Christmas In July - round-up (plus one new start and three finishes)

Hi all,

So I've reached the end of Christmas In July. If you've been stitching for Christmas In July I hope you enjoyed it!

For the majority of the month I focused on two Lizzie Kate charts, although did have time for a couple of small finishes and a surprise new start and finish.

The big focus was Merry Christmas By The Letter which started like this...

... and ended like this, with 17 hours and 20 minutes of stitching resulting in the addition of four more panels. That brings the total time spent on this so far to 51 hours and 40 minutes. I really hope this will be a finish when I return to it in December.

The other Lizzie Kate Christmas piece was a Tiny Tidings I stitched for the Smalls SAL:

As for the other stitching...

I decided to take some time out on Sunday and stitch a very small Christmas design. I won't tell you what it says - you'll have to find out for yourself (I have tested it and it does work):

QR Code

Stitched on 16ct Holly over-dyed aida with sparkles using DMC 321 and 987

Stitch count 21 wide by 21 high

Started - 31st July 2022

Finished - 31st July 2022

Total stitching time - 1 hour 35 minutes

And finally I finished another two letters (which I've been slowly adding to for the last few months) for Clare's Alphabet Christmas Tree. I won't share pictures of them as Clare won't have received them yet. They'll appear in my August Smalls SAL though.

So quite a successful Christmas month.

The next month with a specific focus is Dark October, meaning that I now have August and September to maybe try to catch up on the Monarchs and The Loneliness Of Autumn.

Or... if I still can't focus on those, perhaps I'll slip in a new start (or three). I've been wanting to try a biscornu for a while and now have some suitable geometric-type charts along with a few Jodyri variegated threads I treated myself to. Sounds like the perfect combination, don't you think?!

Take care,

Rachel x

Christmas In July - mid-month update

Hi all,

Well, just like the last few months, Christmas In July isn't quite going to plan. However, it's not all doom and gloom as slow but steady progress is being made. :)

At the beginning of the year, my plan for July was to stitch a monarch, stitch 10 hours on The Loneliness of Autumn, stitch a Christmas Small and then work on Lizzie Kate's Merry Christmas By The Letter for the rest of month.

Instead, I spent the first four days finishing off Elixir Of Life (not exactly a bad decision) have dropped the monarch and The Loneliness Of Autumn, haven't started the small, but have spent 12 days / 8h 15m stitching two small panels on the LK. Like I said, slow but steady progress.

Here was the starting point (with the fabric looking really washed out):

And now with the R and I panels added, and the S panel just started:

I've still got buttons and beads to add at the end so what's stitched so far isn't quite complete.

If I can get the S and T panels stitched up in July I'll be happy; anything more would be a bonus.

I may not have been doing as much stitching as I would have liked, but I have (finally and again) caught up with emails and blogs. Even five months down the line I was determined to catch up, and it's been great to see how much has been achieved whilst I wasn't reading posts. Cross stitching is still very much alive!

If you're also stitching Christmas In July, I hope it's going well.

Take care,

Rachel x

Christmas In July Update

Hi all!

Now that it's (finally) time for the (much more low-key) Tokyo 2020 Olympics, my stitching for Christmas In July is at an end.

My pace has picked up to an average of an hour a day, allowing time to finish one Christmas piece and make a good start on another, both by Lizzie Kate.

The finished piece I'll show in the monthly Smalls SAL, but here's the new start:

Merry Christmas By The Letter by Lizzie Kate

Stitched on 16ct Golden over-dyed aida

This is what it will look like when finished:

I will add the buttons after all the stitching has been completed, and finally (whenever that may be) create some sort of gold beaded border rather than the white stitched one suggested.

So now I have the Tokyo Olympic new start binge coming up, which is perfect timing as I finish work today for the six week school summer holiday. I'm hoping to post my new starts daily, but life is still very much up in the air at the moment so who knows. But 17 (more) new starts... I can't wait!!!

Take care,

Rachel x

Merry Christmas - Welcome To Christmas In July!

Hi all!

Goodness me, it's hard to believe we're halfway through the year already! So with that thought, how about trying something new?

Over the last few years I have noticed Christmas in July becoming more of a 'thing' so I thought, why not join the bandwagon?

My idea is to run a Christmas in July SAL, with the ulterior motive of encouraging those last-minute stitchers among you to start your Christmas gifts early and leave plenty of time to finish them before The Big Day. Well, that's the theory anyway!

So how about getting started on something Christmasy?

Below is the usual linky-widget thingy. Please join in as many times as you wish with new starts and/or progress and/or finishes. The link will remain open until 10th August, after which I'll do a round-up post which, I hope, will feature lots of Christmas goodies!

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.

Due to circumstances, my own plans have had to change, but since my Smalls SAL piece is Christmas-themed I will at least have one thing to show!

I really look forward to seeing some gorgeous Christmas projects being stitched this month... good luck and ho ho ho!!

Take care,

Rachel x