Jan 2021

 This year I'm hoping to complete the 12 Berries of Christmas, by Erica Michaels. This is berry number 3.

3 Calling Birds

12 Berries of Christmas 

Erica Michaels

I also hoping to complete the 7 ornaments in Prairie Schooler Starry Night Ornaments. 

Starry Night 

Prairie Schooler

Cathy's First Day of Christmas

 For this SAL, I'm doing the 12 Days of Christmas option.  I've chosen Ursula Michael's version for this.

  and finished Day 1 on January 26th. 

Serendipitous Jo's January Ornament

Once again I am following the 12 Days of Christmas theme.  This year I am stitching the Stoney Creek 2019 Ornament series as my monthly project.  I have also started the large Bothy Threads' design but won't be completing one block of those per month!

As per previous years, I started the 12 Days on Boxing Day and stitched one day for the next 12 days.  Then I returned to Day 1 and finished it.

Here are the 12 starts:

Here is Day 1 completed.  The fabric is a nice Lime Green which doesn't show up well on my laptop but looks great on my iPad!

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

This is how far I got with my Bothy Threads design this month.  I am hoping to get a few of these blocks stitched this year.  It would be nice to get six but they are all full coverage so we shall see.  I am using the kit threads which are apparently Madeira but substituted the 14 count white aida for 32 count blue-grey linen because the coverage will be so much better.

stitched on 32 count blue-grey linen

Lynne's January Ornament (Elfin Stitches)

 

I'll be stitching another 12 Day set this year.  I'll be trying hard to stitch one ornament each month, but I will probably cave half way through the year and stitch all the remaining ornaments.  I have good intentions, but patience is not one of my virtues - and neither is moderation.  After much deliberation I chose the Kooler 12 Day set for this year.  I like the bright colours, and they are very different to the two 12 Day sets I have already stitched.  I am planning to display all 3 sets on an internal door this Christmas.

I stitched the ornament over 2 on 28 count antique white linen, with 2 strands of the called for DMC floss. If you are familiar with the Kooler 12 days you will notice that I made a few little changes.  The two pears seemed out of scale to me, so I reduced their size by stitching them in petit point. Although I am normally a back-stitch fan, I preferred a softer look for the tree so I omitted the back-stitching on the leaves.  I also smoothed out the edges of the heart, just because that's the way I like it. 

Clare's January update

 Hi everyone

I have not stitched as much as I would have liked for this blog as I have been secret stitching for our daughter's birthday. 

Anyway I have stitched the first day of Jardin Privé's Le 12 Jours de Noël. I haven't finished it yet but they will all be done individually. 

I'm also doing the Plum Street Sampler series but as yet I haven't got very far. I posted today as I noticed you need to post before month end, hopefully February's post will have a little more to show. 

    Hello

I have finished January ornament. The Twelve Days of Christmas. The design is from Jardin Prive in beige 14ct Aida and called colors brown version. Finished following Vonna Pfeiffer from The Twisted Stitcher finishing tutorials. 

At my daughter's request, I added a bow in the front.

Happy New Year and DJ's January update...

Hi everybody!  Here's to a New Year and new goals!  Welcome to our new members!  I look forward to seeing what you'll be stitching with us!

I considered trying to stitch all 4 themes, but then thought...I have too many other things I really want to stitch, so decided to stick with just two.  Of course I'm going to do a 12 Days of Christmas!  I'm sort of addicted to them now...so this year I've decided to stitch the 12 Dragonlettes of Christmas by Dragon Dreams.  Here is the first one...Dragonlette in a Pear Tree.  Stitched on 28 count over two.

For the other theme  I chose theme three of the determined JCS issues, and this month they chose 2009 so I stitched Snow Merry by Homespun Elegance.  I just thought this little snowman and his buddies were just too cute!  He's stitched on 40 count summer khaki over two. 

Fingers crossed I hope to fully finish them by the end of the month...if I accomplish that, I'll be back to update!  I hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy!  Happy Stitching!

Suzanne's January 2021 Ornament

 Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. I know that I'm going to stitch from the Selection of Christmas Ideas Theme but I hope to throw in some other things as the year goes on. I definitely am stitching the freebie designs from Pinker n' Punkin Quilting - Barnyard Christmas and will fit them into each monthly theme as I go along. 

I stitched the Pinker n' Punkin's Christmas Barn for January. I used the DMC threads called for on 18 count oatmeal. I am keeping these small, just 2 x 2 "ish" and will be finishing them all the same way to hang on my metal Christmas tree display that I used for my 12 Dragonlets of Christmas by  Dragon Dreams stitched in 2018. 

Thanks so much for the encouragement throughout the year. I can't wait to see everyone's 2021 stitching.

Welcome to a New Member!

 Please welcome a new member to our wonderful group:

CARISSA

and here is some background to Carissa:

1.   How did you hear about the SAL blog? - Through an Australian Cross Stitch Facebook group (Cross stich Australia or Cross Stictch Addicts - sorry I cannot remember which one as I am a member of both). Some one posted the Big list of Cross Stich SAL page - https://www.stitchingthenightaway.com/big-list-cross-stitch-sals-2021/?fbclid=IwAR1I_sgv6TPnIykqTAN7gHM2C9bqDNlsk-8o-z5B2QlcHIVpMIvQZX_RIgc

2.   What is your stitching story/journey? 

I have been cross stitching since I was a teenager. I have recently had a renewed drive to do cross stich and make usefully items out of them for gifts and potentially  in a year or so, go to some of the local markets as a staller holder (I want to be sustainable with the craft - make enough to cover materials) 

3.   Where do you live (roughly ie country and/or state)?  

Queensland, Australia

4.   Do you have a blog? If so, what is it called?

 No

5.   Are you on Facebook (FB) or Instagram (IG), if so, are you willing to share your username? 

Both, but mainly use Facebook - just my email address ckoehl10@yahoo.com.au

6.   Name two or three of your favourite designers. 

 I have not landed on one - for so long my mum has just got me various kits (bless her) that I am still working my way through. I try to pick patterns or kits by the picture not the designer. One day I want to do some of my own designs.

7.   Why do you want to join the SAL blog? 

So that I can get in a routine of the small Christmas items, and know that others are on the same journey. It will be great to see others works and get and share ideas

Welcome, Carissa, I am sure that you will have a fun time with this SAL.

 hugs,  

Kaye's January Ornaments 2021_Part One_UPDATED!

 Hello lovely Elves, 

As always, I am going great guns over January with my stitching - this is because we are not going away on holidays because of:

 1. building the second new house (only a few months from completion now) and

2. There is nowhere safe to go - COVID!!!!!!

So, the upside is that I can stay home and stitch!

For January, I am attempting ALL FOUR OF THE THEMES! I know, crazy, hey?  But what the heck, I have the time at the moment and I am not promising that all of this productive stitching will keep going all year but for now... all good!

So, Theme One: The 12 Days of Christmas - my progress on this will be shown in Part Two of my January Ornaments, most likely at the end of the month.

Theme Two: Christmas Movies_For January the theme was the movie "Elf"

And, on Pinterest, I found this very cute little Elf and finished him with a cute Christmas tree button and a tartan bow.

Theme Three: Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornament Magazines_For January, you had to choose from the 2009 magazine.

I chose this rather sweet design by Nikki Leeman from Country Cottage Needleworks (CCN) called "Visions of Sugar Plums".  The first pic is the image from the magazine but you can see that I changed it a little as I placed the phrase "Sugar Plums" above the "lacework".  The reason for this is quite simple - I am an idiot!  I made a fundamental mistake from stitch one by not centreing my stitching correctly - Aaagghh!  However, I think that I have overcome the error and with the help of one of my favourite ribbons (pink with red dots) and a gorgeous backing fabric, I have produced a pretty ornament.  Oh, and I also changed the pink in the rug and the wording for a deeper pink.

Theme Four: A selection of Christmas Ideas_For January the prompt was "Barns".

I think that I found this very simple design on Pinterest but for the life of me I cannot find the link - my apologies. I made a simple change of adding a gold bead on the wreath and at the top of the tree and then finished it with four buttons.  UPDATE: (thank you to our lovely Elf, Suzanne Harkison for the reminder). 

"Your barn is from Pinker n Punkin Quilting.

She is always offering freebies and has a whole farm series"

Lastly, for those of you looking for a new 12 Days of Christmas series to stitch, you may be happy with this news....

Gazette 94 is back with some gorgeous new designs, including The 12 Days of Christmas, of course!

Click on the this link to go to her webpage and then scroll down.

Well, that is is it for my January Part One post, I hope to see some fun Christmas stitching soon, 

hugs,