December TUSAL

  

It's TUSAL time!

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current project:

I decided to focus on my NOEL Letters from Ernie Bishop for the rest of the month and attempt to lay my oldest WIP to rest!

I started this back in the late 1990s with the letter L.  The chart gives various options including a long bell pull and four separate ornaments which is what I chose.  I wish I'd gone for the bellpull because there would only be one piece of hardanger and I'd be finished by now.

Problems associated with a long break in stitching:

1. Dyelot changes - 815 is rather different now and 498 looks a bit different too.

2. Forgetting what you substituted.

3. Forgetting you made counting errors which need fudging.

4. Lazy habits such as not doing the satin stitch correctly which need redoing now.

I had completed all the hardanger for the L and stitched the wrapped blocks for E but used the wrong colour Perle, a B5200 equivalent.  The chart said "ecru" was that wasn't right either.  White looked too bright but then I realised I had two balls of white, one of which was slightly duller.  I had also stitched the satin stitch border in DMC Blanc, not the charted Perle so that looked slightly different too!

If you look in the little tin, you can see all the Bright White Perle I frogged from the E.  It looks like Santa's beard to me!

It would be so nice to get these all finished this year.  I have 7 stitching days before Christmas.  After Christmas I like to do my 12 Days of Stitchmas.  I have a few 12 Days of Christmas designs to choose from this year.  In fact, I have so many I started a Facebook Group purely for the 12 Days of Christmas by any designer!

So far we have 39 photos of different designs in our Album with links to show where you can find them.  Plus several more older charts only available on the secondary market.  If you'd like to join us, you can find the group here - 12 Days of Christmas Cross Stitching.  There are two questions to answer to be approved.

Finally, the Advent Calendar Blog Hop is going so well, it's been lovely to see all your stitching and read about your favourite books.  Thanks to everyone who is taking part and those who are commenting too.