The Christmas Cross Stitch-a-Long (SAL) 2019 has officially launched this one is all about The North Pole!
You can buy your place in The North Pole Christmas SAL here.
This one is going to be a circular shape, like my other Christmas ones, so it will look good framed in a hoop (which you get in the full kit – more info below).
The Christmas SAL threads
And, also like my other SALs, there are two colour palettes available for this stitch-a-long.
There is a traditional palette, which is your reds, your greens, your golds etc. And I’ve used this palette on a lot of my Christmas kits so you can see examples of it.
The other palette is retro. You and I may have different versions of what retro colours are. So for me, I’ve been doing light pinks mixed with some dark pinks, mint green, bright in-your-face green, pale blue and silvers.
Looking at this photo you might think that some of the thread colours don’t match much. But some of the colours make up the bulk of the pattern, for example, for traditional red is a big part of the design and for the retro pink is a big part of it.
Some of the other colours are just little sprinklings for example black is in both but only really for details that had to be black.
What do you get in this SAL?
For this Christmas stitch-a-long, you can buy just PDFs, and you get both patterns/palettes emailed to you. You don’t have to choose which one they will both come to the email address that you provide.
Then you choose your palette if you’re ordering a kit. For the kit, you can get a standard kit, which is your materials so you can make a full hoop. You get an 8 inch hoop, you get some white Zweigart fabric (aida or evenweave), you get your needles, your threads, and you get some felt to back it when you’re finished.
And you can get a deluxe kit which also includes an enamel, candy cane needle minder, a project pouch from Sarah Ashford and a pencil. The project pouches are amazing – they will have gold sparkly letters on the front which say “WIP” (which means work in progress).
Then you can get bundle kits. So, for the standard kits and the deluxe kits, you choose which palette you want, and that’s the colour of threads that will come with your kit. But you will still get your 2 PDF patterns emailed to you.
For the bundles, you get both sets of threads (as well as 2 hoops, 2 pieces of fabric ect) with your kits plus both PDFs. You can bundle them and just have two standard kits, or you can bundle them and have 2 standard kits plus a couple of extras like the minders and bags.
And I’ve never done this before for my SALs, but I know that SewandSo has closed everyone is very sad about this, myself included. And they sold the glitter threads! I know that it now might be hard for you to get hold of those glitter threads. So I’ve put together the thread packs, as well as the PDFs to buy together and you can just use the other materials you have at home to stitch it.
Is this Christmas SAL for a beginner?
This design is just full of whole stitches, there are no fractional or half stitches. There is some backstitching; just a small amount though to outline a few things or to add few extra details on. So yes, it is definitely for beginners.
If you are new to cross stitch I have many tutorials on the blog as well as a whole how to cross stitch course for beginners.
Can I see the Christmas SAL before I buy it?
If you want to see a little part of the stitch along, I already have stitched a little bit of it. But if you want to see any more, just let me know! I’m happy to send you pictures as long as you don’t show anybody else as this is a mystery stitch-a-long. But I know that some of you don’t like the mystery element, I totally get that. I can even show you the whole pattern if you want.
When do we start stitching?
We start stitching on the 20th of October 2019. This one is split into eight parts and so we are searching for eight weeks. It will end on the 15th of December 2019. Very close to Christmas which is what I wanted so we are stitching while it is actually a bit Christmassy outside.
Everything is up for pre-order now, and I ship worldwide! The kits will start to leave me near the end of September, so we will have about a month for everyone’s to arrive before we start stitching.
How does the ordering process work?
Once you place your order, you pop your email in and I will send you a welcome email within 48 hours. (I have to add you manually so I ask for a little patience here, but if you don’t receive the welcome email within 48 hours then please let me know).
If you just order the PDFs then once you’ve been added into this list and you open that welcome email, you will receive a dispatch email pretty soon after. This is just to make it easy for me so I know who’s been added to the list and who hasn’t or who still needs to open that email. If you don’t open the email, I might think you’ve not got it or your email address wrong so I try and get in touch with you to make sure. So you don’t receive the dispatch email on the day the first pattern arrives; you receive it once you open the welcome email and that confirms you’re on the right list and you’re going to start getting those patterns in October.
If you order the thread packs or a kit I’m not going to send you a dispatch email until they have been dispatched and you have opened the welcome email.
Once you have your welcome email you will soon receive the supply list for what you need for the stitch-a-long if you haven’t ordered a kit. Then you will receive a reminder a couple of days before the first part is due to arrive just to make sure everything’s okay and you’re still receiving emails properly.
And then (finally) you’ll receive the first part of the pattern on the 20th of October. And we’ll start stitching together!
So I’m so excited to start this one, I can believe Christmas has come around already (and I can’t believe I get this same feeling every year yet I’m still shocked). I hope you enjoy this pattern as much as I enjoyed designing it.
If you want to come and join the Facebook group, please feel free to do so. This is where you can share your progress on the Christmas SAL and ask for any advice you might need.
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