Stitch Maynia 2016 is over! I had intended to post weekly updates of my progress….I didn’t get to posting the photos, as you may have noticed! I’ve been job-hunting and house-hunting in Bristol for the last few months, and the big news is…I’ve been offered a job! So next week I’m moving to Bristol, into a house with space for a craft room* (OK it will be a ‘spare’ room, but you all know what that means) and a shiny new job.
I did keep up with my Stitch Maynia starts, and here they are for you!
Stitch Maynia Starts for May 2016
May 1st: Cross Stitcher Needle Case – this is a free kit that came with Cross Stitcher Magazine Issue 304. I’ve been obsessed with needing to keep my needles safe recently as I’ve lost a lot of them, so this is my attempt at that!

2nd, 10th, 11th, 14th, 15th and 31st: Plum Street Samplers Days 2 – 7 – I started this sampler in April and decided that starting a new day could count as a new start. More information on the actual samplers is here. I had originally planned to only do Days 2 through 6, but I had to change up my plans slightly because I went to London and forgot to take a couple of the kits I had planned to do. Day 7 replaced the Durene Jones Peacock I had been planning to do.

3rd: New Zealand Bookmark, a kit I bought in Arrowtown. This was my first experience of blackwork, and oh my goodness I loved it! I finished the piece the same day I started it, although I haven’t yet washed it.

May the 4th be with you: A little “I Love You” kit I bought from Hobbycraft. I stitched this in the pub, and didn’t get anywhere near as much as I wanted to do finished.

5th: The Liberty building, a cross stitch kit I bought at Liberty two years ago when I was with Melanie! I was really unimpressed with this kit – a lot of my framing allowance on my fabric is taken up with selvedge, the needle had burrs on it that frayed and cut my floss, and the pattern is hand-drawn and poor quality. I got a small amount done as I did this start just before bed and was tired!

6th: Bunch of Dandelions – this was another ‘pub job’, and as you can see I got loads done! It won’t take me long to finish this one.

7th: A lovely Sailing Boat kept me company while listening to the Outlander series. I ‘read’ a lot of books via Audible as it allows me to get my literary stimulation while also keeping my hands busy – in the chapter I listened to while stitching, Jamie and Claire were sailing across the sea and it was a very appropriate start.

8th: This was a free kit that I got years ago. I did so little it’s almost laughable. I was tired.

9th: On the 9th of May I was even more tired than the previous night! I literally forced myself to turn my light on, put in four full crosses, then turn the light off again. This was the hardest start for me in the whole month.

12th, 13th and 21st: Things started to get easier, and three separate Durene Jones patterns were started on one piece as an intended decoration for when we move house. I am loving how these are stitching up, and have already nearly finished the whole thing. Stay tuned!

16th, 17th, 18th, 20th and 22nd: Similarly to the cat piece, only Durene Jones also has little doggy patterns that I decided to combine into one piece. There was a lot of boring grass.

19th: I love penguins, and I loved the bright colours of this guy. This start happened while I was watching something very upsetting on YouTube (bring the tone down Corrie) so it was a welcome distraction!

23rd: Another beach hut! I left Devon for the rest of May at this point, so I was confined to kits and pre-prepared packs that I had sorted out. We stayed in a flat owned by a bit of a surfer dude – again appropriate!

24th: I had a job interview and just could not get on board with the Gingerbread Man. It was another hard stitch.

25th: This was a really fun stitch. I was really on board with DMC Mini Kits by this point – they are excellent, and I definitely recommend them to everyone.

26th: This was a free kit I got at CHSI stitches. You can probably see how different the kit is with comparison to the picture. I was not impressed with the fact that it’s not the same – I was looking forward to stitching up Tatty Teddy! The birthday cake was cute though. I entertained the idea of finishing this for John’s birthday the following day…but didn’t follow through on that one.

27th: I cannot for the life of me imagine why I bought this kit. The best that can be said is that I got a lot done in 20 minutes.

28th: I chose to start Box of Delights today – using the gold and black colour scheme. This is a free pattern by Elizabeth Almond. I was scared of it (hence avoiding it for ages) but once I started I just LOVED it. Blackwork is my jam. The first picture was one nights progress, the second another nights progress that I did on the 30th after starting that day’s start, as I just loved it too much and my light was too bad for the Queen Bee.


29th: I had intended to start a Christmas ornament kit that I got with a magazine last year, but I forgot the pattern at home when I left for London, and didn’t have it! So instead I started and finished a butterfly that came with Cross Stitch Crazy in April 2016. This was beautiful and an addictive stitch.

30th: I put off starting this all month, and by the 30th had no option. The Queen Bee Needle Case is by Primitive Hare, and I fell in love with the pattern when an image of the final product was shown in her promotional material, and had to wait literally months to buy it. I wasn’t too sure about my fabric choice – it’s so small that I literally can’t count the HPI as I lose count each time! But I did eventually start it, and it’s not as bad as I thought. I don’t love it yet, but once I’ve sat down and actually had a go at it I’m sure things will be better.

I’m so behind on my blogging because sorting out real life has been hard work! Stitch Maynia starts have also taken up the time I would normally spend blogging – so although I really enjoyed the month, I won’t be doing a start a day challenge for anything other than Maynia again, as I value my blogging time! It was great fun, and I will participate next year – even if it’s an effort to finish this year’s starts by the end of May 2017!
Did you have a go at Stitch Maynia? Were you successful?
I’ll catch up with the blogs as and when I can. I have some super exciting craft shops to tell you guys about!
Much love,
Corrie
*For those of you in the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to John, he has a spare room to himself too so he can have a nice office. Although he seems to think this will also eventually become a craft room. He’s probably right.
Very ambitious. Hopefully, you will finish all the nice work by the end of the month. I love the black and white too. :-) Regula
Good luck with your new job and all!