Final Final Happy Dance

Okay, so I got it wrong!  I actually managed another finish today!  That makes a grand total of 73 finishes in one year!!!  Of course, many of them were smalls but even so....

These are from Cross Stitcher mag issue 247, the cover kit.  I won't go into long details about how much this magazine has disappointed me this last year (again!) but they slightly redeemed themselves with these designs by Angela Poole.  But why oh why supply aida for designs with so many fractionals and backstitch splitting the squares?  Why?  Why?  Why?  Only the tree was suitable for aida stitching which made it a little bit of an odd-man-out in the set.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an evenweave-snob, aida is fine for lots of things especially cards and things with whole stitches only.  I particularly like dark coloured aida and use it quite often.  But not for fractionals!  And there wasn't enough light green or red for all six....

Anyway, enough moaning, here are the designs stitched on the last piece of my tea-dyed evenweave (how versatile has that been?):

 And here they are, all scrapbooked up!

This is a little vignette showing my TUSAL jar.  I didn't get to enter the TUSAL last year as I didn't have a blog at the beginning of the year.  In fact, being able to join the TUSAL was my prime motivation to starting a blog.  That and the fact that my family do not pander to my narcissistic tendencies enough.  I crave adoration from the wider world!  Edit - and Audrey Hepburn is a fan too, so it seems looking at my latest follower (No 174).  Welcome to the blog, Audrey :-)

 The hand-made card is from my SIL and the little fireplace has four stockings with our names on, isn't it cute?

Here is the TUSAL in all it's glory:

And here is my kitchen TUSAL (with friends):

Why do I have a kitchen TUSAL?  Because I also stitch in the kitchen while waiting for the tea to heat up.  (I don't do cooking as such, well, not much if I can help it!).  The huge candle has come out every Christmas since we've been in this house and burned throughout Christmas dinner.  At this rate it will see me out and probably the large boy and his descendants too!

The small festive thingies sit at each of our places during the meal too.

The plan for all my ORTS is to use them to stuff this once it's finished:

This is Part 1 of a cute little Christmas design by Jenn of Leftsox.  I have Part 2 now currently being stitched on some gorgeous green evenweave courtesy of Mouse House Emergency Fabric Supplies.  Thanks, Mouse, I owe you one!

Finally, who can identify the item my kitchen ORTS live in?  The main TUSAL was a jar of sweet and sour sauce in a previous life.  I thought about using a Branston Pickle jar for the English connection but was concerned my ORTS and therefore my ornie would smell of old pickle for evermore!

On that note, have a wonderful Old Year's Night and a magical New Year's Day.