Ornament of the Month 2021 - February

Welcome to the second Ornament of the Month for 2021! The Birthstone for February is amethyst, so that's what this month's colours reflect. I still had some real amethysts left over from the batch I bought back in 2015 for the first Ornament of the month patterns, so I dug them out and used three as part of my finish of this month's ornament.

Ornament of the Month 2021 - January

Welcome to the first Ornament of the Month for 2021! As you may have seen in the FB group, I was too exhausted yesterday to also finish stitching the ornament as well as write the blog post. I have done the stitching today — at a slower pace that I was trying to do yesterday. I'm still very tired, but I also want to get this done, so you aren't waiting any longer. Things have not been fully finished yet, and I still need to write the tutorial for the finishing of the main shape, but I'm afraid that will have to wait till I have a bit more energy — it will be done before the end of the month. There is a LOT of information in this post — it should answer many questions you may have.

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.

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.

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.

Ornament of the Month 2020 - December

Welcome to the twelfth and final Ornament of the Month for 2020! I hope you have had fun stitching these this year and can't wait to see yours! The good news is that this SAL will be returning in 2020 - with a new shape and an option for another one if you prefer. No dangly bits next year - unless you add a tassel! This month's colours of the month are Indigo, Green, and greenish-blue. As I've already done four shades of blue this year I decided not to go with Indigo and greenish-blue (aka teal) but instead I chose a nice dark Christmassy green.

A Blackwork Christmas - November

Welcome to the eleventh edition of A Blackwork Christmas SAL! Today I'm running late again - It's been quite the day what with one thing and another and I was rather distracted from my stitching as a result. I did manage to finish the stocking though as I'd planned - with the amount of work planned there just isn't space left to not finish something before the post.

Easy Christmas Cards SAL - November

Welcome to the eleventh part of the Easy Christmas Cards SAL! I'm afraid this is a bit late - I'd fallen asleep on the sofa after dinner and didn't wake up till shortly before this had to go up. This month I used plain white perforated paper to make an ornament the exact same size and shape as the ornament on the March card - In fact you could stitch this month's one on perforated plastic too and make a matching card!

Ornament of the Month 2021 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 nineteen patterns which I tried to stitch twice every month - I didn't always manage.

Ornament of the Month 2020 - November

Welcome to the eleventh Ornament of the Month for 2020! I'm running a little late - I'd hoped to be able to finish the ornament in time but alas the arm that was inflicted with the flu jab a few days ago wasn't feeling very cooperative - but at least I'm no longer feeling so horrid. I always get ill for a day or two after the jab while my body deals with the invaders - this year worse than others - joy. What you will see is a mostly finished ornament - but fully stitched. This month's colours of the month are dark blue, red and yellow. I used yellow last month and don't have a second red Kreinik so went with the blue as I did have a second dark blue thread.

A Blackwork Christmas - October

Welcome to the tenth edition of A Blackwork Christmas SAL! This month I have stitched up a storm and not only did I finish this month's stocking but I also fully finished September AND stitched and finished August! I'll start with the oldest first with the pictures below and end with the October one. Just two stockings left! Can you guess what colour they will be?

Easy Christmas Cards SAL - October

 

Welcome to the tenth part of the Easy Christmas Cards SAL! This month I used a perforated paper bauble shape to make my card, but you could also use normal perforated paper or plastic Aida to make yours. If you are lucky you might even find wooden ones in your local crafty shop!

Ornament of the Month 2020 - October

Welcome to the tenth Ornament of the Month for 2020! I'm running a little late - both the thread and the beads were contrary today and it didn't help that I'd cut my left index finger while cooking dinner today - it's not a fan of being used, so I had to hold the ornament without it. This month's colours of the month are white, yellow and variegated. As I don't want to stitch with white this year and all of the other ornaments are/will be solids I don't want to use the variegated option. In addition I've already done a yellow I decided to go with gold, which is kind of a yellow.

A Blackwork Christmas - September

Welcome to the ninth edition of A Blackwork Christmas SAL! I've been doing a bit better lately health wise but still have issues holding my embroidery for longer sessions so while I was able to complete the stitching of today's pattern I didn't get the backstitched outlines or the finishing done. However it's progress which is good.

Easy Christmas Cards SAL - September

Welcome to the ninth part of the Easy Christmas Cards SAL! This month I used perforated paper to stitch the elements for the card - I didn't fully finish the card as I want to make a couple more elements but stitching hasn't been easy lately and I only managed three.

Ornament of the Month 2020 - September

Welcome to the ninth Ornament of the Month for 2020! I'm running a little late unfortunately - I was so close to fully finishing the ornament I decided to finish first, post second. This month's colours of the month are brown and deep blue. As I've already done a dark blue I decided to go with the brown. It won't look out of place in my tree as last year's April Ornament of the Month was the same brown.

A Blackwork Christmas - August

Welcome to the eighth edition of A Blackwork Christmas SAL! I've not been too well the last couple of days and have only managed to do the morning Mini Magical Mystery SAL stitching but not much else. As such I have no stitching to show for today so I made a computer generated one instead.

Easy Christmas Cards SAL - August

Welcome to the eighth part of the Easy Christmas Cards SAL! This month I used a pre-cut perforated paper Christmas tree shape I bought earlier this year thinking it would be fun to use. Obviously not everyone can get hold of this as I'm not sure how widely spread the sale is nor if shops would even stock something like this in August. However the pattern can be stitched on perforated paper, plastic Aida or on plain fabric as well so find something to stitch on and go for it!

Ornament of the Month 2020 - August

Welcome to the eighth Ornament of the Month for 2020! This month's colours of the month are orange, red and light green so I went for the orange and ended up more towards burnt orange than true orange which kind of makes it russet but... the Kreinik is actually an orange so kept it for this month rather than last month.

A Blackwork Christmas - July

Welcome to the seventh edition of A Blackwork Christmas SAL! I'm running late today as I was happily chatting with my fiancé on Skype doing the finishing and I didn't realise the time - sorry to keep you waiting! On the plus side this month's stocking is fully finished!