A New Project!

Ok. I know what you're all thinking - Does she REALLY need ANOTHER project?

Normally, I would agree with you, but this project is a very different type of project. This project is a year long mystery stitch-a-long (SAL)

The SAL comes from Passione Ricamo, an Italian based cross stitch designer who's site I have visited many times, but never purchased from. I've always loved Laura's designs, but have always been in the middle of something and haven't been able to purchase...until now.

I found out about the SAL from a friend on Facebook (thanks Irene!), and quickly went searching for information. Laura had originally closed the registration on the 30th of June. She had such a huge influx of people emailing her, saying that they missed registration, that she reopened registration until July 30th. I'm glad she did, because I was able to sign up..and I am so excited! I think a friend of mine mentioned that there are over 80 of us around the world signed up.

So, how does a SAL work? Well, exactly how it sounds. Everyone works on the same project at the same time. But this...this is a MYSTERY SAL. Which makes it a little more fun

With a mystery SAL, you only get part of the pattern at a time. In this case, at the beginning of each month, Laura will send us the next page and we have a month to stitch it. Based on the schedule on her website, we'll get the entire top row first, and then she'll start to deviate from that. So you never know what the full picture will look like unless you keep stitching. That's the mystery part of it all.

Some SALs are free, but this one is not, however it is far from expensive. For a mere 12,00 EUR or $15.10 US, you get the page each month for a year. That's actually a pretty fair price for a cross stitch chart, and the added fun of it being a mystery SAL makes it even more exciting!

I signed up last night and promptly got my pattern for the first page. I only have a few weeks to stitch before the next page comes out, but I'm pretty sure I'll get it done. This is me, afterall :-)

First section

As you can see, there are LOTS of embellishments and pretties in this pattern. One thing that really surprised me was the chart has directions if you want to use the pretties (beads, metallics, etc), and also directions if you DON'T want to use them, and just stick to DMC. I plan on using all the pretties because I LOVE the way they look.

Stay tuned, because I will DEFINITELY be posting pictures of my progress as I go! I can't wait!