Welcome to the Jolliest blog on the block! Each month we have a different theme. You choose your OWN chart, fabric and threads. Share your progress as you go along and post your finished piece by the last day of the month. You can join at anytime throughout the year and choose which months you wish to stitch with us. Happy Xmas everyone!
Wow! I have actually caught up and I have chosen May's design already and plan to start it tomorrow (New Start Sunday) - I am so chuffed! Here we are: January: Fa La La by Little House Needleworks. I did change the right hand carol singer's dress to blue as I thought it would be prettier (and somehow their dresses got longer to hide their boots - but we won't talk about that - lol!)
March: 2015 2018 Years ago by WDC Needlework (from Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments 2015). I made quite a few alterations to the original design but I am thrilled with how this turned out.
April: Frosty Friends by Blue Ribbon Designs from Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments 2017.
These finishes are all the by-product of being stuck home for five days with Gastric Flu (no fun at all!) so I suppose it just goes to show that there is always a silver lining!
Well, I am still stitching my January Ornie - Fa La La by LHN - but I did a bit of a shoehorn and turned one of the reindeers on 'Twas the night before Christmas by PS into Rudolph by adding a red bead to his nose!
A bit of a cheat, I know but I do love a good shoehorn.
I am very close to a finish on this piece, so I am getting very excited. Here is my latest progress pic.
Hopefully, I will finish my Jan ornie soon, too.
hugs,
P.S. Sorry that my pics are a bit wonky - not sure what happened!
It took awhile, but I finally found an ornament to stitch for January. It's Fa La La from the 2000 Christmas Ornament Issue from Just Cross Stitch and was designed by Ruth Sparrow of Twisted Stitches fame.
The fabric is 25-count Opalescent Lugana in Elegance and is actually more beige than purple.
For 2018 I decided to stitch Lizzie*Kate's Christmas Rules as a banner. Since there are twelve sections my "plan" is to stitch and post a different rule each month.
For January I have stitched the banner header (offered free on the LK website) and the first rule.
Christmas Rules
Rule One
Designer - Lizzie*Kate
The snowflakes were supposed to be white but they did not stand out on this fabric. I picked the blue since it was the color they used as the snow in the header.
Thanks to the inspiration from Mary, we have various Christmas songs for the themes to our stitching this year. I thought this was a wonderful idea and I was pleased to see Kaye managed to add a video of the song and the lyrics too in her last post of 2017.
I thought I'd do a little research and share the results with you. Deck the Halls is based on a Welsh song called Nos Galan dating back to the 16th Century. The Welsh version was a New Year song which makes it particularly appropriate for January's theme. The English words were written by a Scottish musician in 1862.
This clip includes both English and Welsh versions
Here's a more modern version by SHeDaisy which some of you may recognise from a certain Disney movie:
And just for fun, here are some animals joining in with the song:
On to stitching. This song provides so many ideas for our stitching. You could chose the words Deck the Halls or Fa, La, La for a typographic design such as this one:
And for a freebie there is this design from Gazette94 which I stitched in 2012. She designed it as a New Year chart which fits rather nicely with the Welsh version of the song:
.......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.
