Santa was good to me !

Look what I got!

DMC floss in every solid color they make! I think there are something like 454 different colors!

WOW! If that doesn't inspire you to stitch, nothing will! This is just like getting the Crayola box with all 64 colors when you were a kid! (Does anyone remember that)?

and. . .

DMC linen threads.

I will have to look for a special design to use these! I like the way the linen looks on natural things like trees, grass, etc.

and . . .

My red tea kettle!

I specifically asked for this one. I love how cheerful it looks on the stove!

Quite a haul!

Thanks all of you for all your kind words on my ornaments. I still haven't gotten them finished, but hopefully soon!

Ruchi, I think it is wonderful that you are teaching your daughter to stitch! That is such a nice thing to pass down to the next generation. She is young, and even if she does not continue with it now, she will probably come back to it someday when she is older. She will always remember that you taught her. I learned from my grandmother when I was about her age. I will never forget it. It is one of my most cherished memories.

Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Hope it's a good one for all of us!

Happy Holidays!

Just wanted to show you this year's ornaments. I never manage to stitch all the ornaments in my head, but atleast I got a few done. Unfortunately I have not finished them yet. If I have a few minutes of peace tonight, I may be able to finish a couple anyway.

As a cat lover, I couldn't resist the Britty Christmas Kitty. I made up 2 of these. One was stitched one over one thread. The other was one over two threads.

I was thinking of using the small one as a Christmas present tie-on. It is only about 1-1/2 inches square.

I am a little torn about this though. I cringe at the thought of someone just tossing it out with the Christmas clutter, After all, not everyone appreciates the time and effort spent on these little thingies!

I got this pattern from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments 10th Anniversary Collection,

Boy did I have a hard time getting ahold of this one! The people who have it, don't want to let it go, and when you can manage to find it, it is very expensive!

The reason I wanted this book though was for my favorite, Holiday Sled from Ursula Michaels Designs. I love this one! Unfortunately I don't think I will be able to finish it this year. I have in mind a special backing for it that I cannot seem to find right now! I have been re-organizing my attic, and it is somewhere up there in all the clutter.

Last but not least is the cutie Christmas Cat in the Window, from The City Stitcher. I got this from Just Cross Stitch 1989 issue.

I stitched this one one over one, so it is really tiny.

Hopefully I can finish up atleast some of these.

On another note, I have had some questions about the bees.

Unfortunately one of the hives is completely dead, and we suspect that a second one is dead also. The first one has no sign of bees, and no activity. The second one had a small number of bees, but we suspect that they were robber bees from another hive trying to rob the honey.

After all the rain over the summer, the vandalism and the early cold weather, it looks like we went into the winter with one viable hive. Keith did his best to feed them sugar water all fall, and we did not harvest the honey this year, leaving it for them to get through the winter. Hopefully they will come through the winter. Nothing is certain at this point. I guess it depends on the severity of the winter and the hardiness of the bees. We are hoping for the best.

I want to wish you all the very best of the holidays. Hope you experience a maximum of warmth and good cheer, and a minimum of stress and conflict!

Back from Oblivion!!!

Not that I have actually gone anywhere! Just life getting in the way!
Time, since the summer has been just a blur! Although I have been very busy, I don't really seem to have much to show for it. I have been spending a lot of time fixing up my old house. It seems everything needs to be re-painted. Also, I have been trying to finish a part of the attic so I can have a little craft studio. This has proven harder than I thought, not to mention colder than I thought! There is no heat up there, so for now the plans will have to be on hold until spring.

I really appreciate all your comments! I am always amazed that anyone out there would care about my little scribblings!

I still haven't gotten The Old Aviary framed yet. Soon, hopefully. Atleast I have the frame for it.

I was working on the William Morris design, Love is Enough, but I put it aside for a while to work on a few other projects. This is a deceptively intricate pattern and it really requires my full alert attention. It is nagging at me to finish it! This is where I was when I left off:

With so much going on, I picked up a fairly brainless project that I have been working on off and on now for over a year. I am happy to say that I have finally finished stitching the little Christmas lap quilt, 'Tis the Season. It's ok, but frankly, I am not sure this one was worth all the work. Maybe I will feel better about it when it is quilted. I hope so.

I had some trouble finding the backing fabric for this. Finally I found one the other day on ebay. Of course it will be a while before it is quilted and finished.
Oh well. There is always next year!

After I finished that, I still wasn't ready to go back to the William Morris design, so I picked up another Cross stitch quilt. I love these old kits, but unfortunately they do take forever! This one is called Country Garden.


It didn't come with the thread, so I picked my own. The colors I chose are not as bright as pictured. I wanted a more antique look, so I went for some muted tones. This is a a king-sized quilt, and is a huge design !
I started working on the center panel. The part between the borders hangs down at the bottom of the bed. I have really just started the center design. I guess I have about 2-1/2 feet before I get to the top. Then I have the 2 side panels to do!

This is what I have so far:

I did manage to stitch a few little ornaments, but I have not finished them yet,

Well, I guess that is it for the stitching for now.

Sorry for such a rambling post. I promise, I will not be gone so long this time!