12 Months of Christmas: Swan-a-swimming

Here I am with #7 Swan-a-swimming from the 12 Days of Christmas patterns by Mmmcrafts, for our 12 Months of Christmas Stitchalong! This stitch was great fun, and I was once again using bits and scraps, as this was before my new order of Benzie design felt arrived. In some spots, I got a bit... creative. :)

Here I am, just starting out with the stitching, once again relying heavily on my OttLite lamp for all those early morning/middle of the night stitching binges. This is only a bit of the chaos - I find when I am working on these ornaments I have a huge mess of threads, sissors and felt around me. It's kind of like cooking, where I really must clean up as I go along, or the mess starts to discourage me! :)

Here is my swan with a bit more progress, and you can see a stealthy way I used felt scraps here - I knew the inner back wing would not be visible, and my yellowish felt was almost gone, so I just used a small scrap instead! I could get away with it because I have a nice heavy interfacing.

Here I am, sewing down the flower detail on the wing - this is one of my favorite elements of the design - so easy to stitch, and such a lovely look to it!

Here's the back - I'm not a huge fan of the colors I chose, but I do love the front, and let's face it, that's what will be seen most!

And here she is, all stitched up! Someone with eagle eyes on Instagram noticed that I modified the water - the pattern called for a thin line of stitching, a water line, if you will. Instead, I layered the felt in 2 colors to achieve a similar effect, without the stitching. I like my result, what do you think?

JOIN THE 12 MONTHS OF CHRISTMAS STITCHALONG!

This stitchalong is easy, and no-pressure! To join, visit Larissa's shop to purchase the Twelve Days pattern of your choice. Tag your pictures with the hashtag #twelvedaysornaments and #12monthsofChristmas on Instagram so we can find them.

Leave a comment here with a link to your blog, or any space on the internet where you are tracking your progress. And don't miss the page Larissa has set up with lots of tips for stitching this series: http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/p/twelve-days.html.

Next up is Maid-a-milking! Please join us - let's stitch!

Previous Stitchalong Posts

#1-2: Partridge and Pear; Turtle Dove

#3: French Hen

#4: Colly Bird

#5: Gold Ring

#6: Goose-a-laying