Gwen: March

 Well February wizzed right past me but I was able to get my second ornament of the year done. I am working my way through Annie Beez's Forkart 12 days of Christmas Stockings. I have a start on #3. Can I get 2 done in April? Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Kaye: January Post

 Hello Lovely Christmas Elves, 

Well, I attempted to finish something for all four themes this month but only had success with two of them. 😢

For Theme One, I found this great design on Etsy by Keenstitch, which you can find here.  It has been a lot of stitching of red happening (hence my only finishing two themes in January) but the next eleven months will be a breeze!

My other finish is for Theme Three: Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornament Magazine for 2018.  The design which I chose was "Noel" by JBW Designs on p.22 of the magazine. I used my own choice of floss and added some beading to the wreath.  The ribbon that I used to trim it is actually metallic, so the finished piece has quite a nice shine to it.

I did begin my stitching for Theme Four: "A Christmas Carol" - Tiny Tim.  I found this gorgeous design on Etsy by Prim Stitcher Shoppe, which you can find here.

This is how much I have stitched of the design so far: 

And this is what the finished design will eventually look like:

Finally, for Theme Two: "Christmas Songs" - The Little Drummer Boy, I have kitted up (I had to wait for the pattern to arrive from the U.S.) another JBW Design: Sing a Song of Christmas XI: Little Drummer Boy.

So, hopefully both of these will make a late appearance sometime this year - 🤣🤣🤣

Best of luck with all of your Christmas stitching this year.

hugs, 

Gwen: January

 I've finally started my 12 Days of Christmas Stockings that I got last year. I plan to block finish, so the earlier I get them stitched the better. Day 1 is stitched minus the beads. I'll add beads later when I get a few more stitched.

12 Days of Christmas Stocking

Annie Beez Folk Art

Gwen: August 2022

7 Swans

Celebration of Needlework 

8 Maid A Milking

Celebration of Needlework

I'm posting July and August now. I thought I had posted July last month but I can't find that post. I finished the stitching on 8 Maids but I haven't stuffed it yet. After stuffing I plan to attach a bow to the top. Bows and I are not friends so it may take me a few tries. Fingers crossed.

Serendipitous Jo's August Ornament

Once again I am following the 12 Days of Christmas theme.  This year I am stitching the Jardin Prive 12 Days as my monthly project.  

This is Day 8:

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

I decided I ought to start FFO'ing them before the end of the year!

The backing is some tartan leatherette my friend used to make hairbows.  It is sparkly!

I mounted the stitching on some thick card, cut a piece of the backing to size and then whip stitched them together, remembering to sew the tartan ribbon tag in place.

Serendipitous Jo's May, June and July Ornaments

 Once again I am following the 12 Days of Christmas theme.  This year I am stitching the Jardin Prive 12 Days as my monthly project.  I have kept up-to-date with the stitching, but not the posting here!

This is Day 5:

Here is Day 6:

And the latest one, Day 7:

I'm using a gorgeous 32 count linen called Millenium Blue (Day 7 photo is colour-accurate) and Anchor threads.  

I'm planning to finish these as individual ornaments.

Serendipitous Jo's April Ornament

Once again I am following the 12 Days of Christmas theme.  This year I am stitching the Jardin Prive 12 Days as my monthly project.  I am also continuing with the large Bothy Threads' design but won't be completing one block of those per month!

This is Day 4, completed 6th April, 2022:

I'm using a gorgeous 32 count linen called Millenium Blue and Anchor threads.  

I'm planning to finish these as individual ornaments.

Serendipitous Jo's March Ornament

Once again I am following the 12 Days of Christmas theme.  This year I am stitching the Jardin Prive 12 Days as my monthly project.  I am also continuing with the large Bothy Threads' design but won't be completing one block of those per month!

This is Day 3, completed 6th March, 2022:

I'm using a gorgeous 32 count linen called Millenium Blue and Anchor threads.  I have quite a few Anchor threads I inherited from a friend who gave up cross stitch when she became a professional crochet designer.  They are ideal for projects like this.

I'm planning to finish these as individual ornaments.

 

Serendipitous Jo's January and February Ornaments

Once again I am following the 12 Days of Christmas theme.  This year I am stitching the Jardin Prive 12 Days as my monthly project.  I am also continuing with 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:

This is Day 1, completed 6th January, 2022:

And this is Day 2, completed 6th February, 2022:

I'm using a gorgeous 32 count linen called Millenium Blue and Anchor threads.  I have quite a few Anchor threads I inherited from a friend who gave up cross stitch when she became a professional crochet designer.  They are ideal for projects like this.

The fabric is lovely but it can be difficult to choose the right shade of green.  I tried two different greens and the brighter, lighter one in Day 2 looks much better.  So Day 1 will be frogged and restitched.

I'm planning to finish these as individual ornaments.

Serendipitous Jo's 12 Days of Christmas 2021

Once again I followed the 12 Days of Christmas theme.  For 2021 I stitched the Stoney Creek 2019 Ornament series as my monthly project.  I 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 each month I returned to the relevant Day and finished it.  Until October when I focused on Hallowe'en stitching.  The final three Days were stitched across November and December.

10 Lords a'Leaping

11 Pipers Piping

12 Drummers Drumming

The plan is to finish them as a concertina books to be displayed next Christmas.  Here's a slideshow of all 12:

For my Bothy Threads project I completed my goal of the first Three Days:

Gwen: October 2021

 I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve posted here. I’ll have to take a look and see what, if any,
I forgot to post here. This month I finished 10 Lords from Hands On Designs’ 12 Days.  I replaced some of the berries with beads.

Day 10

12 Days, Hands On Designs

Aztec Red Gingham

Serendipitous Jo's 12 Days of Christmas from 2017

I realised that while I take part in this blog every year, I have a tendency to start off well but fall off the posting wagon before the end of the year and never show the end of the project.

Back in December 2016 I started a large Joan Elliott project for the 12 Days of Christmas theme.  I stitched the Angel at the top for the December topic and then started each of the 12 blocks for my 12 Days of Stitchmas.  By Epiphany, it looked like this:

As the year progressed, I completed one block per month, working on the border each evening when my son was in the bath.  By December 2017 I was Happy Dancing!

And then I got it framed:

Gwen: May ornaments

 Last month I managed to finish three 12 Days of Christmas ornaments and one from Starry Night.  Then I almost forgot to post! Anyway here are my finishes for May.

 Hands on Design

12 Days

Erica Michaels

12 Berries of Christmas

and

Starry Night

Blackbird Designs

It was nice to finally finish HOD 12 Days. I lost some of my momentum on this series with this one. Hope I can keep going and finish this series this year. 

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

July, August and September Ornaments

This year I have decided to follow the 12 Days of Christmas theme for the year.   I was gifted the charts designed by JBW for Christmas 2019 and started them on Boxing Day for the 12 Days of Stitchmas SAL.

stitched on 40 count White Newcastle Linen

Look at the pretty beads in her skirt!

All three designs from Booklet 3 beaded:

I am not going to comment on the numerous colour errors in this booklet.

Gwen: August

 Hi Fellow Stitchers,

This month I stitched the 2nd berry in from the Erica Michaels 12 Berries of Christmas. I panned to also stitch something from the 2013 JCS ornament issue but ran out of time.

Erica Michels

12 Berries of Christmas

June: Free Choice

My Free Choice ornaments for June are a finish for Day 1 of Erica Michaels', The 12 Berries of Christmas and a FFO of Quaker Birds by Little House Needleworks.