Christmas Wrap Up, New Primitive Doll, Ornies, etc.

Well, fellow stitchers, crafters and humans - we are on the eve of a New Year, and I wish us all well!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas. I had a better one than I deserve. My kids got me the sweetest and most thoughtful gifts, new Pandora charms, books. They got us a gorgeous book of photos from the wedding last year. So thoughtful and beautiful.

I was so thankful to get the embroidery/applique book by Maggie Bonanomi. It is filled with such gorgeous prim and homey designs. I also LOVE this needle felting book! Oh I really need to do the Corgi and the Jack Russel! Needle felting seems easy enough and I should tackle this one in 2023. 

Somehow, I buckled down and made myself another doll I'd been wanting to make. She turned out great! I can't say enough nice things about the designer of these cuties. Her gorgeous patterns can be found on Etsy at Liberty Creek Primitives. The patterns are adorable, and her instructions are fantastic. Very easy for a beginner too (if you have a basic understanding of sewing)! This little sweetie is called "Rejoice" in her store. I need to add a red stuffed heart or stocking for her to hold. Not sure which at this time!

I picked up my needle for a few minutes this week, but not even enough progress to show. However, I do want to show off my daughter in law's amazing skills here with some felt ornaments I was lucky enough to be gifted! She had a friend show her the basics, and she practiced and practiced and then downloaded some patterns and made these beautiful ornies for me. I could have cried! 

This is something else I've always wanted to learn to do. And now I have someone to show me everything about it! WOW. To say I was surprised is an understatement! I mean, she absolutely has amazing talent at so many things, but I never expected needlework! She is awesome. <3

I need to focus on my health and creativity this year again. I'm delving in next week and continuing the journey I started earlier this year. I have new challenges and things to overcome, but I'm looking forward to getting some of these things behind me and moving on. Lots to do.

Please don't put any undue burdens on yourself to do more, be more, etc. Just be. If you have a new goal, by all means, go for it. But I think a lot of times we set ourselves up for disappointment and feelings of inadequacy by trying to come up with too many goals, you know? 

We've had lots of things to deal with this year, including the loss of my mother in law. It's been a rough one in many ways. But also a good one in many ways. We carry all of this with us into 2023. My main goal is to handle whatever comes my way with patience, and as much grace as I can muster. Be calm, and carry on!

I hope you all have a creative and happy and healthy New Year! I will see you soon with more stitching stuff! Take care of one another and stay safe. 

Until next time,

A Little Christmas Spirit and a Fudge Recipe!

What a couple of weeks it has been. My work has just been crazy and I have desperately been trying to sneak in some Christmas sprit amongst all the bad news out there. So I thought I would share some handmade Christmas items I completed over the years. And it reminded me that I need to do more. 

 The Santa cross stitch pillow is from a hardback Leisure Arts book and it's one of the first cross stitches I ever did when I started stitching. The Santa ornament is a chalkware type ornament that I painted and finished myself. I have one with a green hat too. The resin Santas came unfinished and I painted them by hand and then antiqued and sealed them. I have more of them, but these are some of my favorites. I was on a real resin Santa kick for a while in the 90's. The little stuffed snowman was a project my sister and I came up with. She came over for an afternoon and we made little snowmen-probably about 25 or so years ago actually. Fun memories.

Like I said, just trying to get a little festive. I love twinkle lights inside and we have colored lights around the windows and glass door. When you stand outside and look in, it really looks cozy and warm. I have come to love Swedish star lanterns too. I have two and need to add more to my collection. I keep threatening to move to Northern Sweden to a little red house, and I'll need lots of these when I do.

I only managed a bit of stitching, but here's a little update on Fancey Blackett's Brooms.

The nose on this cauldron cracks me up. I don't know why. I can't wait to finish this up. It's been so fun to work on. 

I managed to squeeze in some other crafty stuff lately. I finished my Journey Blanket Scarf.

And I'm making some wooden bead scandanavian star ornaments. You can grab the tutorial HERE.

These are really fun and neat. I made a promise to myself to make 4-5 handmade ornaments every year from now on. I haven't done that in so long and it's so much fun, and so meaningful. Plus I'll have something special to leave to my kiddos one day!

Oh yeah. Also made some rocky road fudge recently! You can find the recipe HERE. It's so easy and it really makes a nice presentation and it is super tasty and creamy! Seriously, it's only gonna take you about 15 minutes or less to make. 

Doesn't that look yummy??!! And it is! 

Well, that's it for now folks. Now it's ordering, waiting for packages, shopping, etc. Still deciding what to make for Christmas dinner, but it'll only be the 4 of us again, like Thanksgiving. It will be so nice when this pandemic is over and our lives can get back to where they were. I'm thankful we are all still here, but so many people have lost loved ones. It's overwhelming. Today we are at over 300,000 lives lost. 

Be back soon with a Brooms update! Until then,

Haunted WIP, T-giving recap, Wildlife

I have nearly finished this little freebie by The Snowflower Diaries. And to think I had BIIIIG plans to finish it by Halloween. The fates must chuckle loudly at my cross stitching plans. Here is a near finish:

 

It'll be nice to finish her and move on to my next thing. I love Halloween, but I'm done. LOL.

Thanksgiving was so wonderful. The pizzelles were a hit again. My brother in law fixed another famous meal. My son absolutely LOVES his uncle's smoked turkey. Everything was so great. My in laws came too and thankfully my husband was able to be off for this holiday.  My son's grandfather hit a deer on the way home and luckily he was still pretty close to my sis's house.  They went and got him, but his car needed some major repairs.  He was so lucky he wasn't hurt or worse!

Sharing this holiday with family is really a special thing for me. My nephews are so cute and funny-they really keep us entertained! So, about brothers-there's always something going on behind someone's head, isn't there?

 My sis and her family were so thoughtful and got my boy a cake to celebrate his acceptance to college!  We laughed at the writing, but it's not the writing that counts.  By the way, have you been to Cake Wrecks?  If not, go now, because I've never laughed so hard at some of them.  This one however, seems just right to me.

We got a new Christmas tree and had it decorated a couple days before Thanksgiving. It fits perfectly in our little home.

 

Before I go, I want to show some of the birds that we share our back yard with. And one VERY NAUGHTY SQUIRREL. Love them.

 

Well, we have some sleet and freezing rain happening here today, as you can see from the photos.  Looks like the people north of us are getting hammered!  I do wish for some of the white (not icy) stuff soon.  Our weather has been crazy the past week.  A few days ago, it was nearly 70 degrees.  

Hopefully I'll be finishing up my WIP soon and will have a new start to post.  Stay safe and until then, 

Santa Corn Ornie Finish

Another ornie finish! This one was really quick. I can tell you that I had some trouble with the corners on this ornie. Can anyone tell me if there is a trick to corners? It seems so bulky to turn a corner on this when whip-stitching it closed with the beads. I'm taking that bell off too. After finishing, it kind of went wonky.

Santa Corn by Cricket Collection
28 ct.Mystery Linen over 2
DMC Threads/craft beads/ribbon

Thank you for taking a peek! Now, do I pull out something new or work on Gathering Eggs?

Ya'll won't believe this!

Well, I finally had some success! I didn't want to take the time to stitch the little snowman again, but I will later on. And I thought to myself that if mess up another uber-cute design, I would surely see an early grave, so I found a tiny little biscornu pattern from The Floss Box (they have snowflakes too!) and went to work. It was a super quick stitch and then I finished it last night.

Here is what it looked like prior to stitching:

Then I carefully followed instructions from all you great ladies who tried to help me avoid a nervous breakdown and it turned into THIS before my very eyes!!!!

Mini-Biscornu-The Floss Box

Wichelt 18 ct. Twilight Blue Linen, over two

Freebie found HERE

I can't hardly believe it! I'm going to go so far as to say I'm very pleased with myself, lol! Now I have to get back to my poor neglected Sheepies!

Thank you again, everyone, who left me comments and talked me down from the ornament finishing ledge. You'll never know how much it meant to me!!