The general purpose of a Stitch-ALong (SAL) is to bring stitchers together for one common goal ... to keep each other motivated so we can all have some completed projects by the end of the year.

Attending a SAL is also a great way to increase your circle of like-minded friends. And who couldn't use more stitching buddies?

A SAL is particularly helpful if you lose your motivation, run into any problems you need help with, or simply want someone to celebrate with if you've gotten a lot accomplished or maybe even finished that large project finally!

What is a SAL?

For anybody who wants to know what a SAL is, here's a recap from Sandye (our SAL leader):

Usually the first weekend of every month is our UFO SAL.

You choose an UnFinished Object (UFO) you have that you want to try to get done". You know the sort of thing, that project you've been dragging your heels on because you're not really enjoying. But you just know you MUST finish it!!!

"So, you post which project you'll be working on and post a picture of what it looked like before the weekend. You stitch as much as you can on that particular project for the entire weekend (Saturrday morning to Sunday night). At the end of the weekend, we all post how much we've gotten done, post an updated picture so we can all see our own progress..."

"Now here's the good bit. Anytime you get frustrated with the project, or just need a little kick in the rearend to get started on it again, the rest of the people in the same SAL with you are there to keep you on track!"

"It's been great! These SAL weekends really helped me stay motivated with my Kitties (a particularly large and difficult project) and now they're done!"

"These SALs are really great for motivating you and keeping you going on those tougher projects, or even the ones where you have deadlines to meet that just loom over you!".

Were Using a Chat Room

In order to provide a more enjoyable experience we're using a chatroom so stitchers can discuss their progress, ask questions, and whatever else they choose, while they stitch.

To be able to "chat", you need to first login to Patterns Patch and then click on Chat Room in the Community Forums category (left-hand nav panel on the Members home page).

I'm not a member, so how can I take part?

In order to login you will need to be a member of Patterns Patch, but don't worry about this because Associate Memberships are free and the only details you need provide are your name, email address, login name and password. Oh! And we won't try and sell you anything either.

To enter the Chat Room you need only enter your Patterns Patch login name.

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One drawback of making a chatroom available to the general public is spammers will usually find it within a week or two, and when that happens we'll soon lose control of it (for at least part of the time anyway), something we definitely don't want to happen.

Therefore, for that reason the chat room must remain limited to our closed membership only, which would have which excluded all subscribers who aren't signed-up members.

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To overcome this restriction we've created an Associate Membership, which is free, but  limits access to just the photo galleries, chat rooms, and our community forums (the Cross Stitch forum and General forum).

If you want to join Patterns Patch as an Associate member and enjoy access to the photo galleries, chat rooms, and community forums, please join here. The subscription form is easy to use and only asks for: your name, email address, login name and password (you choose these last two yourself).

Should you have problems with any of this, please let me know here.

OK! I'm ready! So How Do I Start?

There aren't any hard and fast rules, however here's what we propose:

1. First, you decide what project (s) you'll be working on during the SAL. The projects chosen are completely up to the individual. As long as you make some progress on something, that's all that matters!
   
   
2. Next It's a good idea to post a picture of your partially-completed cross stitched piece before you start working on during the SAL.
   
   
3. Then, throughout the weekend, work on your chosen project as much as you're able to. Even if you only get a few stitches in, that's still progress!!
   
   
4. After the SAL weekend is over, you should post a picture of what you were able to accomplish. This will greatly help in keeping each of us motivated on our projects.

SALs generally run from Saturday morning through Sunday night. Don't worry if you can't post a picture of your piece. It's not a problem. You can keep track of how may hours you work on it, what percentage of the piece is completed, or the number of stitches you were able to do ... anything that will allow you to follow your progress.

Please feel free to post here anytime you need to. Becoming friends with everyone here will make the SAL more enjoyable. Who couldn't use more stitching buddies? This will be helpful if you lose your motivation, run into any problems you need help with, or simply want someone to celebrate with if you've gotten a lot accomplished or maybe even finished that large project finally!

Whatever you do, enjoy the SAL! That's what it's here for! Sandye will be periodically checking in from time to time and will be more than happy to answer any questions, and offer any help or advice ... whatever you need!

Lastly, if anyone in the SAL group has any suggestions on how to improve on this SAL, or if you have ideas for specifically themed SALs (favorite designer, holiday patterns, anything at all) that you'd like to have started here at Facebook just let me know! I'll be more than happy to organize as much as I can for everyone! There's 4 weekends in every month, and we've only got one of them scheduled so far.