February Smalls SAL

This little SAL is hosted by Heather over at the Stitching Lotus if you are interested in participating and I can tell you I'm super excited for this month's check in!

February has been an amazing month of finishes involving smalls.  Instead of posting each finish individually I have waited for THIS check in to share the pretties!

First up is the Chickie Travel Pouch for the stitcher on the go.  A lined Chickie pouch, a fobcornu and needle book were stitched up at the beginning of the month.  This is a second place prize for the Gamer's Delight Contest over at Stitching Pirates that is going on right now. 

It's funny, but the possessed machine did everything it could to ruin the beautiful work I put in to making that needle book so it isn't quite as I have envisioned, but it's still pretty.  This is a one of a kind prize.  The fabric is an old scrap I've had for over 25 years, the floss is from the grab bag over at MilesMadXStitcher's Etsy Store, and naturally, any Chickie bag-type thing I made is going to be it's own thing never to be replicated.

Next up we have The third Quaker Christmas Smalls which is part of a series by Milady's Needle.  This was on my Turtle Trot list from last year and I was two patterns (or one ornament for me) away from completion by the end of the year.  I put it on the Finish It Up list for 2016 and was able to cross it off!

Now you can see all three in a Chickie Basket I made from scraps of stuff.  This last ornament took the rest of my stash of ORTs, so now I have to stuff things with REAL stuffing.  Real stuffing is harder to work with than ORTs, but I'm re-learning how to do that stuffing after NOT for so long, ha, ha.

So, now here we are, the girls and I, chatting away about cross stitch and food and other funzies, when Magical decides she needed to design a fobcornu pattern for the Mulan Princess Pattern that Ashley created.  Well you cannot have a pattern sitting there without a test run on stitching to make sure the pattern is all it should be, so I grabbed up Magical's Pattern and went to work on it immediately.  I'm going to say it's a totally pretty pattern and should be stitched up by anyone who plans on stitching up Mulan or just really wants a tiny biscornu that has quite a few blended threads...looks are deceiving on this stitch so plan on it taking a bit longer than usual.

So while I'm doing that, Magical again decides that Tinkerbell needs a fobcornu as well...she has a new pattern posted before I can finish the Mulan, but never fear...I stitched that one up as well! This one looks like lace!  I'm a bit partial to this one since I did grab up Ashley's Tinkerbell Pattern to stitch and would have needed to make a fobcornu anyway.

And then...I finished the first of three of Magical's Ornament of the Month cuties for December prior to the Mulan and Tinkerbell fobcornus.  

So, get this....stitch-wise, this is a SQUARE.  But poor fabric making has created the elongated one way weaving with short-way weaving crossing over to give my, what should have been SQUARE ornament, this rectangular look.  It's kind of funny to me so instead of getting angry about it, I went with it so that the last three ornaments for 2015 would be their own, unique style.  For December there are three ornaments, so this is D. Because I was using scraps of evenweave, there aren't many of my ornaments that are uniform in shape and size.  they are all exceptionally tiny, but some are larger than others.

Once done with all of that, I returned my attentions to another small I had been working on during lunches at work.  With all of the interruptions while stitching, I became fed up and figured I'd finish at home...which I did!

This is Snowman's Cottage from the Frosty Forest Collection by Country Cottage Needleworks.  It is just one in a series of 9 and on my FIU 2016 list!  Originally I had won two patterns from the SFS in 2014, but seriously...I NEEDED the rest of the series...and the buttons, and more fabric.....

Instead of stitching the snow with annoying confetti stitches, I used Mill Hill Petite Glass beads #40479.  Last year I had picked up  tons of these little black frames specifically for these because they were 50% off and because I needed them to frame these adorable smalls.  So I was ready for the satisfying super finish finish for each one as I go along.

This was crossed off my FIU 2016 list as well.

By now, some of you may be wondering what the heck a FOBCORNU is, so I will tell you.  Because these little biscornu are so small and meant to be fobs for scissors, I re-named then FOBCORNU. These are adorably small, maybe 2 in. x 2 in. pretties.  

February was FEBRUARY FINISHES, and I went all out...it just worked out this way.  So I'm wondering if March will be MARCH MADNESS?  Guess we shall see.  All I have planned for March is to finish Cead Mile Failte, work on ACE, finish Sheep and the last two December ornaments...but who knows.  This month was so productive I can't see it not being the same for March.

Until next time.....Keep on Stitchin'!