Smalls SAL link up - January 2025 (including three Small WIP finishes!)

Hi all!

And welcome to the first Smalls SAL of 2025!

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!

As happens to a lot of us in January, I'm off to a flying start with four - yes, four - entries! One was a January new start, the other three were WIPs.

First is one of the Nordic Advent Calendar pieces which I would like to stitch at one a month specifically for this SAL. As usual I have left off the number and adjusted the pattern a little:

Nordic Advent day 7 - Heart by Zindagi Designs (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct White aida with pearl/iridescent flecks

Started - 1st January 2025

Finished - 10th January 2025

Total Stitching Time - 6 hours 45 minutes

So having finished the Smalls SAL piece I was free to work on whatever I wanted, and that gave me a choice of 63 WIPs!

I started with one left over from Mischievous March 2024, having decided it was small and simple enough to not require much brain power. There is supposed to be a spider on the left of the pumpkin but that is one thing I absolutely won't stitch. Here's the finish:

Halloween Pumpkin (magazine chart)

Stitched on 16ct Azalea aida

Started - 11th March 2024

Finished - 20th January 2025

Total Stitching Time - 11 hours 55 minutes

Then I went right back to my fourth oldest WIP. I started this back in 2008 and wasn't sure why I had never finished it. Then I discovered that I was using some of the DMC metallic threads, including for the backstitching, and they are really awful to work with. I'd left it with only the two eyes, the eight crumbs and the majority of the backstitching to do, so just over one hour (and a lot of frustration) later I had another Small finish:

Greedy Robin by Mouseloft

Stitched on 14ct cream aida

Started - September 2008

Finished - 21st January 2025

Total Stitching Time - 4 hours 5 minutes

Then I picked up another WIP from 2008. This one was put aside after stitching just the giraffe's face as it had bad memories attached to it. But 16 years have made a difference so I bit the bullet and finished it in just under two hours:

Giraffe by Mouseloft

Stitched on 14ct rustic green aida

Started - March 2008

Finished - 23rd January 2025

Total Stitching Time - 3 hours 5 minutes

So not only is that a good Smalls start, it's also a good start for the year, and clears out three old WIPs, which made me question why I'd never finished them sooner! Only 60 WIPs now left to choose from!

Now it's your turn.

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 February.

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Back next month, but probably not with four Smalls!

Take care,

Rachel x

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