I am working on some special gifts for some special friends this week. I just need to finish them into actual ornaments. Here are the 4 ornies so far…
I still have a few more pieces to stitch before I actually assemble them into their respective final ornament.
The designs came from a booklet that was in Cross Stitch Crazy in 2009. I am not following exact color schemes; instead using my leftover floss.
It’s so hard to believe the year is almost over! It seems like it only just got started. Oh well, guess they were right when they said the years go by faster as you get older, lol!
Anyway, here is my update for the month:
Coming Home for the Holidays
I have begun the detail stitching although I have a teeny bit of regular stitching left. I need to contact Dimensions to see if they can send me replacement.
Cream for Kitty
I am close to halfway done on this piece. I am planning to spend more time on it in December. For now, I am working on some Christmas ornies (gifts) and my giveaway surprise!
Vibrant Vases ~ Vase #2
Well, I am really not happy working with the metallics for this vase so I think I may switch it up a bit and use 1 cotton and 1 metallic strand. We’ll see how that works out.
Christmas Ornaments
These are some cute little designs that came as an insert in a 2009 issue of Cross Stitch Crazy (import from UK) around the holidays. There are a bunch of motifs in the booklet. 
This one is going to be a stocking once it is finished (tonight). I plan on stitching 3 more of these motifs after this one.
My cats are going bonkers. I think it might be due in part to the cooler weather. Whatever it is, I hope it passes soon as they have been keeping me up at night; or waking me at 2am playing with each other as the case may be, lol! Love my cats!!
Sparty Tree is up and fortunately the cats haven’t dared to go near it. I am going to get another strand of lights to light the top half over the weekend.
Hope everyone has a great week!
I wanted to post a quick update on Woodrow Wilson:
I am still planning to finish this piece by year’s end! I really don’t have much more to go. 
I want to also extend a BIG WELCOME to my newest followers!!! I hope you enjoy your visit to my blog.
Don't forget to enter my Giveaway. I will be drawing the winner’s name on January 1st. And please feel free to spread the word!
I leave you with a couple of pictures. The first one is of what my kitten, Abu, did to me yesterday when he took a flying leap toward my desk:
Yeah, that hurt a little bit!
And finally:
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Christmas in Michigan tends to be interesting. What with the snow and ice covering the ground, trees, houses, and anything else in sight! One particular Christmas, however, was especially interesting. I am reminded by a fellow blogger about a Christmas season where a cat found himself enveloped by a Christmas tree:
Now, while Chris’s cat may have been causing mischief, my mom’s cat, Casper (name is rather fitting), decided he would nestle down for a nap. I woke up one morning to find him in the tree. I wasn’t looking for him. I just happened to see that white spot surrounded by green and ornaments, LOL! I mean, can you imagine?!?! And would you believe that he got into the tree, very near to the top, and out of it without harming a single ornament!? Now that is one smart cat!!!
He was quite content, I might add! 
On the stitchy front, this being the first weekend of December, it is time to once again pick up the CH4TH SAL with Lana over at A Joyful Stitcher. For those who are not familiar with the acronym (thanks to Lana!!) it stands for Coming Home for the Holidays. We both found that we are stitching it and she suggested the SAL. Of course I said yes! And we are now on our 5th or 6th SAL weekend. I will be spending Saturday and part of Sunday with my sister, but I plan to take it along with me and put a handful of stitches into it. I don’t think that I will finish it for dad this year, but plan to early in 2012. This is where I left off last month:
I am not sure how Lana would feel, but if anyone reading this is also working on this piece, please feel free to join us in our SAL. We are mainly doing it as an encouragement SAL. No time frame to complete it. No pressure. Just put a little bit of time on the 1st weekend of each month and see how you progress!!!
Wow! I can’t believe I have blogged another year away. Yup! I missed my own blogoversary on the 1st but that’s OK. I did spend some of that day stitching. Here are some pics of what I have worked on:
Progress on Coming Home for the Holidays
A Christmas Ornie from the insert that came with the 2010 A Cross Stitch Christmas book
Pincushion Pillow from the October 2011 issue of Gift of Stitching.
I will probably finish up the GoS piece and put more work into the ornie tonight.
I also need to show an update on Week-end a Paris:
Until next time…
Sunday, my sister called and asked if I would come down for the night. Of course, I went! Since she is still getting settled she doesn’t have cable yet so I had to take a bunch of movies with me. I also took a couple of projects with me to work on. One of them was The First Day by Plum Street Samplers (from the JCS Christmas Preview issue):
Since I didn’t have all of the necessary recommended floss and fabric, I improvised. I used WDW Williamsburg and Loden and stitched on 28ct Antique White Evenweave by MCG Textiles. I think it looks beautiful!
Remember this piece (JBW French Heart):
Well, I finally finished it and it’s on it’s way to my 
mom as this:
She turns 60 on Friday and I thought this would be perfect since I can’t do what I originally planned on at this time.
A progress picture from last week that I forgot about…I did put some stitches into the second vase. I am still not too keen on metallics, but I am finding some going through the fabric easier than others. Hopefully I will have enough to finish the project:
I will be happy when this one is finished, LOL!!!
And finally, Ink Circles Cirques des Carreaux:
I am about halfway finished with page 2! I may just continue working on it this week until Page 2 is done.
And the stuff is really a cool picture of my sister’s dog Sheppo:
I took this yesterday afternoon while at her house. We were waiting for her to come home from work. Doesn’t his face look pitiful?!
Well, I decided to work on Coming Home for the Holidays this week and will continue working on it until the end of the month. I found a groove and 
don’t want to put it down yet. Here is a picture of where I last left things:
And this is what it looked like yesterday before I picked it up for the evening:
And this is what it looks like now:
What’s really cool about this piece is you can really see the dimension in it. I noticed this last night while speaking with my mom on the phone. The small room on this side of the house just popped out at me. It’s not something I have really noticed before, but WOW!
I will update you all on this again at the end of the month!
I do have a question to pose to all of you stitchers: What is the best way to stretch a piece before framing? If you look at some of the pictures, you can see where it is warped because silly me didn’t know to take it off the hoop/q-snaps when not working on it. 
I know it will need to be straightened somehow for framing, but not sure how to go about it. Thanks for any/all answers.
Until then…
I did a little bit of stitching on Coming Home last night, but not enough to really show a picture of at this time. This afternoon, however, I finally finished Makin’ New Friends into a pillow. The recipient is my step-mom! She made a comment 2 Christmases ago that she loves snowmen and I thought this would make a perfect gift for her, albeit a little late! I am having my dad take it to water aerobics with him tomorrow afternoon to give to her (yes, they have been divorced for 40 years, but they are friends and in an exercise class together, LOL). Anyhoos, here are some pics of the finished product:
Now for some details on the backing fabrics. I used a dark blue fabric with a gold snowflake print on it as a border fabric around the stitched piece. I backed it with the snowman faces (ironically called “Makin’ New Friends”, LOL). I stuffed it with polyester fill, et voila! My sister assures me her mom will like it! I sure hope so!!!
…is finished! Yay!!!!
Here are some pictures:
I am so glad to have this page done. I began working on it about a year ago. It should be completed by Summer 2011 and then I will have it professionally framed and shipped to my mother for Christmas this year.
Now, I think I may spend the rest of the evening working on the Butterfly 
Shamrock Wreath
and tomorrow I will go back to Coming Home for the Holidays.
Until next time…
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| L-R: A frog bookend, 2 packs of DMC floss (variegated and light effects), an MSU hot/cold tumbler w/ lid, 1 pack of Embroidery Needles (sizes 1,3,5), 2 packs 14ct White Aida cloth, and a cute little metal frog made from nuts, screws, bolts, etc! |
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| Metal frog playin' the sax! He's made from nuts, bolts, screws, etc. |
