Smalls SAL - July, 2020

It's the last Friday of the month so it's time to post the small projects we've stitched during the month.  This SAL is hosted by Mary at Mary's Thread.  Thank you Mary for continuing to host this SAL.  You can click the link for more information and/or to see what small projects others are stitching.

I finished five smalls this month and there are a couple more in process which I'll share next month.

USA Mouse - Lucie Heaton (World of Cross Stitching #269)

William's Winter Stocking Cap - Carolyn  Manning (2018 JCS Ornament Issue)

Love Coffee - Mill Hill I Love Charmed Ornament Collection

Pizza Slice - Mill Hill Autumn Harvest Collection

September Owl - Leslie Teare

Weekly Update - 7/31/2020

This week I stitched Week 31 of the Peppermint Purple SAL using DMC 602.  It took 1 hour 8 minutes to stitch the double square.

Once I'd finished the Ronald McDonald House Sampler, I spun the Decision Wheel and it determined that my next "large" project should be Tinkerbell.

As of 5/28/2019 (hours not counted)

As of 7/31/2020 after an additional 58 minutes

Happy Dance - Ronald McDonald House Sampler

Started: 7/4/2020

Finished: 7/29/2020

Stitching Time: 18 hours 36 minutes

This Ronald McDonald House Sampler was designed by Ursula Michael for the Ronald McDonald House SAL group on Facebook.  The purpose of the group is to stitch a sampler for each Ronald McDonald House or Family Room in existence around the world.  This one will be going to the CHOC Family Room in Orange, CA.

It's stitched on white 14-count Aida as charted with the called for DMC.  I have emailed the director to see if she wants it personalized, but the Family Room is currently closed because of COVID-19 so it may be awhile before I can get that information.  How to deliver it is another question.

Up Next: Tinkerbell

WIPacolypse - July 2020

The last Sunday of the month is the posting date for  the WIPacolypse SAL where we post what we're doing to finish all of our WIPs by the end of the world. This SAL is hosted by Measi at Measi's Musings   Click on the link for more information.

The last Saturday came early this month so it was kind of a surprise.

In my introduction post, I set some goals for this year.

1) Stitch Deer Scene from Dimensions - No progress

2) Finish Let's Learn from Out Cat - Finished in February

3) Finish Big Trees - No progress

4) Finish Advent Animals by Brooke's Books - No progress

5) Finish Tinkerbell - No progress

6) Finish Leslie Teare's 2019 Owl SAL - Finished August in February and September this month; October is now close to a finish.

7) Complete the Peppermint Purple Year Long SAL on Facebook.  So far, so good - Weeks 27 through 30 are now complete.  Week 31 comes out on Wednesday.

8) Complete the 2020 Stitcher's Challenge on Q4OC (Quilts for Older Children and Adults). -  Finished the Royals in May and Picachu this month.

9) Stitch 12 Furry Tales Female Mice to be sent to WOCS for a quilt.  January through June were stitched previously.  July was stitched this month.

10) (Added in June) Finish as many Mill Hill kits started for Stitch Maynia as possible, working on them for at least 30 minutes per day - Two were completed last month. Pizza Slice and Love Coffee were completed this month, Father Frost was abandoned when I realized that I'd already stitched it once and didn't have enough beads to complete a second time and Crimson Cardinal is in process.

11) (Added in June, but should have been on the original list) Stitch and finish Ronald McDonald House SAL which needs to be completed by the end of the year - This was my large project for July and is currently in process.

Question of the Month: What new charts or designers are catching your eye this year?

I've added an additional designer to my favorites this year although she's not new. Rhona Norrie has been designing for the UK Cross Stitch Magazines for awhile now and her blog has had several free charts recently, Tangled Threads

I've also discovered a love of blackwork, especially that of Peppermint Purple.  I recently purchased her United States Map and am hoping to purchase her new design, a jigsaw puzzle.United States Map

Jigsaw Puzzle

Weekly Update - 7/24/2020

My update is late this week, because I couldn't find the color I was supposed to use for this week's Peppermint Purple SAL.  I had recorded it as 4090 and that turned out to be a yellowish thread.  I also did not have the floss in my SAL bag.  After looking all over the place, I decided to try to match it to a non-variations floss which I did last night.  It's not perfect, but it's close.

I stitched on Week 30 of the SAL for 1 hour 10 minutes using DMC 3810.

 

The Ronald McDonald House Sampler is continuing to grow and should be finished soon.

As of 7/16/2020 after 9 hours 12 minutes

As of 7/24/2020 after 14 hours 47 minutes

 

Oops!

One of my Mill Hill Maynia Starts was Father Frost from the Santa Faces Collection #2.  I stitched on it for one day in May and then took it out to work on last week.

At that time I wondered why I was missing some of the floss, beads and the charm.    Since I had replacement beads and floss in my stash, I spent a little over three hours working on it in July.  It finally occurred to me that even though I didn't remember stitching it before, I probably had, so I checked my Christmas ornament drawer and there it was.  I guess it got mixed in with my to-be-stitched kits instead of the already stitched ones.  I checked my photos and it had to have been stitched prior to 2014 so I guess I can forgive myself for forgetting.

However,  I've decided not to complete it a second time and instead choose another Mill Hill kit.

Up Next: Crimson Cardinal

Happy Dance - William's Winter Stocking Cap

Started: 7/7/2020

Finished: 7/17/2020

Stitching Time: 8 hours 21 minutes

William's Winter Stocking Cap was designed by Carolyn Manning and came from the 2018 JCS Ornament Issue.

It's stitched on light blue Aida pretty much as charted with the called for DMC.  The only changes I made were to substitute white floss for the beads and outline the pompom on his cap.

I've already done the one from the 2019 JCS Ornament Issue and I know there's going to be another in the 2020 issue, so I'm going to do that one too, and make them into a wall hanging.

Next Up: October Owl

Weekly Update - 7/16/2020

Peppermint Purple SAL

Week 29 was stitched with the darker parts of DMC 90 and took 46 minutes to stitch.

Ronald McDonald House Sampler

As of 7/9/2020 after 4 hours 21 minutes

As of 7/16/2020 after 9 hours 12 minutes

Happy Dance - Love Coffee

Started: 5/11/2020

Continued Start: 7/6/2020

Finished: 7/15/2020

Stitching Time: 6 hours 53 minutes

Love Coffee is a Mill Hill I Love Charmed Ornament kit and was one of my Mill Hill Maynia starts.  

It was stitched with the materials in the kit as charted except that I only used two strands of floss for the cross stitching.

This will be finished as a magnet and given to my daughter's best friend to thank her for her helpfulness over the past few months.

Gifted Gorgeousness - July, 2020

The fifteenth of each month is when we post items that relate to gifts, either some part of the item was received as a gift or the item is being given as a gift.  This is another brainchild of the fabulous Jo at Serendipitous Stitching   You can click the link to get more information and/or to see what others are posting.

I managed to finish several items this month, all of which will be going to groups making quilts for people with devastating illnesses.

First up is Picachu which will be going to Q4OC (Quilts for Older Children and Adults) and eventually will be included in a quilt at Love Quilts Brazil.

The second finish is the September Owl which will be going with the other 12 owls when completed to WOCS (World of Charity Stitching). 

The final finish this month was the Furry Tales USA Mouse which will also be going to WOCS when the rest of the squares have been completed.

I'm also currently working on two additional projects.  The first is Love Coffee from Mill Hill which will be going to a friend of my daughter who has been very helpful to my daughter (and me) over the past few months.

The other project I've been working on is the sampler for the Ronald McDonald House Family Room at CHOC Hospital.

Weekly Update - 07/10/2020

Peppermint Purple SAL

Week 28 of the SAL was double sized, but still fairly easy.  It's stitched with DMC 721 and took 1 hour 21 minutes over two nights.

Ronald McDonald House Sampler

After finishing Picachu, I put all my goal projects requiring my floor stand on a decision wheel and it came up with this one. It was designed by Ursula Michael and is stitched on white Aida with three colors of DMC, two strands for all cross stitching and backstitching.  And yes, I'm using the dreaded yellow again!

As of 7/9/2020 after 4 hours 21 minutes

If you've followed my blog for awhile, you know that I volunteered at a Ronald McDonald House up until the Corona Virus put a stop to that.  In 2018 I stitched this for one of the associated Family Rooms.  The person who was originally signed up to stitch one tor the other Family Room backed out, so I agreed to do this one, too. 

If you're interested in stitching one of these samplers, there's a Ronald McDonald House SAL group on Facebook and the goal is to have one made for all of the houses in the US by the end of the year.

Fully Finished Gallery - July, 2020

The Fully Finished Gallery SAL was created by Rachel at Ten Hour Stitcher to encourage us to fully finish our projects instead of just storing them in a drawer or box rarely to be seen again.  Click on the link to see more details and what other stitchers have posted.  Thank you Rachel for encouraging us to finish our unfinished projects.

I only fully finished three projects this month and all of them were recent finishes.  I did go through a couple of my drawers and do some sorting and deciding on how and which ones to finish next though.

First up is Egg-ceptional.  I added a pink felt backing and made a magnet to go on the back and it's now on my refrigerator.

Next was Pizza Slice which got a brownish felt backing and another magnet.  It's also on my refrigerator.

Finally, I pulled out Trimming the Tree which I stitched a couple of months ago.  The going through and sorting above took place because I was looking for the other Blue Ribbon Designs project so that I could finish it the same way.  I backed this one with a white 3x5 card and then attached it to some green felt and added a red ribbon hanger to make an ornament.  It's in my drawer of finished Christmas ornaments waiting for the tree to be put up in December.

Happy Dance - USA Mouse

Started: 7/1/2020

Finished: 7/7/2020

Stitching Time: 7 hours 44 minutes

This is another Furry Tales Mouse designed by Lucie Heaton and found in World of Cross Stitching #269.  It's stitched as charted on white 14-count Aida with the called for DMC.  Again, the frog visited and it took quite a bit of time to stitch her skirt.

The USA Mouse is the July mouse for my year long stitch of monthly themed Furry Tales and will be sent to WOCS (World of Charity Stitching) to be made into a quilt.

Next Up: William's Winter Stocking Cap

Happy Dance - Pizza Slice

Started: 5/22/2020

Finished: 7/5/2020

Stitching Time: 9 hours 9 minutes

Pizza Slice is from the Mill Hill Spring Bouquet Collection. 

It was stitched with the kit materials except that I only used two strands for the cross stitch and left off the charm. This was one of the most un-fun projects I've ever worked on and actually completed.  I used the wrong color twice and had to frog most of the pizza at least once.   Of course, the frog seems to have taken up residence at my house so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

This was one of my Mill Hill Stitch Maynia starts and the third one I've finished so far.  It will take up residence on my refrigerator once fully finished.

Next Up: Love Coffee

Happy Dance - Picachu

Started: 5/31/2020

Finished: 7/3/2020

Stitching Time: 19 hours 53 minutes

Picachu was stitched for the 2020 Stitcher's Challenge (Pokemon) on Q4OC (Quilts for Older Children and Adults) and was provided by the group's owner.  It is also a free download from my-cross-stitch-patterns.com.

It's stitched on 14-count white Aida as charted with the called for DMC floss.  It was also my 30 minute per night stitch for June and I managed to stitch at least 30 minutes a night for all but two nights and made up for that with some hour long nights later in the process.

It will be eventually be donated to Love Quilts Brazil.

Next Up: Ronald McDonald House SAL

Weekly Update - 7/2/2020

This week went really fast and I can't believe it's time for another update already.

Peppermint Purple

Week 27 is stitched with the dark parts of DMC 61 and took 31 minutes to stitch.

Picachu

As of 6/25/2020 after 14 hours and 8 minutes

As of 6/30/2020 after 17 hours 5 minutes

Happy Dance - September Owl

Started: 6/16/2020

Finished: 7/1/2020

Stitching Time: 13 hours 36 minutes

This is the 8th owl in the series from Leslie Teare's 2019 Facebook SAL.  

It's stitched on 14-count Fiddlers Lite Aida as charted with the called for DMC floss.

As with the other owls, it will be sent to World of Charity Stitching (WOCS) to be made into a quilt.

Next Up: USA Mouse

June Recap

June was a pretty good month, stitching wise although I didn't stitch on all my projects every night, but I did stitch for at least an hour all but one night.  I also continued stitching for at least 30 minutes on a Mill Hill Mania Project--I missed two nights on Pizza Slice--and at least 30 minutes on Picachu where I also missed two nights.

My finishes for this month were:

Egg-ceptional - Mill Hill

American Star - Mill Hill

Peppermint Pal - 2019 JCS Ornament Issue (Carolyn Manning Designs)

Holly Jolly Peppermint Wreath - 2019 JCS Ornament Issue (Luhu Stitches)

Mouse Bride - World of Cross Stitching #280 (Lucie Heaton)

I continued working on my Peppermint Purple Year Long SAL and have now finished 26 blocks and am at the halfway point.

I had three other projects that weren't finished at the end of the month:

September Owl as of 6/30/2020 - it just needs the outside border

Picachu as of 5/31/2020

As of 6/30/2020

Pizza Slice as of 5/31/2020

Pizza Slice as of 6/30/2020

July Plans
I'm going to continue to work at least 30 minutes a day on both a Mill Hill project and a larger project requiring my floor stand.  I'm also going to keep up with the Peppermint Purple SAL, my monthly Furry Tales project, a Christmas ornament and hopefully stitch the October Owl.
 

Statistics:

Days Stitched This Month (at least 1/2 hour) = 29

Days Stitched This Year (at least 1/2 hour) = 149 (possible = 152)

Total Hours Stitched This Month = 72 hours and 15 minutes

Total Hours Stitched This Year = 352 hours and 52 minute

Number of Projects Worked on This Month = 9
Number of Unique Projects Worked on This Year = 60

Number of Projects Started This Month = 5

Number of Projects Started This Year = 61
Number of Projects Finished This Month = 5 

Number of Projects Finished This Year = 27