My almost finish

My weekend ends on Monday and I was finally able to sit and stitch for a while so I will share my progress. I stitched Just Nan's 12 Days of Christmas, well not the whole thing just Day 1. And actually it is missing the #8 Perle Cotton(the #1 is to be stitched in this) that I just picked up today and a little Kreinik Blending Filament that I have to order.

I will share that I am not happy with this almost finish. The JN models were stitched in silks but offered a DMC conversion which is what I used. But, this is stitched on 32ct Flax Belfast with two strands and the 2 strands of DMC seemed fairly bulky. Today I pulled Needlepoint Inc silks from a DMC to NPI conversion I found and I will try them on the Day 2 design (in February) and then decide which way the rest will be stitched.

I did receive the Prairie Schooler leaflet I was waiting for, it's from an eBay auction because it is an out of print chart, book no. 20 called St. Nicholas. I even made a small start on one of these which will be the set I do for my DS. I am stitching over one on 18ct Khaki Davosa as recommended so these will be about 3" x 2 1/2", which I will finish into little hanging pillows as they are shown.

I have loved seeing what everyone else is stitching and they are all lovely even if I haven't had time to comment on them all. This SAL really helped me to stay focused on the goal and stitch only on my ornament during this weekend. So thanks and Happy Stitching, CJ

Lelia's version

This is Pear Tree by Diane Williams of Little House Needleworks. Pattern in JCS Orn magazine - 2006.

I stitched this with supplies in my stash (32-ct Confed Grey Linen; over dye & anchor fibers)

Keka's January Ornament

Hello !!

I want to show you my first ornament of this year.

It's a Christmas Tree from The Prairie Schooler. The fabric is Jobelan 28c and the floss Dinky Dyes. I want to make three of this Trees. I'll show you when I finish them.

I'm very happy to belong to this SAL Group.

Holley's January Dinky Dyes Duo

I managed to stitch two ornaments this weekend and started two others (I am what should be known as a SASS--Short Attention Span Stitcher). I used Dinky Dyes silks for both the finished ornaments this month and just pulled from my stash.

The first is a freebie from The Cat's Whiskers. I used the recommended Dinky Dyes Silks with the exception of using Icy Rose (from the Winter 2007 Limited Edition Pack) for the Merlot. I also did not use the silver BF because: 1. I really hate BF and 2. I want to find a small crystal star rather than the silver sequin star because I think the crystal will last longer. It is stitched on 32 count Little Boy Blue linen.

My second finish is "God Bless Us Every One!" by A Stitch and a Prayer which can be found in the December 2006 issue of The Gift of Stitching. My Step Father usually plays an abridged audio recording of Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" on Christmas Eve and I thought it would be nice for either him or my Step Sister. I did not have the Ozark Sampler threads on hand so I substituted Dinky Dyes # 112 Banksia for the yellow, #58 Kayla's Roses for the red and #96 Christmas Pines for the green. I thought it turned out very nice.

I plan to finish them into ornaments once I've made a few more. As I said, I have two more started and I've already picked four or five more ornaments to stitch next month. I am tempted by many of the designs that have been posted and I have a few on order. Everyone has stitched beautiful ornaments.

I'm looking forward to next month's SAL but for now, it's back to my regularly scheduled stitching!

Santas Trimmings

Hi everyone, here is my choice for January:



Santas Trimmings
Mosey n Me Just Cross Stitch 2004
cream 28ct Jazlyn

What wonderful ornaments everyone has stitched so far, I've had to add several to my already very long 2007 list, lol, as they look so great.

Thanks to Nicki and Anne for setting this up, looking forward to next month's SAL already.

Trying again...

Hopefully this time the little red x won't be here.This is Winter Joy from Sanman Originals secret shop.It stitched up very quickly and I hope to keep it for my tree this year as I some how end up giving most of my ornaments away.Let's see what happens...lol

Christmas Village

Here is my ornament for January - this had a lot more stitching than at first glance! LOL Lucky for me I had lots of time to stitch in the weekend, I put the date and the last little bit of border on it yesterday.

Christmas Village - Threads Through Time
From JCS Christmas Ornaments 10th Anniversary Edition

I've been looking at everyone elses ornaments - they are all lovely, this is such a fun (and inspiring!) SAL - thank you Nicky and Anne for setting it up :)

~Lisa

Earth Threads - Christmas Pines

Here's my contribution to the Christmas ornament SAL. This is Earth Threads Christmas Pines from the 1999 JCS ornie edition. Stitched on 32 count Summer Khaki Linen, with GAST Current and WDW Blue Spruce as I didn't have the recommended threads. I also substituted gold beads for the charted spangles

January Ornie!

Thank you for having this group! My husband thought it was a little strange for me to be stitching an ornament in January... but, when I explained the concept to him, he thought it was a neat idea!

For my first effort... I chose 'Britty Christmas Kitty' by Brittercup Designs, that was in the 2005 JCS Ornament Issue. I stitched it over one, and used DMC, and changed the colors a little bit, on a white 28 ct. linen. It's a bad picture, but, it's not sunny here, and I had a little black kitty wanting to help me take pictures!



I'm already on the lookout for my next month's ornament to stitch!

Ornamentals Two

Had a wonderful time stitching my first Christmas Orni! actually, this is the first one that I've ever stitched in my life!

Ornamentals Two

Historic Needlework Guild

40ct R&R Daily Grind

Gentler Arts Sampler Threads, Weeks Dye Works and Needle Necessities

Stitched 1/27/07

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I can definitely see that there will be some monthes that I stitch more than one!

My January ornament

I'm so glad this SAL was started! It felt a bit strange stitching a Christmas ornament in January, but I actually rather liked it :) And I know I'll be very very happy in November and December!

Here's the ornament I made this weekend. It's from the 2002 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue and it's by Heart In Hand Needleart. I chose my own colors and ended up using DMC and Gentle Arts Sampler Thread. I haven't yet finished it into an actual ornament. I think I'll do a marathon ornament sewing evening sometime in November.

My January Ornament

For January I had planned on doing something a little bigger but I was short on time over the weekend so I decided to do something a little less stitch intensive. So here is my Christmas Heart from La-D-Da from the 2005 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue. I did it on Silkweavers 28 count Heritage 1 over 1 (my first 1x1 project!) using the recommended fibers. It's so tiny! I just love it.

Anne's January ornies

I finally put the last stitches into my Christmas ornie for this month's SAL - I'm sorry to say for my recipient's sake the bullion stitches aren't exactly fantastic, but hopefully she won't look too closely! ;) I just have to find something to place in the 'blank heart' as I don't have the button called for, then it's ready to be officially 'finished' and sent off on it's way ... (I've removed the recipient's initials for secrecy's sake)

Christmas 2000 Sampler by Douglas Designs

from the 2000 JCS Christmas Ornie issue

using recommended threads, on a mystery 28ct linen

I also finally put the finishing touches into an ornie that Mum stitched for me - she just had the french knots left to do, and very kindly left me to do them, as she knows just how much I adore doing french knots! ;) It's supposed to have JABC star buttons, but I don't have any left, and I think it looks just fine without it. Thanks Mum, it looks just lovely! :D

Rejoice by Lizzie*Kate

from the 2004 JCS Christmas Ornie issue

using 14ct red aida and recommended threads

Wendy's PS Santa

Its great seeing everyone's ornaments! Here is my confession: I didn't get mine finished! I decided to work on Prairie Schooler's 2005 Santa ~ the one holding the quilt, which I've been anxious to do for a while. I'm using a 20 ct khaki lugana and I have enough fabric to do 3 of the Santas. I started him on Friday night and by last night only had most of his coat filled out. So it looks like he's going to be making a reappearance at the February SAL weekend and hopefully get finished then too!

My January Ornament :)

I'm going to do the finishing on this one when I have a couple more done so all the Santa's look the same!

From Prairie Schooler's Old World Santas I Leaflet
Stitched on 28ct Toasted Almond Cashel Linen
Finished Jan. 28, 2007

Everyone's ornaments look amazing!

Santa Star

Well, this one seemed to take forever to do, and I haven't done the finishing, but here's my ornament for the SAL. Cute isn't he?!

It's Santa Star by Lavender Wings from the 2002 JCS ornament issue. I didn't do all the backstitching as I didn't think it added anything (and I hate backstitching!) and I left off the stars as I want to make it into a star-shaped ornament. It's stitched on a bit of Silkweaver linen from a treat bag - I think it's 28ct.

goodness i actually finished one on time!!

Here is my first effort, pre finishing.. well half finished, i was about to start stuffing it when i realised i did not have a camera so i scanned it

it is the centre heart from AMAP i Give you five Hearts, stitched 1x1 on 32 ct porcelain linen from silkweaver in Gloriana Cranberry. I am actually finishing it into a fob ..

Another to add to the collection

Well, I just squeeked a finish with this stitching, it's been a busy weekend and it's now 11pm here! Granted it's not a very original choice but I'm really pleased with it, it's a simple design so I didn't change anything as I felt it was best to leave it plain. This is my first SAL and I've really enjoyed seeing everyone else's posts and being part of it.

A Cookie for Santa

Hi everyone. This is my first January ornament.
It´s vom JCS 1999. I stitched it with DMC 898 & 420. It was a fun stitch.

New Ornament

This is from SanMan Originals(the secret shop patterns)called "Winter Joy" and only took a few hours to stitch...I think I will keep this one for myself:)I always end up giving my stitched ornament away...

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me...

Two turtle doves:



And a partridge in a pear tree:

The Berry Bird

This is my January ornament. It's called The Berry Bird by Theron Traditions. It's from JCS 2000 Christmas Ornament magazine. I changed the red Palestrina knots and used beads instead to give it a little glitz. I used a metal finishing form and stitched the date on the back. This was so much fun and I'm looking to see what I want to stitch for February's SAL already. Thanks Nicki for putting this SAL together!!!

My first ornament for the SAL!

Yay..I'm in! It's a long weekend here in Australia (Friday being the holiday) so I took advantage of it to stitch this ornament. It's Winter's Eve by Country Cottage Needleworks.

Oh, it's me..Alison in Oz!

Peace On Earth

Peace on Earth
JBW Designs
White Opalescent Cashel
Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Mill Hill Petite Seed Beads
Stitched 1/27/07
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Not sure yet how I will finish this. I looked through my fabrics and I don't see a finishing fabric I like for this right now, and the stores around here do not have a lot of Christmas fabrics available, so this may be put aside for a while now until the right finishing fabric reveals itself - I had fun! I look forward to next month!

YAY! I am finally able to log into this blog :)

It was an ordeal, but I can finally post/comment. I had to create a new account as blogger wouldn't let me post/comment!

This is my January ornament with the Christmas Ornament SAL. It is Christmas Motif Sampler from JBW designs. I omitted the border. I loved stitching this one and chose one of my favorite fibers, DMC 115. I finished it into a simple flat ornament :) I love it ! I will look forward to hanging this one from my tree this year )
I enjoyed knowing that others were stitching their ornaments today
I look forward to next months SAL

Back of ornament


Everyone's ornaments look great so far :)

Thanks for having me :)
hugs,
BeckySC

My ornament

Hi, all!
I got an early start this week, so I finished mine Saturday morning. Pattern is by Debbie Mumm. This year I am determined to finish ornaments as I go and instead of doing a finishing-marathon in December. :)

I am really looking forward to seeing everyone else's ornaments!

If anyone can't post....

....let me know! I know Blogger is still playing up with some people. I can try deleting your membership and sending a new invite. I suspect we'll all have to be on the new Blogger for it to be bug free :)

I've sent invites to everyone that's asked and resent them to a couple of people who aren't showing up as being added at my end. So if you get two - that's why! We're over 70 stitchers now. Wow! What a monster Anne and I created!

Hope you're having fun stitching this weekend!

My ornament...that's not going to be an ornament =)

First off...thank you so much for getting me back into the loop Nicki....being "expired" is no fun =). I finished this ornament from the Christmas Sentiments Volume 1 by Blue Ribbons Designs last weekend. I chose 32 count linen and it's stitched with Gentle Art Threads.

What I didn't realize, until after I'd stitched the flowers in the middle and part of the border, were the numbers and letters are all stitched over one. Yikes!!! I've stitched over one on evenweave and aida before, but not linen. You know how linen has it's little "nubs" (for lack of a better word). I ended up doing a lot of frogging and being frustrated with this one.

What I thought would be a quick piece ended up taking me a week and a lot of frustration. After thinking about all the work I've decided it's too special to hang on a tree once a year, so I'm going to have it framed instead and put where I can see it everyday. Sooooo....that's how my first ornament turned out not to be an ornament. Maybe I'll get two stitched next month...and, I'll be sure to read the instructions before I start stitching it. =)

Had it not been for this SAL group I think it would have been something I would have started and then put down because it was so frustrating. Thanks for the inspiration.

Pennie

started today

Hello,
I started stitching my first ornie with the group today. I picked all the needed colors...switched one to a fiber I prefered more and changed the asked for fabric to a higher count of the same color. I'm not sure if I will get it done today and tomorrow so I will post the next pic when stitching is finished :-)
It's a design from the Just Cross Stitch October 2006 edition (I'm not quite sure at this moment...)

My third January ornament

This is my third January ornament.
It's Merry Christmas, from Glory Bee,
published on a JCS Christmas Ornaments issue.
I have used DMC Variations 4210 for the red, 4050 for the green and 4160 for the white.

It was very quick to be stitched, and I have realized it yesterday afternoon.


The back fabric is a Mumm Winter Whismy label pannel on green.

You can see the front and the back of the ornament.

January Ornament

I had the day off work today, so I thought I'd get a head start on the Stitch-Along for the weekend. My January ornament is from La Broiderie, and its called "Snow Glow". I didn't use the called for colours, substituting a Minnamurra thread, a purple Kreinik and some delicas instead. I still need to pick up the snowflake for the middle when I go to the needlework store next.

Did I miss something?

Tomorrow starts the fourth weekend of the month... but now that I finally got on new Blogger and can access this blog, I see that some of you have already stitched an ornament... duh to me! What happened??

My Ornament

Hi there :) I see I am not the only one who has done this ornament! It's so pretty. It's by Country Cottage Needleworks out of the 2006 JCS magazine. I still need to "finish" it, but I can do that later.

A bit of info

Hi everyone

I changed the timestamp to Greenwich Mean Time. We have almost 70 stitchers from 11 countries (I think) so at least GMT means something to all of us!

If you can't post a photo and get a weird error code, try logging in through www.blogger.com, not beta.blogger.com. I had big problems yesterday but found this worked!

Feel free to label your posts with your name. Eventually I'll get the label thing working in the sidebar....

Lovely pics everyone! Looking forward to more this weekend!

Quaker Reindeer

Here is my January ornament - Quaker Reindeer by The Workbasket which featured in the 2006 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue. He's not quite as charted, I saw another Reindeer stitched like this on the Legacy Embroiderer's Guild Bulletin board and decided to copy. The Quaker medallion is stitched with Gentle Arts Sampler Threads in Blue Spruce and Cranberry. I used the called for Copper Waterlillies for his body.
I had a look on the Workbasket site yesterday and they are planning on releasing a Quaker Cat and Mouse at the Nashville show.

Dash Away All

This is my second ornament.
I stitched Dash Away All, a complimentary design from Great Bear Canada.
I used 16ct white aida, DMC Variation 4140 for the reindeer and Crescent Colours' Chili Pepper for the nose and the phrase.





I have realized it very quickly, yesterday night, and quilted it today; the fabric is a Debbie Mumm Home Fires Winter/Holiday.
You can see the front and the back of the ornament.

My first attempt at "designing" ornies!

These ornaments were inspired by a photo that I saw in the "Cross stitch shop" part of a 2003 Better Homes and Gardens Creative Collections Publication called "Cross Stitch Christmas". I stitched them using 14 count red Aida, a silvery DMC thread whose tag went missing before I started the project and used a BHG book with a section on lettering to come up with the words: faith, hope ,love, peace, joy, glory. A red, white and silver ribbon found at Michaels and plain white buttons finished it all quite nicely.

My January Just Nan ornaments

I have seen these stitched up and finished at a local needle shop in Spring, Texas a few years ago. There are a set of 4 that I have always wanted to stitch. I managed to complete 3 of them. Here are the pictures:

Yuletide Wreath Ornament:

Rose ornament:

Sugarplum Violets Ornament:

They all share the idental borders with gold beads.

My first finish of 2007

Hello girls,
thi is my first finish of the new year: I stitched Britty Puppy Christmas, from Brittercup Designs.
It has been published in the 2006 JCS Ornament issue, and it it the companion of Britty Kitty Christmas I have already stitched.
I used a cream linen, DMC threads for the silhouette and the sock, GAST threads for the hat and the heart.


I have completed the needlework on Friday 12th and quilted it on Sunday; the fabric is a Debbie Mumm Home Fires Winter/Holiday.
You can see the front and the back of the ornament.
Now I have to decide my next ornie!

January Ornie

I have a few different projects going that need to be finished by the end of the month, so I also jumped in a bit early to stitch my January ornament. I stitched Winter's Eve by Country Cottage Needleworks. It's from the 2006 JCS Ornament issue.

I stitched it using the suggested fabric (28-count natural Cashel) and fibers (DMC, WDW, and CC). It took just over 7 hours of total stitching time.

I'm doing a private ornament RR with a few of my stitching friends. This is the design I chose to kit up for everyone. Being in this RR and this SAL should really help me meet my goal to stitching more ornaments this year.

Two New Finishes

I couldn't wait until the end of the month to post these..this is from 123 stitch on the free and fun page..I did it for a lady I know who is a breast cancer survivor...you can choose whatever color,depending on your cause.I did it over one..

This is a Lizzie Kate freebie I found on the web...These were so fast to do up..I only have 10 left to do:)

I love the ornaments I have seen so far and can't wait to see more..

Have a great day