Been MIA

I'd like to thank the Holiday season for catching me almost completely off guard, once again! I have updated my blog if anyone is interested in reading it, and hope to be much more current with it in 2008, LOL. This is one I stitched from the 2007 Just Cross Stitch ornament issue. I modified the colors to fit what I had on hand and left out the sampler alphabet that is supposed to go on top, since I wanted more of a pillow and less of an ornament. This is Christmas Holly by Hands To work. I really like how it turned out!

marisa

An introduction

Hi everyone! I'm Lynn, a new member to the group and want to thank Jennifer very much for the invite. I mentioned on my blog that I hoped to get some ornaments done in the new year and I'm hoping that all of you can keep me motivated to do just that. I finished my first ornament just after the New Year although it was a work in progress since the beginning of December. Holiday activities just kept pushing it aside. I'll post this as my first contribution to the group. I'm new to finishes so bear with me since that may take me a bit longer!

Christmas Day Play by Lynn's Prints

from JCS 2003 ornament issue

Trailer load #4 to Food Bank

Folks kept bringing offerings of canned goods straight through New Year's Eve and even through Sunday January 6, 2008, Epiphany. The next day, Food Bank staff unloaded Sunset Hills Neighborhood's fourth trailer load, 310 pounds, bringing the 2007 Christmas season total to 2,974 pounds. This is just one of many reasons we love Greensboro.

Woefully Late: My November Ornaments

I stitched motifs 11 and 12 from Rosewood Manor's Red Threads on Tartan Green Wichelt Linen with DMC 99. I was attempting to achieve kind of a candy cane look, but I'm not sure I succeeded. What do you think?

I finished an ornament in December too, but I haven't photographed it yet and it's been finished completely and is rather 3-D so the scanner won't work. That whooshing sound I heard was December rushing by me. Maybe I can post pictures of the December ornament by the time the January SAL ends.

I had enormous fun with this SAL last year and stitched 18 ornaments! I am eagerly anticipating another year of ornament SALs.

A New Look for the New Year

I hope everyone had happy holidays and a wonderful start to their New Year. Now that everyone seems to be settling back into a routine and lives are getting back to normal, I thought it was time to introduce the new look for 2008. It does need a little tweaking, so if anyone knows how to adjust the white space, please let me know. (Also, if you are finding things difficult to read or have any suggestions to improve the blog, please email me!)

In addition to the new look, there are a few other goodies on the way, so keep an eye out for them. One of the things we'd like to set up is a Suggested Theme of the Month. I know some stitchers have a hard time deciding which ornaments to stitch, so by providing a suggested theme, it can help narrow down the choices and make choosing a little easier. You don't HAVE to stitch the suggested themes, but it can be a real lifeline for stitchers drowning in a sea of decisions! I think 2-3 suggested themes a month is a good number, and the January ones will be coming by the end of the week. If you've got themes in mind, please let me know as we're in the market for suggestions.

I have a few surprises coming later today or tomorrow, so I'll keep those under wraps for now, but introduce myself. My name is Jennifer, and I live on the east coast in the US. I've been cross stitching for 5-6 years now. I've done embroidery for as long as I can remember (remember the iron on transfers?) and a little stamped cross stitch in HS, but always felt intimidated by cross stitch until my DH and I picked up a few kits at the craft store as a way of curbing night time snacking (you can't snack if your fingers are busy stitching!) The stitching bug bit, and here we are still stitching. I've graduated from pre-packaged kits to putting together my own flosses and fabrics for a chart to doing a little of my own designs. Most of what I stitch is given away as gifts, so my themes and choices of designers vary greatly. If you'd like to see more of my stitching, you can check out my blog.

I look forward to working with you all and making this SAL a good experience for everyone. I think it will be a lot of fun to see what everyone stitches throughout the year.