Link-up For Fully Finished Gallery SAL - January 2025

Hello all!

It's the 10th of January and therefore time for the first Fully Finished Gallery SAL of 2025. This is the place to show your cross stitched FFOing achievements since your last link-up.

And here's the new logo:

The link-up for this SAL opens on the 10th of each month and stays open for 10 days so you can join in whenever you're ready.

In January I usually take a look back at the previous year but I haven't quite finished updating the stats so I'll do the review next month.

What I have been doing, though, is re-familiarising myself with all my stitching, especially WIPs and UFOs both of which are quite numerous! Funnily enough, it's the UFOs which caught my attention more but I'll be happy if I can do a bit of both. So far so good this year.

So start off 2025 I have just one finish. This is the April Biscornu, started during Mischievous March 2024 and finished last November. As with all biscornus, it's been whip stitched and completed with a matching button:

Now it's your turn.

Please link-up using the URL of your FFG SAL post and not the home page of your blog, adding a thumbnail of a finish and either your name or your blog name as the caption. The link-up will remain open for 10 days, closing at 6am UK time on 20th January.

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And please don't forget to follow other links and support fellow fully-finish-offers.

See you again next month!

Take care,
Rachel x

Annual Stitching Plans 2025

Good morning again and Happy New Year 2025!!

So this first-of-January post is usually full of all sorts of ridiculous and overambitious plans... but not this year.

This year I want to focus on three things using teeny tiny steps:

1) Post the two SALs I host on time each month and with actual content.

FFG SAL - 10th of the month

Smalls SAL - last Friday of the month

2) Catch up with blog reading, emails, comments and replies.

3) Stitch regularly, and preferably on WIPs for the Smalls SAL.

And that's it. Nothing ambitious, just the basics.

If things start to improve and I can get more done than this, then I will consider that a massive win.

I so desperately want to get back into stitching but nothing seems to work for long. I am really hoping the New Year will provide the psychological effect for wiping the past clean and only looking forward.

Oh, there is one other thing... I will, over no specific time, frame be contacting all of you who have stuck with me. I know I have been unreliable at posting and rude for not reading emails or replying to comments, but I want that to change.

So all that remains for me to say at the moment is, Happy New Year, and I hope it is filled with happiness, good health, and lots of stitching!

Take care,

Rachel x

2024 End Of Year Summary

Morning all!

Although I've hardly been around during 2024 I'd like to continue my usual year-end round up and look back at my WIPs, new starts and FFOs for the year.

My plans for 2024 were laughably ambitious and I knew I wouldn't achieve them all, but I didn't anticipate failing by such a large margin!

As usual, all of the following waffle and lists are just for my benefit so ignore as you wish!

Total stitching time was 148 hours 15 minutes, which doesn't sound too bad until I disclose that January, February and March accounted for 130 hours of that, and that I had *gasp*156 days (including three full months) with no stitching at all. I didn't see that coming!

Here are my successes and failures:

SALs - each month join in with:

FFG SAL - ✅ my only real success! I actually managed to FFO something each month!

Smalls SAL - ✅ and ❌ - I only had a Small for 6/12 months and was late posting 3 times. My bad. VERY bad.

Potential stitching included:

A Monarch A Month - stitch the remaining 8 monarchs and potentially finish - ❌ stitched two

The Loneliness Of Autumn - continue and catch-up - ❌ only added 22 hours

A-Z of WIPs - work though an alphabet of WIPs - ✅ ❌ I only managed A-F

Mischievous March - start four projects and finish the four projects - ✅ ❌ started four, finished two

Summer Olympics and Paralympics - Harry Potter advent calendar - ❌ nothing

Christmas In July - continue Merry Christmas By The Letter - ❌ nothing

Dark October - continue (finish?) Haunted Library - ❌ nothing

Naughty November - start four projects and finish the four projects - ❌ nothing

Christmas Day onwards - continue (finish?) Merry Christmas By The Letter - ❌ nothing

Potentially start and work on:

Female Rainbow Dragon - ✅ and ❌ put in 20 hours of stitching (only posted the first 10)

Monochromatic Library - ❌ nothing

Scarlet Macaw Preening - ❌ nothing

So lots of red there - good job red is one of my favourite colours!

My overall statistics look like this:

Number of WIPs brought forward from 2023 = 60
Plus number of new starts = 10
Less number of finishes = 7

Number of WIPs to carry forward into 2025 = 63

Here are the lists of projects which make up those statistics. Those in red have been finished, those in black will be carried forward to 2025.

LARGE WIPs BROUGHT FORWARD
1) SK The History Of Chocolate (HAED)
2) Mini Bookworm Fairy (HAED)
3) OMG Tigger Is Out (UnconventionalX - etsy)
4) Kings and Queens

5) The Loneliness Of Autumn
'NORMAL' WIPs BROUGHT FORWARD
6) Mythical Dragon (True Colors)

7) Ballerina

8) Giraffe

9) Greedy Robin

10) Friends For Life
11) Feline Groovy
12) Loves Me ... Love Me Not
13) Book Worm

14) Carefree Summer

15) Dandelion Time

16) Flower Power

17) All Aboard The Walnut Shells

18) Christmas Wishes

19) Cuddly Feline Friends

20) Choc-A-Holic

21) I Love Butter

22) Good Morning Nelson

23) Winter Hugs

24) Lickle Snooze

25) A Windy Day
26) Little Green
27) Start Trek TOS
28) Clue
29) Evil Minions
30) Dragon Eye (not yet blogged)

31) Magnolia (not yet blogged)

32) Haunted Library
33) Pretty Little Toronto

34) Basket Case - progress

35) Mouse Reading Book
36) Wonderful Fright

37) Happiness Delivery Couple - progress
38) Mouse With Books
39) Gatekeepers

40) Let's Bloom

41) Let's Have Fun In The Sun
42) Let's Breeze Into Autumn - progress

43) Burrow Snow Globe

44) Dragon Shelf - progress

45) Godric's Hollow Snow Globe

46) Mexico

47) Korea

48) Netherlands

49) France - progress

50) Privet Drive Snow Globe

51) Rome

52) Russia

53) Shell Cottage Snow Globe

54) United Kingdom

55) USA

56) Witch's Hat Shelf

57) Elixir Of Luck - progress

58) Spring Keyhole Stamp

59) Night Lantern Stamp

60) He's A Fun-Gi

NEW STARTS IN 2024

1) Nordic Christmas Sampler 16 - Snowflake

2) Santa Ornie (for Clare's Christmas Tree)

3) Nordic Christmas Sampler 1 - Star

4) February Biscornu

5) Female Rainbow Dragon

6) Nordic Christmas Sampler 15 - Love

7) Japan (Mount Fuji) Bauble

8) Halloween Pumpkin

9) March Biscornu

10) April Biscornu

An increase was not exactly what I had planned, but it's OK as it's not by much.

As for my Box of Shame:

Brought forward from 2023 = 60
Added = 6

Finished = 12
Carried forward into 2025 = 54

Here's another list of the the projects which were in and have been added to my Box Of Shame. As above, those in red have now been FFOd, those in black will be carried forward.

BOX OF SHAME PIECES BROUGHT FORWARD

1) Piglet's Snowflake (gone AWOL!)

2) Green Halloween Banner

3) A Little Witch Of The Night

4) Let's Play

5) Chick Berry

6) Humming Along

7) Lady In Red

8) Going For Walkies

9) Simply Wren

10) Winnie the Pooh 1

11) Winnie the Pooh 2

12) In The Dog House

13) In The Bath

14) Resting My Eyes

15) Noel

16) Moonrise - Gravestone

17) Moonrise - Fence

18) Moonrise - Mansion

19) Season's Greetings

20) Moonrise - Memorial

21) Let's Be Frozen

22) Dragon 9

23) Dragon 2

24) Dragon 11

25) Dragon 5

26) Dragon 4

27) Dragon 10

28) Dragon 12

29) Dragon 1

30) Dragon 6

31) Dragon 3

32) Grow Your Own

33) Elixir Of Life

34) Gift (not been shown on blog)

35) Gift (not been shown on blog)

36) A Tatty Friend

37) Mouse Reading Scroll

38) Winnie The Pooh 4

39) Winnie The Pooh 3

40) Golden Snitch In A Bottle

41) Pandas

42) Winnie The Pooh 5

43) Autumnal Baby Dragon

44) Grand Teton National Park

45) Grand Canyon National Park

46) Rocky Mountain National Park

47) Hot Springs National Park

48) Snuffles In Lime

49) Moonset - Gate

50) Moonset - Cenotaph

51) Moonset - Cross

52) Moonset - Lamppost

53) Best Wishes For The New Year QR Code

54) Front-Facing Dolphin (right)

55) Dolphin Swimming (right)

56) Jumping Dolphin (left)

57) Merry Christmas By The Letter

58) Preening Scarlet Macaw (left)

59) Front-Facing Scarlet Macaw (left)

60) Flying Scarlet Macaw (left)

NEW BOX OF SHAME PIECES IN 2024

1) Nordic Christmas Sampler 16 - snowflake

2) Nordic Christmas Sampler 1 - star

3) February Biscornu

4) Nordic Christmas Sampler 15 - love

5) March Biscornu

6) April Biscornu

EXCLUDED FROM BOX OF SHAME

1) Santa Ornie for Clare's Christmas Tree

That's a tad better but it still leaves me with loads of FFOing to do in 2025!

And that's it.

As for my stitching 'plans' for 2025... all will be revealed tomorrow!

All the best and

Happy stitching :)

Rachel x

Smalls SAL - December 2024

Hi all!

Sorry, sorry, sorry...

It's well past the last Friday of the month and yet again I have been remiss at posting on time. But here it is, the Smalls SAL for December and the final one of 2024.

Entries can be anything Small you have cross stitched during the month, be it an individual piece, part of a set, a portion of a big design, or even an unfinished Small if you haven't been able to complete it. All Smalls, or part(s) thereof, are welcome!

I have nothing to show this month, although have made a bit of progress on one of my WIPs. However, I'd like to finish it before I show it, so no picture and straight over to you.

Please link up using the URL of your Smalls SAL post, with a title (usually your name) and a thumbnail. The link will stay open until 10th January.

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I'm in the process of updating my spreadsheets and drafting my usual end-of-year and plans-for-the-year-ahead posts so hopefully they will appear soon. I feel both will make for dismal reading!

Take care,

Rachel x

Link-up For Fully Finished Gallery SAL - December 2024

Hello!

It's the 10th of December (where did the year go?!) so time for the final Fully Finished Gallery SAL of 2024!

The FFG SAL is the place to show the cross stitched projects you have FFOd since your last link-up.

As hoped for, I have a fully-finished biscornu this month, one of the two I showed in November's Smalls SAL. I thought I'd work in chronological order so finished March's biscornu first.

I found all the back- and whip stitching really therapeutic so am looking forward to finishing April's biscornu soon.

Now it's your turn.

Please link-up using the URL of your FFG SAL post and not the home page of your blog, adding a thumbnail of a finish and either your name or your blog name as the caption. The link-up will stay open for 10 days.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
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And please don't forget to follow other links and support fellow fully-finish-offers.

Unlike other years, I have not yet made any stitching plans for 2025. However, I do intend to keep the Smalls and FFG SALs running. I may not have been around much for most of 2024 but I'm not completely bowing out yet!

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - November 2024

Hi all!

It's the last Friday of the month, so time for the Smalls SAL.

Entries can be anything Small you have cross stitched during the month, be it an individual piece, part of a set, a portion of a big design, or even an unfinished Small if you haven't been able to complete it. All Smalls, or part(s) thereof, are welcome!

Well, I am going to surprise you all this month because I have not one but two Small finishes - sort of! Both are halves of their wholes but, seeing as my Smalls have been negligible this year, I'm counting them!

First up is the back for my April Biscornu:

Started - 28th October 2024

Finished - 3rd November 2024

Total stitching time - 3 hours 30 minutes

The back is a slimmed-down version of the front here:

And then there is the back of the March Biscornu:

Started - 4th November 2024

Finished - 10th November 2024

Total stitching time - 3 hours 5 minutes

Which is also a slimmed-down version of the front:

With any luck, at least one of these should be my FFO for December.

Now it's over to you!

Please link up using the URL of your Smalls SAL post, with a title (usually your name) and a thumbnail. The link will stay open for 10 days.

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I am slowly working on another Small, so fingers crossed there will be another entry next month.

But first, see you on 10th December for the FFG SAL.

Take care,

Rachel x

Link-up For Fully Finished Gallery SAL - November 2024

Hello!

It's the 10th of the month so time for the Fully Finished Gallery SAL - the penultimate one of the year already! This is the place to show the cross stitched projects you have FFOd since your last link-up.

This month I have my third and final Nordic Christmas Sampler. Unsurprisingly it's been completed to match the previous two, using complimentary backing fabric and silver bling ribbon:

Now it's your turn.

Please link-up using the URL of your FFG SAL post and not the home page of your blog, adding a thumbnail of a finish and either your name or your blog name as the caption. The link-up will stay open for 10 days.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

And please don't forget to follow other links and support fellow fully-finish-offers.

In 'treat this with trepidation' news, I am stitching again! It's only for a few minutes, and not every day, but does mean that there will actually be something for me to show in the Smalls SAL later this month! Tiny steps...

Take care,
Rachel x