SAL Catch-up

I guess I'm hooked on SAL's lately.  I discovered the cutest ABC prim SAL on Kim's blog. The SAL consists of 12 little squares that can be done as one sampler or as individual blocks.  You can send an email to Ele, the designer, to join in the fun. Read all about it on her blog,  Busy Hands Craft 

She has released four blocks so far.  I'm planning to make cube-shaped pin cushions out of the designs so I modified the border to be the back stitch edge that I will use to whip stitch the sides together.  Not sure what we are really in store for since she has featured nine letters on four blocks, but I trust that it will all work out well.  The color palette is that kind of standard prim muted type, all DMC.  I'm using 32 count Lamb's wool Jobelan.  My photo editing may make you think I'm using different fabrics, but they are all from the same cut of Jobelan.

I like the little touches of interesting stitches.  I had never heard of the Wheat Sheaf stitch, but you can see that below on the side of the house in the third square.   That square is especially fun with a house and the 'h' and 'i' close enough together to spell  'hi' .

So I'm up to date and it be should easy to keep current since the designs are so quick to stitch.

I also finished the March design for the Snowflower Diaries Joyful World SAL.  It's mostly stitched with suggested colors, but I did change some for better contrast and a brighter over-all look.   Again, this is 1-over-1 on 28 ct Tea Monaco.  Do you think we'll get a bunny in April?  We probably ought to have a betting pool!

Bird Friends Valentine and Joyful World

One last Valentine on the real Valentine's Day!.  I saw this design first on the FB smalls group.  It's a freebie by Kirsi Huttunen and you can find it at the  Merry Cherry Designs blog.  I actually stitched it up when I thought I was sending out two stitched Valentines this year, but the intended recipient for this one turns out to be traveling for the month of February.  So this one will just hang around til next year I guess.  My free-form heart seemed like a good idea, but my hand paper-cutting skills need work.  I'll just consider it to be 'rustic'.  It's stitched on 35 ct linen.

Like many of you, I've been participating in the Snowflower Diaries Joyful World SAL.  I have no idea what I will do with these designs in the end or even if I will have the staying power to stitch them all.   I decided to do them on 28 ct tea Monaco, one-over-one, in DMC.  I'm doing each individually for more flexibility later. I considered leaving off the month names, but in the end I decided I liked them as is.   Even if I never finish-finish them, I'm enjoying the stitching so much that they will have definitely served their purpose anyway.  The designs are just so precious!  I have finished January and February with minimal color changes.  There were a few places that didn't have enough contrast for my fabric.  The two photos below make it appear that I used a different fabric for each, but that's just camera tricks.  The February photo is probably more true to the real life color.

Here's a shot next to a quarter so you can see how tiny and cute these are: