Last Ornament of 2017!

Here is my last post for 2017, my December drum from Mill Hill:

Isn't it cute? I just have 1 left from this series, the violin. They are so pretty! Happy New Year, Everyone! See you in 2018!

Happy New Year ...

.......and here is to a brand new year of Christmas Ornie Stitching in 2018!

I am writing this post a day or two early from La Dolce Vita in Roma, Italia....

My access to internet and free time (and the right amount of power to charge my laptop) has been patchy, so I am taking the opportunity of posting right now.

I am hoping that you all had a wonderful Christmas ..... we certainly did whilst in Sicily, with Babbo Natale (DD's boyfriend taking on the role, even though he speaks no Italian) visiting us and all the cousins at midnight on Christmas Eve....

.... and, of course I am wishing you all a Happy New Year ....

.... however, I do wish to remind you about January's themes for 2018...

Theme One... The Twelve Days of Christmas

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

(Wasn't David Cassidy such a dream boat in "The Partridge Family"?  So sad that he has passed away too soon.)

... and Theme Two ... Christmas Carols ...

Deck the Halls

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la la la la!

'Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la la la la!
Don we now our gay apparel, Fa la la la la la la la!
Troll the ancient Yuletide carol, Fa la la la la la la la!

See the blazing yule before us, Fa la la la la la la la!
Strike the harp and join the chorus, Fa la la la la la la la!

Follow me in merry measure, Fa la la la la la la la!
While I tell of Yuletide treasure, Fa la la la la la la la!

Fast away the old year passes, Fa la la la la la la la!
Hail the new, ye lads and lasses, Fa la la la la la la la!
Sing we joyous all together! Fa la la la la la la la!
Heedless of the wind and weather, Fa la la la la la la la!

Wishing you all a fabulous year ahead....

I certainly plan to have a great year of stitching and blogging once I return home to Oz in mid to late January.

lots of hugs, 

Kaye

Merry Christmas

My block for this month is the freebie day 12, Twelve Drummers Drumming by Plum Street Samplers.

Fabric/Threads: Picture This Plus - 36ct Wren Linen /DMC, WDW and TGA.

My others ornaments:

Thanks for visiting!

Merry Christmas!!

Lili

December 2017

Thank you all for the nice words in November!
My Three King:

I'm glad I participated in 2017 and look forward to 2018! I do not understand the carols, so I will embroider 12 Christmas days :-)
I wish you peaceful holidays filled with love!
Daniela

2018 Blog Badge

Showing some amazing organisational abilities (not! lol!), I have actually managed to create next year's badge early (it is really just me procrastinating about having to open up my suitcase and take some things out as I have, naturally, packed way too much!).

So, anyway, introducing next year's badge.....

Please feel free to download it and link to this blog.

(if you are curious as to how I made this gorgeous badge - I used picmonkey.  It is an online tool that allows you to play around with your images - cool, hey?)

Now, remember, we are off on our big European adventure in less than 48 hours now (and I have managed to take a tumble in the garden down some steps and hit my head on a metal garden arch - chasing one of the kitty cats, of course - I have a big bump on my head, scrapes, aches, grazes and bruises and a headache the size of the Sydney Harbour Bridge plus I am just getting over a very sore throat - but will any of that stop me from getting on that plane on early Thursday am - no way!  I cannot wait to see my daughter after eighteen months!).

So, we are off on a big five week trip to Europe  (London to see DD, Christmas with DH's cousins in Sicily, Rome, Southern Spain and Dubai!). 

If you want to follow my travels - you will find them at these places:

Blog: http://kittenstitching.blogspot.com

FB: Kaye De Petro

Instagram: Kaisievic

lots of Christmassy hugs, 

The Big Reveal.... Themes for 2018 announced!

Drum roll, please....

The themes for 2018 are:

Back by popular demand......

Theme One:  
THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS.....  

(no great surprise there but scroll down to see the exciting new Theme 2)

On the First day of Christmas my true love sent to me
a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

On the Second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

On the Third day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Three French Hens,
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

Subsequent verses follow the same pattern, each adding one new gift and repeating all the earlier gifts, so that each verse is one line longer than its predecessor:

4 Calling Birds

5 Gold Rings

6 Geese a-Laying

7 Swans a-Swimming

8 Maids a-Milking

9 Ladies Dancing

10 Lords a-Leaping

11 Pipers Piping

12 Drummers Drumming

There are so many different designs out there on this theme - I just did a quick Google search and look at all of these:

You can also check out The Twelve Days of Christmas Stash Enabling page on this blog, if you need more inspiration.

.... and here we go, another "Drum Roll" please....

"The Little Drummer Boy" sung A Capella by Pentatonix (this is beautiful, so please do listen).

Theme Two:  

Christmas Carols 

(as suggested brilliantly, by the lovely Mary H from Mary's Threads.  Thank you so much for the idea, Mary.)

Now, I have canvassed around for a few ideas (Thank you, Stitching Noni and Mary H), added a few of my favourite carols and came up with a list - I hope that you like them.

January - Deck the Halls

February - Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer

March - We Three Kings 

April - White Christmas

May - Hark the Herald Angels Sing

June - Good King Wenceslas

July - God Rest You Merry Gentleman

August - Away in a Manger

September - The Little Drummer Boy

October - Oh Christmas Tree

November - Jolly Old St Nicholas

December - Frosty the Snowman

(Now, remember, you can shoehorn as much as you like to make a design that you like fit the theme - i.e - just choose a word or two from a carol which fits the design that you would like to stitch.)

Here are a couple of lovely designs to give you inspiration (thanks to dear Stitching Noni)

Bygone Stitches Songs of the Season

Christmas Carols by CCN  

(there are quite a few other Christmas carol designs in Nikki's range - worth checking out)

But, of course, most Christmas Ornie designs would fit somewhere in that list, I am sure.

Wishing you all the most blessed of Christmases and a very Happy New Year.

  

We are off on a big five week trip to Europe next Thursday (London to see DD, Christmas with DH's cousins in Sicily, Rome, Southern Spain and Dubai!). So, I am thinking that we are very blessed.

If you want to follow my travels - you will find them at these places:

Blog: http://kittenstitching.blogspot.com

FB: Kaye De Petro

Instagram: Kaisievic

lots of Christmassy hugs, 

November Dragonlet

I'm late with my November post, even though it was finished on time. So here is Dragonlet #11, piping bravely.

From Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of 2012.

November: Primitive Christmas Designs - Lili

Hello!
My November ornament is a sweet little angel.

Design: NikysCreations – Christmas Angel
Fabric/Threads: 40 count flax Linen /DMC floss

 

Happy Holidays! 

Lili

November 2017

Thank you for the nice words in October! I was very pleased :-)

Topic for this month:
Primitive Christmas Designs

I found on Pinterest :-)

I'm looking forward to the December theme 😍❤️

I wish you beautiful advent days!

November - Primitive Christmas Designs

Christmas Joy Pinkeep

freebie from Pineberry Lane © 2011

★ ★

Faith's November Ornament

Presenting Day 11...

Mr. Sheep Piper, piping away on his bagpipes!

12 Days of Christmas

Day 10

Ten Lords A Leaping

Designer - Margaret Sherry

Those bagpipes look like they are not an

easy instrument to play but he is really trying!

Thanks for looking and for the

comments left on my previous posts!

Gwen: 12 Days, Geese

Hands On Designs

12 Days

I'm half way there. Yeah!! This month I used Kreinik number 4 blending in gold for one of the eggs and some beads in the holly spray at the bottom.  No doubt I wouldn't be able to finish stitching the other 6 in 4 weeks, but I hope to have at lease 1 more done this year.

Gwen

Serendipitous Jo's November Eleven Pipers Piping

Joan Elliott has chosen a Scottish Bagpiper in his kilt swirling on the banks of a Loch with a Castle behind him for this block.

As usual, I stitched the main figure with two strands and the background with one strand.  Because the colours are all very bright and bold I think this makes the figures stand out more.

Here's where I was last month:

And here is how the whole piece looked at the end of Block 11:

On track for a Christmas 2017 finish!

Mary's Prim Heart

Here is my November Primitive Design, X-Mas in my Heart by Abby Rose Designs.

Hearts are so tricky to make smooth and even! Any tips? My is all lumpy but fortunately the trim covers it up!

One more month! This has been such a fun SAL!

How ironic.  In the last post, I said I was grateful for technology.  I guess I still am but in different ways.  Right after the last entry, my computer died.  Big black screen, the whole works apparently gone.  I was able to get files recovered but the computer was still old enough that it was not restoring.  And then the search for a new one began.  I never thought of myself as old-fashioned until the search.  I like using my mouse, I use my USB ports for numerous things.  I still use thumb drives.  I want to be able to play my CDs.  Never thought this would be such a hard thing to find.  But finally I did and now I'm learning new software, new operating systems, etc....

Hopefully this is still working.  Here goes.

Themes for 2018??????

Hellooooo, lovely Christmas Elves,

Long time no see from me!  

I have been having rather a blog hiatus these last few months (don't worry lots of stitching has been happening - you can see updates on Instagram and FB, if you use those social media sites and follow me) but I didn't want to neglect my duties so I have popped up to organise the 2018 themes, with a little bit of help from you.

I must say, I am so impressed with all of the gorgeous Christmas stitching that has been happening on both sets of themes this year - well done you!

Anyway, I have decided that we will keep running two alternate set of themes in 2018.

We will keep Theme One as it is:

Theme One:  THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS.....

On the First day of Christmas my true love sent to me
a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

On the Second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

On the Third day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Three French Hens,
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

Subsequent verses follow the same pattern, each adding one new gift and repeating all the earlier gifts, so that each verse is one line longer than its predecessor:

4 Calling Birds

5 Gold Rings

6 Geese a-Laying

7 Swans a-Swimming

8 Maids a-Milking

9 Ladies Dancing

10 Lords a-Leaping

11 Pipers Piping

12 Drummers Drumming

There are so many different designs out there on this theme - I just did a quick Google search and look at all of these:

And....

Theme Two will be a variety, just as we had in previous years (and there is no reason we cannot use some of the same ideas again). So, get your Santa hats on and start sending through some choices to me!  

Please comment on this post only and I will leave it open for around two weeks and then decide.

If we have more than twelve ideas for Theme 2, then I will set up a little poll.

HO! HO! HO!

hugs, Kaye

P.S. TraderVic and I are going on a big overseas trip shortly - so probs no blogging from me in the near future but I plan to be all reinvigorated for 2018!

P.P.S. Just as a reminder here are the themes for the last three years:

THEMES FOR 2016

January - Music

February - Snow

March- Santa and his helpers

April - Ornaments/Decorations

May - Reindeer

June - Christmas animals/pets

July - free choice

August - Christmas clothing

September - Christmas Food

October - Toys/Presents

November - Oh Christmas Tree!

December - Angels/Nativity

THEMES FOR 2015  (ONLY A PARTIAL YEAR, AS THE BLOG WAS ONLY STARTED IN AUGUST)

August - Mr and/or Mrs Santa

September - Christmas Tree/Presents

October - Angels/Nativity

November - Snowflakes/ Snowman/Wintry scene

December - free choice

October: Nativity - Lili

Hello!

My October ornament!

Design: Shepherd's Bush - Mary and Joseph

From the Magazine Just Cross Stitch 2006 Special Christmas Issue

Fabric/Threads: 32 count Soft Cream Linen / DMC floss

See you soon!

Happy stitching,

Lili

Serendipitous Jo's October Ten Lords-a-Leaping

I neglected to post this here in October, but better late than never!

October's block was the energetic young Lord leaping with his ribbons:

Here is where the piece was last month:

And here is where it stood when I completed my Lord:

Since then I have completed the entire border and almost all of Block 11.  Not long to go until a Christmas finish.

A Tiny Nativity for October

Here is "Tiny Nativity" by Bent Creek. While I had finished the stitching back in October, I really wanted the ornament FFO'd for my post and I finally got to that last night! It's amazing how just as much work goes into finishing such an itsy bitsy thing as something so much bigger! This is only 1.5" square! But I think it's charming and was very fun to do!

October's Nativity

Hello!

Here is my nativity "ornament".  

I can't believe we only have 2 months left this year!  Time needs to slow down a little bit.

Happy Stitching!

Khristine

Gwen: 12 Days

My ornament this month is the 5th of Hands On Designs, 12 Days. I used Kreinik and some MH beads to add some bling,.

Hands On Design

12 Days

5 Gold Rings

October - Nativity

Starry Night, Nativity Scenes

Lesley Teare

★

Oktober 2017

Thank you for the beautiful words in September!
My October assignment is low in color. The gold color replaced them:

I'm looking forward to November :-)
Daniela

Faith's October Ornament

Well here we are at Day 10 already!

I refused to call this one the F word because I have been ripping things out a lot lately! So I call him Mr. Toad instead.

He stitched up pretty quickly and is a wonderful addition to the series!

12 Days of Christmas

Day 10

Ten Lords A Leaping

Designer - Margaret Sherry

He looks just like the Lord he is

meant to be with that fancy cape on!

Thanks for looking and for the kind

comments left on my previous posts!

12 Days of Christmas - Day 9

12 Days of Christmas - Plum Street Samplers

Free design - link to the Plum Street Samplers "Grand Finale" blog post is here

12 Days of Christmas - Plum Street Samplers
Fabric: 28ct Jobelan "Gold Digger" - Colour Cascade Fabrics
Threads: Jodryi Designs (Wuthering Heights, Sense & Sensibility, The Olde Curiousity Shoppe, Midnight Hour)

Ninth Day

Started: 2 January 2017
Finish: 15 October 2017

Another one bites the dust!  Day 9 is late... but is now finished!  Can't believe that there are only three more squares left to go with this one now!  I am going to a stitching retreat at the end of the month so plan to take this WIP with me in an attempt to try and get Day 10 finished on time!

Til next time... happy Christmas stitching

Leaping Lords!

Or in this case, dragonlets. Number 10 is done.

And here's what the whole project look like to date.

September - Santa

The Prairie Schooler, Book Nº 13

A Prairie Year: December

★

Faith's September Ornament

This cute dancing lady is finally finished! 

She literally took me the entire month to finish but she is DONE! 

Day 9

Nine Ladies Dancing

Designer - Margaret Sherry

She looks kinda cute in that

tutu and graceful on her feet!

Thanks for looking and for the kind

comments left on my previous posts!

Not Quite Caught Up

Well, I had hoped to have August and September done by this month end, but haven't quite made it. August is finished

and September is about half stitched. Maybe if I hustle for the rest of the day?

And I did it! Dragon 9 got finished with about 5 1/2 hours to spare. Terrible fabric colour - the picture of #8 is much better.

Hopefully Dragon 10 won't be such a last minute stitch.

September: Santa - Lili

Hello!

This is my choice for this month! 

What a lovely Santa!

Design: Mosey'N Me - The Once-A-Year-Visitor

(Just Cross Stitch Magazine Special Christmas Issue 2000)

Fabric/Threads: 40 count Natural Thieffry linen/DMC cotton floss and DMC metallic Light Gold

Happy stitching,

Lili