Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - January

The GG SAL also continues in 2018 and once again I will do my best to post every month =) This SAL is (still) hosted by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching (fun fact: Serendipitous is a word I always have to look up, I just can't remember how to spell it). I will put up the link to the link-up here ever month, so you can join the ride or look at the other stitchers progress. Since I am usually quite late for the SAL, there is plenty to see there when I post about it. For example, if you follow this months link-up, you can already find a bunch of entries ;-)

Anyway, for those who don't know about this SAL: Its about sharing your work on projects that were a gift to you (the pattern was a gift, the fabric was a gift, you use gifted threads or so, the whole kit was a gift and so on) or that are meant to be a gift for someone.

My first project I share here is my Map of Middle Earth, the pattern was gifted to me several years ago. I fear I don't remember by whom, but it was part of those Haed Appreciation events on Facebook several years ago. Since I love Lord of the Rings, this was a perfect gift for me and I am working on this since August 2014 now (didn't know it was so long...).

Here is what the design is going to look like:

And here is my starting point for 2018, 43.000 stitches in:

And here is my current progress, 44.000 stitches:

The plan is to add at least 1.000 stitches per month, it doesn't sound like much, but I think it will add up. I did 11.000 stitches last year, so this should be an improvement and to me it sound much more doable to go for 1.000 stitches every month than to go for 2.000 every other month ^^

Then I am also stitching a Christmas stocking for my fiance , which didn't get any love since last month (mostly due to a pair of socks I had to knit for Christmas, which I finished late on the 23rd and gave away early on the 24th - I wrapped it up that morning and didn't get a chance to take a picture - and after that I had just so many other projects). But I hope to share something for next month.

Here is what it should look like - Candy Cane Santa Stocking by Dimensions Gold:

And here is where I currently am:

For those who don't know: My fiance is actually called Alexander, so the picture of the stocking if very accurate ;-) The next goal is to fill in that window section and then move to the section with the rest of the tree =) 

The next project I want to share for this SAL is another gift for my fiance, since he really loves wolves (me too). It's another Dimensions design called "Wolf Kiss":

And here is my starting point for this one:

The pattern has two pages and the line you see indicates how far the first page goes (just did a few stitches on the second page when I had a bit of thread left over). I would be super happy if I could finish that first page this year =).

Which brings us to the new starts for this year.

First is not a real new start, it's a restart. Stupid me managed to start in the wrong direction and so the fabric was to short. I didn't have a heart to restart last year, but I will do so this year! Another wolf design called "In the Moonlight" by Tilton Crafts:

The fabric is already cut and surged, I just need to reprint the first page. I did 3500 stitches last year before I noticed my mistake, so the goal is to catch up to those 3500 and add a few more to it.

The second one is a kit I got for my birthday in 2015 (gift from my fiance). I always said "ok I will stitch this once I am done with wolf kiss" but by now I still not done with wolf kiss and I feel sort of guilty for not starting this, since this is such a beautiful design.

It is a kit by Eva Rosenstand, I am not sure it has a name. I think the kits only have numbers and no names, which is weird (I have a couple of her designs). The thing with Eva Rosenstand is, that the pictures on her kits really don't so the design justice. You look at the picture and you go like "nah, it's okay" and then you look at the price (they are fairly expensive, her kits are easily above 60 Euro (a Dimensions Gold of equal size but in full coverage is mostly about 45 Euro)) and you go like "ok, for this amount of money, I expect something better". I came to really stitch one of her designs by chance, I was looking for a gift and found a small kit featuring a robin, it was on sale and not expensive. you may remember it:

And here is what it looked like when I did it:

I am no expert when it comes to taking pictures, it still look way better in real life, it's really really pretty, the threads the fabric are of high quality, you can feel it and you can see it (in real life), but my crappy picture still looks better than the one on the kit... I think it's a shame...  

Anyway, where I am heading is that I am really looking forward to stitching the owl, my robin sort of prepared me, that it will look amazing. I am sort of excited about the outcome for this one ;-) 

The list might grow - actually, it's my birthday today (another fun fact) and I got a voucher for stitchy stuff from my fiance and my mil (I already call her that, I don't always want to add the "to be") and we will make a trip to a craft shop soon =) so there would be more things to qualify for this SAL!

Big question is: I plan on stitching a ring cushion for our wedding, would this qualify as a gift? I mean it's a cushion for my fiance and me, so it's half a gift :D 

Well, those are my plans for 2018 so far, I am looking forward to a wonderful stitchy year and hope the same for all of you =)

Happy stitching =)