DMC's Super Cute Christmas SAL!

Sorry for the silence around here this week. I assure you that it's been completely unintentional! I've been feeling a bit miserable, on and off, and that coupled with my continued stitchy slump has made for little of interest to write about.

On the good news side of things, though, I have been working on the first new edition of Stitchy News in more time than I can quite credit, and so I had a definite Plan when I sat down tonight, capital letter and all :) And that Plan was to catch up on my stitchy blog reading, search out some new items of interest, and publish the SN post.

Guess how far I got? Go ahead. Guess. One blog. Only one! Out of the several dozen I regularly follow. But what an entry it is, and I simply couldn't wait to share it, so I'm going to talk about it now! Emma Broidery, the cleverly named writer behind the ever interesting DMC Threads Blog, just launched a Christmas Stitch Along (SAL) yesterday, featuring a free embroidery design she made herself, Emma's Reindeer:

Is he not the most ADORABLE REINDEER you have EVER SEEN?!!!!!! The curlique antlers! The stars! *Le Swoon* I am in Love. Love, I tell you!!!

And this, as we all know by now, is a rather perilous thing. I am so very taken with this darling creature that I am seriously considering dropping everything that I am currently doing. Or, in this case, everything I am currently meaning to do but failing to do. That's right - all the gift stitching I only have half-planned, and some that I have half-started, that will likely never actually be made in time to see this holiday. Not to mention all the other things, i.e. Life, I should be doing. But I want to drop it.

And start this SAL. Even though I have NEVER even been part of a SAL in my entire life, and this would only be, let's see now *thinks hard* my SECOND piece of embroidery (do test pieces count? third then! *fails to feel more courageous*) ever!

And I also have come up with a Plan for my stitching, in which there will be lots of metallics and maybe some seed beads (and even, perhaps, a sequin! *gasp*), but definitely colour. Lots of bright Christmassy colours, reds and greens and golds.

Whereas Emma has stated that she is stitching the model in a variegated red (DMC 115), which will give the design a lovely classic tone-on-tone look. She's going to be posting up her progress on Thursday, tomorrow, and presumably posting regularly after that, so keep visiting the DMC Threads Blog for updates. The FREE pattern is available as a .PDF file on the SAL announcement post.

The deciding factor for me will be whether or not I can find a piece of fabric with the right colour and texture tomorrow. A quick glance in my stash tonight has turned up everything except anything like what I need (why is that always the way, LOL?) so we'll see what happens. I've already resized my Reindeer pattern to be a little bit smaller, as I'd like to make an ornament out of him, so I'll be on the look out for some nice backing fabric too, while Stash Diving, or while Shopping! *wicked grin*.

I will let you know how things go, and in the meantime, if you too should fall in love and feel inspired to try your hand at this stitching up this adorable little fellow, I say go for it, because it is my firm opinion that this world can always use some more cute Christmas creatures :) And that mistakes made together are not actually mistakes at all, but rather useful "learning experiences", LOL, of the very best kind! ;)