Wednesday 21 January 2015

Stitch From Stash January 2015 Update



January 2015 Stitch From Stash report
Spent: £10.99 from a budget of £20
Earned: $2 = £1.50

So I think this gives me a balance to carry into February of £10.51


This is the year I resolve to make a dent in my stitching stash and end the year with less than I started (excluding finished items of course).

So I have joined the Stitch From Stash SAL organised by Mel at Epic Stitching

You can read all about the rules by clicking on the above link but basically everyone agrees to keep to a monthly stash budget of no more than $25 which I have converted to £20 because so much of what I have bought in the past has been from the USA and we usually have to pay the same in £ as the item cost in $.   And don't get me started about the extortionate cost of DMC in the UK compared to the US.................................

Anyway because I have a rotation plan for 2015 which includes 4 SALs I will have very little time for stitching anything else so I don't need to buy any more stash - the more I say/write this the more likely I am to stick to it (that's the theory anyway).

One of the new features of Stitch from Stash for 2015 is that we can claim additional budget if we stitch an item from existing stash (more than 6 months' old).   Well I've stitched a small birthday card using a free kit from an old magazine (Jane Greenoff's Cross Stitch) which ceased publication quite a few years ago.   It was only a small kit so my "earnings" amount to $2 or £1.50




My other finish this month is Christmas Village by Prairie Schooler



This was a UFO passed on to me by a friend so although it was started well over 6 months ago it was only gifted to me in the autumn so I am not going to claim any "stash credit" for this.  I am just delighted to have completed it and plan to get it framed for display this Christmas



I think my main challenge will be resisting the temptation of new releases and projects I see that other stitchers have done.  The first of these temptations is the final chart in the Blackbird Designs series of Beatles inspired charts.



Like Barb at Blackbird Designs I have been a Beatles fan "forever" - in fact they were the first band I ever saw perform live so as I also love Blackbird Designs generally I instantly fell in love with this series of patterns.  There were issues with the designers getting the approval from the copyright holders which you can read about here but all has been sorted and all 6 patterns are now available.   Ordinarily I would immediately add this latest one to my stash because I am a sucker for completing a series, but this time I am holding back as I already have Long & Winding Road, Strawberry Fields Forever, Blackbird and Eleanor Rigby and haven't stitched any of them.

I can tell what I spent this month but I can't show you as they are hand dyed threads from Jodyri Designs which haven't arrived yet.   I signed up for the threads of the month club last year and decided to go ahead with the January pack.   I may or may not continue with this next month ...... watch this space.

Apart from the 2 finishes above I have been stitching on 3 SALs, all of which started in January.

My chosen design for the Mirabilia SAL is At the Met and this is my progress in January:




I am really enjoying stitching this, my first large Mirabilia design for some years, and was quite sorry to put her down to move onto SAL number 2 . There are no time constraints on the Mirabilia SAL - the only "rule" was starting on 1st January - after that it is up to the individual.  Quite a few of us have a rotation while others are just stitching their Mirabilia. I certainly won't be the first to finish.   I think there are 4 of us who chose At the Met and it is fascinating to see the different ways in which we are approaching the stitching of the design.



The fabric is Twilight Shadows Cashel linen by The Crafty Kitten and I love the colours in it.  The yellow spheres on the design are stitched with DMC satin thread which gives a lovely shiny effect but is not easy to use, even with Thread Heaven, short lengths of thread etc.   The sampler starts with Capricorn and then continues with a new pattern element released each month.    Payment for the whole year was taken up front and I already have all the supplies so no spending will be required until I need to frame it.

SAL number 3 is the Story Time Sampler by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery - another design released in monthly parts and paid for upfront.   This one is released on 15th of each month which translates to the early hours of 16th for us UK stitchers.   I didn't buy the recommended fabric by Picture this Plus as it is very expensive to buy fabric from the USA and I prefer to support our UK based dyers.    I bought (in 2014) a piece of fabric from Sparklies which I thought would be suitable but when I printed out the pattern I wasn't sure that the frames which are stitched in Weeks Dye Works floss would work.   I turned to my stash of hand dyed fabrics and found a couple of alternatives also by Sparklies.

The colours in this photo aren't very accurate but the dark grey at the top left was my original choice and after some test stitching at the weekend when I could judge the colours in daylight I decided to go with the bottom left which is 28 count Cashel linen in Misty Morn.



The most problematic colour is the middle of the 5 - SeaFoam which is a pale green.  It just didn't show up on the darker fabric.

This is the progress I made at the weekend, mainly on Sunday evening after our visitors had left when I enjoyed an evening of great British TV dramas - Call the Midwife, Last Tango in Halifax and Broadchurch.


The actual colour of the linen is more of a blue/grey than in this photo which was taken in artificial light.  Hopefully future photos will show the colour more accurately.  I started in the middle with one of the 12 frames and am working towards frame number 1 which includes the featured story for  January which is Alice in Wonderland.  

So that's my update for January - I'm looking forward to reading how everyone else is getting on with this challenge.

10 comments:

  1. Ooo pretty all around! But drat you -- now you have me wanting to sign up for Story Time!!!!! I don't need another project.... but oh yours makes me want one. :)

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  2. Lovely things - well done on staying on budget

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  3. Love all your stitching :) Great job sticking within budget!

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  4. beautiful stitching!! Love the yellow submarine ♥

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  5. I love the Blackbird Design Beatles patterns...I'm a big fan myself, but sadly born way to late to have seen them live.

    I also love yout two SALs - I'm in the Storey Time SAL as well, but not stitching along as I don't have thesupplies yet. For the fabric, I have been looking at Moonlight from Carfty Kitten, but I'm not sure yet. And I don't know for how much longer I'll be able to resist the Cloudsfactory SAL...

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  6. Beautiful stitching this month Hazel and you stayed within budget! I love the BBD Beatles designs too, they are on my Pinterest wishlist at the mo - don't know how long I can resist the temptation though!

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  7. Absolutely LOVE your Mirabilia on your header! She is gorgeous! Beautiful fabrics and WIP's you are working on! Look forward to seeing more. Well done on your budget!

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  8. Lovely stitching and congrats on your large finish! It must feel wonderful. :D

    I love the fabric you chose for the Zodiac piece, o my goodness. It is truly sublime. I'm enjoying watching the two SALs on blogs but gosh y'all are making it so hard to resist them haha.

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  9. Congratulations on staying within budget this month. I'm doing the SFS challenge for the second year. It really does help. Especially with buying whole series of designs when you haven't even started the first one! For those I am doing a "one finish, one purchase" rule.
    Love your blue fabric for the Zodiac series. That's the kind of SAL which tempts me but I am resisting!

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  10. I am so excited to see how your zodiac sampler progresses. Good work!

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