December Pie and Stitch from Stash

It's Old Year's Night and time for a look back at the past 365 days of stitching.

First of all, here is the Pie for December:

Two weeks on the Discworld Mappe which went from here:

to here:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom dyed by Sparklies

Not so much progress this month, I didn't even finish my owl.  But here is where it was last year so you can see just how much 166 days of stitching is:

8 days to complete the 12th Christmas Ornament of the year.  I started all 12 as part of last year's 12 Days of Stitchmas and completed one per month this year.  This is the fourth design from The Sweetheart Tree called Merry Christmas Bellpull.  I will be fully finishing it like the Noel and Joy Bellpulls.

stitched on 32 count linen

For this year's 12 Days of Stitchmas I am stitching the JBW designs.  Here are Days 5 and 6:

stitched on 40 count white linen

In my WIPocalypse post I showed you my 13 finishes from my "19 in '19" list and now here are the rest of my finishes for the year:

Plus this one I forgot to include in the Collage!

Let's have a look at the Annual Pie Chart now:

The top four individual projects were:

The Discworld Mappe - 163 days

Marie Suarez My Lovely Sewing Tools - 31 days

Lavender & Lace Enchanted Alphabet - 23 days

Chatelaine Gardens of London - 21 days

I also stitched on a number of Just Nan projects, totalling 39 days when I only stitched those projects.  More often they were part of a daily stitch project.

I have actually finished the Enchanted Alphabet and I do intend to dedicate a post to my conversion, but here's a picture to be going on with:

stitched on 32 count Tiger Lily Murano from Sparklies

I came into the year with 20 WIPs and started 31 projects over the course of the year of which all except three have been finished.  I also completed 2 projects started prior to 2017 and 6 started in 2017/18.  My current WIPs are:

Prior 2017	9
2017	3
2018	0
2019	3
Total	15

Yes, just 15 WIPs.  I plan to complete another 2 of those older ones this year and gradually whittle the total down.  Leaving me space to make more starts!

How did the spending go last month?  My magazine subscription came out and that was it.

December
CS sub	£8.72
Total	£8.72

I also tallied up the spend for the whole year:

Magazines	£76.49
Charts	£145.22
Fabric	£35.95
Threads	£0.95
Other	£39.12
Total	£297.73

That figure is about the same as last year.  Once again, I spent more on charts and less on fabric and threads.  Literally 95p on one skein of DMC the entire year!  The money spent on charts was nearly all Christmas and Birthday money so that's OK.

As well as getting the JBW 12 Days of Christmas charts, I also got these charts from my family:

Yes, another BAP!  The plan is to start that one when I complete the Discworld Mappe.

This is a series I have had my eye on for a while.  I am considering stitching them as sets of six cubes.

Finally,

Have a very Happy Old Year's Night

and a very Peaceful New Year's Day

December Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year I have been stitching Christmas Ornaments from the Just Cross Stitch Ornament Specials 2001 to 2009.  I have almost finished this month's ornament which is a design by The Sweetheart Tree called Merry Christmas.  So here is the top part only:

stitched on 32 count linen

I just need to add beads and fully finish it as a bellpull ornament like the other two, albeit slightly larger.  Here are the other Sweetheart Tree Ornaments I stitched for this SAL:

   

I did complete another Word in the Jessica Savage series for Cross Stitcher magazine.  This month it was Embrace:

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

All five so far:

At the end of November I joined in with a new SAL - 1 small snowflake for 26 days by Stitchonomy.  I did well to start with but work and pre-Christmas busyness caught up with me and I finished it after Christmas.  I decided to use all beads instead of the charted colours.  The blue are some unbranded beads I had in my stash and the white and crystal are Mill Hill (00479 and 00161).  The fabric is a random piece of opalescent blue linen from stash:

I made a few changes, the blue beads are a bit bigger than Mill Hill and wouldn't all fit so I tended to leave them off where they got too crowded.  The "sparkles" she added on the 27th day are the little single stitches and small motifs inbetween the snowflakes.  I used a Madeira silver metallic for them.  Finally, I added a snowflake charm that Mouse sent me for Christmas.  Now I need a round frame!  For maybe just a round mount for a square frame.

This was a lovely SAL, not too demanding, any other time of the year I would easily have managed one motif per day.  You can buy it from her Etsy store now - Stitchonomy Etsy

I have now started the 12 Days of Stitchmas, originally I intended to stitch a band sampler but serendipity demanded a 12 Days design which I received as a Christmas gift.  Here is the cover:

And here is Day 1

And Day 2:

My plan is to stitch one length of green  border on each day and one colour on Day 1.  If I complete Day 1 then I'll stitch one colour on Day 2.

Then throughout 2020 I will finish one ornament per month.

Finally, I had a Smalls Tree this year!  Usually I have a section of our main tree for stitched ornaments but this year I decided as I had made quite a few myself there were enough to put them on their own tree:

How many do you recognise?

The gifted ones are mostly on this side:

Boxing Day Renamed "Stitching Day"

As the Advent Calendar revealed that some countries do not celebrate Boxing Day and others simply have Second Christmas (like festive hobbits) I have decided that 26th December will  henceforth be International Stitching Day.  Just sit in your stitching spot nibbling on leftover turkey and chocolates while stitching to your heart's content.

We will start with a piece that I actually stitched just before Christmas.  I finished Joan Elliott's 12 Days of Christmas on 15th December so technically I had 9 stitching days before Christmas Day but I knew I was working on 4 of them and would be pretty busy on the other 5 so I decided to stitch a very small design.  Kerry the Biscornu Addict showed what she would be stitching on in the run-up to Christmas which inspired me to stitch one of the same designs:

Merry Christmas by Stitchrovia

Stitched on 28 count Colonial Blue evenweave

This was the cover kit with Cross Stitch Crazy issue 237 and came with this red hoop but I will probably scrapbook it instead.

My Christmas Day start is another 12 Days of Christmas design (No, Stephanie, I cannot get enough of these designs!).  I'm doing 12 Days of Stitchmas as I did last year.  So on Day 1, I stitched Block 1:

On Day 2, I stitched on Block 2 and Block 1:

On Day 3 I will stitch a little of each of the first 3 blocks and so on.  The plan is to stitch the black border on the new day so I can get the placement right for the next day.  Then one length on each of the preceding blocks.  Chosen to avoid changing colour too much!

At the end of the Twelfth Day of Christmas I should have Block 1 completed and then I will stitch one block a month for the rest of the year.

Today being the 26th I should have stitched my spooky conversion of the Enchanted Alphabet by Lavender & Lace.  But guess where that it?  In the chest hidden behind the Christmas tree!  So that will have to wait until Epiphany when the tree comes down.

Instead I picked up the next project in the rotation; my Zodiac SAL by Donna Kooler:

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

I'd already done my 10-a-day and 30-a-day projects in the morning:

Just Nan - Summer in the Square

Just Nan Butterfly Rose

There's still one more project to come today, the bathtime stitching which is Dracula's Book Cover by Dam Good Crafts.  Here's where I finished last night having just started the moon:

stitched on 32 count Amortentia Belfast by Chromatic Alchemy

So that's five pieces in one day!  Same again tomorrow and the rest of the month until I go back to work on 1st January.  For one day.  Then another week off.  I do love part-time working, especially when you do lieu hours in December and get to take them in January.

I do hope you all had a lovely Christmas and got everything you wanted.  My favourite presents were stitching and book related, of course.  I also got these really cute earrings:

Just 1 More Chapter

She does quite a range of books and will do custom designs too!  I wonder if I ordered our Book of the Month each month if I could put them through petty cash?

I NEED the Alice in Wonderland ones next, then some Discworld covers, the Dragonriders of Pern, The Power (Naomi Alderman) and then every book Chris Riddell has ever done a cover for...

Finally, we are approaching the end of the year so I will be putting up the Sign-Up page for Gifted Gorgeousness soon and preparing my special recipe End of Year Pie for all you Statistic lovers.  But before that we have the final Smalls post on Friday!

Christmas TUSAL

It's TUSAL time, the Totally Useless SAL where we all show our ORTS and link-up on Daffycat's blog.

Here's my final ORTs jar of the year with my current projects:

Here's a close-up of Dracula's Castle by Dam Good Crafts:

stitched on 32 count Amorentia Belfast from Chromatic Alchemy

The other project is a new start "just because", it was the cover kit with last month's Cross Stitch Crazy magazine (issue 237).  The design is by Emma Congdon of Stitchrovia:

stitched on 28 count Colonial Blue evenweave

We put our tree up at the weekend and I have a special area for my stitched ornies:

Most of them were received in previous years, except this one:

Anyone recognise it?   Yes, it's a Denny's Angel!   Gracie from Needles, Pins and Dragonflies has been tatting these this year and sending them out to her friends.  It is a great honour and privilege to receive a Denny's Angel and I was really touched when I opened the card.  Thank you Gracie.

I must be honest and say I have sent very few cards this year, and none overseas.  The time ran away from me so maybe I will be sending Happy January cards instead.  I have been sending the Jacquie Lawson e-cards so if you haven't had one of those yet, watch your inbox!

Finally, the Advent Calendar is going well again this year, lots of beautiful festive stitching and some great ideas for how to spend Boxing Day.  We still have more doors to open, with some being double door days so keep checking back each to see the latest picture and link.