I thought I was done with June and July only to realise June had over 30 lazy daisies to do and July, oh July has over 30 bouillon knots.

This evening June got the daisy stitches (and yes that particular perfume advert did earworm us a bit, Roni more than me but still. Then I moved onto some stem stitch and more daisy in August.

yes August, and the poppies

but what about July, and whatever those yellow flowers are supposed to be ?

Well I could rationalise that I was in the swing with the stem stitching a daisy stitches, I could but that was not the reason My Stitching Brain having been promised a nice new start of proper cross stitching was already in a bit of a sulk at having to do this project instead was certainly not going to put up with having to do Knots.

This is the current position. With work still to be done on July and August. September is done however, October is completely blank at the moment and November need veins on the leaves.

All the months need their names and there are more lazy daisy stitches than I wish to contemplate and channelling Han Solo "don't tell me the numbers" there or the chances of them being done any time soon diminish. I should not have counted the number of knots required in July and will have to work on forgetting I did so I can sew them!

Still it has been some reasonably constant progress.

I looked the pattern up, well the kit, it came as a kit and you can buy the kit on E-Bay if you felt a strong desire to suffer experience the pattern for yourself!

I have some hopes that these threads, sorted ready might get put to use next week and  SAL 20 start , but we shall have to wait and see as Roni may explain on her blog of this evenings delights

Click HERE to see what Roni has to tell about the evenings goings on.

now normally this would be a Forestella link but this tune was playing in my mind about our SAL's and RAL's so her it is.