A blog trying to focus on all the nice things in life, those moments when everything turns out right. Finding the perfect fabric for that chart you love, the ideal sampler quote, just the right picture in all the 1000s of magazines you own. Meeting people who share your interests and obsessions and totally understand why you NEED that chart when you already have enough to last until you're 104
IHSW or International Hermit and Stitch Weekend always starts on the third Friday of the month. It's a chance to lock yourself away and focus on your stitching for the weekend. You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page - IHSW on Facebook.
December is always a tricky month for stitching time. I have had one project all month and don't seem to have much to show for almost every day. But sometimes it's only an hour of stitching.
stitched over 1 on 25 count Cirrus from Chromatic Alchemy
This is The Fox from the Year in the Woods series from Cottage Garden Samplings. I have all 12 and it will probably take me 12 years to stitch them all at this rate!
This is my evening project, Special Delivery from Just Nan from 2003. I started this for my Just Nan-athon in 2018 and stitched it for one evening per year since then. It would be nice to finish it this year.
stitched on 28 count Flax linen
I did take the time at the weekend to put some stitchy decorations up. This is my traditional garland decorated with stitched ornaments from friends and some that I stitched myself.
This is a new wreath for this year and feautures some of the felt ornaments the lovely Jocondine has made for me and my family. The cups have our initials on them!
Finally, the next IHSW will be 19th - 21st January so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here by leaving a comment on my post.
Welcome to the December Gifted Gorgeousness link-up. The link-up date continues to be the 15th and I will keep the link-up open until the end of each month so you have plenty of time if you are late posting.
The format remains exactly the same, there is a list of rules on the main sign-up page if you want to check what is required but basically anything connected to the word "gift" is allowed, whether it was a gift TO you or is a gift FROM you.
For November, my focus was my Chatelaine Gardens of London. This was a gift for a Big Zero Birthday. This time I stitched the iconic phone boxes and guardsmen.
stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds Belfast from Crafty Kitten
I continued my Tree of Life from Steady Thread which was a prize I won, stitched on gifted fabric.
stitched on 28 count Cashel linen in Meadow Mist from Silkweaver
I made some more progress on the Zodiac Signs from Circle Cross' Tarot design. I finished Sagittarius:
stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers
Now it is your turn to show us your Gifted Gorgeousness for the month. Please use your name or your blog name in the field and NOT the words "December Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month. And link to the actual post, not just your blog. It is easier if you copy and paste the link, rather than typing freehand.
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Finally, time for another Santa Story for my Advent Calendar. Each year my son's school did a Christmas performance with varying degrees of success! Several of the children are not so keen on performing and would rather run around, sit with their parent, not enter the room or attempt to steal the show by ad-libbing! The staff came up with various ingenious ways to support every child to play a part in the performance.
One year, my son's class were really doing well with their swimming lessons so the teacher decided to incorporate this in their part of the show. The story was "Matt's Class are going to see Santa at the North Pole on a boat. Unfortunately the boat capsizes and the class have to swim for it!"
We then watched a video of them "falling" off an inflatable mat into the pool and swimming through various obstacles to reach Santa. The children themselves sat in a line pretending to row their boat and watched the video.
There was lots of green-screen editing to produce penguins and polar bears on their journey too. At least I hope it was green-screen!
And here's my contribution for the day, a video of my scrapbook finishes:
And here is the project itself. This is the first design from the Carriage House Samplings Year in the Woods series - January Fox.
stitched over one on 25 count evenweave in Cirrus from Chromatic Alchemy
When I was choosing fabric for the series I couldn't decide between 25 over one or 32 over two. So I bought both! I went for the 25 count to keep the size down and it looks gorgeous.
My fabric is a lot paler than the charted fabric so I am a little bit concerned about how well the white snowflakes will show up. I'm going to use B5200 rather than the charted 3865 which I have used in the body of the fox.
Next up is another day on my Advent Calendar Blog Hop. I've chosen an older design from an issue of World of Cross Stitch magazine to share with you.
I stitched it back in 2010 on navy 14 count aida using B5200 DMC and beads for the moon. I googled "rooftop silhouette" then traced this one onto black card and carefully cut it out. Added red metallic reins and a red bead for Rudolph's nose! Charity shop frame to finish it off.
Finally, here's another local Santa Story. This one probably happens in many other towns and countries across the world, unlike our Silo Tree.
For several years the local Rotary Club has organised a Santa Sleigh ride around the streets of our town, especially around the housing estates to ensure as many children as possible get to see Santa, wave to him and even get a photo taken with him if they are very lucky. On the way around they collect donations for their charity fundraising.
Here's a photo from a previous year of his wonderful lit-up sleigh.
Do you have a tradition like this? It's not fancy, commercial or slick, just a lovely group of local people doing something nice for the children and for charity.
This SAL is designed to motivate us all to do something with that box of Finished pieces instead of just storing them under the bed. We will all be linking up on Rachel's blog on or after the 10th of each month (10 Hour Stitcher - 10th of the month).
I have two fully finished objects this month. First of all, a little Christmas pillow ornament.
Following the success of finishing Just Nan Spooky Smalls in October, I decided to do the same in December with some Christmas Smalls. The first one is the complimentary ornament from the Angel Flowers sampler. This is something Nan did with some of her older samplers, add a little ornament to match.
I started this one in May 2021 as part of my annual Just Nan-athon and just added a simple gold hanger.
stitched on 28 count pink linen
The second finish was professionally framed by my lovely framer of 20 years. I took this one in and she was delighted with her gift as she is a Taurus herself! I told her that in exchange for free framing for life she could keep it LOL
We went for a dark brown frame with a silver inner to keep the glass away from the beads.
Corner detail of the frame:
Each Zodiac sign with be framed differently as the fabrics and designs are so different, I don't need the frames to match as it's unlikely I will dispalay all 12 together!
Finally, the Advent Calendar. Unfortunately we didn't get enough participants this year so I will be using the spare days myself.
This year the topic is Santa Stories, and here's one of mine.
This was the silo in our town that the elves used to store presents for all the local children. When the tree on top was lit up that meant the silo was full and it was a signal to Santa that he could stop by and refill his sleigh when he reached our town.
In reality, it is a grain silo and the tree was placed on top for a bit of festive fun for the elderly mother of the manager there. She lived in the only tower block in town and could see her son's workplace from her window. So his workmates thought it would be nice for her to have a tree to look at!
This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog. I asked for suggestions for themes from followers of my blog and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice. We are currently working our way through the choices. This is what was chosen:
December - Chocolate
January - Your Designer of the Year
February - to be announced
It would appear that I am more interested in eating chocolate than stitching it! The closest I come find was this great Chocolate Chip Cookie themed Star Wars stitch from Dork Stitch:
Back in 2013 I stitched this little Easter Bunny from Chatelaine and made it into a chocolate filled pocket:
In the same year, I stitched a year of JBW Kitties, the April one was chocolate themed:
Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Chocolate, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog. Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.
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Finally, the Advent Calendar has started, we've opened two doors so far so do make sure you hop over and visit the participants each day. Santa stories and stitching provided but you'll have to bring your own chocolate for this one!
My plan for November was to stitch my Chatelaine, Gardens of London, for as many days as possible. It's a large, complex design that I really need to sit down and focus on for an extended period of time.
It went from here:
to here:
stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds Belfast from Crafty Kitten
I managed to complete both the telephone boxes and the two guardsmen. I just need to finish the metallics on both boxes.
When I wasn't able to work on my Chatelaine, I focused on a new start. The Tree of Life from Steady Thread.
stitched on 28 count Cashel linen in Meadow Mist from Silkweaver
I was really pleased to get the branches of the tree completed as it means I can start adding the daily leaves from 1st January.
This was also my evening project throughout November:
The other four days were my Zodiac signs from the Circle Cross Art Nouveau Tarot.
I completed Scorpio and Sagittarius this month:
And made a very small start on the border for Capricorn.
stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers
I'm actually ahead of target on this one which is a good place to be. Especially as she keeps on releasing new designs I really want to stitch!
Stitch from Stash - after the excitement of my Birthday month, I am back to zero!
Finally, the Advent Calendar Blog Hop starts tomorrow. The post will go up early so you can see all the doors and I'll update it each day as the participant posts on their blog.
Making great progress on my WIPGO board this year. I've completed the two November calls and Number 12 which will be the December call so that just leaves me two numbers for December!
Finally, the Advent Calendar Blog Hop starts tomorrow, the countdown starts there!
Each month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World. Since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "23 in '23" for this year. This month I only stitched on 2 of my WIPs.
Finally, Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too:
November – What is your favourite way to finish ornaments and/or smalls?
You mean apart from "popping them in a folder to be finished later"? I call this The Ron Method. Because they will be finished Later Ron hahaha.
A lot of my Smalls have been scrapbooked as I simply don't have space for loads of smalls everywhere. I do try finish my Christmas Ornaments and have a lovely garland I put up each year with some of my ornaments and some gifted by my lovely friends.
Here's a couple of photos from last Christmas:
Mostly simple pillows. Although I do like a 3D finish and here's my festive bookshop from Living on the Rainbow:
Because I am focusing on my BAPs again, I won't have so many smalls this year but I do have a couple of series with small components so I will share them this month.
The only one I stitched this month is the Blackwork Tarot by Circle Cross. I have finished Scorpio:
stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers
and started Sagittarius:
Sagittarius is the start of the bottom row. Once I stitch these four I go back to row 2 and fill in Aries ad Taurus to finish. My plan is to stitch each one in the relevant month, give or take a week or two!
I should have a couple more smalls for next month. The plan is to stitch some of the festive Just Nan Smalls I started during my Just Nan-athons and attempt to finish them! This worked well in Dark October so should be fun for December too.
Finally, last call for the Advent Calendar. I have four spaces still empty so if no-one volunteers, I'll be doing them myself! If you're not sure what is involved have a look back at last year's Hop:
If you want to take part, just leave a comment here or email me if you are a "no reply" person. I need an email address for you to take part in this hop.
