2020/2021 NYE Mystery SAL - Part 9

Welcome to part nine of the NYE Mystery SAL! I think that after today's part you can see that colour C is a bit of the star of this show — not the only star of course, but it is showing up a lot lately, isn't it? I do hope you like where this is going!

2020/2021 NYE Mystery SAL - Part 8

Welcome to part eight of the NYE Mystery SAL! It's been lovely seeing all of your progress pictures in the FB Mystery group! It's a lot of fun seeing things progress with the colours you are all using! Having given you the most stitches of this SAL in part six, I am now giving you the least stitches in this SAL! From now on it's mostly 68 stitches per part, with a few 64 stitch parts for variation.

2020/2021 NYE Mystery SAL - Part 7

Welcome to part seven of the NYE Mystery SAL! And just like that we will have hit the halfway point after finishing this part! How wonderful it that?! There is still plenty of space left to get some stitches in, so you don't have any worries there.

2020/2021 NYE Mystery SAL - Part 6

Welcome to the sixth part of the NYE Mystery SAL! How is it going with the stitching? This time you are getting more stitches than usual — the most you will get in the entire SAL in fact! Do remember to show your progress in the FB group (linked at the bottom of the page)! There is no such thing as spamming the group with photos when you are showing us updates after you have finished stitching each part — if anything it helps keep others going, and some years we have had a friendly competition as to who would post first! All good fun!

2020/2021 NYE Mystery SAL - Part 5

Welcome to the fifth part of the NYE Mystery SAL! If you are reading this at the time it's posted I will be snug in my bed dreaming up new patterns… or something nice I hope anyway! I hope you take care with counting this time, it's needed to avoid issues later.

2020/2021 NYE Mystery SAL - Part 4

Welcome to the fourth part of the NYE Mystery SAL! I'm sure you have noticed by now that we are building a castle — what else could the stitches so far mean? Surely not something else entirely?! Admittedly you would not be wrong to wonder if I was leading you on what the English call “A wild goose chase” after all this IS a mystery SAL!

2020/2021 NYE Mystery SAL - Part 3

Welcome to the third part of the NYE Mystery SAL! I hope you enjoyed adding the shape in part two! The question now is: “Will it stay that way?” Naturally I won't be telling you that... yet... or will I? Nah, I won't ! Bwhahaha! (Yeah, OK, it's not a very good evil laugh but at the time I was writing this I hadn't yet had enough coffee to do better)

2020/2021 NYE Mystery SAL - Part 2

Welcome to part two of the NYE Mystery SAL! I hope part one didn't give too many troubles, but I do like to give you a firm centre and edge to a pattern in the first part to get you off to a good start! Remember I don't ask you to do anything I won't do myself with these mysteries, so while occasionally challenging at first it's all to your stitching benefit later!

2020/2021 NYE Mystery SAL - Part 1

Welcome to the first part of the NYE Mystery SAL! I hope you are ready for the mayhem that's to follow! I'm sure you are just as ready as I am to say goodbye to 2020 and what better way to do it than while stitching?! If you are new to the high speed mystery SALs that I host then I suggest having a look at the **Mystery SAL Tips** before starting just to help you start right. If you are only just finding this SAL, you can find the information post here.

500 posts!

This is post 500 of this year! I can't believe I've done so many, it's more than I've done in any of the previous years by a long shot. At this time my blog has 1344 published posts, so you can see that I have done more than a third just this year. 2020 has been the year of celebrating the blog's tenth anniversary and I think I have managed to do that — and more!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Final Post

Welcome back for the final post of the eighteenth Mini Magical Mystery SAL! This post is a final post showing my stitching of part fourteen. I do hope you all had fun! I have loved seeing your stitching in the mystery Facebook group! I had hoped to show you all of my minis completed in this post, but as things have been pretty hectic as always in the run up to Christmas, so I didn't have time in the end.

Jodyri Advent - Christmas Day and Overview

Welcome to the final post for my Jodyri Designs Advent “box” and my Harry Potter Lego advent calendar. This year the Jodyri Advent Box was paid for by donations while the Lego Advent Calendar was given to me by my fiancé. In this post I'll be showing what I got since my last post which I posted on the 28th of December. Spoilers after the “jump” if you are seeing this on the home page.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 14

Welcome back for day fourteen of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! This is also the final day of patterns for this SAL — I'll be back one more time to show my completed mystery tomorrow (an hour earlier than usual). I hope you had fun stitching and I can't wait to see the results of your mystery stitching! As you will have read this is the final Mini Magical Mystery — not just for 2020 but going forward I don't have any planned. I need a break from daily posts, and I didn't expect to still be doing these in December when I started off in March, but then I don't think anyone did. Tomorrow the NYE Mystery SAL starts and with that the start of the end of the year will happen! Yay!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 13

Welcome back for day thirteen of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! It feels very strange to be saying this on a Monday as normally part thirteen is given on a Saturday, but it's time for the penultimate part of the final Mini Magical Mystery for 2020!

Jodyri Advent - Week 4

Welcome to the fourth week's post for my Jodyri Designs Advent “box” and my Harry Potter Lego advent calendar. This year the Jodyri Advent Box was paid for by donations while the Lego Advent Calendar was given to me by my fiancé. In this post I'll be showing what I got since my last post which I posted on the 20th of December. Spoilers after the “jump” if you are seeing this on the home page.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 12

Welcome back for day twelve of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! I hope you had a wonderful two days however you celebrated them — or not as the case may be! I had a good rest and am ready for the last push to the New Year and beyond!

Merry Boxing Day!

I was planning on making this post yesterday but my body decided otherwise and demanded rest after working very hard in the days before getting everything Christmas ready in the house. So I spent the afternoon splatted on the sofa instead of stitching as planned since the boys always vanish with their new things after lunch. On the plus side youngest made sure the veggies and potatoes were prepped and oldest made the stuffing so all I had to do was baste the turkey now and then. I had a good rest, and I am feeling much better today.

NFSAL 2020 - December

 

Welcome to the final part of this year's NFSAL posts! It's been a fun year for this SAL, though I haven't been able to stitch them as often as I'd liked. Carla Eldridge was going to do the stitching this year but work and corona got in the way of her being able to keep up, so I did the best I could when I could. Next year I'll be doing the stitching myself because corona is still out there and Carla is still working really hard so doesn't have the time. I hope Carla does find stitching time soon, it's good for the soul!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 11

Welcome back for day eleven of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! Because of Christmas and wanting some time with the kids I won't be posting new pattern parts tomorrow and Saturday as per the information post. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas or Yule or just a few quiet days depending on what you celebrate and when. Naturally the Orthodox Church won't be celebrating for another two weeks, so I'll try to remember to say the same then.

Advent Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Final post and Back

Welcome to the final post of the Advent Magical Mystery SAL! I hope you like the end result of the mystery! Below you will find a pattern for an optional back with enough space to add your initials should you wish to do so, if you don't then you can just finish the bottom gold bar the same as the top one.

Advent Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 4

Welcome to the fourth part of the Advent Magical Mystery SAL! This week you get the final pattern part of the mystery! I do hope you have had fun stitching this short SAL and like what you have stitched! I'll be back tomorrow around the same time with the wrap up post and an optional back. I’m really keen to show how mine turned out, but I have to wait till the next post.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 10

Welcome back for day ten of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! Things are starting to get exciting now that we are getting closer to the end of the SAL. I wonder if you can guess what's going to happen next?

A Blackwork Christmas - December

Welcome to the final edition of A Blackwork Christmas SAL! I've had a lot of fun over the last twelve months making these, and I am glad I succeeded at finishing them all! It hasn't always been easy to keep up what with one thing and another, but I always managed to catch up in the end.

News: Update and More - December Edition

Happy December! It's been a tough year for many of us and December has been shaping up to make the usual celebrations we have more complicated and with fewer people than we may have liked. Unless of course you didn't like going to the family get-togethers, in which case you got a get out of jail free card for this year.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 9

Welcome back for day nine of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! I finally finished decorating my Christmas tree last night — it always takes me two days to do. One to set it up, get the lights in and the tinsel on, and the other to hang the decorations. This year the decorating was done on Skype with my fiancé who's currently in the UK, there is something fun about decorating together, even if they are different trees.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 8

Welcome back for day eight of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! I don't know about you but in these last few days before Christmas, time always seems too short, and it seems to fly past faster than it normally does — where have the days gone? Fortunately I had done most of my Christmas shopping well in advance, so I only have one package stuck in the postal system with something I need for Christmas. I'm completely ignoring the one parcel that's been partying in the customs warehouse since the beginning of December as that was a birthday present for myself. I think this is the first time in my life that the Dutch postal system hasn't been able to cope with the number of packages flying around in the system.

Jodyri Advent - Week 3

Welcome to the third week's post for my Jodyri Designs Advent “box” and my Harry Potter Lego advent calendar. This year the Jodyri Advent Box was paid for by donations while the Lego Advent Calendar was given to me by my fiancé. In this post I'll be showing what I got since my last post which I posted on the sixth of December. Spoilers after the “jump” if you are seeing this on the home page.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 7

Welcome back for day seven of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! Today brings us to the halfway point in the SAL pattern wise but due to Christmas at the end of the week things will last a little longer this time as per the information post. I'll remind you closer to the day too just in case you forget!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 6

Welcome back for day six of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! This weekend I hope to finally get my tree up, normally I'd have done it ages ago but things just haven't worked out that way yet. On the plus side I won't be itching to get the tree put way before the sixth of January (three kings) which will also be nice.

35 x 35 for 2020 - December

Welcome to the twelfth and final 35 x 35 for 2020! I seem to be doing a lot of final posts these days but that's the downside of getting to the end of the year and the end of many SALs. Next year will be a lot quieter for me and that's a good thing... I'll even be able to catch up on things I couldn't finish in previous years - well theoretically anyway - perhaps new projects will call my name louder? You know how it goes. As an extra surprise there are two versions of this pattern - the initial pattern that I created - and stitched - and the reverse version that I didn't stitch. You get to choose which one you prefer!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 5

Welcome back for day five of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! Today's the day of making certain the first four days are centred - but while you are doing so please make sure of the placement of today's stitches you don't want to make a mistake today!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 4

Welcome back for day four of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! I'm afraid today's post is a little late because I ran into some browser issues - for some reason one of the new pages I'd opened in a tab clogged up Firefox so badly it used most of the memory my computer has available and I couldn't do anything till after a reboot and some fighting to get to be able to do something. Always a fun way to start the day's computer time.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 3

Welcome back for day three of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! Today is a day of parts three as both posts of the day are part three of the SAL they are for - it's always fun when things line up like this! In case you were wondering: my oldest can continue to work as per normal for the rest of the week - the company will have their usual annual Christmas break starting this weekend which will last two weeks so that's one thing less to worry about. I really do love these old school companies who don't change with the times but keep doing it the way it has always been done - which means happy workers and you don't lose staff to a competitor.

Advent Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 3

Welcome to the third part of the Advent Magical Mystery SAL! This week you get to add some more stitches to the two toned red zigzags and a whole lot of green. Hopefully you were able to get all of the stitching done in time! Last week I wasn't able to but this week I not only finished part one but also part two!

Easy Christmas Cards SAL - December

Welcome to the twelfth and last part of the Easy Christmas Cards SAL! This month I used two colours of perforated paper - the pattern this month is so small I could use scraps from other projects and I didn't have enough of the same colour to do the three I wanted to do. As this month is the busiest time of year I decided to keep the pattern small and only use cross stitch. At 208 stitches in four colours it's a quick stitch and fun to do at that. It took me an evening to stitch all three and a short time to make the card.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 2

Welcome back for day two of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! As of last night midnight we are back on lockdown here in the Netherlands - I didn't go out anyway but somehow it felt different this time. Youngest still goes to school today and after that schools will be closed too. I have no idea yet if oldest will still be able to work over the next weeks - I'll find out when he gets home. At least he has a good old fashioned boss that cares for his workers - such a blessing in these times. Now on to happier things...

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Part 1

Welcome back for day one of the eighteenth round of mini mystery stitching! I'm feeling a bit mixed about writing this post... on the one hand "Yay! New mystery!" and on the other it's "Boo last Mini Mystery". However with the NYE Mystery SAL to look forward to I'm not too sad. Right now I'm looking forward to stitching the eighteenth Mini Magical Mystery SAL and I imagine you are too!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 17 - Final Post

Welcome back for the final post of the seventeenth Mini Magical Mystery SAL! Don't worry it's not over - the Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 starts in an hour! This post is just a final post showing my stitching of part fourteen and what I'm planning to do with it.  I do hope you all had fun! I have loved seeing your stitching in the mystery Facebook group! 

Jodyri Advent - Week 2

 

Welcome to the second week's post for my Jodyri Designs Advent "box" and my Harry Potter Lego advent calendar. This year the Jodyri Advent Box was paid for by donations while the Lego Advent Calendar was given to me by my fiancé. In this post I'll be showing what I got since my last post which I posted on the sixth of December. Spoilers after the "jump" if you are seeing this on the home page.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 17 - Part 14

Welcome back for day fourteen of the seventeenth round of mini mystery stitching! This is also the final day of patterns for this SAL - I'll be back one more time to show my completed mystery tomorrow (an hour earlier than usual). I hope you had fun stitching! I can't wait to see the results of your mystery stitching! The next round of the Mini Magical Mystery will start tomorrow at noon as per the information post.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 17 - Part 13

Welcome back for day thirteen of the seventeenth round of mini mystery stitching! Tomorrow you will be given the final part of this SAL and the day after the next Mini Magical Mystery starts! I hope you are as excited as I am to see how things end up! Well ok I know how it will look but patterns are always different from the actual stitching and I have seen some wonderful embroideries so far in this SAL!

Bookmark SAL - December

Welcome to the twelfth and final part of the Bookmark SAL! If you enjoy bookmarks and blackwork then you may enjoy next year's Blackwork SAL as the shapes we will be filling in are a pretty good size for a bookmark and can be easily extended if you wish. This month I was able to finish the bookmark on time and fully finish it too!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 17 - Part 12

Welcome back for day twelve of the seventeenth round of mini mystery stitching! I wonder if any of you suspected what was going on in the corners? Today you will see it even if you didn't suspect it before. I hope you all have a wonderful day today - for many of us it's almost weekend, for those who have weekends on other days due to work or the country they live in does things differently I hope when your weekend comes it is a good one!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 17 - Part 11

Welcome back for day eleven of the seventeenth round of mini mystery stitching! I have to admit I rather like the pattern the way it is now - but I like the end result even more so I'm going to keep giving the patterns as planned!

Advent Magical Mystery SAL 2020 - Part 2

Welcome to the second part of the Advent Magical Mystery SAL! This week you get to add more stitches to what you have already done (of course hehe). Hopefully you were able to get last week's stitching done in time. I didn't but that's because I forgot that the patterns were being given at midday(ish) and not at the more usual 10pm and I'd planned to get the rest of the stitching done this afternoon. I'll still get the stitching done this afternoon, but you won't see it till next week.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 17 - Part 10

Welcome back for day ten of the seventeenth round of mini mystery stitching! Just four more days and you will know what you are stitching - till then all guesses are welcome! I'm pretty sure you didn't expect today's stitches to go where they did!

Blackwork SAL 2020 - December

Welcome to the twelfth and final part of the 2020 Blackwork SAL! I'm sorry this last part is late - I always forget how long it takes to make these patterns - so much has to be hand drawn to add to the basic plus pattern I'd created before I had the idea to add more shapes as options. I do hope that you had fun stitching this year and hope to see you joining in with next year's Blackwork SAL!

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 18 - Information Post

Hi and welcome to the eighteenth and final information post for a Mini Magical Mystery SAL! With lockdowns still enforced/sensible for many people I'm continuing with another mystery to keep you stitching! This pattern is the same size as the previous Mini Magical Mysteries and has 376 stitches total. This mystery will start Monday after the current mystery ends: 14th December. Please read the schedule section below as there are some date changes due to Christmas.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 17 - Part 9

Welcome back for day nine of the seventeenth round of mini mystery stitching! Yesterday I did indeed curse at the weather as I bicycled to get bloodwork done - it was cold (3C / 37.4F) windy and raining. I was soaked to the skin by the time I got home and went back to bed (after lunch and lunchtime meds) as I have an electric blanket and I knew I needed more than a blanket on the sofa to defrost me. I was ok again after warming up. Today's plans include nothing more strenuous than finishing up the Blackwork SAL for this evening.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 17 - Part 8

Welcome back for day eight of the seventeenth round of mini mystery stitching! When this post hits my blog I'll be on my bicycle cursing the weather while making my way to the hospital to supply more blood for testing as I'm due to have my six monthly rheumatologist check-up later this week and he likes to see what's happening in my blood when he does so. If all is well the pattern etc. will be linked correctly - if not please be patient, I'll check as soon as I'm back!

Jodyri Advent - Week 1

Welcome to the first week's post for my Jodyri Designs Advent "box" and my Harry Potter Lego advent calendar. This year the Jodyri Advent Box was paid for by donations while the Lego Advent Calendar was given to me by my fiancé. In this post I'll be showing what I got since my last post which I posted on the first of December. Spoilers after the "jump" if you are seeing this on the home page.

Mini Magical Mystery SAL 17 - Part 7

Welcome back for day seven of the seventeenth round of mini mystery stitching! When you have finished today's stitching you will be at the halfway point of this SAL! Only one more week of patterns to go and this SAL will be complete! I'll be getting the information post done for the next one soon - the timing of the patterns will be a bit different so please take a moment to read "The schedule" bit very carefully.