Theme-a-licious Looking Back over 2014

Theme-a-licious is hosted by Heather of It's Geek to Me

Each month Heather thinks up a theme for us to stitch to, or in my case, a theme to somehow shoe-horn my existing stitching into, no matter how tenuous the link!

Jardin January

The holidays were a little stressful...let's relax in a nice garden. Work on any piece with flowers or gardens.

Three designs featuring garden creatures and plants

Fantastical Fictional February

What kind of fantasy creatures inhabit your Works in Progress? Or perhaps some fictional characters have leaped from the pages to your needles? Let's stitch on projects inspired by imagination.

The fantastical Vampire

My Anti-Theme piece - Elizabeth Burrows who was a real person

March Madness

Work on something different every day...it's madness...of the funnest possible kind.

14 different projects for 2014

April Showers

What pieces can you find in your flood of WIPs that include water? Rivers, lakes, oceans, or rain (and anything that lives within).

There are always tears at weddings, aren't there?

Menagerie May

Is it a zoo in your stack of WIPs? How many projects can you find that include animals or birds?

Six diferent animals, that final one is a frog which visited Noel Blanc!

June Jolt 
School's out for the summer! Let's work on things with sunshine in them or REALLY bright colours. Summer is here!

Joan Elliott Butterflies

Jubilee July

It's time to celebrate! What are you celebrating this year? Stitch on your holiday-related projects, OR find some WIPs you know you'll never finish and set them free.

Teresa Wentzler's Dragon helped celebrate the end of term as a teacher gift.

Author! Author! August

The words are speaking this month! Hunt out those WIPs with a verse or two. It's time those projects with words and sentences grew.

I told a lovely story based around my stitching this month.

Joan Elliott's Angel featured in the story.

Supersize September

Dip your needle into the vast swath of fabric dedicated to your BIGGEST projects!

The final stitches in a year-long project from Primitive Hare

Another year-long project from A Mon Ami Pierre

Oft-Overlooked October

Find a new-to-you designer and start a new project this month! Or maybe two...or three...

Madame Chantilly

Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

No-Xs November

What can you make without making an X?? Blackwork, hardanger, embroidery, needlelace, and the list goes on! Don't panic...you can even backstitch for the month!

I stitched nothing on this Just Nan design!  So no Xs there!

Plenty of metallics, beads and backstitch on Joan Elliott's Green Goddess

Do What You Will December
Do you have gifts you need to finish? Projects you're sick of looking at that you want done? Or maybe you just want some nice, relaxing stitching for a hectic month? Anything goes this month!

Five finishes from December.

Heather has decided to have a little break from Theme-a-licious in 2016 which is a shame because I do love my themes!  You will all laugh when you hear what was in one of the crackers this Christmas - a shoehorn!  My hubby "won" that prize because we pulled the cracker together and he got the bigger part but I insisted he give it to me for my blogging.

Instead of doing Theme-a-licious then, I have signed up for a new SAL - D.E.S.I.G.N.  

The idea is to choose one of the WIPs you have stitched on that month and do a little article about the designer.  Hopefully I will feature some designers new to some of you and encourage you to visit their blogs or websites.

So finally (if anyone is still reading!)  

Have a very Happy Old Year's Night 

and a very Peaceful New Year's Day

December Small SAL and Round-Up

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Stitching Lotus

I chose three different monthly themes to follow this year:

Hallowe'en Ornie SAL - 12 different themes

Little Stitcher Fairy Tale 12 Days of Christmas - one per month

Primitive Hare Spooky Countdown - one per week starting 31st January

And I successfully completed all three challenges!  Yay me!

The Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog started in 2013 and I managed a few early finishes then petered out.  When the Admin there stepped down I started a new Blog along with several of the contributors.  We chose 12 themes and several of us have stayed the course.  Commenting at least, if not actually stitching!  Anyway, as Admin there is added pressure to contribute regularly, which I did.  Here are my 12:

Designers:

Just Nan; Brooke's Books; Snowflower Diaries; Knotted Tree Needleart

Carand 88; Carand 88; Just Nan; Just Nan

Val's Stuff; Val's Stuff; Tempting Tangles; Jacquie My Journey

For more information on each design, just go to the relevant month on the blog.

The next part of the challenge was The Little Stitcher 12 Days of Christmas designs.  I stitched one per month and used them to illustrate my TUSAL posts.  I also stitched the Miss Santa design from JCS which I plan to use as the cover for a scrapbook for the other twelve designs.

They are all stitched on the same 32count Vintage Grain linen, it's just the photogaphy makes them look different!

The final part was the Spooky Countdown by Primitive Hare, one little block per week from January to October plus the header and footer.  I made this into a Hallowe'en Countdown Tree.

The Smalls SAL is continuing next year, which is great news.  I have decided to have just two monthly challenges, the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL and the Hallowe'en Cubes from Primitive Hare which I will again be SAL with Giovanna in Italy.  The other smalls will be random things from my 15 in '15 and the DUCJC too.

Finally, I'm posting this update a day early so I can dedicate a full post for Theme-a-licious tomorrow!

Just Nan 2014 Round-up

This is the Acorn House Design from JCS Christmas Ornie Special 2013.  I finished the cross-stitching just before Christmas and want to add some gold beads to the centre of each flower and then finish it as a cube finish.  I have the backing fabric and need some ribbon plus a cube!  I asked hubby if we had any polystyrene packing blocks and he said "yes, I binned a load at the beginning of December".  Oh well.

Just Nan SAL is hosted by Zeb of Keep Calm and Cross Stitch

Unfortunately Zeb is no longer updating the SAL on her blog but that's no reason to stop stitching and posting!  So here is my End of Year Round-Up:

January


Lady Scarlet's Christmas


Batty Jack


M is for Mouse

February/March


Needle Story for a RR

March/April


Sweet Rememberance and Cynthia's Sampler for a RR

March/May/June


Winter Typography

July

Moon Rider Jack

August


Moon Rider Jasper


Nan's Garden for a RR

September


Moon Rider Jinx

October/November


Haunted Pumpkins Tree

Finally, the Advent Calendar was a resounding success again this year.  At 548 views it has already topped the 2012 Calendar but has a way to go to beat last year's (1058 views).  The links under the photos go direct to the Advent Post on the relevant blog so if you have been too busy to comment on everyone's blog then please feel free to go over now.