‘Ginger’ Animal Cracker – Christmas Cookie Series– Stacy Nash

As we head towards the end of the year, the ‘Jingle Ball’ at the start of December seems like a distant memory, but I suddenly realised that I didn’t share the results of my class with Stacy Nash.

She designs a series that she calls Animal Crackers, cute little animals made into stand-up’s, that are very popular among fellow stitchers.

I myself have never made one , but when I saw that Stacy was also doing a ‘Christmas Cookie’ series and designed ‘Ginger’ especially for the Jingle Ball, I just had to dive in.

The pre-stitching was completed,

and I eagerly awaited the class, so I could learn how to make the finished piece.

And her she is............she's so cute!

Now I can honestly say that I understand why so many of us love the Animal Crackers and ‘need’ to make every single one of them.

Don’t be surprised if you see more popping up here!

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Chart –PDF  – Animal Cracker Christmas Cookie Series ‘Ginger’

Designer – Stacy Nash

Fabric – 36ct Weeks Dye Works –Aztec Red

Threads -   Called For – Weeks Dye Works (+Red Pear)

Snow Globes – Hello from Liz Mathews

Over the weekend of the 5^th December, I joined in with the ‘Jingle Ball’ and took part in three of the virtual classes and yesterday I spent the afternoon having fun making up my Snow Globes.

I decided that I would make two globes to start with, one in a jar and the other in a plastic globe that I came across in ‘The Works’. I had pre-stitched all the little pieces, including a little Robin, because he is known as our Christmas bird over here.

The first one I completed was a little woodland scene, with a tree, reindeer and rabbit.

Then, I went for a winter scene, complete with a house, snowman and my little robin.

I was so pleased with the way they turned out and especially loved the technique that Liz came up with to stiffen the stitching around the edges to stop the fabric from fraying.  It’s definitely something I will try using again on other projects.

Now I need to get a wiggle on and finish the projects from the other two classes, but instead I've been trying to catch up with  ‘A Pretty Song’,  the 2025 Holiday Countdown. 

You last saw it when I had reached day 6. 

Now I've reached day 16 and I've caught up.

I'll share all the previous, fantastic artwork that Jacob has given us later, as well as all the gorgeous Roxy Floss, but todays artwork is ‘Argonauts in Peacock Boat from 1664 and the floss was  ‘On the Air’

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Happy  Stitching!

Sue

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Tis the Season to be Jolly!

I know I’m a few days late, but Happy December my stitchey friends, I hope all your planning for the ‘Big Day’ is going well and you have some time relax and enjoy the season.

I love the lead up to Christmas and I’ve been busy decorating, but the one job I really hate is putting the lights on my tree. 

It’s only a 6 foot one, so how those of you that have much bigger trees (and more than one come to that) manage, I’ll never know. One thing I do know for sure is that when the time comes for a new tree,  it will definitely be a pre-lit one!

I’ve no finishes to show you at the moment but I do have three new starts.

The first is my final ornament for the 12 in 25 Christmas Ornament Sal.

As I was pulling out my ornaments to decorate this morning, I realised I had made a blunder on the one from last month and I can’t believe that I didn’t notice it before.

As you know, I’m finishing them all the same with the stitching attached to the velvet side, but somehow I managed to attach this one to the back, instead of the front. 

Now I have to try and prise it off carefully, because I don't have any of the velvet left and try again.  Oh well, there’s never a dull moment when I’m trying to FFo things, Lol!

My next new start is the Evertote, /Roxy Floss Co / Modern Folk Embroidery, Holiday Countdown 2025, that this year is called ‘A Pretty Song’. 

I hope to have daily progress on my Instagram,  but failing that, I’ll be back here next week.  This is the first two days stitching and the two beautiful threads.

My final start is ‘Santa Claus is coming to Town’ from Historische Stickmuster , and the chart is actually an incredibly fantastic freebie, in four parts, that can be downloaded from their web site.

You can also purchase the Soie d’Alger silk thread and fabric pack from there too.

I did get the silks and fabric but to be honest, I didn’t much care for the 34ct fabric that came with it.  It was so stiff, so I put it aside and pulled a piece of 36ct ‘Parchment’ linen that I already had.  It’s a little bit lighter in colour but I think it will be fine.

Here’s my small start.

I don’t know about you, but I’m already enjoy all the ‘flossmas’ recordings on YouTube.  The trouble is, I keep finding new ones to watch and I’m getting nothing else done around the house, Lol!

Well, that’s it for now.  Enjoy all the festive goings-on and especially enjoy time with all the special people in your life, be them friends or family.

I’ll be back in a day or two with some more progress, so in the meantime……….

 Happy Crafting!

Sue

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 Oh, how could I have forgotten, it’s the Jingle Ball this weekend!

I hope to cross paths with some if you if you are attending and if the time difference permits.

I finished enough pre-stitching to hopefully make two snow globes at Liz Mathews class.

‘Toy Shopee’ - Dimensions Kit.

Last week, I said that I was determined to complete the Dimensions kit I started last year and that’s exactly what I did. 

I worked monogamously on ‘Toy Shopee’, and now is finished.

When I put it down last week, I only had across the top left to

stitch, and that didn’t really take too long to do, but what did take the time was all the back stitching and French Knots.

Mind you, it’s so worth the effort because it brings out all the detail. 

I’ve already ordered the custom frame, so I’m happy that this will be on display in time for Christmas.

Updated to show FFO  (10/12/25)

Talking of frames, I had another delivery from Picture Frames Express last week, so, what four projects do you think I'm I planning to fully finish?

You'll have to wait until next week to find out!

The only other thing I stitch on this week, was to start the pre-stitching for the second of my Jingle Ball Classes and that is‘ 'Snow Globes' from Hello from Liz Mathews.

I want to try and get the stitching done for at least two globes because once we hit December I will also be working on two daily Sals and my December Ornament, so I don’t think I’ll have much spare time, but we will have to see.

I hope your plans for December stitching are well under way and you have some wonderful designs in the pipeline.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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‘Ginger’ Animal Cracker – Christmas Cookie Series– Stacy Nash

I started November with a little bit of pre stitching, getting ready for the ‘Jingle Ball’ next month.

This will be my first time actually taking classes at ‘the ball’ because for the last two years I’ve just lurked in the background enjoying the entertainment and shopping. 

This year I’m being braved and I’ve enrolled in three of the classes from Stacy Nash, Jeanette Douglas & Liz Mathews.

I’m not sure how the time difference is going to work, but hopefully I won’t be doing my classes in the early hours of the morning!

I believe that the classes are available for 30 day after, so if that does happen I can still look back on them, but it would be fun to join in as it happens.

Two of the three classes require some pre-stitching in readiness for the class, so I decided to tackle my first ‘Animal Cracker’ from Stacy Nash.

Meet ‘Ginger’ from the ‘Christmas Cookie’ series

Unfortunately we were unable to get the kitted projects over here, so I got the PDF and kitted it myself.

At the time, I couldn’t get the called for fabric either but Stacy suggested that Aztec Red,  from Weeks Dye Works would work well, so that’s what I went with.

I made a couple of other small changes to my stitching too.

The called for ‘Sanguine’ thread was perfectly fine in some places but my skein was more on the beige side than pink and when I got to the decorations on the gingerbread house, it didn’t really show up very well at all, so I swapped it for Red Pear.

The last change I made was to the decorations on wreath on her pocket. The wreath is stitched over one and the single stitches seemed to get lost, so I decided to use French knots instead.

Now I just have to be patient and wait for the class!

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Chart –PDF  – Animal Cracker Christmas Cookie Series ‘Ginger’

Designer – Stacy Nash

Fabric – 36ct Weeks Dye Works –Aztec Red

Threads -   Called For – Weeks Dye Works (+Red Pear)