Anthea SAL’s very own Blog Post

by on 1st August 2019 with No Comments

Anthea SAL is drawing to a close and Part 12 is now out!

The Anthea SAL is now fully released and all 12 patterns are available here:

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If you already are a SAL member and you’d like to download published SAL parts:

DOWNLOAD SAL (English)
DOWNLOAD SAL (French)

Part 12: December

Here’s a bit of Christmas cheer with a classic posy of festive flowers and berries (red poinsettia, white Christmas roses, holly and mistletoe).

As always, the special stitch tutorials are included in the pattern, but you’ll find a more detailed version of some of them here (including a short video!):

For more tutorials and tips, visit the tutorials page!

Happy Stitching & Merry Christmas to you and yours !

Faby xx

Part 11: November

With Autumn well under way, we can’t escape rich orange shades. This month, we’re stitching delicate physalis fruits.

As always, the special stitch tutorials are included in the pattern, but you’ll find a more detailed version of some of them here (including a short video!):

For more tutorials and tips, visit the tutorials page!

Happy Stitching!

Faby xx

Part 10: October

One last splash of pink! We’re stitching cyclamen this month, with eyelet stitches, sequins and… a few knots (sorry!!!) There aren’t many, though, and if you’d rather give them a miss, you could always use beads instead (eg. Mill Hill 02025 – which we already used in the August design).

As always, the special stitch tutorials are included in the pattern, but you’ll find a more detailed version of some of them here (including a short video!):

For more tutorials and tips, visit the tutorials page!

Happy Stitching!

Faby xx

Part 9: September

Guess what? No knots this month !! These autumn crocuses are enhanced with rice stitch and ribbed spiderweb stitches. And beads, of course 😉 !!

As always, the special stitch tutorials are included in the pattern, but you’ll find a more detailed version of some of them here (including a short video!):

For more tutorials and tips, visit the tutorials page!

Happy Stitching!

Faby xx

Part 8: August

It’s a mix of pink and green, this month, with Lisianthus and Hydrangea. As always, plenty of special stitches… and a few more French knots/Colonial knots. I’m soooo sorry – you’re probably ready to throttle me, after the July pattern…! If you cannot face stitching these new knots, just use MH 02025 beads instead.

As always, the special stitch tutorials are included in the pattern, but you’ll find a more detailed version of some of them here (including a short video!):

For more tutorials and tips, visit the tutorials page!

Happy Stitching!

Faby xx

Part 7: July

We’re back to purple shades, this month, with fragrant Lavender. As always, plenty of special stitches… and a bunch of French knots/Colonial knots. If you’re in the I-hate-French-knots team (sorry…!), don’t forget to check out the tutorial & make sure you select the rigth needle for French knots!! It might be that’s the only thing that’s stopping you from enjoying stitching these little knots! Fingers crossed!

As always, the special stitch tutorials are included in the pattern, but you’ll find a more detailed version of some of them here (including a short video!):

For more tutorials and tips, visit the tutorials page!

Happy Stitching!

Faby xx

Part 6: June

For June, we’re stitching pretty blue cornflowers – enhanced with special stitches and beads.

As always, the special stitch tutorials are included in the pattern, but you’ll find a more detailed version of some of them here (including a short video!):

For more tutorials and tips, visit the tutorials page!

Happy Stitching!

Faby xx

Part 5: May

For May, we’re stitching cherry blossom branches – this design is enhanced with variegated thread, special stitches, and shiny sequins!

As always, the special stitch tutorials are included in the pattern, but you’ll find a more detailed version of some of them here (including a short video!):

For more tutorials and tips, visit the tutorials page!

  • TOP TIP:
    Not sure how to stitch the beads as you can’t see the thread symbol under the bead symbol? That’s because the bead should be stitched on an EMPTY stitch, using the colour thread nearest to the bead 🙂

Happy Stitching!

Faby xx

Part 4: April

  • Anthea SAL - Faby Reilly Designs
  • Anthea SAL - Faby Reilly Designs

For April, we’re stitching violet posies, arranged in a pretty wreath. There’s only one special stitch in this pattern – French knots (or Colonial knots) – but there are quite a few of them! You’ll be an expert at knots by the end of this one!!

As always, the special stitch tutorials are included in the pattern, but you’ll find a more detailed version of some of them here (including a short video!):

For more tutorials and tips, visit the tutorials page!

  • TOP TIP:
    If you REALLY don’t like knots… swap them for a tiny little cross-stitch using 2 strands of cotton over 1 strand of fabric.
    (If you’re working on aida cloth, you’ll have to make that a normal cross-stitch, of course, rather than a “petite” one)

Happy Stitching!

Faby xx

Part 3: March

  • Anthea SAL - March - Faby Reilly Designs
  • Stitched by Shazie
  • Anthea SAL - March - Faby Reilly Designs

For March, we’re working on sunny daffodils!! Don’t you just love seeing them tentatively poke their little nose out, before blooming into radiant mini-suns? I so do!! Spring is definitely on its way, when these little beauties spread their skirts out.

As always, the special stitch tutorials are included in the pattern, but you’ll find a more detailed version of some of them here (including a short video!):

For more tutorials and tips, visit the tutorials page!

Happy Stitching!

Faby xx

Part 2: February

  • Anthea SAL - February
  • Stitched by Shazie

For February, we’re stitching a flower arrangement of lilies in soft frosted colours.

As always, the special stitch tutorials are included in the pattern, but you’ll find a more detailed version of some of them here (including a short video!):

For more tutorials and tips, visit the tutorials page!

Happy Stitching!

Faby xx

Part 1: January

We’re starting with a pretty bunch of snowdrops!

Included in the pattern, you’ll find photo tutorials for all the special stitches used this month. In addition to that, I’ve also published a new tutorial, with a video, to help with the round eyelet stitch (with sequins):

For more tutorials and tips, visit the tutorials page!

Happy Stitching!

Faby xx

Pre-SAL info

If you’re planning on stitching each part on a separate piece of fabric (to display each month individually), then all the info you need is in the Welcome Pack.

If you’d rather stitch all 12 parts on 1 single piece of fabric, so that you can display all 12 months together, then you may find the following info useful.

These calculations are based on the assumption that you’d like to stitch 3 months in the width, and 4 months in the length, and that you’re allowing 5 blank stitches in between each month, and 50 margin stitches all around the fabric. I’m detailing the working-outs so that you can adapt them to your needs, should you want to use a different layout.

You will need 320 stitches in the width (50 + 70 + 5 + 70 + 5 + 70 + 50 stitches), and 395 stitches in the height (50 + 70 + 5 + 70 + 5 + 70 + 5 + 70 + 50 stitches).

That translates into:

  • 51 x 63 cm (= 20″ x 25″) on 32ct fabric
  • 58 x 72 cm (= 23″ x 28″) on 28ct fabric

Happy Stitching!

Faby xx

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