Christmastide Sampler Part 7 And final words from 2024

Happy New Year's Eve!  It's been an interesting day so far!  I was able to keep up with the Christmastide SAL by Hands On Designs...finishing up part 7 today.  I really love those wreaths!  

I also had a chance to stitch and finish Day 5 of Santa's 12 Days of Christmas by The Prairie Schooler.  I'm stitching these in order so I'm nearly halfway.  They are stitched on 40 count Vintage Country Mocha over one.  I know...I'm crazy...but they look so cute that small!  I hope to finish these in 2025.  

Isn't it interesting how we reflect on the current year and make plans and resolutions for the coming year on this day every year?  We turn the page and start anew with hopes and dreams for the future.  There are a few things I sincerely hope to accomplish this year...like losing more weight (I actually lost 42 pounds in 2024!) and finishing up some WIPs I have sitting around.  I have some filing cabinets I was given last year I hope to organize my patterns...those I want to stitch, those I have kitted up, and those I need to finish as well as organize paperwork we have floating around this house.  I want to do a deep clean and make room for visitors if they so choose to visit.  Are you making plans too?  

While I didn't get the projects started I hoped to last year, nor did I finish WIPs I had listed, I did get quite a bit of stitching done this year.  According to the logs I kept this year, I stitched over a quarter of a million stitches...whew!  272, 851 stitches to be exact.  Of the 16 larger projects I started this year, I finished 12 of them!  The others are on my list to finish this year.  I finished stitching 115 projects this year and fully finished 78.  I really wanted to finish one more, but I'm stuck on how to finish it.  It will probably be the first one I finish next year!  

And on that note, I'm going to get off this machine and go play some games with my husband while we wait to ring in the new year.  Our kids wanted us to spend the evening with them, but some storms are blowing through...high winds, thunder and lightening...so we opted to stay home.  Yesterday was an exhausting day as Little Miss Sassy Pants was here and she kept me busy.  I didn't even have time to take pictures!  Hopefully I can the next time she visits.  Anyway, I wish you all a very Blessed and Happy New Year.  Happy Stitching!!  

Christmastide Sampler part 5

I've been following the SAL plan for The Christmastide Sampler by Hands on Design.  Today was Day 5 and we've been working on the Wreath with a Candle row.  The circular wreath is a symbol of eternal life or the circle of the seasons as well as being a symbol of love.  The white candle represents the color of Christmastide.  According to the plan I'll be working on the wreaths for 3 days so I probably won't update until the wreaths are   done.  I'm showing a closeup of the wreath...there is a lot of detail in them.  They took longer to stitch than I expected, but I truly love how they look when finished.  

I've been working on the 12 Santas of Christmas by Prairie Schooler after I finish the day's portion of the SAL.  I'm almost finished with the 5 Golden Rings.  By the next update I should have it finished.  I'll show a picture of it then.  

I'm still trying to fully finish a few things before the year is up...and I remembered I had finished  stitching these letters from the Prairie Schooler Christmas Alphabet awhile ago.  I had been thinking about how I would attach the letters to the block, and then I remembered a conversation I had with the owner of The Salty Yarns.  She mentioned using magnets on other items I am going to stitch, so I could switch things out for the different seasons...and I thought I could do that with these blocks too.  On a trip to Hobby Lobby I found some thin magnets that I thought would do the trick...so I attached them and voila'!  

Now I'm on the hunt for more alphabets that would work on these 2" blocks.  I bought them from a friend who was downsizing and wasn't going to use them, so I don't know where they came from but I did see they had some on Amazon.  So...that's all I have for today.  

Christmastide Sampler part three

Today was day 3 of Christmastide.  I stitched the first pine bough which symbolizes resilience and strength.  Still reflecting on the season.  

Each day I find the need to refocus my attention.  I'm not feeling so well today, and started with a pity party...lol...yes, I have those days.  I'm in a better frame of mind now, having had a bit more rest after I woke up this morning.  I'm still on track with this SAL, but now I have the rest of the day...whatever shall I stitch?  I really need to get my act together and decide what I'm going to stitch next year...I really bombed on this year's goals.  Oh well...better luck next year!  Off to give my stash a rummage and see what takes my fancy.  Happy Stitching! 

Christmastide

Hi Fellow Stitchers!  Today I started the Christmastide Sampler by Hands On Design.  This was an exclusive offered through Homespun Needlework Cross Stitch and Samplers FB page.  It was designed to be a SAL starting on December 25 and finishing January 5.  I found this really meaningful to me as the "hustle and bustle" of Christmas was over and we could quietly reflect on the true meaning of the season.  Cathy researched carefully the symbols of the season and created this to redirect our focus.  So as I stitched the first part of the SAL today, the first symbol represented is the Christmas Star of the Star of Bethlehem.  So far I'm truly enjoying this sampler!  

Wishing you peaceful thoughts and blessings this Christmastide Season.  Happy Stitching!!     

Merry Christmas!

"The Son of God became the son of man to enable men to become sons of God"   

CS Lewis

Wishing you and your families a Wonder Full and Blessed Merry Christmas. 

Advent Day 24

One more sleep!!  

Can you believe it's Christmas Eve?  Where did this past week go?  If you smell some wonderful smells coming from DJ's digs, it's because I'm making meatballs, pumpkin pie, and some last minute cookies!  We have a party to go to tonight!  (Hopefully the rain/sleet/freezing rain clears out before then!)  

Today's Advent Box goodie was really sweet...I'm torn what I will stitch this year now...lol.  Maybe it was a mistake getting that Advent Box?  

It was a busy day yesterday so not too many stitches in Sarah last night, but I finally made it off page 3!!  On to page 4 if I have time today.  Wish me luck!  

I'm off to begin baking.  I hope wherever you are today you are enjoying the excitement of the season, and are all ready for the big day tomorrow.  Happy Stitching! 

Advent Day 23

Well....here we are, Christmas Eve Eve.  Last week I thought I had soooo much time...then life hit...haha.  Thankfully I was able to get my wrapping done yesterday.  All that's left is to make the meatballs and tomato sauce...and that shouldn't take long at all.  I'll do that tomorrow morning, as I will have Miss Sassy Pants today.  I can't wait!!  Usually she arrives before the sun comes up, but they aren't bringing her by until a little later today.  I actually slept 7 hours last night and it felt great!  I almost feel human!

This popped up in my memories on FB today...from 10 years ago.  So funny as I had found this in a pile of pieces to fully finish...and had cut the cardboard and gathered supplies then the creative juices stopped flowing.  I REALLY need to get this on my tree sooner rather than later.  Star of Wonder by Blackberry Designs...one of my favorites!  Stitched on 40 count natural OVER ONE.  Yep, I was crazy back then!  LOL!!

  

So I didn't get as much stitching over the weekend as I had hoped.  I'm still working on page 3 of Sarah Sanderson.  I'm not sure how much I'll get done today, I guess it depends on a certain someone taking a nap, but I'm not counting on that...lol!   We have way too much fun.  I did make pretty good headway on Sarah so I'm not too disappointed!  Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some new pictures of our adventures today.  

Til then...Happy Stitching! 

December International Hermit and Stitch Weekend

Well I didn't get to stitch on every IHSW this year, but thankfully I had a little time this weekend to get some stitching done.  I'm so thrilled that I was able to finish Christmas All Through The House before Christmas.  I started here...  

and here is where I ended Friday night.

I found this pattern by Patricia Andrle in the Sept/Oct 1994 of Cross Stitch and Country Crafts magazine.  I sure miss that magazine!!  Unfortunately I won't be able to fully finish it until after the holidays.  The outside of the house was stitched on 25 count Bone evenweave while the interior was stitched on 36 count Antique White.  I'm looking forward to getting it framed!  There is a companion piece to this that is a Flower Shop.  I have it kitted...hopefully one day I'll get to stitch that one too!

I've been working on Sarah Sanderson by The Scarlett House also this weekend.  She was set aside in favor of getting some Christmas stitching done, but I'm back stitching on her again.  It's tedious work as I'm working on 46 count over two.  I love how small things are.  Here is where I started...  

Here is where I finished Sunday night...I almost reached my goal of getting off that third page...almost...haha  

I was able to get my wrapping done today.  I'll have my oldest Granddaughter tomorrow so I tried to get all my extra stuff done today.... sadly I will still have to make my now famous meatballs (in my own mind) the morning of Christmas Eve for the party that night.  No rest for the wicked as they say...lol.  I hope you all were able to make great progress on your stitching!  Merry Christmas and Happy Stitching!!   

Advent Day 22

Merry Christmas!  As my cousin says...only three more sleeps!  Are you getting excited yet?  It's the Fourth Sunday of Advent and today we celebrate Faithfulness ... Blessed are they who believe.  Knowing Jesus brings us Joy, and Peace, and Hope because He is faithful to us.

  

Well I had high hopes of getting my wrapping done, but...well you know what they say about the best laid plans...so now I'm forced to get it all done today.  Yesterday the kids asked me (after I offered to have Miss Sassy Pants over for the day) to spend the day with my oldest granddaughter tomorrow.  I need to make meatballs for the Christmas Eve party, too.  So today I will be busy doing all those things.  Hopefully I'll have a little time for stitching (fingers crossed).  

Why didn't I get any of these things done yesterday?  You guessed it, I was STITCHING!  (I also had to cheer for the Ravens...who won by the way!)  I finally picked up Sarah Sanderson again and I made pretty good progress.  When you see the picture it doesn't look like much, but I'm stitching on 46 count, so I'm having to count very carefully, make sure I only stitch over two threads, and honestly those tiny stitches don't cover much...so it looks like I'm stitching at a snails pace.  I'm hoping (but highly doubting) I'll make it off the page I'm working on today.  I only have 7 letters and a little bit of those border lines to make it off the page...wish me luck! 

So that's all the news today.  I hope you are enjoying the season.  Happy Stitching! 

Advent Day 21

Merry Christmas!  I love the little reindeer on the EMS Advent today, he's one of my favorites!  

Seems the closer we get to the 25th, the faster the days go!  I am not going near any shops now...haha.  People are getting desperate so I'll leave the last minute rush to them.  Sometime this weekend (while trying to marathon stitch for ISHW which is this weekend too) I hope to fit in a little bit of wrapping.  Thankfully I have some gift bags, that should shorten my wrapping time...haha.  The kids didn't want traditional gifts this year so that cut down on shopping too, but they wanted "Adventures" sooooo...that took more mental gymnastics to figure out.  I hope they like what we decided.  

I'm happy to announce that Christmas All Through The House is finished!!  I hope to get it framed next month.  I'm still trying to figure out how I will accomplish that, so I think I might take it to a different framer with more choices of frames.  I wish the shop I used to work in was still around.    

I'll be working on Sarah Sanderson by The Scarlett House for the rest of the weekend.  I set her aside to get some Christmas stitching done but once I picked it up last night, I realized how much I love stitching on her.  I finally made it to the right hand corner (always a relief when you know it's going to fit on your fabric!)  Those little animals were fun to stitch, as well as the flowers in the corner.  I'm not a fan of alphabets, but those are next to accomplish!  LOL!!  One of my goals this year will be to finish her (hopefully in time for the fair).  

Ok, so that's all the news for now.  I thought the pattern from Running With Needles & Scissors was so cute today!  You'll have to take a peek in the page if you want to see pictures.  I'm off to enjoy my Egg McMuffin from Mickey D's...our Saturday morning treat.  I'm so spoiled!  Happy Saturday and Happy Stitching!!  

Advent Day 20

Merry Christmas and Happy Friday!  I had the BEST day shopping with my good friend Lady M yesterday.  It's funny how we met, on jury duty.  We made each other laugh, and still do.  We don't see each other too often, but when we get together we have a lot of fun.  It was nice "lady shopping" with her....when I shop with DH, it's almost a surgical procedure.  He knows what he is looking for, we practically trot to where it should be...find what we think we are looking for, don't look at labels, just pick it up and trot to the checkout...we are in and out of stores in minutes.  When we get home we realize we have the wrong size, color, shape, etc so we usually end up going back and doing the whole procedure all over again...lol!!  Lady M and I were at the mall for hours yesterday...strolling along, looking at things and prices, hitting the shops we really needed to hit first, then off to see what else we could find.  I love shopping like that.  In just a few hours we had put in over 4,000 steps!  LOL!!  But the good news is, I'm finally finished shopping.  

I thought I would wrap today, but I really missed stitching yesterday, and I'm soooooo close to finishing I think I'll do that instead.  I still have a couple of days to wrap.  

Today the Advent Box had a pattern from The Blue Flower.  Her patterns are so unique.  Today was one of a whale, and though it really wasn't my style, I think I might stitch it.  My husband collects whales...he might just like this one!  Perhaps a Christmas present for next year?  We will see.  You can find a picture in the Advent Box page.  

I nearly made it to the top of the Christmas tree yesterday.  I will have a little outlining to do, then on to the upper window which only has a little bit of stitching to do.  Fingers crossed I'll get this finished before the day is through!  It's a dull dreary day today, perfect for stitching.

I hope you all are preparing heart and mind for the Christmas season.  I am enjoying hearing the Christmas Carols.  Do you have a favorite?  Mine is by Evie and is called Move Me Closer A Shepherd's Prayer.  Here is a link to the You Tube song (click here).  

Ok, time to get some stuff done around here.  Happy Stitching! 

Advent Day 19

Hello Fellow Stitchers, and Merry Christmas!  It's Day 19...and today the Advent Box held a pattern from Bent Creek.  I ADORE this one!  As soon as I saw it I thought...I have the perfect fabric for this...I just have to find it...lol!!  I'm looking forward to stitching this one!  

I had a pretty productive day yesterday.  Stitching with metallic thread sure slows me down, but hopefully soon this will be done.  I'm working on that lovely Christmas tree  you see behind the window.  I doubt I'll finish it today, but hopefully tomorrow.  

I will be meeting up with a friend today for stocking stuffer shopping.  I always have fun with the lovely Lady M.  I will be late if I tarry here too much longer...so off I go.  I leave you with a little snow globe of my granddaughter.  The picture was taken this summer at the beach.  She's such a ham...haha.  

Happy Stitching! 

Advent Day 18

Merry Christmas and Happy Wednesday!  We are officially one week away from Christmas!  The weather has been on such a roller coaster lately...I never know what the day will bring.  I've had my head down working diligently on Christmas House and have finally started on the interior of the house.  It's full of glitz...those metallic threads really slow my progress down!  LOL.  I have my doubts if I'll finish before Christmas but that's ok.  

What have you been working on?  Today we were given some lovely fabric in the Advent Box.  I'll have to put my thinking cap on to see what I'll stitch on this lovely fabric!  

The weather has been on such a roller coaster lately, I should have put my big girl pants on and gone out shopping today.  It's supposed to turn bitter cold by the weekend.  So what am I doing sitting here?  Off I go!  I hope you have a wonderful, productive day!  Happy Stitching! 

Advent Day 17

Happy Day 17...and there was a reason for Happy Dancing last night...I finished the top part of Christmas All Through The House.  I spent the day with scissors, tweezers, needle, and thread yesterday.  I wish I had kept track of the number of hours it took just to remove the threads and weave those bars...haha.  I do know there are over 6,000 stitches in this part!  I loved every stitch of this, even the ones I had to rip out and repeat...haha.  I'm really looking forward to starting the bottom part of this pattern later today.  

I have uploaded the gift from the Advent Box in the page above.  I just LOVE silk threads, and these are a beautiful color!  They feel so lovely in my hands...I can't wait to stitch with them!!  

I found a little tutorial on Facebook this morning, so spent a little time playing around with pictures...and finished up this one!  I think I'll print this one out, I love how it looks!  What do you think?  

Ok, time to get up and get stitching...what are you working on today?  Happy Stitching!