Sticking with smalls

I've decided not to touch any larger projects until after the holidays are over. Working on smalls is much easier right now since I spend a great portion of my time stitching in the car while we travel from one event or one place to another. Besides, when I finish one I feel I've at least accomplished something because I'm certainly not getting anywhere with my Christmas preparations! Life is quite busy as I'm sure it is for many of you at this time. I'm determined not to get stressed out about things this year. So what if the tree doesn't get put up until the weekend before Christmas? We're not here most of the time to enjoy it anyways. Same goes for baking. Nobody home to eat it right now! Since the tree isn't going up until a bit later, then I figure my finishing on my ornaments can wait a bit too. I finish work on Dec 19th and then I'm off until Jan. 5 except for one day - Dec 26th. Other than Christmas Eve, all of our concerts will be finished by that weekend so I'm going to enjoy the time at home baking and decorating.

I've managed to complete one ornament and I'm currently working on two others at the moment. My Prairie Schooler Partridge is my latest finished ornie. My two new starts are both ornaments, one called Jingle All the Way by Sweet Pea Designs and the other is a Christmas Box Ornament by Country Garden Stitchery. Jingle is from the Dec. 2007 issue of Just Cross Stitch.

The Box ornament is actually number one of three. I think they're all very pretty and delicate and hope to stitch all of them. The pattern calls for floss by The Thread Gatherer ... In The Burgundy. I decided to go with my own colour choice which is Shiraz by Dinky Dyes. I had this particular one in my stash along with a lovely piece of a Silkweaver Opalescent Solo. I picked up some beads and Kreneik gold cord on the weekend to match. Below is a picture of my progress so far. It's stitching up pretty quickly. I've also posted a pic of the little bit I have completed on Jingle.

Tonight on ebay I won an auction for some of the TG In the Burgundy silk floss so I'll use this for one of the others. If by some small chance I finish stitching these before Christmas, I have another start in the wings. It's Button Up for Christmas #1 by Cathy Jean of the Victoria Sampler. I'm really enjoying taking a break from bigger projects to stitch on these lovelies.

We're currently having our first major snowfall of the season as you can see from the picture below. I'm not counting that storm we had before Halloween because let's face it, that was just a freak. This storm is dumping a bit more than was predicted. On top of that, the transit system in Ottawa is set to walk out tomorrow which means more cars than usual out in all that mess since the buses won't be operating. What a miserable time for a strike with the holidays approaching. I know my son is quite concerned about how he'll get to work since he often has to open the store where he works. Many students rely on the transit system and with exams just around the corner it's making life difficult for them. I hope things can be resolved fairly quickly although it's not looking very promising. I took this photo from my front porch. I was going to head out to shovel but my neighbour cleared the drive for us with his snowblower. My DH stayed put in Ottawa tonight so he could avoid the miserable drive and as a result he can drive my son to work in the morning. After that he's on his own to find rides.


Now I'm off to work a little on our Christmas letter and then a bit of stitching time before bed. Mornings start earlier whenever there's a snowfall. Hope you are all safe and sound and having a good week.