December Stitch from Stash and Pie

 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:

Definitely a 12 Days month!  You've seen the Stoney Creek in previous posts and the Bothy Threads almost finished.  Here's my French Hen all couched:

stitched on 32 count grey-blue linen

There is a small gap in the metallic border but that will be filled when I stitch Day 6!

Here are the first three days all completed:

For this year's 12 Days of Stitchmas I am stitching the Jardin Prive designs.  Here are Days 1 to 6, all stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen:

I'm using Anchor threads for this, nice bright colours, and I've added white to the top of each roof to look like snow!  You can see which days I was busiest doing other things.  There are large margins because I am going to finish these individually once they are stitched.

My final finish for the year was the Bubbles of Happiness from Lin Pulsion.  This was originally free but you can purchase it now.  I chose a rainbow theme for my piece:

stitched over 1 on 25 count white evenweave

In my WIPocalypse post I showed you my 12 finishes from my "21 in '21" list and now here are the rest of my finishes for the year:

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

The top three individual projects were:

Bothy Threads 12 Days - 54 days

Stoney Creek 12 Days - 44 days

Just Nan Scream House - 32 days

Then another seven projects with between 21 and 29 days on them.  This was very much The Year of the Rotation. 

I also stitched on a number of Just Nan projects, totalling 64 days when I only stitched those projects. 

Here's my current progress on my Christmas Elegance sampler:

stitched on 28 count white evenweave

I am a couple of weeks behind schedule but I might catch up in January.  Or I might just extend my stitching time on this one. 

I came into the year with 18 WIPs and started 35 projects over the course of the year of which 7 are still WIPs.  I also completed 3 projects started prior to 2018.  My current WIPs are:

Prior 2019	7
2019	1
2020 2021 Total	3 7 18

How did the spending go last month?  My magazine subscription came out and I bought another three of the Nora Corbett Zodiac Girls charts.

I also tallied up the spend for the whole year:

That figure is about £40 up on last year.  Once again, I spent more on charts and less on fabric and threads.  Those Zodiac Girls were my downfall!  I bought 9 of them for £9 each plus the fabric to stitch 1 on them in 2022.  I also bought more DMC than the previous year but still only 34 skeins which isn't a lot when you consider how much stitching I did!

Finally,

Have a very Happy Old Year's Night

and a very Peaceful New Year's Day

December WIPocalypse Annual Review

  
WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

Each month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.

Since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "21 in '21" for this year.

1. Ernie Bishop NOEL Letters - Finish
2. Samplermakers Spring Sampler - Finish
3. Joan Elliott Faces SAL (2 blocks) - WIP
4. Chatelaine Gardens of London - WIP
5. Nora Corbett Gathering Eggs - Finish
6. Amanda Butler Alice in Wonderland
7. Lin Pulsion Bubbles of Happiness  - WIP
8. Just Nan Scream House  - WIP
9. Tiny Haunted Village by Various Designers
10. Stoney Creek 12 Days of Christmas - Finish
11. Carriage House Samplings Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow - WIP
12. Mirabilia Fairy Idyll  - WIP
13. Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas - WIP
14. Hands on Designs Scary Apothecary Cackle Lozenges - Finish
15. Hands on Designs Scary Apothecary Cauldron Cleaner - Finish
16. Hands on Designs Scary Apothecary Coffin Paint  - Finish
17. Just Nan Summer Sampler Follow the Needle   - Finish
18. Just Nan Witchy Mice  - Finish
19. CCN Halloween Village 2  - Finish
20. CCN Halloween Village 3  - Finish
21. CCN Halloween Village 4  - Finish

Only 12 finishes this year, but that was because this was The Year of Rotation rather than a Year of Focus like last year!  The intention was to make good progress on some of my BAPs.  Which I did.

Here are the BAPs:

Chatelaine Gardens of London

Carriage House Samplings Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow

Mirabilia Fairy Idyll

Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas

(still working on this one!  Final photo to be shown in the last post of the year)

I only had two projects that didn't get touched other than on my Longest Day marathon.  They were the Amanda Butler Alice SAL which needs a block redesigning by me and the Tiny Haunted Village which will remain very tiny for the time being!

I achieved my goal of 2 blocks on the Joan Elliott Faces SAL.   The 2022 goal is to add a large block:

Lin Pulsion Bubbles of Happiness is almost there, I am stitching the final bubbles in the final evenings of the year!

Just Nan Scream House is very close to having the stitching finished, just the floor pieces to go.  Then it's the long task of making it.

Here are the 12 WIPocalypse Finishes - I did have more finishes this year, these are just the ones from my "21 in '21"

I've been putting together my "22 in '22" for next year and also my WIPGO Board which is a FB group where you make a Bingo Board for 25 of your projects.  The Admin calls 2 numbers each month and you reward yourself for completing rows or columns.  And just for added fun, I'm doing the 22:22 in the No New Starts group!  For that challenge, I have to keep my WIPs below 22.  I currently have 18 so I can start 4 new things but after that I have to finish something before I start another thing.

Finally, I do hope you are all enjoying this time of year - the planning for the New Year, when everything is possible!  The fun of going through our stash and working out what we would like to start.  The promise to work on those older projects and keep up with the SALs too!

December Smalls

         

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

(Just realised I am a whole week early!)

This year my Smalls have been the Stoney Creek 12 Days of Christmas 2019 Ornament series.  I finished the final three earlier this month and here they all are:

I also made a little slideshow so you can see each one:

The plan is to make a concertina book ready for next Christmas.  I'll also be starting another 12 Days series on Boxing Day.  Starting one Day per day and then finishing them one per month next year.

At the start of the month I completed another year long small project, the calendar designed by Tiny Modernist which was a cover gift from Cross Stitcher magazine.  

I stitched one month per month and here they all are:

stitched on 32 count Summer Sky Belfast linen from Silkweavers

The plan for this one is to frame it and get a little calendar tag so I can use it as a calendar each year.

That's it for stitching this month but I do have photos of my stitched smalls on my Christmas garland.  Some were made by me and others by stitchy friends:

The large angel is Angelica by Lavender & Lace

The red sampler is Snowfire Christmas by Just Nan

There will be more photos of my Christmas displays in later posts.


Finally, it's the last day of the Advent Calendar Blog Hop.  I do hope you've been able to visit everyone or can find time over the next week.  This year's question about Christmas Trees was so inspiring and we learned a lot about our fellow bloggers and their Christmas pasts and presents!

2021 Online Advent Calendar

  Here is our Online Advent Calendar, it will be updated every day. 

Scroll down to see the latest picture and a link to the poster's blog.

This year I have asked each participant to tell us all about their Christmas Tree, their traditions, ornaments and whether they are a Star or Angel household when it comes to a tree topper.

Wednesday 1st December

A Patchwork of Crafts

Thursday 2nd December

Jocondine

Friday 3rd December

Mary's Thread

Saturday 4th December

Books, Crafts & Other Procrastinations

Sunday 5th December

Yellow Flower Meadow

Monday 6th December

An Arizona Stitcher

Tuesday 7th December

Jeremiah's Mom

Wednesday 8th December

Guava Gems

Thursday 9th December

Tiffstitches a Blog

Friday 10th December

Stitching in the Midwest

Saturday 11th December

Life Outside the Washing Basket

Sunday 12th December

Tickled Pink in Stitches

Monday 13th December

Le Coeur Celtique

Tuesday 14th December

Sewing After Seven

Wednesday 15th December

BAP Attack

Thursday 16th December

Needles, Pins & Dragonflies

Friday 17th December

The Flashing Scissors

Saturday 18th December

Elfin Stitches

plus a special memory from a stitcher we lost this year

Meg from Live to Stitch

("a man is not dead while his name is still spoken" - Terry Pratchett)

Sunday 19th December

Needle, Pen & Sword

and

Beth's Needlework Stash

Monday 20th December

Count it *all* Joy

Tuesday 21st December

The Stitching Grandma

Wednesday 22nd December

Aimetu's Stitching

Thursday 23rd December

Tales of a Stitching Mouse

Friday 24th December

Dragon Stitches & Stuff by Astrid

I do hope you have enjoyed the Hop again this year, please leave a comment on each blog as it does encourage people to keep posting!

Finally, I shall be posting my Tree photos as soon as I get one!

December IHSW

  

IHSW or International Hermit and Stitch Weekend always starts on the third Friday of the month.  It's a chance to lock yourself away and focus on your stitching for the weekend.  You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page - IHSW on Facebook.

Considering it is nearly Christmas and I worked all day on Saturday I did actually acheive an IHSW goal.

My focus piece was Bothy Thread's 12 Days of Christmas and my goal was to stitch the rest of the French Hen.

Here's where I was on the 15th for GG:

And here is a completed French Hen!

stitched on 32 count grey-blue linen

I have the gold to fill in the number 3 and around the edge and then the couched outlines.  I should be able to finish this before the end of the month.

Another goal achieved - we have a tree!

 We went to a local tree farm and chose a pre-cut one rather than traipse around VERY muddy fields to pick one.  It just needs a few lights and some ornaments now.

Finally the next IHSW will be 21st - 23rd January so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here by leaving a comment on my post.