#24HoursOfCrossStitch July Challenges

I finished the July challenges yesterday!!! I loved doing these! I have printed out August and can't wait to see how they go. So let's go over the July challenges again.

First up the acrostic (my favorite part by far!!)
We had to plug in something for each letter in TEAM 24 HOUR. You could be creative to make it work. Whatever you had to do. So here is how that worked out...

✅ T - Salt Water Taffy by Joan Elliott

Goal at least 4 hours.

Connection: The T in the title

Here it was before...

Actual Time Added: 7 Hours 45 Minutes

  ✅ E - July from Lizzie Kate Flip-Its Stamps 

Goal probably 8 hours to finish.

Connection: In the summer you Eat watermelon and there is one in the project

Actual Time Added: 12 Hours and 2 Minutes

 ✅ A - Adjust Your Sails 

Goal at least 4 hours.

Connection: The A in the title

Here it was before...

Actual Time Added: 4 Hours 6 Minutes

✅ M - July from Sand, Sea, and Cross Stitch Book 

Goal probably 8 hours to finish.

Connection: Monthly design I'm stitching all year

Actual Time Added: 7 Hours 50 Minutes

 

✅ 2 - 99 Bottles from Ink Circles

Goal maybe 4 hours definitely more than 24 minutes.

Connection: Going to add 2 more bottles.

Before...

Actual Time Added: 2 Hours 41 Minutes

✅ 4 - 4 Seasons Winter by Erica Michaels

Goal probably 4 hours.

Connection: 4 in the title

Before...

Actual Time Added: 2 Hours 36 Minutes 

(Ran out of time this month for more still more than minimum amount though so I'm happy.)

✅ H - Halloween Mini - Vampire Face by Artecy

Goal probably 4 hours could finish.

Connection: H in the title

Finished Actual Time Added: 3 Hours 8 Minutes

✅ O - Wish Upon a Starfish by Designs by Lisa

Goal at least 4 hours.

Connection: Starfish is an Ocean dwelling creature.

Before...

Actual Time Added: 4 Hours

✅ U - Under the Sea SAL by Lakeside Needlecraft

Goal at least 4 hours.

Connection: U in the title. So glad to have the push to get this one back out finally!

Before...

Actual Time Added: 4 Hours 11 Minutes

✅ R - Flip Flops kit from Mill Hill

Goal probably 8 hours to finish.

Connection: The flips flops are Red and white. 

Actual Time Added: 4 Hours 34 Minutes

I've definitely learned I have a hard time calculating how much time it might take me to finish a piece. I finally am remembering to hit my stop watch like it's a normal part of my stitching routine. I'm really happy with everything I accomplished! I had a feeling the challenges would be good for me and boy they were.

Next up was the Holiday Calendar...

In order to call this one complete you must stitch on 12 of the different holidays mentioned for the minimum of 24 minutes or 120 stitches. I think this one was a little more difficult but I noticed several people including our lovely Jo really enjoyed it. I personally enjoyed the acrostic more. But I did complete the 12 so I could call this challenge finished.

2nd -- World UFO Day -- I finally got Under the Sea SAL out of hiding and made progress on it.

3rd -- Stay Out of the Sun Day -- Halloween Mini Vampire Face definitely qualifies for this one.

4th -- 4th of July -- Free to Be Me worked for this one since it's patriotic.

10th -- Don't Step on a Bee Day -- I think the Mill Hill Flip Flops piece works for this one since it's shoes and that makes it so you don't step on a bee bare foot.

12th -- Simplicity Day -- I divided my July Lizzie Kate into 4 hours sections. 1 for this one. The Lizzie Kate pattern was simple to work on. Big nice blocks of color.

15th -- National Give Something Away Day -- Adjust Your Sails works for this one since mom is going to steal it.....Oh I mean I will give it to her when it's finished.

22nd -- National Hammock Day -- I used another section of the 4 hours on my Lizzie Kate stamp. I think you could lay in the hammock while eating watermelon. Don't you?

23rd -- Hot Enough for Ya Day -- Wish Upon a Starfish. I stitched this one while there were heat warnings outside. We even had an extreme heat warning this month.

24th -- International Self Care Day -- The last 4 hour section of my Lizzie Kate Stamp. I definitely do stitching for self care so stitching this one for myself definitely counts.

25th -- Thread the Needle Day -- Guess you could really use any of the projects for this one. I used Salt Water Taffy though.

28th -- Parents Day -- Mom's Nautical July piece since it's for my mom.

30th -- International Day of Friendship -- 99 Bottles When surrounded by our friends we like to drink beer.

So there is my 12 filled in.

Last challenge is to stitch 24 hours throughout the entire month. I hit a total of 53 hours and 54 minutes.

So that made all my July challenges complete!!!

I think August challenges deserve their own post. Stay tuned.

July Smalls SAL

Pardon me while I catch up. First up is the July Smalls SAL. On the last Friday of each month we are to share anything we finish that will qualify as a small. So this way at the end of the year we have at least 12 cute finishes. I started this SAL a few years ago and used it as an excuse to stitch up monthly pieces each month all year. This year I'm doing a Nautical set for my mom and a Lizzie Kate set for myself. Stop over to Mary's check in post to see what others have stitched up this month.

So first up is the two July pieces...

Sand, Sea and Cross Stitch book Nautical Year July for my mom. Lizzie Kate Flip-It Stamps July for my set. Also this month I finished another Mill Hill kit...

Flip Flops. Love the way they all turned out. I'm looking forward to tomorrow so I can start the new monthly designs. First up is mom's nautical piece. Good luck on getting your smalls done too!

Finish and Gifted Gorgeousness

I'm back with a finish...

(24) July 16th

Flip Flops Mill Hill Kit

2009 Spring Bouquet Collection

MH18-9104

Using Kit Materials

Stitched on Perforated Paper

Started Jul 13th. Took 3 Days. 

4 Hours and 34 Minutes Start to Finished.

 

I used this one for the R on the July acrostic for the #24HOCS (finally a shorter way of writing the 24 hours of cross stitch monthly challenge thingy haha) Challenge since the flips flops have Red in them. Now 3 of the 10 letters are marked off. Next project up is Salt Water Taffy. I'm looking forward to working on it again.

 

Yesterday was the 15th so I'll also include a Gifted Gorgeousness update with this post. The idea of this fun blog SAL is for us to post things that we have received as gifts or are stitching as gifts. Stop over to Jo's post to see what everyone has shared this time.  

Let me look back and see what I've been working on since the last time...

Adjust Your Sails was a gift from Bridgette my SAL partner. Here is where I am with it right now...

Here is what it will look like again...

It will be back out sometime soon. I put it on my acrostic as well for this month. The letter A just demanded to have Adjust your Sails after it. Bridgette has made beautiful progress too. I seen it on her Instagram...

I worked on Embers which was on gifted fabric from Heather a blogger who doesn't blog any more I guess. I sure miss her and her beautiful pieces...

I finished up Mom's Nautical piece for July...

She also will be stealing the Flip Flops to display of course haha. Okay now I'm off to work on Salt Water Taffy. Have a great rest of your week everyone!

Monday Update

Here we are another Monday. Let's see what I was up to last week. I already shared with you Mom's Nautical pillow that I finished on Monday. Tuesday I got started on my Lizzie Kate Flip It Stamp. Guess what....

(23) July 12th

 July Lizzie Kate Flip-It Stamp

Stitched on 14ct Oatmeal Aida

Threads are Suggested DMC

Started Jul 9th. Took 4 Days.

12 Hours 2 Minutes Start to Finished. 

Friday right before hubby got off work I was able to finish it. I was worried I wouldn't get it done in time. I had a half hour to spare. Cutting it close. I'm using this one for E on the #24HoursofCrossStitchMonthlyChallenge acrostic because we like to Eat watermelon in the summer. So now I have two letters of the 10 marked off. 

I took the Flip Flop Mill Hill kit with me to the cabin for the weekend. I'm using it for the R acrostic because the flip flops are Red. I was able to squeeze in 48 minutes Saturday...

It was really hot so spent some time indoors watching movies to soak up the air conditioning. Then the pond called to cool us down. In the evening we were going to watch a movie on our big outdoor screen but we all got to talking and ended up talking until bedtime. It was wonderful. Even though it was hot we ended up having another lovely family involved weekend. 

Sunday we got home right before dinner. There was a WWE pay per view in the evening so that meant extra stitching time. I finished up the stitching on the Flip Flops now just need to add the beads and assemble it...

Looks pink in this photo but it's red.....trust me.

We are having a real heat wave this week with deadly temps this weekend. Again let me say I'm so glad our cabin has AC haha. We are going to go down there though because we still have a stack of movies to watch. Every time we watch one I get happy our stack is lower and then dad hands me two more to watch. I don't think we'll ever get ahead. But we really enjoyed the movies we've watched so it's okay with us. 

 

I hope everyone has a great week and finds a lot of time for those X's. Not your ex's! Stay away from those haha.  Hopefully I'll be back to celebrate the Mill Hill finish very soon. Today is also time for a Gifted Gorgeousness update but I'll be back tomorrow to do that I think. I've already posted twice today haha.