Smalls SAL - February, 2022

 

The Smalls SAL happens on the last Friday of the month and is hosted by Mary of Mary's Thread. This SAL is for posting any projects that we consider small in size.  You can click on the link to see more information and other Smalls Posts for this month.

So far, everything I've stitched this year could be considered a Small so here is my stitching for the month. I consider anything where H * W <= 5,000 to be a small; anything where H * W <= 2,500 is considered tiny.

My Smalls for this month include:

Love Letter Outline - Daily Cross Stitch

Shepherd #1 - Durene Jones

Bunny #2 - Palko Lap

Mine! - Brittercup Designs

Mitten Mouse - Lucie Heaton

Reindeer - Rhona Norrie

Santa Panda - Creatively Crafting

Happy Dance - Mine!

 

 

Started: 2/14/2022

Finished: 2/22/2022

Total Stitching Time: 8 hours and 54 minutes

Mine! was designed by Brittercup Designs and was published in the July/August 2010 issue of Just Cross Stitch Magazine.

It's mostly stitched as charted with the called for DMC on 14-count Fiddlers Lite Oatmeal Aida.  The only change I made was the backstitch the candy cane with black floss to make it more visible.

I haven't decided for sure yet, but this will probably be going to the Ronald McDonald House once it's made into an ornament.

 

Finished Quilts

Last year, I donated twelve squares for two different quilts to World of Charity Stitching.  They've now been made into quilts to be donated to senior care homes in either Florida or Arizona.

First is the Owls Quilt made of squares from Leslie Teare's free Owls SAL on Facebook.

The second quilt is made up of the monthly female Furry Tales pieces.

I'm sorry the pictures aren't better as I pulled them off their webpage, but you can see the individual squares in my blog.  Use the Labels: Furry Tales & Owl SAL.

Gifted Gorgeousness - February, 2022

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

Every project this past month has been a gift or charity stitch.  First off are the four ornaments I've stitched for the Ronald McDonald House this month.

Gingerbread Lad - Mill Hill

Mitten Mouse - Lucie Heaton

Reindeer - Rhona Norrie

Stitchmas Santa Panda - Creatively Crafting

 Next is Cat, a birthday present for my granddaughter.

Cat - DMC Kit

The Red Shepherd is part of a Nativity grouping that will be going to the DCE at our church later in the year.

Red Shepherd - Durene Jones

Love Letter Outline will be going to Canada Stitches Work Group later this week along with three other squares stitched earlier where they will be made into quilts for the Ronald McDonald House in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Love Letter Outline - Daily Cross Stitch

Finally, the Bunny will be going to Quilts for Older Children and Adults to be made into a quilt for Cobys in Leola, PA.

Bunny #2 - Designer unknown

Happy Dance - Love Letter Outline

 Started: 2/1/2022

Finished: 2/3/2022

Total Stitching Time: 8 hours and 17 minutes

This project is from Daily Cross Stitch and is called Love Letter Outline on the website.

It's stitched as charted on 14-count white Aida, but I changed all of the DMC floss colors used to ones I liked better.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet as it's a little big for a card.

This isn't being posted until now, because I stitched it for my Secret Stitching Sweetheart which wasn't revealed until Valentines Day. 

Happy Dance - Mitten Mouse

 

 

Started: 2/7/2022

Finished: 2/14/2022

Total Stitching Time: 11 hours and 34 minutes

Mitten Mouse is another Furry Tales design by Lucie Heaton, found in the World of Cross Stitching #301.  You'll notice the mouse's coloring is different from my earlier mice.  That's because this is Flossie Mouse, a newish addition to the Furry Tales Line.  

She's stitched as charted with the called for DMC on light pink Aida.

She will be made into a pillow ornament and given to the Ronald McDonald House in Orange, CA at Christmastime.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

 Happy Valentines Day!

Jo has again come through with another fun Blog Hop.  This time each participant emailed her a Valentine stitch.  In return, she emailed us each a different Valentine, but didn't tell us who had stitched it.  For more information and to see a list of participants, check out Jo's Blog.  

This is the valentine I received.  Did you send it?

 

Fully Finished Gallery SAL - February

 It's time again for the Fully Finished Gallery SAL which 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.  

I only managed to fully finish three ornaments this month and they'll all be going to the Ronald McDonald House in Orange, CA.

First up this month is the Gingerbread Lad, another Mill Hill kit that's all beads.  The kit called for a hanger of green beads so that's what I did and this time added a backing of red felt.

My second FFO, but not my second finish, is the Stitchmas Santa Panda.  I trimmed it and added a gold ribbon hanger and a dark green backing.  I was originally going to use red felt, but it seemed like too much red, so I went with the dark green instead.

My third FFO is the Reindeer from Rhona Norrie.    I gave it a gold ribbon hanger and two layers of felt, one brown to match his antlers and one red to match his nose!

These have all been finished for a few days now, but this morning I found a drawer full of small frames that I'd forgotten I had so there will be some different types of finishes for the really small ornaments like the Santa Panda and the Reindeer.

I know I had resolved to fully finish  my finishes as I finished stitching them this year and while I'm not unhappy about it, I do have two more finished projects that do need fully finishing.  One is the Wreath Mouse that is waiting for me to be able to get to my ironing board (long story).  The other is the blue Cat that I can't find the blue paint to paint the frame with.  A visit to Michael's will be happening soon.

Two More Happy Dances

 

 

Started: 2/4/2022

Finished: 2/5/2022

Total Stitching Time: 3 hours and 31 minutes

The chart for the Bunny was provided by the owner of Quilts for Older Children and Adults (Q4OC) so I don't have any information about the designer, but it's the second bunny in a set of four. 

It's stitched as charted on 14-count white Aida with DMC Variations #4227 and DMC 3765.

It will go back to Q4OC as it's part of the 2022 Stitcher's Challenge and will eventually be sent to Cobys in Leola, PA

Started: 2/5/2022

Finished: 2/6/2022

Total Stitching Time: 3 hours and 50 minutes

This Reindeer was designed by Rhona Norrie and is available on her website as part of Tangled Threads "A Year of Christmas Stitching" SAL.

It's stitched as charted on a scrap of white perforated paper with the called for DMC floss.

It will be made into an ornament and sent to the Ronald McDonald House in Orange, CA for distribution at Christmas.

Stitching Recap - January, 2022

January has been my best month for stitching in almost a year, even better than this past December  I worked on eight projects, six were new starts and two were WIPs from last year.  All eight were finished.

First the finishes:

Bee Line Heart - Daily Cross Stitch

Cat - DMC Kit

Monarch Butterfly - Unknown Designer

 ---

Gingerbread Lad - Mill Hill

Santa Panda - Creatively Crafting

Wreath Mouse - Lucie Heaton

 The two WIPs that I finished were: 

Red Shepherd - Durene Jones (started in November, 2021)

Cat in Hat - Lucie Heaton (started in December, 2021)

February Plans

I had no projects to carry over from January so my list of to be stitched projects for February is as follows.  It's a generous list, but several of the projects shouldn't take more than a few days.

Love Letter Outline

Bunny 

Rudolph

Mitten Mouse

Mine!

Wise Man #1

 

Statistics:

Days Stitched This Month = 31 

Days Stitched This Year  = 31 (possible = 31)

Total Hours Stitched This Month = 72 hours and 27 minutes

Total Hours Stitched This Year = 72 hours and 27 minutes

Number of Projects Worked on This Month = 8
Number of Unique Projects Worked on This Year = 8

Number of Projects Started This Month = 6

Number of Projects Started This Year = 6
Number of Projects Finished This Month = 8

Number of Projects Finished This Year =8