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Hi all,

Well, if there’s one thing I discovered over the course of last year, it’s that I’m not much of a blogger. So if you wanted to get up close and personal with all the stitches I completed, pop over to Facebook http://www.Facebook.com/365littlestitches

Currently busy turning the stitches into a quilt, which you can win! All you have to do is guess the total number of crosses stitched during the year. It’s £1 per guess – leave a message here with your guess(es), then go to the ‘sponsor me’ page and donate the relevant amount to one of my chosen charities. Clearly mark your donation with your name and ‘quilt competition’ and that’s it!

Thanks for stopping by and good luck if you’re entering the competition!

Miranda

 

Edited highlights – April

Now that you’ve hoisted yourself back onto your chair, here are some of my favourite stitches from April.

Day 91: Easter egg tree

Because it’s bright and colourful and a bit different.

Day 91: Easter egg tree

Day 96: Hungarian cross stitch pattern

This one took forever – note to self: don’t ever stitch on black aida by artificial light again – but I just had to do it, and I love how it’s turned out.

Day 96: Hungarian cross stitch pattern

Day 98: Minion!

Especially for my friend Helen, and much loved by others too 🙂

Day 98: Minion!

Day 100: Violet

A milestone, so time for one of my favourite. I’ve got a whole page full of these chunky floral designs, so expect to see some more.

Day 100: Violet

Day 104: Can can chicken

Just because I can can. (I know, I know: don’t give up the day job 😉

Day 104: Can can chicken

Day 115: Peacock

Stitched at UPMarket, a fortnightly craft market in town. Not much of a success fundraising-wise, but a very nice design.

Day 115: Peacock

Day 117: We all live in a yellow soup tureen

You’re welcome 🙂

Day 117: We all live in a yellow soup tureen

Day 119: Rockin’ duckling

Day 119: Rockin’ duckling

Just because he’s cute.

Just call me ‘Stitches With Cubs’

Today, I have been mostly stitching with cubs, the Wellington St Matthew’s Cub Pack, to be precise. Seven kids and five ‘grown-ups’ (as my daughter calls them) had a go at stitching my adaptation of the new cubs logo – see my version below (which handily also is my ‘stitch of the day’ 🙂

Day 172: Cubs’ logo

Most kids seemed to really get into it, proudly showing me their work in progress. We even had two little lads taking part, both attacking the project with fierce concentration (maybe two future Mr X Stitch-es?). In fact, fierce concentration seemed to be the order of the day, and Akela Mike Rouse-Deane joked that he had never seen them so quiet, and that I could come again next week 🙂 They didn’t quite finish their little paw prints, but akela promised he’d get them to complete them, and he’ll then send them to me to be incorporated into the final product, the quilt.

Fierce concentration

You may well ask how I got to do this. Well, the cubs had been following my project on Twitter, and as it happens are also involved in a year-long project of their own, which sees them trying out a new skill or activity each week and doing a vlog on YouTube about it (here’s this week’s instalment 🙂 Thinking that cross stitch would be quite a novel thing for them to try, akela contacted me, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I really enjoyed teaching the next generation of cross stitchers, and hope some of them have really been bitten by the bug.

BTW, this isn’t the only live event I’ve done in the past few months – I’ll tell you more about it in a separate post (also about forthcoming events!)

Edited highlights – March

Well, it’s official: I’m absolutely crap at blogging. Keeping up with Facebook and Twitter is no problem, as they’re quick and easy, but blogging takes a bit more effort, and to be honest, by the time I’ve done my daily stitch, my bed is usually calling very loudly. So, if you want to keep up with what I’m doing on a daily basis, either go to http://www.Facebook.com/365littlestitches or follow me on Twitter @365lstitches.

Here, I aim to present some edited highlights on a semi-regular basis, as well as the occasional more in-depth piece on the project as a whole.

Here are the highlights for March, from when I went into hospital.

No. 62: pink rabbit

The first one I stitched in hospital, when I felt well enough to do so.

No. 62: Pink rabbit

No. 67: buzzy bee

Still in hospital, catching up on my stitching. This one got a lot of likes.

No. 67: Buzzy bee

Day 73: 1920s cameo

Towards the end of my stay, a friend brought in a new book of patterns, which has provided tons of inspiration since. This was the first design I stitched from it.

Day 73: 1920s cameo

Day 74:Mother’s Day

Last full day in hospital, and another design from the new book.

Day 74: Mother’s Day

Day 77: Plant table

Just love this design.

Day 77: Plant table

Day 82: The bees are back!

They were! Hurray!

Day 82: The bees are back!

Day 90: Where’s the mouse?

Geddit?

Day 90: Where’s the mouse?

Catch up (part 2)

A few more stitches for your delectation and delight, starting from before I went into hospital.

Day 55: blue bear

Day 55: blue bear

Day 56: cherries

Day 56: cherries

Day 57: little owl

Day 57: little owl

Day 58: twin flowers

Day 58: twin flowers

Day 59: daffodil

Day 59: daffodil

Day 60: desert island

As requested by one of my Twitter followers.

Day 60: desert island

Day 61: fish

For my brother, whose birthday it was that day. The last one I did before going into hospital.

Day 61: fish

How stitching and social media support kept me sane in hospital

Sorry for the long, long silence on the blog, but as you will have gathered from the title of this post, I’ve been in hospital. The colitis flare up I’ve been referring to in previous posts finally got so severe that hospitalization was unfortunately necessary, and I ended up spending the best part of two weeks in HRI. I was discharged on Monday, and am now convalescing at home.

The first four days in hospital were so bad I was unable to stitch, but fortunately, within the rules I’d set myself, I was allowed to catch up on any missed stitches – see FAQs, although I suppose you could argue that I jinxed things by starting my answer to the question “What happens if you miss a day?” with “Well, everyone gets poorly sometimes…” Anyway, catch up I duly did, by occasionally doing two designs a day, and I’m pleased to say I am now entirely up to date with my stitching.

I don’t think I’m overstating the case when I say stitching is what kept me sane during this time. It gave a structure and focus to my day, and helped to take my mind of things when I was feeling particularly bad. What helped as well was all the support I was receiving on social media. I’ve built up quite a loyal band of ‘followers’ on Facebook and Twitter in particular, and getting likes, well wishes and encouraging comments from as far afield as Germany, the States and New Zealand, well, I can tell you it did my little heart the world of good during that difficult period.

People often go on about how ‘friendships’ on social media aren’t ‘real’, and obviously it’s not the same as all the practical support my husband and I received from our friends in the real world. Nevertheless, even though I’ve no idea who’s tweeting on behalf @hull_libraries and I don’t really know @fundraisemel, say, the fact that they sent me get well wishes, and in the latter’s case sponsored me to do a little design for them, is not meaningless – far from it, so thank you. It has been a real help.

To finish, just a quick snap of all the designs I stitched whilst in hospital. More detailed posts about the individual designs to follow.

All the stitches I did in hospital.

Catch up (part 1)

My colitis is still playing me up something chronic, and some days it’s been all I can do just to keep up with the stitching, never mind posting about it. Pleased to say that I have managed to keep up, and to be able to show you at least some of the designs I’ve been doing since my last post. Reckon I’ll need at least a couple of posts, so you don’t have to keep on scrolling.

Day 47: yellow crocus

Stitched this one the day I saw the first crocus in a garden on the way to work (the same garden where I saw the first snowdrop, coincidentally).

Day 47: yellow crocus

Day 48: spring bird

There was definitely a hint of spring in the air the day I stitched this one.

Day 48: spring bird

Day 49: the owl and the pussycat

From the latest CrossStitcher mag, this has been one of my most popular designs to date, judging by the number of likes on Facebook. Took a while to complete, but well worth it.

Day 49: the owl and the pussycat

Day 50: Happy Chinese New Year

Doesn’t need any further explanation.

Day 50: Happy Chinese New Year

Day 51: heart flower

It had been a long, tiring day, so I only managed a small one.

Day 51: heart flower

Day 52: red bike

Another very popular design, and quite Dutch too 🙂

Day 52: red bike

Day 53: vase of tulips

Been doing a lot of designs from this month’s CrossStitcher. Day 50, 52 and 53 are all part of a larger spring sampler.

Day 53: vase of tulips

Day 54: pastel butterfly

Another one from the abovementioned sampler.

Day 54: pastel butterfly

On a different note, I also managed to organise another live event: on Saturday 21 March, I’ll be stitching live at the Hull branch of Hobbycraft 🙂

More soon…

Time flies when you’re feeling poorly…

My colitis flared up last week, so have been doing my stitches and quick updates on FB and Twitter, but didn’t really feel up to writing blog posts. Here’s a nice long one to make up for it.

Day 39: hedgehog

Knew I wanted to stitch this one at some point, and am really pleased with how he turned out. I like the textured look of him – very tactile, like you can almost reach out and stroke him.

Day 39: hedgehog

Day 40: shooting star

Really wasn’t feeling well that day, so only a quick one to fulfil my contractual obligations 😉

Day 40: shooting star

Day 41: starry snowflake

I like these kinds of designs, and I stitched this one on some lively pale blue fluorescent aida kindly donated by a local lady.

Day 41: starry snowflake

Day 42: puppy dog

From the latest CrossStitcher mag, and a real cutie.

Day 42: puppy dog

Day 43: kitty cat

From the same mag as the little dog – a detail from a much larger design. Got people on FB to guess what it was going to be when I was about halfway through (and had only stitched spots) and no one had a clue: a pineapple and a plant pot with flowers were among the guesses!

Day 43: kitty cat

Day 44: purple heart

A quick one, as I had a long day ahead of me on day 45.

Day 44: purple heart

Day 45: love

Stitched this intricate design largely at St Stephen’s shopping centre, where I was stationed between 10 and 4 to try and add some more money to the kitty. Raised £76.86, mainly through a very generous donation by a local church craft group. Not bad for six hours work. Also discovered that the best way to get people to part with their change is to have a cute 7-year old (AKA my daughter) hold your fundraising bucket 🙂

Day 45: love

Day 46: simple flower

A nice straightforward design after yesterday’s complex one. Also pleased to report that Mr X Stitch checked in on FB again today, just to see that I was still keeping up with the challenge 🙂

Day 46: simple flower

That was the week that was…

Ok, it’s not quite been a week, but almost. I have been dutifully doing my daily stitches, but whilst I managed to do the Facebook and Twitter updates every day, by the time I’d done those, I’d run out of steam / time to write a blog post as well. Anyway, here are the six stitches I owe you, with a little bit about how they came about.

Day 33: Blue window

A nice art nouveau design. Quite a bit of backstitch, but very few cross stitches, so that pretty much evened things out. Really like the art nouveau stuff, so you can expect some more of those in the course of the year.

Day 33: Blue window

Day 34: Flower (green on red)

A design from a book I hadn’t used before! Changed the colours, and have to say I’m pleased with how it turned out.

Day 34: Flower (green on red)

Day 35: Complementary square

My own design, stitched partly at the launch if my friend Sam’s art exhibition at Pave. Getting quite used to stitching in public places 🙂

Day 35: Complementary square

Day 36: Cheery pink brollies

A nice and simple design, as I didn’t have much time on Thursday. Could have done with one of those during the day, as the weather was absolutely miserable.

Day 36: Cheery pink brollies

Day 37: Orange flower

Stitched this one at book group. Amazingly, I’d actually managed to read just over half of the book we were discussing (The Nightwatch by Sarah Waters), and read some more of it today as well. Hadn’t expected to do any reading this year, so that’s good going 🙂

Day 37: Orange flower

Day 38: Little green monster

This one’s for my little boy, who’d asked me to stitch ‘the dinosaur’.

Day 38: Little green monster

Well, we’re up to date again. Will try and post a bit more frequently this week!

Day 31 & day 32: Three flowers & cupcake

Another double post, as I was at Irwin’s (he of ‘cocktail square’ fame) birthday party last night. In fact, I finished stitch 31 there, just before we started on the ‘pub quiz’. Now there’s dedication for you 🙂

Today, I spent a bit of time totting up some figures, and you might like to know that in January, I stitched 5269.5 stitches (excl. backstitch) in 53 hours and 25 minutes, to create 31 designs 🙂 Also got some more donations in, including a very generous pledge from my husband, which means I’m more or less on course to reach my target. If you’d like to contribute, please go to the ‘Sponsor me’ page.

Thank you!

Day 31: Three flowers

Day 32: Cupcake