Happy Sunday crafty people and welcome to the last SAL post of 2020. I hope you all had as good a Christmas as possible. In the UK we are under increased restrictions again as there is a new variation in the virus and it seems to be even more infectious, although thankfully not more dangerous. So we changed our plans and just visited my Mum for a short while. We packed up all the trimmings of Christmas dinner to take to Mum and some home made cookies and mince pies so we all still enjoyed the feast, although not together. We were all bundled up in our jackets and took the presents outside to be opened in the fresh air before heading home to have dinner separately and then catch up later in the day via facetime. It was pretty chilly but we were treated to some live music as we could hear someone playing the bagpipes nearby. We took a socially distanced selfie to mark this unusual Christmas! I know it’s not stitching related but I thought it might be interesting to see how this pandemic is affecting people in different parts of the world.

Anyway back to the stitching! First my confession…..last time this was where I was…..

Three weeks later I haven’t made any progress I’m afraid! However I was busy doing lots of stitching and I did say I would share what I had made now that the gifts have all been received!
The first batch of projects were a set of PDF charts which I bought from Beverly Street Shop on Etsy. The set is called a Very Covid Christmas and included 3 projects. Unforunately I didn’t take a photo of the snowman, although I am stitching one for myself on navy blue aida so I will share that when it is completed! Here are the Nutcracker and the Santa ornaments. I stitched two snowmen, two Santas and one Nutcracker for gifts.


The next two projects were gifts for two close friends who have really kept us going this year with zoom catch ups. They loved them and they made them laugh which was the aim, especially this year I think as much laughter as possible is needed! In case you are easily offended I have censored some of the “language” on these stitches, unless you are Scottish you might not understand the thistle one anyway, but please be assured, these are almost terms of endearment in Scotland!

The thistle on came from Son of a Cross Stitch on Etsy and the flowery one from KyXStitch also on Etsy.
I also stitched a couple of Christmas decorations for ourselves and they are finished but not sewed up into decorations (I just ran out of steam!) The first was a beautiful free chart I came across on Pinterest. It is called Merry Cats-mas and it was designed by Terri Carl. I have picked out some red Christmas fabric to back it but I need to pick some ribbons and or trim and I might add a bell. Here it is so far….

Finally I stitched my first (but definitely not last!) Lindy Stitches design. When I spotted this project on instagram and saw the three cats I knew I had to make this one! I adapted the colours to try and represent our 3 fluffy boys, so here is the stitched project (I think I’m going to use the mint candy cane fabric to finish it off and some green pompom trim).

And here are the inspirations….


So I hope that you will forgive me cheating with all the distractions from the fact that I didn’t make any actual SAL progress!
This SAL is organised by the lovely Avis. who keeps us all on track (it’s always a surprise to me when the email comes in and I think it cannot be 3 weeks already!!) I just wanted to say a big thank you to Avis and all my fellow stitchers who really keep me motivated to stitch regularly. This year more than ever I have been grateful to have creative outlets which have kept me feeling productive and given me hours of enjoyment at home. I think I will be using these coping strategies for a while yet but I’m very hopeful for a return to more normal life sometime in 2021.
I’m looking forward to catching up with all the other blogs in this SAL group. Please give them a visit too, I’ve linked them here so you can easily find them.
Avis , Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze ,Christina, Kathy , Margaret , Cindy , Heidi , Jackie , Sunny , Hayley ,Megan , Deborah , Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne ,Connie , AJ, Laura, Cathie and Linda, and Helen
Stay safe and be gentle with yourself at this time.
Crafty hugs
Jenny (AKA the Ginger Ninja!) x
I love the kitties best. Very lovely.
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Aw thanks Theresa, me too although I might be a little biased! 😉
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I LOVE all your ornaments, but especially the one with the cats that look like yours! Your marked out ornaments made me laugh. It looks like you made the most of Christmas even with 2020 restrictions!
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Thanks Connie, nothing else for it, hopefully won’t be for too much longer. Keep well xx
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I think we’ll all forgive you for not having had time to stitch on sunflowers ^^ All your xmas stitching is brilliant, and love the socially distanced selfie ^^
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phew! lol, it was fun doing some smaller projects for Christmas xx
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Love Santa and the Nutcracker with their face masks firmly in place. I hope they are still socially distancing. Have a great Hogmany xx
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I hope so too! Lol you can’t be too careful. We will thanks, it will be quiet but those are sometimes the best. Happy new year when it comes Helen xx
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Love all the distractions LOL. Let’s hope we never need to have another socially distanced Christmas.
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oo yes, I’m looking forward to remembering this weird one off Christmas in a few years time! xx
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Since you can choose your project, you just took a detour from the main one! Those are cute and silly ornaments, they will bring a smile in years to come!
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Aw thats a good way to put it, just a little detour! I am back on course now and enjoying the sunflowers even more after the break. 🌻🥰
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Loved seeing all your Christmas stitching! I saw on instagram you’re joining in on the funky Menagerie sal!! Me too!
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Oo yay! I’m excited to join in, its the first time I’ve done a SAL (apart from this lovely blog group) Stephanie has such lovely quirky projects! How lovely to know someone else is joining in! Xx
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Delightful! We absolutely forgive you for deviating from the sunflowers for this posting. 😀 And I agree, this year we needed to be able to make fun of our circumstances whenever we could. You did it superbly!
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Thanks Sue, I think laughter is a good medicine 💊🤣 …. and crafting, its kept me sane (ish)! 🥰
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I love the masked nutcracker and Santa ornaments. I like the Christmas selfie. We need to do anything safe that at least helps the boredom of older relatives.
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That’s for sure! I’ve introduced her to diamond painting which she is really enjoying and she has just about mastered facetime for catch ups, thank goodness for crafts and technology! Xx
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What a lovely way to make Christmas special for your Mum, not the preferred way, but a good alternative. I loved the ornaments with the masks. Next year, when you put them on the tree you will be able to say “Remember last year, when we had to wear masks? Aren’t we glad we got through that?”!
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I hope so too, it will be a memory of a weird time! Yes thankfully Mum suggested scaling things back so we weren’t having to be the Grinch, better to be safe for this year. I think as she is 80 she shouldn’t have to wait too long for the vaccine 🤞 keep well 🥰
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Looks like you have been really productive – just love the little tree decorations.
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Your stitching projects are lovely, Jenny!
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Thanks so much Kathy 🥰
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Hi Jenny~ first regardless of no progress those sunflowers always make me smile. The distractions were wonderful and so many fabulous gifts were made. Cats do love Christmas and I saw many pictures with cats climbing into trees 🙂 Your circumvented the holiday blues with your Mom perfectly and fun to see your picture! 🙂
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Thanks so much Sharon, they are so lovely. They can keep me going until we have the real thing again in the garden. I hope so, just trying to keep everyone’s spirits up, I think the end is in sight with the vaccines and that helps too. Keep safe and smiling 🥰 xx
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You aren’t the only one who made no SAL progress. At least you did some stitching! Cute Covid ornaments!
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Thanks Laura, the SAL is such a lovely support, there are always others at the same stage and inspiration of finishes to cheer us on. Xx
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Cute cats! Even though you haven´t stitch on the sunflowers you have been buzy like a bee with all the other projects! Great!!!
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Thabks Gun, I’ve really enjoyed some smaller projects, back to the sunflowers and dreaming of summer days! Xx
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I love all the ornaments, but especially the two cat ones. Your cats are beautiful too 🙂
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Aw thanks Carole, I think so too but I am biased 😉
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