2013 Online Advent Calendar

Here is our Online Advent Calendar, it will be updated every day. 

Scroll down to see the latest picture and a link to the poster's blog.

Pop over to each blog to see how they celebrate.

This year I have asked each blogger to tell us about their "Festive Food"

Tuesday 24th December posted by a very excited Shebafudge

Shebafudge

Monday 23rd December posted by Chiara Grey Tail

The Grey Tail

Sunday 22nd December posted by Brenda

Time 2 Xstitch

Saturday 21st December posted by Evalina

This and That

Friday 20th December posted by Gillie

Random Thoughts from Abroad

Thursday 19th December posted by Cheryl

Today I Found

Wednesday 18th December posted by Heather

It's Geek to Me

Tuesday 17th December posted by Zeb

Keep Calm and Coss Stitch

Monday 16th December posted by Christine

The Alchymyst's Study

Sunday 15th December posted by Maggee

Stitching Devotee

Saturday 14th December posted by Justine

Justine's Cross Stitch

Friday 13th December posted by Jan

Thread Garden

Thursday 12th December posted by Emma

My Creative Corner

Wednesday 11th December posted by Astrid

Astrid posted three pictures and this was my favourite

Dragon Stitches and Stuff

Tuesday 10th December posted by Lesley-Anne

My Frozen Sunshine

Monday 9th December posted by Kaye

Kitten Stitching

Sunday 8th December posted by Carolyn

Taking One Stitch at a Time

Saturday 7th December posted by Mouse

Tales of a Stitching Mouse

Friday 6th December posted by Gaynor

Stitchers Anon

Thursday 5th December posted by Gracie

Needles, Pins and Dragonflies

Wednesday 4th December posted by Aurelia

Eglantine Stitchery

Tuesday 3rd December posted by Shirlee

The Easily Influenced Stitcher

Monday 2nd December posted by Kevin

Cabbages and Kings

Sunday 1st December posted by Vickie

A Stitcher's Story

December WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi of Measi's Musings.

The main focus of my WIPocalypse this year is my "13 in '13" a list of 13 projects I want to complete in 2013, click on top tab for the list.  Once again I haven't actually worked on any of them since the last WIPocalypse post!  Moving swiftly onwards....

The second part of the WIPocalypse is the Monthly Challenges.  The only one stitched so far is the Twelfth Dragonlet of Christmas:

There were two options for the Twelfth, this Rock Drummer or a Bongo Drummer with a Bazinga quote.  I went for the Rock option and added the Double D on his drum kit too.  I have now completed all 12 of the series.  If you want to see all of my twelve, you can either click on the 12 Dragonlets label on the right hand side bar or wait until Twelfth Night when I will show a picture of them all together.

In my previous Theme-a-licious post I referred to a giveaway prize I couldn't show yet.  Well, Christine has now received her parcel so I am free to Show-and-Tell.  Christine was the lucky Picture Poster whose name was chosen at random to recieve a little prize.  Here is what I sent her:

Isn't this the most amazing fabric?  I found it in an online fabric shop called Plush Addict and couldn't resist buying a FQ for Christine to do something imaginative with!

This is the bag with it's backing fabric (also from Plush Addict) 

And here is the finishd bag with its contents (chocolate spider) and some flower button sewn on.  I bought a bag of these during the summer from my local craft shop and thought they were perfect for this design. 

The design is from the 2010 Hallowe'en preview issue of JCS I have on CD.  It is by Monsterbubbles.

While I was looking for the perfect skull fabric online and buying these two pieces, two more pieces fell into my basket.  That seems to be a recurring problem with online shops, things you love just randomly fall into the basket then you have to buy them.

 More Skulls (this design was too big for the bag)

And some Christmas Flower Fairies.  I have no idea what I am going to do with this piece but I can fondle it and drool on it while I decide.

Finally, here is a picture of my ongoing Little Stitcher Advent Tree:

Theme-a-licious December Update

Theme-a-licious is hosted by Heather of It's Geek to Me

Each month Heather thinks up a theme for us to stitch to, or in my case, a theme to somehow shoe-horn my existing stitching into, no matter how tenuous the link!

This was the theme for December:

Detritus December

It's the end of the year...are there some projects you thought you'd have done by now? Let's take a walk down memory lane and start the new year with a clean plate.

Thankfully this is an easy one to stitch to theme!!

So far this month I have completed a Giveaway which I can't show yet, a Dragon Dreams Birthday card which I can, a Dragonlet a Drumming which I'm saving for WIPocalypse, Gandalf for the Hobbit Challenge and the final part of The Little Stitcher Advent.  Not bad for a fortnight!  I also stitched the words Happy Birthday on some aida but I am not counting that as a Finish!

Pictures:

Dragon Dreams freebie available on their FB page only.

 

Gandalf from Pixel Power

This was stitched on a piece of 28 count evenweave from a Crafty Kitten grab bag.

For those of you who wondered, the runes spell out Gandalf's speech while facing the Balrog on the bridge in the Mines of Moria - "You cannot pass.  I am a servant of the Secret Fire, Wielder of the Flame of Anor.  The Dark Fire will not avail you Flame of Udun.  Go back to the shadow. L.O.T.R."

Final four days of The Little Stitcher Fairy Tale Advent.

I stitched this over 1 on 32 count Vintage Grain linen.  I have enough left to stitch two of the Winter Wood ornies I have and also this lovely design:

The plan is to stitch one a month starting in January 2014.  Anyone care to join us?

You can buy the charts either as PDFs or as a paper booklet from The Little Stitcher's Etsy shop.  Click picture for link.

Finally, the Advent Calendar Blog Hop is ticking away nicely, don't forget to pop in every day and leave a comment on the blogs you visit.  I'm tending to update it in the evening when I get home as I'm working alot and hubby is monopolising the computer muttering about "end of year accounts".

In a Hole in the Ground there lived a Hobbit...

who had many adventures, some of which are told in the new film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug released today.  To celebrate the film's release the blog Crochettes has decided to host a LOTR Challenge.

I actually chose a piece from The Lord of the Rings simply because I liked it and it was a freebie!  Here is a very forbidding Gandalf:

The chart can be found on Pixel Power's website here.  There is a long list of titles but no pictures, you have to click on each link to see the charts.  If you do, you may notice that their Gandalf does not a lovely Runic border like mine.  I charted the border myself.  You get triple Geek points if you can tell me what it says!!

Interestingly, Gandalf does not say "You shall not pass" in the book, he says "you cannot pass".  This link goes some way to explain why the film is different to the book Sci-Fi and Fantasy Stack Exchange.  I quite agree that the film version is more powerful.

I have been posting my Little Stitcher Advent Calendar on my FB page as my daily profile picture and here are some photos of the tree so far:

This are the first 6 designs

Here are the next 6 designs upto number 12

And here is today's panel with just number 13 changed.  Each of the square panels has the number on, they are fixed to the tree with velcro so I just peel off the square and replace it with the relevant stitched panel.

Finally, the Advent Calendar Blog Hop is proceeding nicely, there are lovely stitched piece on there and some great shared memories too.  So don't forget to pop back each day and catch up with the latest blogger.

A Different Dragon

This year I have been stitching Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Christmas one each month.  We are in the final month, only the little Dragonlet Drumming to go.  But there are more than just Christmas Dragonlets on the FB page.  For example, there is this cute little Birthday Dragonlet:

The chart comes with all the numbers so you can personalise it for the Dragon Fan in your life.  It is my friend's Birthday today so we went out for a little drinkie last night.  We went to the old faithful pub we all used to drink in our teens and twenties.  We have all been back periodically since then and the place stays the same.  Although it is lighter now since the smoking ban - you can see the other side of the bar!  It's always been a real ale pub for bikers and alternative people and it still is.  You can guarantee you'll always see someone you know in there.  You can go dressed up to the nines in full Goth regalia or just a jumper and holey jeans and not feel out of place.  One of my favourite stories which sums up my town perfectly is this:-

A friend had gone away to university as a mature student.  She lived away for three years rarely returning.  At the end of her course she arrived back in town and went into the pub with her luggage to meet the people she was going to be lodging with.  Someone turned to her and said "Oh hi, are you off somewhere?"  She thought - Thanks for missing me, I've only been away for three years!!

Back to stitching - I have finished one of my Hallowe'en Blog Hop prizes so that will be off in the post soon.  I have also been working on the LOTR Challenge for this Spanish Blog Crochettes.  Reveal Day for that one is Friday 13th December, the day the latest Hobbit film is to be released.

I do have two little finishes from a while back to show you - Shebafudge won my 400th Follower Giveaway a million years ago back in June!  I was stitching this La D Da rose design for the Needlecraft Haven Challenge and thought it would make a nice prize.  I then decided to make it into a little bag and put some rose flavoured goodies inside.  Except I couldn't find any!  So eventually I decided on Turkish Delight because that can be rose flavoured and it is at least pink!  Amazingly Sharon loves Turkish Delight so it turns out it was a good choice.  I also sent her a huge piece of pale blue aida she wanted for a Parade of Penguins designs which is 60 inches wide - WOW.

Here is the little Rose bag:

The other giveaway was for spotting the altered word in my Just Nan Autumn Typography finish and the Southpaw Stitcher won that one for noticing one of the Autumns said Awesome instead.  I wanted an Autumn themed piece and fell in love with the Owl by Blackberry Lanes Designs from the JCS Hallowe'en Ornie Special.  I made him into a little bag too:

That's a chocolate spider poking out of the top!

This is the owl with his backing fabric prior to making up.

I stitched the owl over 1 on 28 count black jobelan but stitched the chequerboard border over 2 because it was so much quicker that way!  The variegated sky is DMC 92.

Finally, the Advent Calender Blog Hop is proceeding nicely, everyone is remembering to post on their day a and sharing their foodie traditions.  I hope you are finding some "new-to-you" blogs and leaving comments.  Because that's what this is really all about; meeting new friends.

December TUSAL

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

Just for a change, the TUSAL jar is posing with my Advent Calendar tree and the current new start, a Dragon Dreams Birthday Card.  There's really not much to see on it so far!

Here's a closer picture of the tree:

The tree came from Wilkinsons and as it black and gold it can double up as a Hallowe'en tree too!  I bought two sheets of scrapbooking paper, one with 25 numbered panels and the other with an assortment of Christmas "patches".  I cut them all out, stuck numbers on the patches and mounted them on the tree with velcro tape.  Then I cut out and stuck each motif on a number panel using double-sided tape.  Each day I remove the numbered block and replace it with the relevant panel.

Because everything is velcroed I can just get some Hallowe'en patches and use them instead of the Christmas themed ones.

Here is the latest progress picture on the higher numbered motifs:

The Little Stitcher Fairy Tale Advent Calendar

I love everyone single one of these but especially the two little girls in red and green.  Only two motifs to go!

You may have noted my reference to using the tree as a Hallowe'en tree too.  The Large Boy and I had got as far as jotting down some notes as to which motifs we would include when this plopped through my letterbox:

It's Spooky Countdown by Primitive Hare!  The lovely Chiara of The Grey Tail was visiting the needlework show in Albimente and had a giveaway to win two different signed charts.  The charts were both won by some people who weren't me but never mind I thought I could always treat myself later.

Anyway Chiara had promised to send me some DVDs a while ago so as a "sorry they took longer to reach you than they should have" she sent me the Spooky Countdown chart!  And not just a chart, but a signed chart.  How amazing is that?  And before you ask, it wasn't signed by Chiara (which would have been exciting enough) but by Isabella the designer her very self!  So now I have two charts signed by the designers.  (I got a signed Teresa Wentzler from Karen for my Birthday).

Finally, the Advent Calendar Blog Hop has started, we have three people posted so far - Vickie, Kevin and Shirlee.  I hope you've been over to their blogs to read what they had to say about their foodie traditions  You can find the Calendar post by clicking on that door to the top right of my sidebar.  BTW apologies to anyone who thought they'd slept through December because I put the door for the 24th at the top of the post!  Blogger arranges posts so the most recent things are at the top so I have done the same for the Calendar.  ooops!