Merry Christmas!

It's been almost 3 weeks since my last post. Sickness has been running full force in our household. I think I'm finally recovered, but am now scrambling to get decorations up, gifts wrapped, cards out, etc. Hopefully my son will be better by Christmas day.

Here is a "finish" of mine. I finished stitching this 2 years ago and finally mailed it off in late October to Jill Rensel, the Shepherd's Bush framer. It arrived right before Thanksgiving. It's now on the wall and I am very happy with it. Sorry the picture isn't the greatest.

The Stockings by Shepherd's Bush

Have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

It's Christmas Time!

It's so hard to believe that it's that time of year already! The last few months seem to have flown by. I am very much a planner and generally have things wrapped and ready by Halloween, but not this year! I still haven't made my "major" purchase for my son yet. UGH! It's on my list to do this weekend while he is at a party. Maybe I'll be ready after that. Maybe!

Well, at least I have my decorating done! I was a little behind this year on that as well, due to having company come Thanksgiving, but it's all up and ready now.

Here is a picture of my foyer. If you remember I had it decorated at Halloween. Well...here it is for Christmas!

From the top:

Name: Come Let Us Adore Him

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 17 ct. Cork Linen (I think!)


Name: Snow Fence

Designer: Raise the Roof

Fabric: 28 ct. Ice Blue Cashel


Name: Santa Clothes (my favorite!)

Designer: Raise the Roof

Fabric: 28 ct. Opalescent Belfast Linen



I can't believe that as much as I like Christmas that I don't have much other Christmas, and especially Santa, stitching! I have tons of patterns, but not real finsihed products! Hope to remedy that someday soon. I do have (not pictured, of course) "Dear Santa, I Can Explain" by Lizzie Kate stitched and put in the frame that goes with it on a bookcase and I also have "Shall Not Want" by Just Another Button Co. framed and in the kitchen on top of my cabinets.

Here's a picture of our tree! And, yes, those are wooden snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. I generally have the blinds open, but the glare was too much for the camera! :-)

Has anyone seen "The Nativity Story" yet? I am taking my son this afternoon after school with some other friends. I have heard it is very well done.

Still stitching away on my train. The progress is soooooo slow. Also stitching a little on "The Stockings Were Hung" by Shepherd's Bush. Not much progress to speak of, but hope to have it done by Christmas. Almost done with my son's name tree by M Designs. On the last letter! Yeah!

Here's Christmas recipe for your guys:

Santa's Snack Mix

1 (12 oz) pkg chocolate chips
1 (16 oz) container salted peanuts *
1 (11 oz) pkg Sesame Sticks **
1 (12 oz) pkg white chocolate chips
1 (12 oz) pkg vanilla yogurt - covered raisins
2 (6 oz) pkgs dried cranberries (like Craisins)
1 (10 oz) container cashews *

Mix all ingredients together in large mixing bowl. Store in plastic storage container or in plastic storage bags.

* I used approx. 24 oz. of mixed nuts for the two nuts.

** Sesame Sticks are hard to find, but Pepperidge Farm does make them. They are sold in a 7 oz. pkg., which is what I used. That seemed plenty. I think you could also use mini pretzels, pretzel sticks or pretzel nuggets as well.

A couple Finished Ornaments

We finally got a little nip in the air here in Florida and it made me start to feel anxious for Christmas. So...with that in mind I picked up the ornaments I finished stitching last week and decided to finish them. They are by no means professional, but I think they don't look too bad. These are the ornaments for my son for the last 2 years. I finally got them done!




Rudolph

By: Leisure Arts

Stitched on 28 ct. Opalescent Linen

I used Sampler Threads instead of the listed DMC.








Chrismyth Giant

By: Dragon Dreams (freebie)

Stitched on a scrap of hand-dyed 28 count linen I had on hand. Don't know exact color.

I changed the colors from what was listed. I also used Sampler Threads and Weeks Dye Works.






Here is a picture of the backs. Not too exciting, but at least they are all together and "finished" now.


Here are some recent movie thoughts:

"Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3-D. I did not see it the first time around, but my son wanted to go see it, so...I thought it was actually pretty good. I think Tim Burton is quite talented in his unique approach to animation. Let me clarify this and say...I do find a lot of his work very dark though. I am just speaking of this particular movie and his approach to this form of animation (also seen in "Corpse Bride").

"Flicka" I thought it was a pretty good movie. I know I read this book when I was very little (around 8), but cannot remember exact details about it. So, I cannot say how much it deviated from the book. Tim McGraw was better than I expected. That doesn't mean great, but not bad. The scenery of Wyoming and the horses was beautiful. I also must say I like Tim McGraw's song "My Little Girl" for the soundtrack.

"The Guardian" I really enjoyed. I am not a big Ashton Kutcher fan, but was surprised by how much I liked him in this. I don't think enough can be said about the bravery of the Coast Guard. There is no way I would want to go into the situations they do.

"Fly Boys" I enjoyed this very much. A great look at the first fighter pilots in early WWI. Hate to see that this movie did not do well at all in the box office. It is a great period movie without as much violence as a lot of war movies can have.

"Open Season" Cute.

"Invincible" One of the better sports movies I have seen. I went with my husband, but actually enjoyed it very much. It's kind of up there in the "Rudy" category for me in sports movies.

I must once again recommend "The Illusionist" for anyone that hasn't seen it. It was a gem of a movie. Loved Ed Norton!

Movies I am looking forward this holiday seasoon:

"The Prestige" - I haven't seen it yet, but love Hugh Jackman
"Santa Clause 3" - enjoyed the first 2. Love fun, good holiday movies.
"Flushed Away" - looks like a cute, animated movie
"Stranger Than Fiction" - Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson (love her!) - looks funny!
"Happy Feet" - another cute, animated movie about penguins
"Deck the Halls" - another fun holiday movie with Danny Devito and Matthew Broderick
"The Nativity Story" - a "real" movie version of the birth of Christ
"The Holiday" - romantic comedy with Kate Winslet (love her!), Jack Black and Cameron Diaz
"Charlotte's Web" - "real" movie version of the beloved children's book
"Night at the Museum" - a fun movie about a security guard at a museum where things come to life at night while he is on duty.


Well...enough of my thoughts for now. Hope to get more stitching done soon.

A few Hob Nobb finishes

Well...thank God it's a new week. This one hasn't started off great, but hopefully it will get better as it goes along. Last week was quite horrid! If you've never had a migraine headache, I hope you never have one. But, if you have...you can understand. I had a migraine for 5 straight days! I finally got a little relief this weekend, but I could still feel it threatening in the back of my head.

Here are 3 Hob Nobb pieces that I recently finished. None are framed yet.

Name: December

Threads: GAST - Dried Thyme (leaves), Seaweed (vine), Picket Fence and Holly Berry (candy cane) WDW - Curry (star)

Beads: Petite Mill Hill beads (42043) used for berries instead of stitches

Fabric: Picture This Plus 28 ct. Willow

Name: July

Threads: GAST - Midnight (star) & Tarnished Gold (vine)

Beads: Petite Mill Hill beads (42043) used for berries instead of stitches

Fabric: White Birch 16 ct Heatherfield by Wichelt

Name: November

Threads used: GAST - Pumpkins - Fragrant Cloves & Harvest Moon, leaves - Copper, Gold Leaf, Tarnished Gold, Avocado & Bittersweet, outline of pumpkin & stem - Gingersnap, vine - Sarsparilla

Beads: Petite Mill Hill Beads (42028) used for random stitches (a few extra added at bottom)

Fabric: Camel 16 ct Heatherfield by Witchelt

NOTE: Did not stitch border on any of the pieces.

Oops! I did not realize I forgot to put date on July or November. Will have to add that.

It's nice to get a few things accomplished stitching wise recently. With headaches last week I did absolutely no stitching! All my other projects are just too big or time consuming to get accomplished/completed right now. Hopefully soon! That train still needs tons of work!

New Finishes!

Here are the 2 finishes I have been promising! They are a couple of days later than expected due to the battery on camera being dead!!!





Title: "Pocket Sampler: Baby" by Heart in Hand

Stitched on: 28 ct. Natural Jobelyn

Changes: Used Oatmeal in place of Straw Bonnet and Flax in place of Putty














Title: "Pocket Sampler: Friend" by Heart in Hand

Stitched on: 28 ct. Dirty Linen

Changes: Used Oatmeal in place of Straw Bonnet
Did not put in white stitches along vine

Note: the mat is a much darker green that it appears in photo




Both mats are suede!


Not much news here, other than it is HOT! When will cooler weather arrive? Well, I should know better than to ask that! We've sweated through Halloween before and I remember several Christmases where we wore shorts, so who can say what the weather will do in Florida. I'm just glad we haven't seen much hurricane activity this summer. Hopefully it will stay that way!

I am going to go to Chicago this coming weekend to spend a week with my best friend who lives there. I'm sooooooooo excited! I bought my ticket over 6 months ago and can't believe that it is almost here! Don't know how much stitching I will get done while gone, but I will take some with me. :-)

Our LNS is having its annual Open House this week. I wonder what all new goodies they will have. Since I'm not working I am on an extremely tight budget and don't really plan on purchasing anything other than a thread or two that I need. I will just have to make a list of what I would like and put it on my Christmas list. :-)

A BIG finish!

Here is my big finish:

"Heirloom Homecoming" by Victoria Sampler. Stitched on 28 ct. platinum.

Changes made:

Words - my words, not theirs

Color of words - used rust color and not green

Biggest change - took out 2 of the children at the bottom and moved everyone over.

Other small changes made - used gold to tack down lattice work, used gold on small eyelet work at bottom, used "Fallen Leaves" on bottom border where dark green was supposed to be, did not put large pearl beads in all locations, changed color of cat and dog.

This project took me approx. 6 months to finish. I had never done hardanger or pulled work until this. Enjoyed doing the pulled work, but was not thrilled with doing the kloster blocks on the hardanger. I think this was mostly due to using the soie perlee. Not fun to work with!

Now on to other projects.

A few small finishes!

I promised to post a few recent finishes. Here they are:





"Come Let Us Adore Him" by Lizzie Kate

Fabric used: not sure. Was in a scrap bag from LNS

Threads: Sampler Threads










"Bloom" by Lizzie Kate (a free chart from site)

Fabric used: 28 ct. Miracle Mint

Changes made:
* Morning Glory GAST for the border
* JAB ladybug button (1103T) instead of silver charm









"March" by Hob Nobb Designs

Fabric: 28 ct. Willow linen by Picture this Plus

Threads used: Envy & Seaweed by WDW







"Easter Row" by Bent Creek

Fabric Used: 28 ct. Ray of Light (I believe) - very pale yellow

Changes made:
* changed placement of some of the buttons
* added sheep button (All buttons JAB)

Note: Actually put wrong year. Finished it this April, but put 2005. LOL :-D Where was my brain?!!!



I also have a BIG finish this year, but will post it later.