Christmas Exchange ’09
Posted by Zeb in Cross Stitch on Dec 14th, 2009 | 10 commentsThis year I took part in my first cross stitch Christmas Exchange, organised by members of a local cross stitch forum.
Members were given the name of another to be the “secret santa stitcher” for… we had to stitch a Christmas themed ornament.
Took me a long while to decide what to stitch, but I finally settled on a Just Nan design called ‘Holiday In Ice,’ a complimentary design published in 1997.
Surprise surprise… can you tell how addicted I am to her work? 
Christmas Exchange Holiday In Ice
After some initial froggy moments (where I stitched some stitches in one angle, and others in another) the stitching went fast. Took some creative liberties with this design. It called for round eyelets, but I decided to go for smyrna crosses, which I then highlighted with Kreinik 002 #4 Braid for that extra bit of sparkle. It also called for two different bead colours, but I opted to just use the gold one on the design.
The finishing was painless (other than finding a template for a square that small) and after a bit of trial and error, I decided to do free form bead clusters on each corner, and I must say, it turned out quite nicely. Tried to take a photo that would show the rainbow pearlescent shimmer of the larger beads in those corners, which I picked to complement the Kreinik within the stitching, sorry its not obvious in the photo.
Posted it off this morning, so I hope the recipient likes it! 
10 Responses to “ “Christmas Exchange ’09”
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Very elegant!
Thankyou! This is how I wish Christmas ornaments still were… gorgeous and opulant, but not overly garish.
Beautiful! Great job!
Coming from a lady whose stitching I hugely admire, I am blushing!
Thankyou Heather!
That’s gorgeous. Love the way you’ve finished it.
It’s gorgeous! I love all that red. And the beads at the corners are a very cute idea.
Beautiful! Well done. The recipient will love it.
Um Zeb…I did not see that in my mailbox this morning!LOLOL seriously that is really, REALLY pretty. You did a great job on it. So, how’s the job? I’m haven’t talked to you in a while…
Your Christmas ornie is absolutely scrummy – you did an awesome job on the stitching and finishing – how could the recipient not love it to bits?
hi – it’s gorgeous! As I am an Aucklander too who would like to get more involved with things like this, would you mind emailing me the forum details? Thanks heaps!
PS – found you thru the Wenztler BB.