Still stitching like crazy

I still have no models in the house and I am still really enjoying it--I don't remember the last time I had over a month to just work on whatever struck my fancy! It might be a bit difficult to buckle down once I get more "work" in, but I am ready anytime now.

I finished Madame Chantilly's Cats in the Rain a couple of weeks ago, stitched on a Silkweaver solo Belfast linen and personalized to look more like me and some of my cats:

Once that was done the urge hit to stitch another block on my colorized version of Black'd Skie, which I finished about a week ago. This piece is right at the halfway point now:

A project that I've had in mind for several years has been Just Nan's 12 Days of Christmas WhimZi, which has the 12 designs in a size meant for her WhimZi frames (which are no longer sold but I bought when they were available). While looking for a fabric for another project the other day I came across my stash of Tattersall linen and thought how fun it would be to use it for the 12 Days:

I've now stitched the first day (except for the metallic used to outline the purple number box) and it fits pretty well in the square:

I'm toying with the idea of adding a border of metallic thread and/or beads between the stitching and the fabric border but I'll think about that after I have a few more squares stitched. I would still like to do these individually as well, to hang on the tree, but I think they'll be really pretty together like this. There is a lot of fun detail in these, which is amazing considering they're only 29x29 stitches.

Finally, last Thursday part 7 of The Rooky Wood SAL was released; I thought I had finished it last night but then realized that I had forgotten the crescent moon cut-outs on the shutters so after a few minutes of work this morning it's now done (except for a few areas I'll do when the adjoining parts come out):

There was a snippet of the house when this mystery SAL was announced and it's what made me want to stitch it; it has not disappointed as I think it's adorable and am looking forward to seeing the whole house completed in parts 10 and 11 (I'm assuming a bit there...).

Not sure what I'm going to work on today; I could start Day 2 of the Just Nan design, I have a couple of Mirabilia's that I'd like to start sometime, I have Heart in Hand's Patriotic Tiny Town ready to go as well or I could start another square of Black'd Skie--too many choices, never enough time...

Wishing everyone all the best in the New Year!

The Snow Maiden

Mirabilia MD179 The Snow Maiden was released today so I can finally share pictures of this icy beauty:

 

I love the description from the Mirabilia site: "Her name is Snegurocka. For many years, there have been plays and music written from this Russian fairy tale about a girl made out of snow."

Not sure if Snegurocka is a misprint, but when I Googled I got results for Snegurochka. I've never heard of her but I like the story, even if it's kind of sad (the one where she gets a warm heart and then melts...).

Fun fact: when I stitched her she was called Snow Storm Queen.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

The easy part is done

The Hands on Design Cookie Exchange SAL started last Wednesday with part 1, followed by part 2 on Friday and part 3 yesterday, and I managed to get all of the parts stitched on the day they were released:

 

I did make a few very minor changes, including using a Rhodes stitch for the holly berries instead of the Smyrna stitch that was called for; it made for nice, rounded berries:

So that's the easy part complete--now we get the finishing instructions tomorrow and that's the part that I'm not very good at! I'm hoping it'll be simple enough for me to do a decent job on as it would be nice to add this to my decorations when I get them out later this week.

On the days between installments I finally got around to starting Madame Chantilly's Cats in the Rain, which I am changing up a bit:

There are nine cats in this design, and while I've never had that many at one time I did have eight in my house for several months back in 2011/2012 when my mom lived with us for a while and brought her four cats. Here's a picture taken at feeding time (otherwise they would never be this close together!) of all but one of the kitties:

This week I need to get some cleaning done and then get the Christmas tree up and decorations out so stitching time will be curtailed, but I'm hoping to get Cats in the Rain finished by the end of next week. That would work out well if I end up getting a model from Wichelt in the next couple of weeks; I have really enjoyed having some time solely for my own stitching, and now am getting ready to get back to "work" feeling refreshed.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!