June Smalls, Temperature SAL and monthly round-up

 

Mary at Mary's Thread is the lovely host of the Smalls SAL. On the last Friday of the month we share our small stitching items that we have completed but not necessarily fully finished, I'm very late this month as we were away on holiday.

Mary has a link up post on her blog so we can pop over to see everyone's work, it's super to see all the lovely stitching. Thank you Mary for hosting this great SAL. 

My first small is the JCS Stitchalong design for May, Christmas in my Heart by MTV Designs. This is a lovely SAL hosted on Facebook by Jo. I'm not sure yet as to how I will be finishing this, I've a few ideas but can't decide.

My other smalls are three letters for the Alphabet Tree. I stitched two before our holiday and the other partly whilst we were away, I finished it once we came home. 

Before we went away I was up to date with my Temperature SAL and the warm colours were starting to appear. The temperature whilst we were away was at times very high, I have blogged about our travels on my Aimetu - wine, food and travel blog. This is my Temperature SAL complete to week 22.

I certainly haven't stitched so much this month, on holiday it was far too hot to hold a needle or the light in our various guest houses was too dark to stitch by. 

I feel as if my stitching plans have got lost a little, I think a need to have a review of my plans and projects. There are two items I must focus on this month; Needlecraft Haven's Summer Exchange and a very special gift that for now is a secret. 

Gifted Gorgeousness in June

 

Hopefully this post will appear although I might not be able to add it to Jo's link up post ... why? Because I wrote and scheduled this on 10th June as we are now in Germany on holiday. I may be online but just in case 🙂

So Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted each month by the lovely Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. GG, on the 15th of each month, is when we share our latest gifts. These can be gifts given or received, or any item made using fabric, threads, buttons, ribbon, chart, backing fabric that has been gifted. If you visit Jo's blog you'll find the links to everyone's Gifted Gorgeousness posts.

I only have two items to show and one you may have seen in my June FFO post. As it is a special year we had a Platinum Jubilee Exchange on Needlecraft Haven. The idea was to stitch a coaster themed on the Jubilee.

I received a beautiful card and gorgeous coaster from Gill, it has been on the sideboard throughout the celebrations and is now with my other stitched coasters - thank you Gill.

My coaster was for Mary and as I mentioned before the metal thread was challenging but so effective. 

Waving to you all from Germany 👋

Fully Finished Objects in June

 

Rachel, Ten Hour Stitcher, hosts Fully Finished Objects, a super chance for us to show and tell about the crafty items we have completely finished. Thanks Rachel, your FFO prompt each month really helps me finish my projects, especially my letters for this year church tree.

Talking of letters for the Alphabet Tree I only stitched and finished two last month. The L is for Lilian my Grandmother and the E for Ernest my Grandfather. 

I did finish these four gorgeous letters from Faith and equally gorgeous three letters from Lynne. It takes a while to finish each one as I backstitch around before fraying and attaching to the foam felt. I have to leave them 24 hours for the spray adhesive to set before then trimming them. I am loving how they look, with my white lights a d silver tinsel it will be a stunning tree. 

In April I made Hubby a Coffee Koozie so we have one each. I found a switchable purse in my stash so have customized it and it now lives in my handbag ready for any coffee we have when out. The purse also hold a set on mini headphones each for when we visit English Heritage places and use their audio guides. It's a Lizzie Kate design.

My next finish is my autumn stitch for May's Topsy Turvy SAL. It's a Durene Jones series and I'm hoping to stitch the other designs too. 

My final FFO is the Platinum Jubilee coaster I stitched for Mary as part of the Needlecraft Haven Jubilee Exchange. It was quite a task to stitch with the silver and gold thread but it certainly makes it look regal. 

I do keep a list of my finishes and so far this year I have finished 62 items which includes 24 letters sent from my super friends. This month we will be on holiday in Germany so I'm not sure how much will be stitched or finished but I'm sure I'll catch up in July. 

Jubilee Celebrations

What a superb four days of celebrations. I am truly humbled by our Queen: to have the dedication to continue a job and to uphold a pledge made at quite a young age without giving up or saying enough is enough is to be applauded. Whatever your views on royalty or wealth 70 years service is a remarkable achievement. 

Our long weekend began with a visit to church to put flowers on my late Dad and Grandpop's graves. The church was open over the Jubilee to show again the vast amount of history collated for the Millennium. I took some red white and blue flowers up, they looked very effective. 

Saturday we were invited to our friends' for an Epsom races garden party and to celebrate the Jubilee. It was great fun, we were treated to a superb afternoon tea and I made a crown cake to celebrate.

Today was our street party, we live a cul-de-sac so it's easy to gather out the front. I made another crown cake and dressed the table with my Grandmother's cloth and my Dad's pennants from the Coronation in 1953.

It was a bit nippy and before long we needed the big umbrellas but at least the heavy rain stayed away. A change from yesterday's top hat and fascinator, today we were wearing red, white and blue.

Today was also Opening Day for the Jubilee Exchange with Needlecraft Haven. I received a super coaster and card from Gill, it's already in use and is a lovely Platinum Jubilee souvenir - thank you Gill.

I stitched for Mary and also stitched a crown. Although she hasn't yet seen it in person I know Mary is pleased with her Jubilee coaster. 

It's been so nice to spend time with friends and neighbours over the four days. I have loved seeing all the crowds celebrating in London. The Royal Family have certainly celebrated with us too ... congratulations and thank you Ma'am.

Topsy Turvy SAL - Autumn (month two)

 

June is also all about autumn so a chance to stitch something with golds, browns, reds and greens. Last month I stitched this design by Durene Jones. 

Here's a few ideas for autumn: 

 Prive has a super design with her season trees - link

Durene Jones has a huge collection of free charts on her Facebook page 

The design choice for autumn has so many options but save any spooky stitching for July.

You could stitch pumpkins, leaves, trees, fruit, almost any design could be used. 

I have no idea what I'll be stitching for June, or if I will have any time. These are the lovely designs I have already, some were stitched by me, others were exchange gifts. 

Happy autumnal stitching.