Top 10 Tuesday-Top 10 Christmas Cross Stitch Charts

This is going to be yet another complete flop of a post for me, so make sure to go to Kate's and Tiff's blogs because they actually like Christmas! Despite my disdain for Christmas, I do actually have several of Christmas-themed charts in my collection, but most of them are either "Christmas Inspired", or I got them to stitch for someone else.

#1: Christmas Gnomes

I'm not really sure why, but the second I saw this, I just had to have it. It's clean and simple, but it also reminds me a lot of the animation-type artwork I used to produce back in the day...maybe that was the appeal. I'm not sure if I'll ever get around to stitching it, but that's the great thing about stash, once it's in your possession, you never have to worry about losing it to discontinuation. There are a couple people I have in mind to receive this once it's finished, but I'm pretty sure that I won't keep it.

#2: Christmas Is Sew Special

I only bought this one because I have all the other Sew Mice stitch kits and this completed the set. This one has always bothered me because it's not laid out like the other designs, this one is almost square where the others are very horizontal.

I've finished two of the Sew Mice kits and still have three more in my stash including this one, as well as replacement kit for my first Sew Mice finish, Kitchen Fun. Long story short, I had Kitchen Fun very close cropped for the frame, which subsequently got broken and I don't have enough border to reframe it. I figured since it didn't take very long to stitch, it wouldn't hurt to do it again, I just bought another kit.

I want to wait until I get all of them finished before I get them framed, that way they will all match, but heaven knows when that will be! Whenever that is though, Christmas Is Sew Special won't have to be finished with the others since, even though they contain the same mice, the shape is different enough to throw off the dynamic of the others in the set.

#3: Mickey and the Gang Opening Presents Christmas Stocking

Believe it or not, there was a time when I wasn't so against the premise of Christmas (although I still hated the pomp and circumstance of it). Of all the Christmas decorations there are, for some reason I was always obsessed with stockings. I have a multitude of Disney ones, so it only made sense that way back in the day when this kit came out, I would acquire it, but it's also one of the oldest items in my stash. There are a lot of things I don't like about the pattern and I'm also not too jazzed about actually making the stocking since I can't sew, so it will probably always stay in my stash.

There is also a stocking companion to the Sew Mice series, but I try not to think about it since I don't have it in my stash (and I know I'll never stitch it, so why buy it?).

#4: QS - Holly Angel

OK, so obviously this one appealed to me because it's a Jasmine Becket-Griffith, but I also really liked it because you have this Christmas Angel completely surrounded by darkness. It may not have been meant to be interpreted as darkly as I make it, but that is what made it appealing to me in the first place. I have a specific person in mind to gift this to, but I'm in no hurry to get it done, especially since I will have to stitch all that black since I refuse to ever use black material again.

#5: Mini The Last Leaves

I'm not sure this was meant to be Christmas-themed, but again, like Holly Angel, I always saw a Christmas darkness to it, so obviously I liked it and this one was at least less Christmas-y enough to keep for myself. This one will probably get done long before Holly Angel, but I'm not sure when.

#6: Teddy Bear Tree

This one was bought to do for my mother, but I don't know when, or if, I'll ever get around to stitching it. She's obsessed with teddy bears for some reason, so it suits her, I'm just not sure I like her enough to waste two years of my life stitching her something. Maybe one day.

#7-#10: Disney ornaments

I'm really grasping at straws here to finish this list out, especially since I don't consider these Christmas kits. Yes, they are "ornaments", but the four I've finished (Donald, Mater, Timon and Pumbaa) live on one of my work bulletin boards 24/7. I can't imagine putting them on a tree, even if that was what they were designed for. I used to do one of these kits after every big finish, as sort of a stitching cool-down. Despite their small size, they are actually quite difficult to stitch since there are so many color changes and the pattern isn't very clear. Mater was the last one I did (after Highland Girl) and I had such trouble with it, I didn't want to try another one after Pea.

And that's it! I'm really surprised I managed a complete list, but I guess it proves that even the most die-hard of Scrooges can't escape Christmas entirely!