I tried to resist the Christie SAL, honest!  I’m not exactly short of things to do! The designs are by Faby Reilly and every two weeks the pattern for a Christmas card is being released, there are four altogether. I love Faby’s designs but I decided I didn’t need four handmade Christmas cards. Then the first design came out….

I was signed up in a matter of minutes! I had a little lightbulb moment that actually I don’t need to make cards, I can make decorations instead!

I’m a bit of a traditionalist at Christmas, I like red and green, with a bit of gold or silver for tasteful sparkle! I decided to change the colours using a mixture of DMC threads and a Weeks one too. I found some soft gold sequins in my stash which worked well with the gold thread. I was really pleased with how the first one came out.

Yesterday I finally got round to finishing it. I found in my stash a Christmas panel which came from my Mum’s house, it’s very pretty but I really can’t see me using it as a whole, round the edge were some squares including a lovely one of holly berries which went perfectly with the cross-stitch. I used a short strip of the red panel surround to make the cross-stitch into a rectangle, I embroidered some stars with the sequins and gold thread to bring it into the design. It still needed a bit more so I rummaged in my trim box and found some mini red pompom trim in just the right shade. I stitched it on with gold beads from the design in between each pompom. The trim adds a lovely bit of texture without being too much.

I stitched the holly fabric to the back, turned and stuffed it. My initial plan was to use a gold cord I made before to go round the edge but it look a bit too blingy, so I made another cord from dark red and green DMC thread. I’ve stitched it round and made a hanging loop. I’ve left the ends dangling at the moment as I’m tempted to ad some tiny bells to the ends, I’ll see what I can find at the Knitting and Stitching show in a couple of weeks time.

I love this little decoration, I can hang it on the tree, or just from a hook, or I can just prop it up somewhere. I’m now stitching design two, a snowflake or star design. It’s not too late  to join the SAL, if you’re tempted just follow the link to Faby Reilly. I’m now half way through the second Christie design so watch this space!