Smalls SAL - July

The last Wednesday of the month is time for the July Smalls SAL post!  I finished Mary Mouse, the third of 25 free Advent Animals from Brooke's Books and changed my blog header!

Mary Mouse - FINISHED!

"Mary Mouse"
Designed by Brooke Nolan
Brooke's Books Advent Animals Collection
14 ct Silver Starlite Aida
Started 7/24/2014, Finished 7/28/2014

There is a Facebook group for the Advent Animals Stitch-A-Long where you can see many more finishes.  They look great on different colors of fabric!

I also finished Boo!, a freebie from Glory Bee, for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL.  Each month is a different theme and July was Pumpkins.  I'd love to make it into a long rectangular pillow!

Boo! - FINISHED!

"Boo!"
Designed by Nancy Boyarsky
Glory Bee
14 ct Fiddlers Light Aida
Started 7/29/2014, Finished 7/29/2014

I used Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe floss for this design.  She's having a birthday giveaway of her hand-dyed floss, sampler patterns, and trims.  Enter HERE and tell Nancy that I sent you.  Drawing on August 14.  Good luck!

Stitch from Stash July

Mel from Epic Stitching started a Stitch From Stash group to encourage us to stay on a budget of $25 or less per month for cross stitching.  Click the link to see the list of blogs that are participating.

My carry over from June was zero for a total budget of $25 this month.  Here is my check-in for July:

Amount Spent:  $9 - Disney cross stitch book on eBay

Now I have $16 to carry over for August.

New Starts from Stash:  Mary Mouse, Boo! Club (Brew).

WIPs or UFOs worked on:  Boo! Club (Fright), Very Scary Mystery Sampler, La Pensée Positive, "99", Alice from Resident Evil, Santa Hang-Up, Stained Glass Nativity, Santa's 12 Days of Christmas (Day 6), Cut Thru' North Pole House, Boo! Club (Brew), Mary Mouse.

Finishes:  Boo! Club (Fright), Alice from Resident Evil, Stained Glass Nativity.

What I was tempted to buy but didn't buy this month:

Wizard of Oz cross stitch pattern by AllStitches on Bonanza:

TUSAL - July and a big finish!

Here is my Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long (TUSAL) update for July!  Check in on Daffycat's blog with a link to your TUSAL post, too!  Alice is posing again with the ORT jar, but this time she is finished and framed and matted and ready to go to my son at last!

TUSAL 2014 #8

Alice from Resident Evil - FRAMED!

I also added mats to the frame for Dog House Sampler, which I finished in 2011.  I found this perfect blue wood frame at a thrift store.

Dog House Sampler - FRAMED!

You might have noticed some yarn bits in the ORT jar.  They are from the Stained Glass Nativity needlepoint, which is finally finished after 34 years!  The framer has it now and is working her magic on it to get it blocked and framed just right!

Stained Glass Nativity - FINISHED!

"Stained Glass Nativity"
Designed by Wayne Maurer
Sunset Designs needlepoint
10 ct cotton mesh canvas, 100% wool yarn
Finished size 10" x 20"
Started 1980, Finished 7/23/2014

Whew!  I'm out of breath after doing that big happy dance!

July WIPocalypse, Turtle Trot, and a finish!

This is my belated WIPocalypse update!  The topic this time is:  "It's halfway to Christmas.  Do you start your holiday stitching this early?  If so, what do you hope to accomplish this year?"  Yes, I stitch holiday designs all year long!  I hope to finish Stained Glass Nativity and Santa's 12 Days of Christmas in time to display them this year for Christmas!  I would also love to stitch gifts for my family but if I don't finish, there is always next year, or their birthday instead.

Since the last WIPocalypse update, I have had 3 more finishes, and now the list of WIPs on my WIPocalypse page is down to 90.  I finished The Sorceress, Leo, and Alice from Resident Evil.

Alice from Resident Evil - FINISHED!

"Alice from Resident Evil"
Designed by Pau
MyPhotoStitch.com
18 ct tan Aida
Started 1/11/2014, Finished 7/13/2014

Speaking of Christmas stitching, I stitched the hat and legs and feet on Santa Hang-Up.

Santa Hang-Up update #9

I missed the Turtle Trot posting for July 10, since I was away on vacation, but here is my progress on two of them.  I finished all the blue stained glass windows on Stained Glass Nativity.

Stained Glass Nativity update #9

I stitched one more bottle on "99" by Ink Circles.

"99" - update #12

Bottle #17 is Stella Artois, Stella Artois, Leuven, Belgium.

Now that I finished the birthday gifts in time, I can get back to my SALs and stitching anything else I feel like!

Framed finish and giveaways!

Hurray!  I actually finished this birthday gift and got it framed on time!  I started The Sorcerer way back in 2011 for the first Crazy January Challenge, and I started The Sorceress for the UCJC this year.  My best friend, Colleen, has always liked castles and dragons and wizards.  Our dads have been friends since they were in kindergarten and our moms met in high school.  They got married around the same time and she is only 2 days older than me, so she is just like a sister!  Now she lives in Texas and I'm still in California.  I will see her tomorrow for a visit!  My son is coming to her house too, and we'll all go to my daughter's graduation from Army boot camp together!

Here is her handmade birthday present!  You can click on the picture to see it bigger.

The Sorcerer and The Sorceress - FRAMED!

This was framed by Beth at Wilson's Frame-Up in Riverside, California.  The purple mat is linen and the gold and red mats match the stitching colors perfectly!  It was Beth's idea to get a charm and I found this wizard pendant on eBay.  The frame is brushed silver metal.  It's bigger and heavier than I expected.  The full size of the frame is 16" x 25" so it's 1 inch too big for carry-on.  I will wrap it in bubble wrap and surround it with all the clothes in my luggage.  Hopefully it makes the trip in one piece!

Here is a picture from a few years ago of both of us:

Colleen and Debbie

I'm also waiting until the very last minute to finish Alice from Resident Evil for my son's belated birthday present, since I'll see him tomorrow too!  I have a frame ready to pop it into tonight, or maybe tomorrow after I get off the plane!  LOL

Alice from Resident Evil update #8

Parsley of Seasons of My Mind blog is having a giveaway of this beautiful project bag to celebrate becoming an EMT!  Enter HERE and drawing is on July 21.

Nancy from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having a summer floss giveaway!  Enter HERE and tell Nancy that I sent you.  Drawing is on July 30.

Sadly, I have no YOTA update this month on Universal Unity, since I was stitching every day on the same thing (The Sorceress and Alice).  I'll get back to all my SALs after I come home from vacation.  

Happy Stitching, everyone!

Theme-A-Licious June Jolt

The theme for last month was June Jolt, "School's out for the summer! Let's work on things with sunshine in them or REALLY bright colors.  Summer is here!"

I finished part 8 of 12 on Boo! Club.  I like the bright Halloween colors in this design!

Boo! Club (Fright) - FINISHED!

"Fright"
Boo! Club series
Lizzie*Kate
28 ct Prairie Grain linen
Started 1/16/2014, Finished 6/28/2014

I also finally finished part 1 of Very Scary Mystery Sampler!  Hopefully, parts 2 and 3 won't take me quite as long to do!

Very Scary (Part 1) - FINISHED!

"Very Scary Mystery Sampler" (Part 1)
Lizzie*Kate
30 ct Tin Roof linen
Started 7/25/2012, Finished 7/1/2014

I also finished The Sorcerer and The Sorceress!  I'll pick them up from the framer tomorrow.  They will be framed together with gold, purple, and red mats.

The Sorcerer and The Sorceress - FINISHED!

The theme for this month will be Jubilee July, "It's time to celebrate! What are you celebrating this year? Stitch on your holiday-related projects, OR find some WIPs you know you'll never finish and set them free."

I have Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas designs to stitch.  I might even stitch on some Easter designs, too!

Check in on Heather's blog, It's Geek to Me, to find more blog posts with the bright colors theme this month!