Gifted Gorgeousness Report for July

Here we are again - 15th of the month, and time for the monthly Gifted Gorgeousness report.  GG is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. Anything stitched to be gifted, or stitched with gifted supplies is eligible for the GG report.

My report will be short. All my stitching in the past month has been on my HAED Christmas Dreams.

This project counts for GG as the chart, fabric, and most of the floss was purchased with birthday gift vouchers. I am very pleased with my progress.  I brought CD down to my stitching corner on 11th June. This is what I had completed before packing it away last.

I had finished 19 pages, and was working on 20th page. I have been stitching obsessively on it every day, and I am very happy to have finished another 6 pages. I am now working on the 26th page, which is close to finished.

I'm about to head off in the caravan for a month or so (provided the state border remains open for holidayers), so after I finish this page Christmas Dreams will be resting again until I get back home. In the next stitching session (hopefully September) my aim is to reach my 50% complete goal. Three more pages should see that.

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for June

This year is just slipping by for me, despite the changes we have all been experiencing recently.  As it's the 15th June, it is time for the monthly Gifted Gorgeousness Report, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  The things that qualify for GG are items made with gifted supplies, or items made to be gifted. Most of my stitching qualifies for inclusion.

I have two name samplers to show this month. There is a little story about them.  Way back in 1993 I bought my first real cross-stitch book, because I really liked the cover chart- which was Allura's Australian Alphabet designed by Guy Hayes. It ticked many of my boxes - I have a particular fondness for stitching samplers, alphabets, birds, and animals. Over the years I often looked at the chart, but didn't have the opportunity to actually stitch from it.

Eventually, a niece moved to New York, married and had a baby boy. I decided to stitch a name sampler for Jude using the Aussie alphabet, to remind him of his Australian heritage.

My niece and her family have since relocated back home to Australia,
and when I offered to stitch a design for each of her other children, she asked me to use the Aussie Alphabet again. So, the book came out and I have just finished stitching the samplers.  This time I followed the chart more in using the different colours for the letters (though I did swap some of the colours around). I also added more backstitching to the birds and animals, and I swapped acacia (wattle) for the Australian flag in Niva's 'A', just because I thought the acacia was more appealing to a small child. Boden's sampler is stitched on pale blue 28 count evenweave, and Niva's is stitched on antique white 28 count evenweave.

I will be taking these to my framer, along with George's birth sampler which I finished last month, just as soon as he reopens. Fingers crossed that he does reopen. Lots of businesses here are closing. When framed, these samplers will be Christmas gifts.

I've almost finished my 2020 'to stitch' list, so I have brought out my HAED WIP, 'Christmas Dreams' (artist Dona Gelsinger, charted by Michele Sayetta). I categorise this as a gifted project, since I used birthday money and vouchers to buy the chart, fabric, and most of the floss.  This one is being stitched for me. I started stitching this in 2016, and when I last packed it away I had stitched about 31% of the 260,000 stitches, and was stitching on my 20th page - just 46 more pages to go.  When finished and framed, Christmas Dreams will measure about 89 cm wide and 64 cm high (that's around 35" x 25"). The stitched area will be 74cm wide x 49 cm (28.5" x 19"). It's my biggest project so far.
Hopefully, one day I will have something like this hanging on my wall.

My floor frame wasn't wide enough to take the fabric, so I am stitching this project sideways, which has been quite challenging.  It has caused  me quite some angst at times. It's been quite a steep learning curve! For a start, I had kitted it up prior to realising it would be stitched sideways, and as is my habit, I had carefully drawn the 90 floss symbols onto the floss cards. It is amazing how different a symbol looks when the chart is turned 90 degrees. Since lots of the symbols are similar shapes reversed or rotated, it made stitching harder than necessary. This time I have made new floss cards, complete with rotated symbols, so I am hoping it will be easier on my ageing mind. I have also learned to check and double-check where the repeated rows and columns on each page are - they are never the rows marked on the chart as repeats. I spent a month learning just how important it was to get it right, when I stitched a page with 3 duplicate rows along the top. It took twice as long to frog the area than it had to stotch it. I'm not going there again!

So, here is where I was when I took Christmas Dreams up to rest in December 2018.

And here it is on the frame, ready for stitching. It always takes me a while to get back into the swing of it, but I really hope to be making some real progress on this over the next few months.

And finally, a photo taken at the end of tonight's stitching session. I have finished the 20th page and moved on to the 21st (which is actually page 37).

I always enjoy reading all the GG posts, and I am sure that this month will be no disappointment. In this time of social isolation, the diversion is much appreciated!

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for February

It's been a busy stitching month for me - and all of my stitching in the past month qualifies for the GG report.  I stitched another 9 little Christmas trees to decorate and frame in the tiny gold coloured frames.  I haven't got the beads and buttons out yet, so this is what the naked trees look like - or at least this batch, as every batch is likely to be different! That last little tree has a white pot.  I guess I forgot to backstitch. Once they are finished, they will go into my 'take home gift basket' for Christmas visitors (and often the mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and teachers of Christmas visitors).

I also stitched and decorated this very slightly larger tree, which is about 4cm  (1.6") tall and a bit over 2 cm (0.8")wide.  I have to go looking for a frame for this one.

There has been no further progress on the Dimensions Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit Height Chart (gifted to my niece by a friend, and stitched by me at my niece's request).  I am still waiting for the extra birth and height details my niece wants added to it.  The poor dear is midway through renovations on the house they moved into just before Christmas, and she has better things to thnk of than the details I want.  I have now back-stitched a border around the stitched design, and on the backing fabric, and I have felt and cardboard ready to stiffen it, so I am all ready to finish it off.  I am hopeful that the finishing method I have in mind will allow easy removal of the internal stiffening so extra details can be stitched, and the chart can be laundered.  I have decided to go ahead and make it up anyway (just as soon as I finish my current page of Christmas Dreams and get those little trees decorated and framed).


Which brings me to my current WIP, HAED Christmas Dreams (chart, fabric and most of the floss bought with birthday money/vouchers).  Here is where I started at four weeks ago (13 pages stitched):

And here is Christmas Dreams now, with 17 pages stitched and just the face/head to go on the 18th page (which will complete the 3rd of 11 rows of pages).  I am stitching it sideways, but I turned it around so you can see my lovely Santa properly. Four pages finished in the past 4 weeks - a record for me!  When the page I am stitching on is finished, the picture will be 30% complete. Yay!

So, that's the end of my story for the  February GG report.  Thank you for visiting.

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for August

Have you noticed how quickly the 15th of each month comes around?  It always catches me by surprise.  Perhaps it's related to my advancing age (I have celebrated a birthday since the last GG report).  It's a very simple report from me this month, as I have worked on only one project - my HAED Christmas Dreams.  Christmas Dreams qualifies as a GG project because I used birthday money to buy the chart, fabric, and most of the floss.

So, here is where I was on Christmas Dreams on July 15:

 And this is where I am now - I have finished another 4 pages, and the second row/column is now finished:

I am very happy with my progress on Christmas Dreams.  I have now stitched 20% of the design, and I have met my stitching target for 2016 - 12 pages. I'm revising that target - I now hope to get another row/column stitched (ie another 6 pages) this year.

An on-line friend asked me today about my Christmas stitching, and I took this photo to show her how many Christmas ornaments I have stitched this year, 34 in all.  It's amazing how stitching a few at a time can add up to a sizeable number quite quickly.

So, that's the end of my report for August.  I am looking forward to visiting the blogs of other GG members, which I always enjoy,

Be happy for me - another page finished ...

and just 59 more pages to go on Christmas Dreams.

I finished page 2 in record time - just one week.  This was because half the 10x10 blocks had only 2 or 3 floss colours - such a blessing!  I will start on page 13 tomorrow, and aim to finish page 13 and also page 24 by the end of May.