The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 14

Welcome to the 14th and final part of the Summer Mystery SAL!! I hope you have had as much fun as I have! I also hope you are happy with the result of your efforts! I can't wait to see your final pictures - I'm so excited! I'll be back tomorrow with one more post with the pattern for the optional back and the final result of my version.

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 13

Welcome to the thirteenth part of the Summer Mystery SAL! Just one more part to go after today! Though there is as always another post at the end with the back pattern and my (hopefully fully finished) version. For now however you get to add a bunch more stitches to your own versions and hopefully you will be ready for tomorrow's final part!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 10 - Information Post

Hi and welcome to the tenth information post for a Mini Magical Mystery SAL! With lockdowns easing, but still enforced/sensible for many people I'm continuing with another mystery to keep you stitching! This pattern is the same size as the other nine and has 312 stitches total. This mystery will start the Monday after the current mystery ends: 3rd August.

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 12

Welcome to the twelfth part of the Summer Mystery SAL! I hope you had fun adding all that orange (or your chosen colour for colour B) yesterday... I certainly did! Today we are going for a bit less bright colour as we are mostly going to work with the dark green. But will it be in those central spaces?

A Blackwork Christmas - July

Welcome to the seventh edition of A Blackwork Christmas SAL! I'm running late today as I was happily chatting with my fiancé on Skype doing the finishing and I didn't realise the time - sorry to keep you waiting! On the plus side this month's stocking is fully finished!

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 11

Welcome to the eleventh part of the Summer Mystery SAL! After today's part there are just three more parts left! Can you guess what tomorrow will bring? Did you even guess what today's part brought? I hope you liked the POW that yesterday's part gave once all that yellow was added!

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 10

Welcome to the tenth part of the Summer Mystery SAL! Yesterday I was able to catch up on the mystery stitching - and I wasn't the only one who did some catch up on Sunday as the posts in the Facebook group showed! What fun to see so much progress! Of course it's only fair to show mine too...

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 9

Welcome to the ninth part of the Summer Mystery SAL! Today there is a picture but it's of part seven as I'm a day more behind than usual - I spent most of Saturday on the sofa because my rheumatism is playing up badly. Such as life as those of you with chronic conditions know... anyway towards the end of the day, just before writing this I managed to get the stitching done.

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 8

Welcome to the eighth part of the Summer Mystery SAL! Today there is no picture to show what I did yesterday as, other than the 1/8th part of the NFSAL, I wasn't up to stitching. Hopefully I will be able to stitch tomorrow and I'll be able to catch up again! For a bit more on topic information: When you have completed this part you will have stitched 900 stitches! There are just 724 stitches left for the next six parts.

NFSAL 2020 - July

Welcome to the seventh of this year's NFSAL posts! This month hasn't been much better than the last with time etc for stitching so I "cheated" and only did a section of the pattern - which is 1/8th of it. Not much but enough to show what each of the eight sections look like with the backstitching done.

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 7

Welcome to the seventh part of the Summer Mystery SAL! This post marks the halfway point of the SAL as the first week is over and there is just one week left! I hope you are enjoying the SAL so far and like what it looks like at this stage.

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 6

Welcome to the sixth part of the Summer Mystery SAL! We (well the lads with some supervision) did get most of the pond dug and sorted out but I had to change some plans as we were working due to my imagination making the area bigger than it actually is - also finding a drain pipe from the houses that were here before the current houses were built in the 90's slowed us down so hopefully things will be finished today.

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 5

Welcome to the fifth part of the Summer Mystery SAL! Today should be an exciting day for me - oldest and a friend will be digging a pond with a damp soil area around it in the garden next to the fence that was put in 2 years ago and got removed last year because the neighbours added an extension. The area was knee high in weeds and not nice to look at but what with one thing and another it wasn't easy getting to this point this year. In my dry soil making a damp soil area means putting pond liner under the soil to make it retain water better. The idea is to grow nice river bank type plants and create an area for birds and insects to drink/bath as well as have flowing water to help avoid standing water and mosquitoes. Fingers crossed the lads can get the groundwork done!

Easy Christmas Cards SAL - July

Welcome to the seventh part of the Easy Christmas Cards SAL! This month I pulled the bit of plastic Aida I have out and used a small bit of it to make the stitched part of this month's card. I also used some leftover threads from old kits I'd completed, a bit of paper from an old sketchbook and some leftover green card from some crafty project the kids did way back when.

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 4

Welcome to the fourth part of the Summer Mystery SAL! Yesterday's part will have stitched up faster than the two days before - and today's will be even faster as there are again fewer stitches and also not so many colour changes. It's been so much fun seeing the daily progress of the embroideries some of you are making - and the many different colours used are fun too! From soft on light fabric to bright on black fabric - so many options!

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 3

Welcome to the third part of the Summer Mystery SAL! I hope you saw my message in the Facebook group - if not or if you don't use Facebook it will be news to you that somehow the fourth green "moustache" shape of the part two pattern was missing from the PDF file. I'm not sure how as the pattern still had it in place and all I had to do was redo the pdf to make it show up again. I replaced the pattern immediately upon finding out. If your pattern shows four "moustache" shapes then you downloaded the pattern after the fix. If you only have three and you don't want to re-print it just start with that bit with today's pattern. I'm sorry for the inconvenience!

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 2

Welcome to the second part of the Summer Mystery SAL! I hope the many extra stitches of part one and this part will help you be set for the rest of the SAL - this time the stitches are less spread out with fewer colours so that makes it easier for you! It's been fun seeing the first few people showing their colours and stitching!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Final Post

Welcome back for the final post of the ninth Mini Magical Mystery SAL! It's very late - I'd managed to completely forget that I had to do more posts today after making sure the Summer Mystery SAL part one went up. It's probably because I'd normally do this post before the start of the new mystery and so once that is up I'm finished for the day. Sorry about being so late! I do hope you all had fun! I have loved seeing your stitching in the Facebook group!

The Summer Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 1

Welcome to the first part of the Summer Mystery SAL! This time it's very different from my usual standard sized mysteries as there are between 96 and 144 stitches per part and only one part a day instead of around 80 stitches per part every 4 hours.

35 x 35 for 2020 - July

Welcome to the seventh 35 x 35 for 2020! This month you get to choose how much - or little - straight stitch you add! There are three versions possible:

• No straight stitch at all
• A single line going all the way round
• Lots!

I'll show you photos of all three to help you choose which version you'd like to do. There are eight photos in this post - if you are low on data I suggest making sure you are on Wi-Fi first.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Part 12

Welcome back for day twelve of the ninth round of mystery stitching! This is also the final day of patterns for this SAL - I'll be back one more time to show what I have made tomorrow at the usual time. The next round of the Mini Magical Mystery is still to be announced - this will happen next week. First up is the Summer Magical Mystery SAL which starts two hours earlier than the post time for this SAL. Check the information post for a link to the countdown clock so you can see when it is for you without having to do a bunch of time zone maths first. I'm not sure about you but I need coffee in the morning to function and it's too early for anything complicated if I've not had any.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Part 11

Welcome back for day eleven of the ninth round of mystery stitching! If like me you feel it's too soon for it to be the penultimate part then I can't really blame you - two parts less feels like a LOT now I'm just about at that end point! I'll have to remind myself not to do this again if it can be avoided!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Part 10

Welcome back for day ten of the ninth round of mystery stitching! Hopefully by now you have seen my news post about the future of this SAL if not then go read! How are you all doing? Still coping? Hanging on to the last shreds of your sanity? Or is life going on as per normal because you either are an essential worker (I hope you are getting enough rest between it all!) or were already home all the time and didn't go out much? I don't normally bring it up but I thought I would this time.

Blackwork SAL 2020 - July

Welcome to the seventh part of the 2020 Blackwork SAL! This month you will again get two pattern options. While I was stitching this month's patterns it occurred to me that in a way it's not a bad thing that we got so ahead in the first months of the year - you may find this strange but I for one tend to run out of steam towards the summer/autumn time - usually because I'm using what little energy I have doing things around the house and garden that my rheumatism doesn't let me do the rest of the year and, when we don't have pandemics ongoing, I usually get away for two weeks in the summer. Overall then it's not a bad thing but I have made sure it can't happen for next year's Blackwork SAL (Oh yes... there will be one!)

Mini Magical Mystery SAL - The Future

As the end of the ninth Mini Magical Mystery SAL nears I'm already missing the little patterns even though there will be the Summer Magical Mystery SAL taking over after it. The way the pandemic is looking at the moment it's improving in some places and getting worse in others, leading to localised lockdowns and potentially worse to come. To be Honest I, and I think everyone else, hoped it would all be over by summer and we could go back to some kind of normal afterwards.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Part 9

Welcome back for day nine of the ninth round of mystery stitching! Slightly late - sorry about that. I have be thinking about the future of these Mini Magical Mystery SALs and I'll let you know later today what my decision is - I don't want it hidden in a post where someone might miss it.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Part 8

Welcome back for day eight of the ninth round of mystery stitching! Having mentioned yesterday that we were past the half way point today I can tell you that there are only four parts left - the last part is Friday! Time has really flown this time!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Part 7

Welcome back for day seven of the ninth round of mystery stitching! I'm so used to part seven being the halfway point that I completely forgot that with this mystery being two parts shorter than usual the halfway point was at the end of stitching part six! So you are already halfway!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Part 6

Welcome back for day six of the ninth round of mystery stitching! Today's post is very, very late. After yesterday's bad night and day I was exhausted and today I slept right through my alarms - I managed to turn them off but I didn't actually wake up to do it. I woke up shortly after midday - my usual posting time - and made a post on fb so nobody would worry overly much. It generally takes me a while to do get up and as it was lunch time I was late with meds and had to deal with them first as well. And I needed coffee! In between all that I did the stitching for yesterday and today - I didn't want to be more behind and writing usually takes me longer than the stitching.

Bookmark SAL - July

Welcome to the seventh part of the Bookmark SAL! I'm sorry this post is also late. This month there are again two variations! I have given a pattern for use on perforated paper or plastic Aida, and I have given a version for use on any fabric. The reason being that the version for on plastic Aida includes cut out bits that you probably don't want to do on fabric. Not all areas are cut out as if you do that the bookmark would become too fragile and break quickly - so only a few spaces are cut, they are marked in black on the pattern.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Part 5

Welcome back for day five of the ninth round of mystery stitching! In case you missed it yesterday I thought I'd mention that I'd made a post with my plans for 2021 - you can find it here. Today's post is short, and without a photo - I had a bad night, and so far a bad day and stitching isn't possible right now.

2021 Plans

It's super early to be talking about this but never too early for me to start plotting. This is NOT an official information post - I won't be giving amounts for anything - I'm going to be dropping hints so you can perhaps not throw away something you might need.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Part 4

Welcome back for day four of the ninth round of mystery stitching! Today is my youngest's 17th birthday - he didn't want a special birthday dinner cooked by me (they usually get a choice of what they want to eat - and where if money allows) he wants to cook it himself. He's been dreaming of making KFC style chicken at home and has asked for a whole chicken for him to cut up and use for that. Who am I to complain about not having to cook? He's even going to go buy the things he needs for the meal himself which makes my life easier too. I can definitely tell he's missing the practical classes of culinary school!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Part 3

Welcome back for day three of the ninth round of mystery stitching! You will have noticed by now that if you'd not done part one correctly you'd have found out while stitching part two. Hopefully no ripping was required! Today we will continue down the path that was started on Monday.

Weavers Animals Band Sampler SAL - Part 7

Welcome to the seventh part of the Weavers Animals Band Sampler SAL! I'm afraid this is rather late, I'd fallen asleep on the sofa after dinner instead of finishing the programme I was watching and wanted to finish. This month the amount you get to stitch varies depending on your chosen size as for the people doing the standard size there is a border that is skipped for the small size. Both sizes will finish the current band and start at least one new band.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Part 2

Welcome back for day two of the ninth round of mystery stitching! I hope the unsymmetrical start didn't throw you off yesterday! The good news is that you will be able to continue with what you started so don't have to do a lot of counting today. I didn't get the backstitched outline completed last night as planned - I had to start it today and, as I have to get the post up on time, I had to stop stitching before it was finished. Stitching before sufficient coffee is a **very** bad idea so starting sooner isn't really an option.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 - Part 1

Welcome back for day one of the ninth round of mystery stitching! It's been fun seeing the embroideries of people who have had time to stitch and share their progress! This is the final round of mini mystery stitching before the slower than usual mayhem of a full sized mystery starts - because of when the Summer Magical Mystery SAL starts this one will be two parts shorter than usual.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 8 - Final Post

Welcome back for the final post of the eighth Mini Magical Mystery SAL! Don't worry it's not over - the Mini Magical Mystery SAL 9 starts in an hour! This post is just a final post showing my stitching of part fourteen and it added to the ever growing chain.  I do hope you all had fun! I have loved seeing your stitching in the Facebook group! (Remember these are mysteries so belong in the Mystery group, even if you are also a member of the main SAL group).

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 8 - Part 14

Welcome back for day fourteen of the eighth round of mystery stitching! This is also the final day of patterns for this SAL - I'll be back one more time to show what I have made tomorrow (an hour earlier than usual). The next round of the Mini Magical Mystery will start tomorrow at noon as per the information post. This time no surprise extra parts - that was a one off last time.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 8 - Part 13

Welcome back for day thirteen of the eighth round of mystery stitching! It's the penultimate part of the pattern! I'm not sure if you've noticed but I love that word - and quite a few others like discombobulate - but this one is one I can use frequently. In Dutch it's "voorlaaste" which directly translated is "before last" - but of course you can never really directly translate things and still get the full meaning across. If you aren't in an English speaking country - or even if you do and you have a local word - does your language have a word/term that means the same?

Ornament of the Month 2020 - July

Welcome to the seventh Ornament of the Month for 2020! This month I used a few beads - they are all fixed in place using a full cross stitch going through the bead twice - some X's are bigger than others, so please look carefully before doing the stitching. This month's colours of the month are green, russet, and red. I had already used red and green so decided to use russet, except I didn't have anything on hand that was orangey red enough so I went with copper instead as that too is more orangey than brown - though sometimes it's a bit more pink. Mine of course had to go more towards pink hehehe.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 8 - Part 12

Welcome back for day twelve of the eighth round of mystery stitching! I've just realised that I have just two short weeks to finish making all the pdfs for the Summer Mystery SAL, which is a bit more work than the ones for the Mini SALs as I'm splitting up the pattern as I make the pdfs and for the Mini SALs I make the parts as I create. A whole different process! I usually do it all a lot sooner but ill health has slowed things down - but not so much that I won't be ready on time!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 8 - Part 11

Welcome back for day eleven of the eighth round of mystery stitching! It's been good stitching weather recently - not too cold but too wet to go out and do stuff in the garden. At least the rain was good for me to be able to do the June/July fertiliser for the apple tree and the bay tree, the granules were fully dissolved within the hour.

Temperature SAL - July

Welcome to the seventh Temperature SAL post! And all of a sudden it's July! How did that happen? June was a month of unexpectedly low temperatures followed by some rather hot ones but fortunately not so hot that I had to get out the orange yet, but I did have some days of the darker yellow to contend with. The nice bit is that the end of June brought us to the exact centre of the pattern! It will be interesting to see what the next six months bring other than more rain hehe.

Seasons SAL - Summer

Welcome to the summer edition of the Seasons SAL! Last time I was not able to get the pattern stitched completely but somehow I did manage this time so you not only get to see the last one completed but this one too!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 8 - Part 10

Welcome back for day ten of the eighth round of mystery stitching!  It's been fun seeing the flurry of photos Sandra made while stitching the seventh Mini Magical Mystery - it only took a day of stitching for both the mystery stitched as a mystery and a back that was stitched using the final pattern. They both look fantastic! After today there are only four more parts left - it's a good thing there is the next Mini Magical Mystery SAL to look forward to!