12 Months of Christmas: Lord a Leaping

Last up is my final finish, #12 in Mmmcraft's 12 Days of Christmas patterns, Lord a Leaping. Yes, I made it! If you follow me on Instagram (@nyfloresita), you'll see I finished on Christmas morning, in my pajamas, meaning I completed 3 of the more complex final ornaments (Piper Piping, Lady Dancing and Lord a Leaping + complimentary Heart) all in 1 month, nothing short of a miracle for me, being that it was December and my last 2 weeks on chemotherapy.

All that said, in my final rush to complete Lord a Leaping, I'll admit there were elements I would do differently in the future, but I am just happy I finished!

Here is the mess that is typical of my ornaments in progress - actually I am being kind, and if I zoomed out a bit further you'd see even MORE mess on our sad coffee table, with threads, stuffing, scissors, and needles galore.

Remember the mod I did because I didn't have a black pipe cleaner for Lady Dancing? Well I did it again with Lord a Leaping's Elvis-like front curl - I wrapped the same black crochet thread around my green pipe cleaner. Making his hat was tricky, because his head was bigger than the pattern due to my larger wooden bead. I had to improvise making the hat a bit bigger, but not too big. I did ok, but I wasn't a huge fan of the burgundy color I chose, it might have been better to tie in the color of his pants again... Minor self criticisms for next time!

I once again used most of the same threads as I used on Lady Dancing, including the DMC Etoile floss in C915 and C471, and regular DMC floss in an Ecru shade for the vest and heart detail. All felt was again Benzie Design, and again a mix of a few different palettes I purchased from them.

All in all though I was quite charmed by all the little details in this pattern, particularly those tiny boots and the movable legs! One thing I love about Larissa's patterns is that I find myself sewing things I never thought I'd be able to, because she gives such excellent instructions.

I love how simple and pretty the additional heart was to stitch - I can see myself making lots more of these when I need a lovely quick finish ornament for gifts.

I can't believe it is a wrap on all of the ornaments, and that I finished them ALL before Christmas!

What a wonderful journey it has been, and as I did on Instagram, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who tagged along on this quest, left a kind comment, or shared a word of support. This project helped keep me going in a time of intense physical struggle - it kept me hopeful, focused, and calm in the eye of the storm. Thank you for coming along with me in this stitchalong and through every week of my chemotherapy - you all meant so much to me! I'm so thankful to God for bringing me through to the finish line, healthy, happy, and well.

Thank you of course to Larissa Holland of Mmmcrafts for designing such beautiful patterns which inspired me and gave me purpose throughout this year. Her 12 Days patterns are available to purchase in her Etsy store, and she has discounted bundles of some or all of the patterns as well.

Previous Stitchalong Posts

#1-2: Partridge and Pear; Turtle Dove

#3: French Hen

#4: Colly Bird

#5: Gold Ring

#6: Goose-a-laying

#7: Swan-a-swimming

#8: Maid-a-milking

#9: Drummer Drumming

#10: Piper Piping

#11: Lady Dancing

12 Months of Christmas: Piper Piping

Well, here we are at our final month of the year, and the suspense is on, huh? Will I finish this series in time for Christmas? Hmmm, indeed! Well, I am happy to be done with this cute Piper Piping, which means I have only 2 left to go before I'm done! This is #10 in the series of 12 Days patterns by Mmmcrafts on Etsy, in case you would like to stitch along!

I last left you with this teaser of my pieces all cut out and threads selected:

Again, I am using all Benzie Design felt - I have started getting a few questions about which specific colors I used - would anyone like that info in these posts? Which colors are you most interested in? Let me know in the comments, please!

Also pictured are 2 of the 3 DMC Etoile floss shades I used. I love the versatility of that pea/olive green floss - I used it on the green felt coat and the beige-ish felt hat, and it looked great on both.

Here's a pic of my process stitching, apologies for the night photo:

I love the Ecru Etoile floss - it has a really nice texture to it - again, it doesn't lay exactly flat, but I think that gives it a nice crewel effect.

Here's the back side of the coat - I used Etoile again on the pink #10 - I believe it was 4 strands there, and all 6 strands for the heavy pink border of the coat. As I've gone along, I've become more and more liberal with my use of glue - I was afraid to muck up my stitching at first, but now I love the way it makes this process so much quicker!

There's something downright charming about this little guy - and as so many have been saying of their finishes on Instagram, every finish is my new favorite!

Here's my finished work, along with a few of the threads I used:

What do you think? I am loving these colors so far, and feeling so lucky to have a huge tin of sparkly Etoile to choose from!

Here's a sneak peek of the colors I've chosen for the next ornament - #11 Lady Dancing!

JOIN THE 12 MONTHS OF CHRISTMAS STITCHALONG!

This stitchalong is easy, and no-pressure! To join, visit Larissa's shop to purchase the Twelve Days pattern of your choice. Tag your pictures with the hashtag #twelvedaysornaments and #12monthsofChristmas on Instagram so we can find them.

Leave a comment here with a link to your blog, or any space on the internet or Instagram where you are tracking your progress. And don't miss the page Larissa has set up with lots of tips for stitching this series: http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/p/twelve-days.html.

Previous Stitchalong Posts

#1-2: Partridge and Pear; Turtle Dove

#3: French Hen

#4: Colly Bird

#5: Gold Ring

#6: Goose-a-laying

#7: Swan-a-swimming

#8: Maid-a-milking

#9: Drummer Drumming

12 Months of Christmas Stitchalong: What felt am I using?

Here's a brief, image-heavy post on the felt I just ordered to stitch the 12 Months of Christmas Stitchalong! I've already tantalized people over on Instagram with these images, but I'll go into a bit more depth  and description here.

This is the Mmmmcrafts Felt Bundle #2 from Benzie Design, specifically designed for the Turtle Dove and Maid a Milking patterns. I adore this felt - it's not 100% wool, but a wool and rayon blend that is thick, but not too thick, keeps its shape really well, and as you can see, the colors are just glorious:

I also ordered this lovely Bejeweled felt palette from Benzie Design - although not specifically designed for the 12 Days patterns, I love to wing it with colors and try different combinations. I'm excited to see what I can do with these shades!

Beautiful colors, huh? And you even get a peek of my ratty carpet behind my white posterboard background, because I'm just keeping it real for you. :)

I also wanted to add that although this post might look like an ad, it is not - I was not compensated in any way or asked to post about Benzie Design - I just did it because I love their felt so much, and I ordered and paid for these bundles myself. At $10 each, I think they're a wonderful deal.

The same goes for this stitchalong - I paid for all the patterns myself, and am only doing this stitchalong because I love Mmmcrafts patterns so much.

Here's a sneak peek of my next post in the stitchalong, coming soon - Swan a swimming! I think it's my favorite stitching I've done in this series yet!