And the winner is...

A wall hanging!

The owls are finally finished.  I've used the same fabric for the backing and binding, so it was all very simple to finish.  I've added two hanging triangles on the back and it's all ready to go.

 

I don't think Jonathan's cross stitch will be completed as quickly, it hasn't been out for almost a fortnight.  I should rectify that this week, and work on it at least one day.

To-whit, to-whoo

The cross stitching, and the back stitching are done.

These are all four owls, seen in all their glory.  It's the first time since the beginning that I've been able to see the whole picture.  I am going to miss stitching on these.

 

Now the fun begins, shopping for fabric to finish this into a cushion.

 

All the leaves are ....

Done!

The first part of the last page is complete.  All the leaves are stitched and outlined.  It means I'm now working on the tail of the last owl.  Wonder if I keep Daniel out all week!

Small Progress, Large Milestone

I only had a short time for stitching, but it has brought me to the end of the third page.

The foliage has been started at the top right, and this can only mean I'm coming to the end of the whole piece.  I can now turn over to the last page.  This is about a third of the size, so all being well, the stitching part of this project might soon be over.

Back Stitching

Whenever I sat down to do the back stitching on the owl, someone would come, or would phone.  By the time they'd gone, Daniel would be back home.  It seemed to take ages before I could get this section finished.

It's now done and a start has been made on the foliage that goes at the top right.  Just a little bit of that to cross stitch and outline, and I can turn over to the last page.  It's only about a third of a page, so I'm hoping it won't take too much longer to do.

Before he went out, I did get two more crumb blocks done to add to the bag.  It won't be too long and I'll decide on sashing fabric and make up a quilt.  There's just a couple more projects to finish up first.

Owl Update

I've been plugging away at the owls when Daniel has been out, so it's been slow progress.  The fourth owl is a lot bigger than the others, so has taken that bit longer to do.

I've done all that is on the third page of the owl, so now it's time to add some back stitch detail, and a few leaves in the upper right corner.  Hopefully, I can get that done this week.

Pester Power

For what seemed like months, Daniel kept asking for an owl, and the answer was consistently no.  He looked at all the rules and regulations, even spoke to a keeper who offered to mentor him while we were out, and the answer was still no.  Almost every other sentence was, "Can I have an owl?"  The answer was no, but then I saw this:

This was a design in one of the Cross Stitch Gold magazines I wanted to clear out, but now, unknown to Daniel,  he can have four owls, although, I'm not sure he will be as delighted as I am.  Fotunately, he has a great sense of humour, so he will see the funny side.

As I can only do this while he's out, I'm not expecting them to hatch quickly, but the first eye has appeared.  He's away for a few days next week, so hopefully, good progress will then be made.

Daniel has now moved on to pigs, so guess what I'm looking for now!

In the meantime, I needed something that I could do in the odd few minutes that I had available, and to do while waiting for Daniel at various activities.  While moving furniture and cleaning last week, I found a neglected project which is just perfect for those times.

It's just a crochet square that will just grow and grow until I run out of cotton.  Once it's done, then I'll decide what it's for.

E is for the End

 The last letter to be stitched was the E, and finally, after months of being in progress, it is finished.

The elephants in all their splendour

This will now go to one side until I get the fabric to make a quilt/wall hanging.  This is going to be the central panel.  In the meantime, all the threads are sorted and put away.  A design has been found, threads pulled and a list made for threads to buy.  Before that though, I think I am due for some sewing machine time, some knitting and some embroidery, although not necessarily in that order.

Oh, "C", "D"

 The stitching has continued, and two more letters are complete.  That leaves just the "E" to finish.  All being well, that means, by the end of today, I should have a complete alphabet.

"B"

B is for busy stitching.  Three more letters to go

Hope you all have a lovely day

The Final Straight

This is the beginning of the last line of elephants, and they are now being stitched in alphabetical order.  "A" marks the top left corner, and I need to get to "E".

The elephants are back

Daniel very kindly picked up some more thread for me while he was out, so I can now get back to the elephants.  I wanted to do the outlining on the last two elephants at the bottom before having to roll the canvas to finish the top.  "U" and the little elephant with the balloons complete the parade at the bottom.

Now they've been done, I've now moved on to the final four elephants at the beginning of the alphabet.  All being well, they won't take long to stitch.

When Z isn't the end of the alphabet

Z is done, but not all my alphabet elephants are finished.  I have five more letter elephants and one corner elephant to do.  Sad thing is, I've run out of the thread for the the outlining, so will have to wait until at least Wednesday to get some more.  I shall carry on stitching on the final corner at the bottom, but will wait until I've outlined them to move up to do the ones at the top.  Hopefully, there will not be too much of a delay.

Bottom Right Completed

This was one of the little fellows I had forgotten to count when I was working out how many more elephants there were to stitch.  He's quite a sweet elephant, so didn't deserve to be forgotten and he has a friend at the opposite corner.  When that one is done, I know the bottom of the sampler is finished.  However, there is a little way to go before that happens.  Altogether, there are seven more little friends to stitch, six with letters and one other.

'X' and 'Y'

I'm almost done with the bottom right corner.  There is one of the unlettered elephants to do, and this corner will be complete.  That means I have eight more elephants to do.

'W'

All stitched and ready to walk away

They Just Keep on Coming

R is the next letter to be done, and I quite like this one, even though it is walking away.  Reminds me of Nellie the Elephant who packed her trunk.

I thought this would leave me with ten more elephants to do, as I had completed sixteen letters.  However, there must have been a something going on, as I've discovered there are two extra elephants that have no letters.  That means, there are still twelve to go.  Nothing like feeling you're going backwards on a project!

Eleven More to Go

First task was to finish the L, the outline makes all the difference.

 Next, Q and V were finished.

That means I am now over half way through the alphabet, in fact, there are eleven more letters to go.

And they just keep coming

The elephants just keep rolling along.  Now it's time for the 'p' to be on parade.

One good thing about taking progress photos, you see the bits you've forgotten, like the outlining on the 'l'.

                 This will have to be rectified later, fortunately, it's right next door to the next elephant closest to a finish.

K

Still stitching away, and yes, I do know my alphabet.  K doesn't normally come after F, but these are not being stitched in order

I have an unexpected day home, so I shall be forging on ahead with more letters