January Christmas Ornament

Again this year I am taking part in the Christmas Ornament SAL and this year I hope to finish it. As every year, there are 3 options proposed for the monthly themes: 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas carols and Just Cross Stitch magazine. As I already did one project of the 12 days of Christmas and I am not fan of the Christmas carols, I went with the Just Cross Stitch magazine choice. For this month we need to choose something published in the Christmas issue 2016. I chose a design called Shining and Bright designed by Nancy Wahler of Faithwurks Design.

I stitched it over 14 count cream Aida fabric using DMC threads 321 and 910. Original design is having Mill Hill beads but as I have lots of beads from when I used to do earring I used those beads better than spending money in a lot of Mill Hill to use only few. I need to make economies.

Because of my broken wrist, I stitched it but didn't finished. I will update the post once I finished it. It took me 3 and a half hours to complete the design.

Update

I finished my January's ornament.

January Halloween Ornie

This is the first time I take part in the Halloween Ornie SAL. The idea of this SAL is to make a Halloween ornament each month related with the proposed theme (there is a proposed theme each month). I decided to stitch some of the patterns published in my collection of special issues of Journal Cross Stitch magazine, there are lot of things I want to do and that is a very good opportunity to do them. So let's go with the January ornament.

I need to mention that because of my broken wrist I could manage to do the embroidery part, but to fully finish the ornament, it will need to wait until my plaster is off and my wrist with mobility enough.

January theme is Pumpkin. I chose a design published in the Halloween special issue of Journal of Cross Stitch 2018. The pattern name is Pumpkin Pie and it is designed by Jennifer Rodriguez of Always Time to Stitch. It is stitched on Aida 14 count in cream colour with DMC threads 310, 471 and 721.

I will update the post once I finish my Pumpkin Pie.

Update

I finished my January's ornament.

WIPocalypse - Introducing 2020 Goals

I am here other year to take part in WIPocalypse. 

I have been taking part in this SAL for a couple of years, but every year something happened and I could never finish and always stopped around summer time. I am starting to call that the curse of the WIPs….. As I explained in my previous post, last year I made a big change in my life moving from London area to North East of England, which stopped me to finish the projects I started. That means I have a lot of carry over project. As every year and because that helps me a lot, I am going to join different SALs, link parties and challenges.  But let’s see what my goals are for this 2020.

I am going to join in the following:

•  WIPocalypse. You need to show your advances in a post made the posting date. There is also a question to answer every month and different challenges during the year.

•   People’s Choice SAL. I will not participate in all of them. There is a theme of the month and if I like it I will stitch something for that SAL. It should be posted first Saturday of each month.

• Small SAL. I don’t know if that one will be going on 2020.

•  Fully Finished SAL. Same as smalls SAL, if it is going on I will take part.

•  Gifted Gorgeousness SAL. The idea is stitch some to give as a gift or from something given you as a gift. It can be using a pattern, fabric, thread, etc given to you as a gift or, as it will be my case, something you are going to give to someone. I am going to take part with the Christmas cards I explain below, as I will be sending them to my family/friends at the end of the year.

•  24HOCS Challenges. I recently knew about that Facebook group. There is a over the year challenge, 4 marathons every year and different challenges every month, as 24 hours stitching, Acronym challenge or holiday challenge.

This year I would like to finish:

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• Advent Calendar. I started it in 2018 and it was going to be part of my Christmas decoration this year, but when it was almost finished, only the soldier and star left, I broke my wrist and couldn’t stitch for the moment. I am planning to finish it this month if I can stitch (I still need to wear the plaster for all January).

• Connie Gee Blackwork SAL. That SAL started on 2018 and was going on for all 2019 to complete 25 parts. I stitched up to part 16 and because it is fairly quick I would like to complete it soon.

• Prickly But Cute. I started it in 2018 and finished 3 parts. The SAL consists on 15 very cute cacti. It was planned for 2019 but I didn’t have time to touch it.

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• Hooties All Year Round. I was on time with it until July, when I started to prepare for moving. It will be finished before summer.

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• Dreamcatcher. Something similar happened with that one. I finished the dreamcatchers corresponding to spring and summer and have 2 left.

• Monthly Flowers. That SAL was published in CrossStitcher magazine during 2019. The idea was to stitch every flower and finish it as it was proposed in the model. I finished snowdrop, primrose and daffodil and this one is a MUST for 2020.

• ORT Label. This is a very small project. It is a label for my ORTs jar showing “Irene’s ORTs”. I will try to finish quick

• Few Christmas Ornaments from 2019. I stitched them before breaking my wrist so I could never finish them.

I would like to start and finish:

•        A blackwork Christmas ornament a month. Organized by Magical Quilts and more, consists in stitching one ornament every month in blackwork.

•       A Halloween ornament a month. It is the first time I am going to take part. There is a theme every month and it is presented in a sort of guest blogging in the blog Halloween Ornie SAL 2020.

•         A hardanger gift bag collection. I bought these patterns in Etsy and consists in a collection of 7 gift bags.

•          My favourite things of each month. This is what CrossStitcher magazine proposes this year as monthly chart.

•          Seasons SAL. It is organized by Magical Quilts and More.

•          Temperature SAL. Organized by Magical Quilts and More it is a typical temperature SAL.

•          A Christmas card a month. Again organized by Magical Quilts and More, this one is to stitch a Christmas card every month. I am going to have 12 cards at the end of the year to send to my most beloved friends. I will present in the GG2020.

•          A Christmas Ornament a month. This is similar to the Halloween one, organized by the blog Christmas Ornie SAL. There are 3 options to choose, 12 days of Christmas, Christmas carols or Just Cross Stitch magazine. I am going to stitch the last option.

And that’s all. I don’t know how much I will be able to stitch in January with my broken wrist but I hope all will be settled and in February my wrist will be fine and ready to stitch.

2019 Summary

2019 is over and, maybe it is quite late, but it is time to make a summary of the year. This year I made an other big change in my life. After living in London area for 8 years I decided to move to the north of England. I left my job and I got a new one in  Northumberland, North East of England. So I packed all my stuffs and my little Luna and moved to the North to a very cute and beautiful town close to the Scottish border. I am very happy here, all is very different, people are very friendly, it is colder and I am very close to the beach and hills.

I don't know the hills yet, I need to go to the Cheviots, but what can I say about the beach......? There are beautiful landscapes in this area, I love how quite you can be sitting in the beach with nobody around.....

But as a consequence of moving, my stitches have been completely stopped. I stopped in June as I got the new job and I was looking for my home. Then I was preparing all for moving and finally moved. After reaching to my new place I had lots of things to do, in the house organising all, in the job getting used to a new company and outdoor as I was amazed and couldn't stop visiting beaches every afternoon.

Finally I settled a bit and started to do some stitches. And unfortunately I fell down and broke my wrist, so again I stopped stitching.

I started the new year with a plaster cast on, but now I improved a bit and I am able to do small things. I can fix the fabric in the hoop, I can thread the needle and using a embroidery hoop that I can hold with my leg while sited I am stitching again. Hope my wrist heals soon and I can start doing embroideries at my normal pace.