Saturday 30 November 2019

2019/2020 NYE Mystery SAL!

The time is upon us to prepare for the most fun NYE possible for us stitchers!  This year I have switched it up a little as we have a weekend before NYE and I thought it would be fun for everyone if we started then instead of waiting for NYE - this means more pattern and more pattern parts!

Friday 29 November 2019

Friday Freebie: Chained Flowers

Happy Friday! This week is another no SAL Friday so instead I have a fun pattern for you! It's been another super busy week so I've had no time to stitch extra things, as has been the norm this month due to all the posts this month but I hope that all you have seen so far has given you some inspiration for next year's stitching!

Thursday 28 November 2019

Seasons SAL - Announcement Post

I wanted to do a SAL that was easy for many people to keep up with while still having a bit of fun and my fiancé suggested doing a Seasons SAL - while I've not done it exactly the way he was thinking of (a larger pattern spread over three months), it was a great idea and this is what I have planned for it: I will give a pattern at the beginning of the month four times a year. You will get a winter, spring, summer, and autumn pattern.

Wednesday 27 November 2019

Temperature SAL - Announcement Post

It's not often that I do something asked for by a specific person but Karen Thompson came with the Idea of a temperature SAL and I was intrigued enough to make a design. The design is a simple blackwork style pattern (I seem to have many of these this year hehe) that gets repeated many times.

Tuesday 26 November 2019

Blackwork SAL - November


Welcome to the eleventh part of the Blackwork SAL! Thank you all for the birthday wishes, I had a great day and was spoilt rotten! For those wondering why my fb birthday shows as another date - I had stalker issues in the past and setting a different birthday from the real one is one of the ways to avoid issues. On to what you came for... this is the second to last post for the SAL bringing you the second to last part - this month it's a LOT of stitches!

Sunday 24 November 2019

NFSAL 2020 - Announcement Post

A bit later than planned but it took a lot more work than expected. This post will explain more about the NFSAL. I'm going to shamelessly copy parts of the post that Carla made over on Deviant Art last year (with permission of course!), and with a few additions, to help explain things as she is a big part of what the NFSAL is and has become over the years.

Friday 22 November 2019

Friday Freebie: Black and White Floral Two

Happy Friday! This week another no SAL post so instead I have a fun pattern for you! It's a super busy week for me with all of the posts I've been making recently - it will be good to get all of the SAL announcement posts done, only four left!

Thursday 21 November 2019

A Blackwork Christmas - SAL Announcement Post

Sometimes when you try to design things you end up with something completely different - this is one of those cases. I was thinking about the Ornament of the Month SAL and what to do for it when I had the idea of doing stockings this year - except all of the patterns I have made so far ended up with blackwork only - not something I like to do for the Ornament of the Month. So I decided that I would just do these as a separate SAL and do something else for the Ornament of the Month, which worked nicely. Many of these patterns are ones I have designed specifically for this SAL, so are not traditional blackwork patterns and it may not be possible to make them in Holbein stitch as is the tradition for blackwork.

Wednesday 20 November 2019

Bookmark SAL - SAL Announcement Post

Over the last year I've had more than one person ask if I do bookmarks... especially after I did the Pisac Weave Bookmark (which I used to make the banner above) back in March. I decided to give it a go and see what I could come up with over the coming year. You can expect different shapes and sizes - every month will be a surprise!

Tuesday 19 November 2019

Medieval Owl SAL - November

Welcome to the November edition of the Medieval Owl SAL! This month you get the first of the two head parts! We are starting with the left hand side with the cute little ear, the beak side you will get next month.

Monday 18 November 2019

Blackwork SAL - SAL Announcement Post

After the success of the Blackwork SAL of this year I have decided to use the Summer Mystery SAL, that I was unable to host due to health reasons, as a year long SAL instead. This SAL is full of options so very easy to make it uniquely yours. The picture above is NOT a section of the SAL - I'm keeping the patterns I'm including a secret for now. What I won't be keeping secret is the four options that you get for the outlines for the SAL - I thought it would be easier to let you baste or mark that before the SAL starts so you can add each part more easily.

Sunday 17 November 2019

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Final Post

Welcome to the final post of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! I hope you have had/are having a wonderful time stitching this! You have already been given all of the patterns but I wanted to make a separate post to thank you all for playing along - it's been fun to see your embroideries pop up all over the place and I hope that those of you who are still stitching will keep posting as it's so much fun to see each one grow!

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 16

Welcome to the sixteenth part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! This time you get a large chunk of pattern all in one go - the back for those that want a stitched back for their embroidery! Of course you may want to see what my front looks like now the stitching is all finished...

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 15

Welcome to the fifteenth part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! This is the last part of the SAL if you are only stitching one side, if you aren't then keep tuned as there are two more posts to follow! If you are keep tuned too - I'll be showing my part 15 in the next post and the back in the last post for this SAL - who knows... you might like it!

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 14

Welcome to the fourteenth part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! You will probably be surprised to hear that there are still 150 stitches left to go at this time - 80 in this part and 72 in the next! This means you are almost there!

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 13

Welcome to the thirteenth part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! Just two more parts left for the front! The embroidery is looking fuller than ever now that you did the part twelve stitching! I was just looking in the Facebook group while writing this (Life and health happened which slowed things down enough to throw me off schedule so I'm writing while you stitch) and people were just starting to show their part ten results... so beautiful!  I'm not sure who is more eager to see your results... you or me!

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 12

Welcome to the twelfth part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! Hopefully the many stitches of last part didn't take you too long and you are ready for this part. This time you also get to stitch with one colour, just fewer stitches!

Saturday 16 November 2019

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 11

Welcome to the eleventh part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! Your embroidery is probably looking fairly full right now, I wonder if you are looking to see where I might add more stitches? Part eleven will certainly fill a few gaps, it's one of the biggest parts I've given so far but don't let the number of stitches worry you, it's just the one colour, so easier to do.

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 10

Welcome to the tenth part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! I hope you are enjoying yourselves stitching this pattern! This part will give a few big changes - and you will see if you got things lined up correctly.

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 9

Welcome to the ninth part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! We have started the second day of patterns! How are your embroideries coming along? Please do share progress pictures - it doesn't matter if you have only picked threads and fabric or have completed part eight - I'd love to see what you are doing!

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 8

Welcome to the eighth part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! When you have stitched this part you are half way to finishing this SAL! This post lands at 8 am my time, a bit early for me since I'm a night owl so this part and the previous part probably won't be linked in the sidebar till a bit later but as they are both the topmost posts you should be ok with finding the posts.

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 7

Welcome to the seventh part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! I hope you are enjoying the stitching so far and like what you see! So far I have seen some awesome stitching happening over in the Facebook group!

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 6

Welcome to the sixth part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! I hope you are all settled into the rhythm of checking in to see if the next part is up while you are awake, if only to see how many stitches you get this time!

Friday 15 November 2019

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 5

Welcome to the fifth part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! Hopefully life isn't getting too much in the way of stitching - especially those of you who are already enjoying Saturday! I had a bit of an issue with making the part four picture: I didn't remember till I'd started part five, perhaps watching something and stitching wasn't such a good idea after all hehehe.

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 4


Welcome to the fourth part of the Autumn Mystery SAL 2019! I hope you enjoyed part three and are ready for another round of stitching! I am really looking forward to seeing all your posts as you stitch the parts!

Autumn Mystery SAL 2019 - Part 3

Welcome to the first proper part of the Spring Mystery SAL 2019! I'm going to continue on from the numbering from the pre-stitches just so that the file numbers stay consecutive. That means that this is part three. If you don't know what this is have a look at the information post where you can read what you need to join in this free and fun SAL! I have already given two parts and I have seen some wonderful results in the Facebook group! Remember that if you want to make it two sided that I will be giving a pattern for a back at the end of the SAL.

Thursday 14 November 2019

Friday Freebie on a Thursday: 25 x 25 for 2019 - November

Welcome to the eleventh 25 x 25 for 2019 pattern! This month has been almost as productive as last month, and not just with stitching! Tomorrow the Autumn Mystery SAL will start, which is why this post is on a Thursday rather than the usual Friday. Check the bottom of the post to see what's in store for you next week!

Wednesday 13 November 2019

Ornament of the Month 2020 SAL Announcement Post

When I first started this SAL back in 2015 I wanted to make an ornament a month for an entire year so at the end of it I'd have twelve ornaments for my Christmas tree. I chose birthstones as my theme and then discovered that which stones they are depends on where you live. So instead of just picking one and leaving it at that for every month that had more stones, I made more patterns! In the end I'd made 19 patterns which I tried to stitch twice every month - which I didn't always manage.

500 000 Pageviews!!!

I wasn't expecting it any time soon, and if you had asked me last year if it was even possible this decade I'd have said no, but here we are having missed the 500 000 pageviews mark as it happened yesterday. I sat and stared for a bit when I saw:

Tuesday 12 November 2019

Mamluk Cross Stitch SAL - Part 11

Welcome to the eleventh part of the Mamluk SAL! This month we are stitching the penultimate part of this SAL! The year has flown by hasn't it? I'm in the middle of the mayhem that is making announcement posts while also preparing for a Mystery SAL - what was I thinking? hehe.

Monday 11 November 2019

35 x 35 for 2020 - SAL Announcement Post

This year I did the 25 x 25 and the 50 x 50 for 2019, for 2020 I'm doing 35 x 35 only. Its still pretty small but it gives space to do lots of fun stuff - and to make lots of fun stuff too! You can make a fob, ornament, a pincushion, a biscornu, a card, or even a pendant with them if you wish! In some cases the pattern will tessellate nicely and you could make it as big as you wish!

Saturday 9 November 2019

Friday 8 November 2019

Friday Freebie: 50 x 50 for 2019 - November

Welcome back for the eleventh edition of the 50 x 50 pattern series! This month I was able to stitch the entire main pattern - and finish finish it too! I'm pretty pleased as I only started this last night, so you can see it stitches up quickly!

Thursday 7 November 2019

NFSAL 2019 - November

Welcome to the eleventh NFSAL of 2019! This month I used three colours for the embroidery but you could use one instead too - it's just what look you decide to go for. This pattern can be repeated, especially sideways but if you do top, middle, bottom, middle, top till you have as much height as you wish you will also have a great project!

Wednesday 6 November 2019

Finish It In...2019 - Check In Post, TUSAL, and More for November

 
Welcome to the ninth Finish It In... 2019 post for the year! (Since I skipped July and August). This month I have been very busy - not just with stuff for the blog but also with a second round of TeamKLT vs TeamJodyri. I also made two more batches of jam: one batch of apple jam and one batch of apple and strawberry jam - if you make jam yourself try making them - they are amazing! This post is picture heavy as usual so make sure you view it using WIFI if you are viewing this post with a mobile device.

Tuesday 5 November 2019

Weavers Birds SAL - Part 11

Welcome to the eleventh part of the Weavers Birds SAL! This month you get the second part of the last band! We are so close to the end, but not quite there yet fortunately, so you can enjoy it for a bit longer.

With the end of this year's SAL in sight I shall be doing the overview post for next year's Weavers Band Sampler on Saturday as I already have posts lined up for for the rest of this week - yup it's going to be a five post week this week! What time it gets posted I'm not sure yet, there is a lot to write for the post!

Friday 1 November 2019

Friday Freebie: Ornament of the Month - November

Welcome to the eleventh Ornament of the Month for 2019! This month's colour is Amethyst, although I know I did an amethyst back in 2015 this one is a very different colour, and especially a different pattern so I decided it would be ok. Just one more pattern left for this year, I wonder if you can guess what it will be?