NFSAL 2021 - February

Welcome to the second of this year's NFSAL posts! This year I will be stitching all the patterns myself, though this month I wasn't able to finish due to health reasons.

Sampler SAL - Page 2 - Week 3

Welcome to the next part of the Sampler SAL! I'm so sorry that this is so very, very late! I have not been well and stitching has been a struggle, so it's taken a lot longer than usual to get the embroidery done to show you. It's variegated thread month and this week brings us folded thread, so you can loop start, blended with a solid, and what is often (but not always) called tweeded. There will be a catch-up post as soon as possible to get things back on track.

Friday Freebie: Shimmering Seas - Scissor Case

Welcome to the third Friday Freebie for 2021! Last month I started this three part series with a fob and a pincushion. This week I'm finishing the series with a scissor case. Unfortunately my health hasn't allowed me to do the stitching so the tutorial of how it's constructed will have to happen when I'm better. If you are waiting for the Sampler SAL please be patient, it's not forgotten and should hopefully happen tomorrow.

Blackwork SAL 2021: Shades of Blackwork - February

Welcome to the second part of the 2021 Blackwork SAL! This below freezing temperature is really getting to my joints and making it difficult to stitch as a result. Today I could barely hold the needle and finally just gave up, so you won't have as much to see on the photo. The pattern however IS complete, so all is good!

Sampler SAL - Page 2 - Week 2

Welcome to the next part of the Sampler SAL! This being a weekly SAL it's going to get complicated with how many parts there are, so I'm chickening out early and going for “next” instead. It's variegated thread month and this week brings us diagonals and the old up and down the column stitching!

Ornament of the Month 2021 - February

Welcome to the second Ornament of the Month for 2021! The Birthstone for February is amethyst, so that's what this month's colours reflect. I still had some real amethysts left over from the batch I bought back in 2015 for the first Ornament of the month patterns, so I dug them out and used three as part of my finish of this month's ornament.

Tutorial: 2021 Ornament of the Month Shape Construction

I thought I'd already done this, but apparently I had not, so this is going up later than planned or desired. I noticed it was missing because I'm preparing to stitch the February Ornament of the Month and wanted to know how much floss I needed to make the cord for the garland. Good thing I make notes and keep photos! This year's shape is not exactly simple to stuff, so it's done in parts as you work, I'll show you when in the photos. I'll also explain when things are done differently for an ornament version as of course you don't have to make this into a garland like I am. Please read the notes at the end before starting to do the finishing if you are making a garland.

Tutorial: Making Cords for a Garland Finish

While making the tutorial for the 2021 Ornament of the Month Shape Construction I realised that it would be clearer if I split the cord making part from the ornament making part of the tutorial, so here is a second cording tutorial. For general cording making instructions look here. This tutorial expands on the previous tutorial so knowing the basics is required. There are three options for how to make cording for a garland finish.

Sampler SAL - Page 2 - Week 1

Welcome to the fifth part of the Sampler SAL! This time we are starting the second page. This month is, as I announced last week, all about variegated threads: the many ways they can be used to achieve different effects. We are starting with three ways to use the threads — one for the header and two different ways in the elements. This week most of the stitching is cross stitch aside from the page title that's done in backstitch.

Temperature SAL 2021 - February

Welcome to the second Temperature SAL post! This time is an update post, so I'll be showing you some pictures of my own progress. It didn't go as fast as I'd hoped as I was rather beset by issues. First the fabric I'd picked wasn't the same as the one from last year and I *really* wanted them to be the same. Then I ordered the wrong new fabric. Having discovered what I did use last year I then found out that I didn't have enough of the correct fabric and had to order yet more fabric… sigh. Next up the brown thread I wanted to use turned out to have areas that looked exactly the same colour as the fabric when using one strand.