I'd like to continue being a member

I didn't complete my ornaments last year and would like to continue with the SAL in 2010.
Louise - AceTeacher

Hi all!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! My name is Elena and I’m from Russia. I’ve stitched a January House. The pattern is made by me and If you like it you may have it here. I used Linda fabric, to make the flowers I used French Knots and red beads for apples on the trees.
P.S. Sorry if my English is not perfect.

Hello

Hi,

Have just joined the group having stumbled across this site on the blogosphere and intrigued by the concept of the Bride's Tree.

My eldest nephew, surrogate son, is getting married in November 2010, and he and his bride to me are self funding their wedding and have asked the family to contribute to their honeymoon in lieu of gifts.

This is something we're happy to do, but my Mum and I thought we'd also make a gift as well, so the thought of making a set of Bride's Tree ornaments appeals to me.

I love Quaker style cross stitch, so have already started hunting through my collection of charts and managed to find a few things so far.

Want to join us?

Jennifer created this blog in 2007. Last month she had a baby and requested for help to continue with the SAL and the blog. I stepped up and offered myself with the clear intentions that if at any future time she wants to take the administration back, it will be waiting for her. Until she can be able to come back to her administrative functions I will relaunch the SAL to those that want to participate in a new edition.

The Bride’s Tree is a German tradition. It is believed that a couple’s Christmas tree needs twelve specific ornaments for happiness in their life journey together. You don’t need to stitch them as ornaments. I stitched 12 last year for a friend but mine these upcoming year will become something else ( maybe a quilt). If you don’t celebrate Christmas you can substitute month 12’s theme (St Nick) for your holiday tradition, maybe a Menorah or a Kwanzaa Kinara ( or anything that symbolize giving and goodwill to you).

There is not rush with the ornaments, even when it’s an ideal situation to stitch one each month. If you can’t it will be OK too. Ornaments are usually fast to stitch so I hope it would not be a burden in our wip’s list.

You can find here the 12 themes as well as a freebie list for each month so if you want you don’t need to spend money in charts in this SAL.

You are more than welcome to participate with us. Blogspot set the number of members to 100 and there is close to 70 places available this year on the blog. If you want to participate please leave a message in this post or send me an email at aurytm @ gmail.com (remove spaces) and I will add you to our group. Be sure to indicate “Bride’s Tree SAL” in your subject line.

You can join at ANY time during the year and start wherever we are, then catch up at your own pace. Pictures from any previous month can be posted at any time.

We will be waiting for you!!

Hello!!

Hello everybody,

As you know, Jennifer is expecting any time soon and asked for help with the blog and SAL. I stepped up and offered myself with the clear intentions that if in any future time Jennifer wants to take the administration back, it will be waiting for her :D

In the meantime I have plans to offer a 2010 edition of the SAL and hopefully this will bring the enthusiasm back to the group. Since the number of members in blogger are limited to 100 I need a favor from all of you.
If you finished the SAL, please let me know if you want to stitch a new cycle or if you would prefer to offer your place in the blog to someone else.
If you are stitching them and want to continue, it's OK, there is no time limit for this SAL and there won't be one, but please let me know if you are still interested on it so I can lock your space :D.

I will be promoting the new SAL edition in my blog on November. I hope that this will be enough time for everybody to answer me back and of course I will appreciate if you can promote the SAL as well in your blogs.

I'll be looking forward to receive your answer.

Stepping down

Would anyone be interested in taking over as administrator of this blog? I'm about to have a baby and this blog has slipped a little in my priorities. I'd hate to see it shut down, so I am hoping that maybe someone would be interested in taking over and maybe infusing it with some new energy and enthusiasm.

Any takers?

Practice Kindness

Here is my SAL for February 2008.   This design is Wee Hearts (Practice kindness every day) by Heart in Hand.
I finished so it can sit atop a table or to be hung on a wall.

Hope you all like it.
Jack...

Over one year later

Here is how Home of the Brave turned out.

August Rose

Here is my August Rose. It's the center part of the design of Patchwork Garden by Ewe & Eye & Friends. I bought this as a kit and stitched it using the provided materials.

Teapots

I finally found a teapot design I liked in a pattern book that a friend sent me this fall. When I went looking for a scrap of fabric to stitch on, I found the pre-finished jar cozies in my stash. Perfect, except, of course, that they're not ornaments. Oh well.

I only kept the general shape of the teapot from the original pattern. (It was blue, with a heart motif.) I chose the colors to go with the fabric, and I designed the poinsettia motif myself, based on some other patterns I had.

I'm determined to get the rest of these done this year. To recap, I finished stitching January through July last year and started the November angel. I then went on maternity leave with twins. I've now finished the September teapot and am working on the August rose. I have the October pinecone pattern ready to go, which leaves me with figuring out a December Santa. Both the October and November patterns are a bit intricate, so they may take me a while.

Finally Finished!

Here at long last are my November and December ornaments! The November angel design is from an old booklet for embroidering designs on sweatshirts using waste canvas. It was the perfect size for 28 count Jobelin. The December ornament is a Santa design from The Prairie Schooler "Santas and Snowmen" chart pack.

Whew! This project did take an entire year. I started it in March of 2008 and just finished today in Februrary 2009. The set of ornaments will be a wedding gift to my son, Matt and his bride, Amy, who will be married in June. I bought a zippered ornament storage chest to put them in, and will include an explanation of the tradition and the significance of the designs.

I enjoyed sharing with this blog and being inspired by all the beautiful work the members posted. Thanks for this opportunity to create an heirloom!

I just pulled a rabbit out of my hat

Or rather, the unfinished ornament pile.

Blue Ribbon Designs - A Christmas Wish of Health and Happiness (2007)
stitched over 2 on 32 ct. evenweave with DMC threads
Freebie Design available here

This is another for the set of Bride's Tree ornaments I'm stitching and finishing for my husband's cousin, who was married in August.

I modified the bottom from "Health and Happiness" to "Hope and Peace" because that's what the rabbit symbolizes for the Bride's Tree Ornaments. And it's a little hard to tell, but it does say 2008 on there as well. It's been stitched up, I just only finished it into an ornament.

See? I really haven't been slacking... that much

Okay, okay, so I stitched this piece about 4 years ago, but I only just got around to finishing it. I always knew I wanted to make it into an ornament, but sometimes the best laid plans....

Victoria Sampler Hearts of America - Hawaii
stitched over 2 on 25 ct. evenweave fabric with DMC and specialty threads

I stitched this as a gift for friends of ours who were married in Hawaii, and I thought, what better way to incorporate the "heart" into their collection than to commemorate their wedding day on a heart shaped ornament. I used the same fabric on the back and stitched their names and the date. I know it's a little after Christmas, but the recipient is my best friend, and also still has her tree up, so there's a good chance that this will be hanging on her tree in Virginia by the weekend.