Happy Dance - Rainbow Dash

 

 

 Started: 8/3/2020

Finished: 8/10/2020

Stitching Time: 8 hours 14 minutes

The chart for this My Little Pony was provided by the owner of Quilts for Older Children and Adults and is stitched on white 14-count Aida as charted with the called for DMC floss.  It's for a lap quilt to be made by the group, but I don't know its final destination.

 

 

 

Happy Dance - Crimson Cardinal

 

 

Started: 5/8/2020

Finished: 8/6/2020

Stitching Time: 12 hours 36 minutes

 

This is part of the beaded Holiday Collection and is stitched as charted with the materials in the kit.   It will be made into an ornament to hang on my tree.

 

Weekly Update - 8/6/2020

 The weeks seem to go by so fast lately, it seems as if I just did an update and it's time for another one.

The Peppermint Purple SAL is currently on week 32.  I stitched this one using DMC Variations 4245 and it took 44 minutes.

 

 

Tinkerbell is my project for stitching at least 30 minutes a day and I've been keeping up with that without and problems.

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

As of 8/6/2020 after an additional 5 hours 16 minutes

Happy Dance - October Owl

Started: 7/18/2020

Finished: 8/2/2020

Stitching Time: 12 hours 49 minutes

This is the 10th owl in the 2019 series of free charts from Leslie Teare on Facebook.  The SAL is no longer free, but you can purchase the charts from her website.

It's stitched on Fiddlers Lite 14-count Aida as charted with the called for DMC.  Once all the owls are stitched, they will be sent to WOCS to be made into a quilt.

Next Up:  Rainbow Dash (My Little Pony)

July Recap

July 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 and my main focus project; this month it was the Ronald McDonald House Sampler.  I missed two nights on  October Owl and one on Tinkerbell.  This is usually when my stitching slows way down, so I'm happy with my progress.

I had seven finishes this month.

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

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

Love Coffee - Mill Hill

Pizza Slice - Mill Hill

September Owl - Leslie Teare

Picachu

Ronald McDonald House Sampler - Ursula Michael

I kept up with the Peppermint Purple SAL:

And I have three WIPs being carried over to August:

Crimson Cardinal - Mill Hill

September Owl - Leslie Teare

Tinkerbell

August 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 (Tinkerbell).  I'm also going to keep up with the Peppermint Purple SAL and my monthly Furry Tales project.  I hope to stitch another square for Q4OC, the November Owl and maybe a Christmas project.

Statistics:

Days Stitched This Month (at least 1/2 hour) = 30

Days Stitched This Year (at least 1/2 hour) = 179 (possible = 183)

Total Hours Stitched This Month = 75 hours and 37 minutes

Total Hours Stitched This Year = 428 hours and 39 minute

Number of Projects Worked on This Month = 12
Number of Unique Projects Worked on This Year = 64

Number of Projects Started This Month = 5

Number of Projects Started This Year = 63
Number of Projects Finished This Month = 7

Number of Projects Finished This Year = 36

Number of Projects Abandoned This Year = 1

July Activities/Pictures

July was a fairly quiet month.  I went to the grocery store, bank and drive up communion.  I also had a couple of medical appointments and we got takeout occasionally, but other than that, we've stayed home.

David's birthday was the 18th and Janice, Devin and Kyleigh came over with takeout from Famous Dave's, a favorite local barbecue place as a surprise for him.  Kyleigh received a perler bead kit from her mom for her birthday in March so she could make it for grandpa for his birthday.  BTW, he loved it.

Earlier in the month, Kyleigh attended a virtual Girl Scout Camp.  The theme was arts and crafts and they gave her a box with all the materials needed.  They made crafts, sang songs and did other fun activities and Kyleigh had a really fun time.  These are the crafts she made.  The item on the top left is a bandana and the one on the right is a t-shirt bag for carrying her sleeping bag.

She also made a chalk art heart on the sidewalk in front of her condo

and a vision board.  Instead of doing it on paper, Janice had her do it on the computer.  She's going to Disney World in May with her dad's family and that's the subject of the board.

Taz sometimes sits beside me while I stitch and usually sits on my scissors or something I need.  One night, he decided to move over to my lap.  (He likes to be close to people.)

Finally, Kyleigh had her Pom banquet last week and Janice sent me a picture of her receiving an award for "Best Performance" for the way she is always smiling during the performances now and goes full out.  She'd expected to win the one for "Most Improved" though.  She starts POM camp next week and there's a chance she may be the team captain this year.

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