2025 Holiday Ornament Updates

This year really got away from me so unfortunately I don't have a new ornament design for 2025, I promise there will be one next year. I did manage to update all of the old designs so if you haven't stitched one of the past year's designs, now is your chance. Here is the complete collection in a printable and downloadable document.  As usual, all of these can be stitched on 14-count Aida and will fit in a 3" embroidery hoop, perfect for hanging on your tree.

Each ornament takes between 1-4 hours depending on your skill level and the design you choose. My favorite finishing technique for these is to create a fabric back, you can check out my tutorial on finishing with that method here.

Year of the Chicken

It's that time, time for my annual cross stitch ornament pattern!! Okay, I am running super late this year, despite completing the pattern design and stitching a month early, so I am going to pretend I intended it as a Christmas release.

For the past few years, I have created an ornament design that represents something in the year that I want to remember. This year's design is a chicken which represents the Emotional Support Chicken knitting and crochet pattern by Annette Corsino. If you are in the knitting or crochet community, you are quite familiar with these patterns, they were absolutely everywhere this year. ReBelle hosted an Emotional Support Animal KAL for Mental Health May where most participant chose to knit or crochet the chickens and it was probably my favorite knit along I have ever hosted. We saw dozens of these little guys made by customers and while it is not uncommon for a project to go viral, this one hit a little different. I heard a lot of stories about why people where making the chickens and how soothing these little guys have been for their various recipients. 

Supplies:

6" square of 14ct Aida

9 colors of floss

     310, 900, 972, 3891, 601, 3345, 3890, 415, & 552

3" embroidery hoop

#24 tapestry needle

scissors

The project takes about 2-4 hours depending on your skill level. My favorite finishing technique for this type of ornament is to create a fabric back. You can check out my tutorial on that method here. 

And as usual, I updated all of the older patterns with the current date so if you missed any of them or just want to update an old favorite, here is the complete collection in a printable and downloadable form. I hope you enjoy making these. 

Simplify

Overall, 2023 was pretty good for me. Healthwise, I came out of a three-year depressive episode and managed to keep my Crohn's in remission for the entire year. Workwise, my shop had a fantastic year and while that came with some new challenges, I think we weathered them pretty well. My year was filled with wonderful moments and a few adventures. I am excited about 2024, fingers crossed it won't disappoint.

Here are my 2023 goals and how I did.

• Show my work, at the very least I would like to participate in every group show that my guild does, but ideally I would push myself outside of my comfort zone and at least try to get into a couple of other group shows. This one was a complete fail. While I made more art in 2023 than probably any other year in my life, I didn't do any shows. Some of this was learning and working in new mediums which I am not ready to put out there and part of this was due to spending more than half the year in survival mode. Despite missing this mark completely, I am very happy with the direction my creative life took in 2023 and I hope to further build on it in 2024.
• Create 12 books/zines. I have been doing a bunch of art swaps by mail and have fallen back into zine making. I made a few last year and would like to amp that up a bit this year. Anything from mini zine to half letter is acceptable and I am not going to limit myself as to themes or styles. I had completely forgotten that this goal included book making. I only managed 5 zines in 2023, but I made a ton of books, at least two dozen, so I am way over on this one.
• Design and print a custom washi tape. I handmade some paper tapes in 2022 and I loved using them on mail and in my planner. My thought is that I would have a hand full of rolls printed and gift them to friends. I ended up making a ton of handprinted washi last summer so in the interest of not overwhelming myself in the hoard of tapes I have created, I decided that I didn't want to do this one. 
• Finish my cozy memories quilt Nope. I am at the end of my mini stash for this so I am going to need to give this one another year.
• Mail 2 cards per month On average, yes. There were a couple of months that I didn't send anything and others where I sent a bunch. I am really enjoying sending and receiving snail mail so this is one I will continue.
• Maintain a daily sketchbook practice I did that!! There were probably a handful of days over the course of the year that I missed, but I stayed pretty on track with this one. It has been really encouraging seeing my progress and this is another one I want to continue.
• publish 3 patterns I wrote four, published none. 

In addition to my set goals, I also managed to read 163 books, played 116 different board games (37 new to me) for a total of 304 plays, finished 16 knitting projects and 3 crochet projects.

Goals for 2024

• Continue with the daily art practice and in the theme of the year, do it with minimal supplies
• Finish my cozy memories quilt
• Mail 2 cards/letters per month
• Spend more time doing things I love with people I love (and more pub trivia)
• Eat out more, try to get back to once a week
• Prioritize my needs over arbitrary expectations

My word for 2024 is Simplify. I have a horrible habit of overly complicating almost everything I do in pursuit of getting things perfect. I need to reel this in. Also, in general, I think it is time for a life purge. I accumulated a lot of stuff over the past few years, some by choice, some by circumstance, and I would like to send some of these things to a new home.

Holiday Celebrations with this Fungi

If you have been following along for any length of time you probably know that one of my holiday traditions is to create a cross stitch ornament pattern which I teach as a class at ReBelle every December. The day after the class (or in this case, the week after the class,) I release the pattern here along with the updates for my previous ornament patterns. For the past few years, the theme of the ornament design has been a reflection of something from my year. This year's design is a toadstool which represents my deep dive into learning about, drawing, and painting mushrooms this year. I also added a new technique to the design this year- blending threads. To do the shading on the base of the toadstool, you will want to hold one strand of 3046 (rye beige) with one strand of 801 (dark beige brown.) Blending thread colors creates a more subtle change between sections giving your finished piece a little more depth. 

Printable patterns can be found here.

Supplies:

6" square of 14ct Aida

5 colors of floss

     white, 320, 321, 3046, 801, & 3046 blend (held together with 801)

3" embroidery hoop

#24 tapestry needle

scissors

The project takes about 2-3 hours depending on your skill level. My favorite finishing technique for this type of ornament is to create a fabric back. You can check out my tutorial on that method here. 

And as usual, I updated all of the older patterns with the current date so if you missed any of them or just want to update and old favorite, here is the complete collection in a printable and downloadable form. I hope you enjoy making these. 

Explore

2022 was a pretty great year for me. I got a bit of a rocky start with some health issues that set me back a little, but with some persistence and a few life changes I managed to end the year in way better health.

One of my goals for 2022 was not to quantify everything I do, but on reviewing the year the numbers are all I see so I will go back to the previous method.

• Read 40 books I read 32 fiction books and a ton of nonfiction that I didn't record so I will say this was a success. 
• Knit 12 projects I knitted way more than 12, but I still need to add them to Ravelry. Hopefully I will get that done before February.
• Add 100 squares to my Memories Blanket Yes and I think I will be finishing the blanket in 2023 which is really exciting!!
• Play 50 new board games I spent most of the year focusing on playing the games already in our collection, but I still managed to play 50 new games and complete a 10x10 challenge. 
• Continue doing things that fuel my creativity. Find ways to explore mediums and techniques outside of my comfort zone and don't be afraid of failure. I killed this goal, I worked on creative activities almost every day in 2022. I carved over 150 stamps, created hundreds of monotype prints, took a ton of classes, read a bunch of art books, and became braver about showing my progress.
• Work on a new secret art project, I miss doing these and I think the world can use a little extra magic right now. I didn't do this in 2022, but i am going to put it back on the docket for 2023. I have three different ideas simmering so I should be able to accomplish at least one of them this year.
• Start journaling again. Not sure what this looks like, probably not blog entries, but maybe a physical journal. Doesn't need to be rigorous, just a place to document aspects of my life. Another fail. I think I got so wrapped up in what this looks like that I never took the first step. That said, I have already started a journal for 2023 so this will be a go for this year. 

Now for my 2023 goals. 

• Show my work, at the very least I would like to participate in every group show that my guild does, but ideally I would push myself outside of my comfort zone and at least try to get into a couple of other group shows.
• Create 12 books/zines. I have been doing a bunch of art swaps by mail and have fallen back into zine making. I made a few last year and would like to amp that up a bit this year. Anything from mini zine to half letter is acceptable and I am not going to limit myself as to themes or styles.
• Design and print a custom washi tape. I handmade some paper tapes in 2022 and I loved using them on mail and in my planner. My thought is that I would have a hand full of rolls printed and gift them to friends.
• Finish my cozy memories quilt
• Mail 2 cards per month
• Maintain a daily sketchbook practice
• publish 3 patterns

My word of the year is explore. I plan to explore new activities and locations throughout the year, I want to spend the year discovering things previously unknown to me both tangible and intangible. 

Flow

For me, 2021 was much easier than 2020 so at least the year had that going. I was a little overambitious setting my goals for the last year, something I will address below. As for my word of the year, recovery, I pretty much nailed it. I kept my health at the forefront throughout the year and while things didn't always go as planned, I did go into remission after having the surgery I was trying to avoid. I have been active in dealing with my anxiety and depression, and I have a team of amazing doctors who listen to me and work with me to find solutions that work for me instead of treating me like a checklist. All of this resulted in a stronger me at the end of the year which in and of itself feels like a complete success. 

Now for the evaluation of my yearly goals for 2021

2021 by the numbers

• Read 40 books I think I did this, I reread a bunch of books and didn't do a great job of keeping up with everything.
• Knit 12 projects Yes!- While I haven't added most of them to my Ravelry projects page, I think the final count was 27.
• Add 100 squares to my Memories Blanket Nope- Again I lost count, but I think I ended up adding around 50.
• Design 8 new cross stitches Three, I designed three. This was one of the ways I wasn't feeling super creative this year and honestly I am glad I didn't push myself to do things that don't make me happy just to achieve a number. I am very proud of all three of the designs I made and that will just have to do.
• Write 12 blog posts HAHAHAHA!! Okay, let's face if, my dream of bringing this blog back to regular entries might be just that, a dream. I will keep it up and use it as a place to host my occasional free pattern and my yearly goals, but that might be all it will be going forward. That is okay, I loved my years of regular blogging and documenting my life, but also I was more open to sharing then. I tend to be more private these days and again, that is okay. 
• Play 50 new board games I achieved this goal somewhere around the middle of the year. I love playing games and I love trying new games so this was mostly effortless. Thanks to vaccines, I was able to play games in person with close friends several times this year which was also amazing. 
• Walk 600 miles Another goal that I stopped tracking early in the year, but since I was at the halfway point around April, I think it is safe to say I crushed it. Walking is such an important part of my life, it helps lower my stress, it gives me quiet time to process my day, it jump starts my creativity, it keeps my dog happy, and it is just nice to spend some time in nature. I think I set this goal because I wasn't able to walk as much when I was really sick and I could feel it making things worse for me. As my health improved, it wasn't something I had to make an effort to do, just something I did.
• Attend 12 digital classes/lectures What?!! Another thing I lost track of!?! Maybe quantifying everything isn't the best way for me to track my progress. I am so numerically focused, but also I hate doing the actual tracking if I don't have a good system for it. Anyway, I am not sure I did 12, but I think I probably did 8-10 so not bad for a year with a lot of interuptions.

Things to do in 2021

• learn 4 harness weaving Nope, I got overwhelmed, decided to circle back and haven't done that yet. It should also be noted that the loom is in the room with my mom's ashes and I am having trouble actually spending time in there. Hopefully her memorial and burial in April with solve this.
• sew a fitted garment- the Jiffy Popover Dress I thought I wanted to sew in 2021, turns out I didn't.
• sew an intermediate garment- Burnside Bibs See above.
• find and implement daily practices that reduce stress Yes!! I really worked on this in 2021. I started the year with structured creative tasks like latch hook, paint-by-numbers, and macrame (yes, 2021 was a big year for 1970's crafts) and ended the year with more freeform creative activities like art challenges. I participated in Inktober for the first year ever and saw a big improvement in my drawing skills, then I participated in a block carving challenge for November that used some of my drawings and reignited my love for printmaking. I didn't do a challenge for December, but I continued trying new printmaking techniques between work shifts. 
• make my year as bright and colorful as possible Yes!! I made the effort to incorporate more color into my daily surroundings, I believe this did positive things for my mood and overall outlook on life. 
• take a vacation Another yes!! Not only did I take a vacation proper, but I also started planning mini break trips once a quarter. I spent a lot of time in the woods this year and believe that time really aided in my recovery.

Things to quit in 2021

• doom scrolling social media This is a bad habit I still have trouble breaking. I have, however, taken to scrolling art and creative feeds instead of news and other drama so it feels a little healthier.
• negative self talk This is a thing that is so ingrained in my being that I am not sure I will ever actually break it. That said, I have been trying to do more positive self talk and focus on the things I am doing well and things I am thankful for.
• procrastinating simple tasks Looking at my weekly planner spreads for 2021 and the number of 5 minute tasks I rolled over week to week, I think it is safe to say I did not do this. Not sure what the answer is here, the shame of having to add them to every new to do list isn't enough to motivate me, oh well.

Shew, that was a lot. despite not meeting a bunch of hefty goals, I am very happy with my progress in 2021 and would like to continue on the same path for 2022. My word for 2022 is flow, I want to bend to the world while continuing to move forward. My progress won't be a straight line, but that is okay, instead of wasting energy steering myself in the direction I think I am supposed to go, I want to focus my energy on thriving on my path and always moving forward, even if that forward has a lot of twists and turns. I am happy where I am right now, I love myself and the people I have surrounded myself with, I want more of this life.

Goals for 2022- I am keeping them short, simple, and slightly abstract...

• Continue doing things that fuel my creativity. Find ways to explore mediums and techniques outside of my comfort zone and don't be afraid of failure.
• Try to stop quantifying everything. Read, listen to new music, play games, learn new things, wander, and create freely. 
• Work on a new secret art project, I miss doing these and I think the world can use a little extra magic right now. 
• Start journaling again. Not sure what this looks like, probably not blog entries, but maybe a physical journal. Doesn't need to be rigorous, just a place to document aspects of my life.

The First Gnoël

It's that time of year again, time for my annual holiday ornament design. This year's theme is gnomes because they are absolutely everywhere and we are doing a big gnome promotion at the shop so instead of trying to escape the gnome madness, I decided to lean in and enjoy the festive little creatures. This year you get a two-for-one pattern since I can't stop with the gnome puns (I created dozens of little gnome color packs at the shop for making the Imagined Landscapes mystery gnomes and came up with gnome puns for each and every pack.) As in previous years, I updated all of the older ornament designs with the current year so if you want to use one of those, they are included in the pdf. I hope a little stitching break provides you with some much needed quiet in a hectic season. Enjoy!!!

Click here for a printable pattern.

Supplies:

6" square of 14ct Aida

5 colors of floss

     310, 666, 353, 453 or Ecru, 701 or 798

3" embroidery hoop

#24 tapestry needle

scissors

The project takes about 2-3 hours depending on your skill level. My favorite finishing technique for this type of ornament is to create a fabric back. You can check out my tutorial on that method here. 

Click here for the complete pattern collection.