HO! HO! HO!

Kaye - I can't thank you enough for organizing this SAL. I really needed some motivation to stitch some Christmas ornaments and get them done - in time - for Christmas gifts.

Here's Santa - a freebie from Brooke's Books. Now - how to finish, how to finish!

My Pick for August

Oh, I'm so excited to do this SAL! I participate in quite a few (too many, sometimes I think!), but I especially love to stitch Christmas designs. So this is perfect for me!

My lovely friend, Linda, gifted me the Santa's 12 Days of Christmas charts by Prairie Schooler. I've started the first 8 (I'm a serial starter), but have made real progress on number 1. This'll be my ornament finish for August.

Here's where I am now:

Mostly just a lot of little fiddly bits left to stitch. I only work on this on Sundays, but I'm sure I can finish the stitching by the end of August. My real goal is to do the finishing, too; I haven't tried that yet but have seen many good tutorial videos.

Happy Stitching!

Kate

I have picked my Santa...but not the colour!

Hi Xmas Ornie SALers!

A few weeks ago I bought a back issue of Cross Stitch Collection magazine. It was a Xmas issue (234) and it had these rather wonderful Christmas designs...

...by The Prairie Schooler. I have never stitched any of their designs before, and before I started reading other cross stitch blogs I had never heard of them either. It is not a well-known name in Sweden.
However, I LOVED these Christmas designs in all their traditional red and white and green colours, and when I joined this SAL and saw the theme of August, it was pretty clear to me that I would stitch the Santa ornament!

I have ordered the few additional threads I need, but I am going to use some of the aida I have in my stash. The only problem is that I don't have the fabric colour they have used, but instead I have to choose between light green, dark blue, light blue or grey.

So, what do you think???
Which colour should I choose???

Xmas Hugs,

Annie

Christmas in July celebrations anyone?

Hello lovely Christmas Ornie SALers,

As this blog is about all things Christmas and here Downunder, in the Land of Oz, on the other side of the world to many of you, it is deepest, darkest Winter, so I was just wondering if anyone has celebrated Christmas in July this year?

I must admit, that this year, TraderVic and I are having a very quiet winter, after a very tumultuous first half of the year, we are content to hibernate this Winter.  However, in the past we have attended and hosted some fun Christmas in July dinners - with Roast dinners with all the trimmings, silly hats and even the odd parlour game or two.

Now, when I was a lass (a long time ago now), Christmas in July seemed a strange thing to do.  I think it became popular here in Australia because we do normally celebrate Christmas in Summer and it is often incongruous to have a full roast dinner and plum pudding on a 40 degree celsius day! So, lots of people keep a box of Christmas decorations aside, after they have packed the rest up for the year, to grab for July.  Also, of course, now that we have online shopping, it is so easy to buy what you want whenever you want.

This takes me to my next point, I have discovered a new-to-me gorgeous online shop called Patience Brewster, who have the most divine ornaments just right for Christmas (and any other celebration, too).  Look at this gorgeous Santa.....

They even have a special Christmas in July Instagram competition that you can enter and this Santa could be yours, how cool would that be?

So, what, if anything have all of you been up to for Christmas in July?  We would all love to hear about it, I am sure.

hugs,

Found My Ornaments

Dug this out of a dusty part of my store room.

It's a Leisure Arts book - one of a whole series they did on Christmas - and I think I've found all 5 ornies I want to stitch. Now to check floss and fabric and be all ready for August 1.

An early Merry Christmas to you all....

... this is the inaugural post of the Christmas Ornie SAL 2015.  I hope that we can all have fun together as we stitch some Christmas Ornies.  Don't worry, we still have time, about five months to stitch some little beauties.

So, some housekeeping:

• this blog is still under construction, so forgive me if there are still a few things missing.
• If you want to join, please email me at: kayedep@gmail.com
• Our themes are on the right hand sidebar, we are starting with Mr and/or Mrs Santa for August (we have a long lead in to get us started)
• I have tried to keep them fairly flexible as we do have less than half a year, so that is why there are choices within a month's theme
• Please feel free to use our badge and link back to this blog on your own gorgeous blog:

.... and if you are interested in creating this stitchery, it is a freebie from Allie Oops designs, which you can find here.  (Just scroll down until you find it).

• There will be a blogroll of each of the contributors, but that is still under construction, too.

(Ooooh, as I am writing this post, I can see that Debbie B has started following the blog already - hurray!  Welcome, Debbie!)

• Also, please check out our Sister Blog, Hallowe'en Ornie SAL 2015, hosted by our very own Jo P - you will find a link on the sidebar.

Anyway, that is all from me, as I have to pop off to work now to pay for all of my stash.

Merry Xmas to you all,

P.S. I forgot to tell you all, that each month there will be a giveaway of a Christmas pattern chosen at random from that month's posts - so that should give you some incentive to stitch away - lol!