January Smalls 2021

My stitching in 2021 has picked up some from the pace of 2020 so far. I managed to complete two smalls this month and have already picked out a project for next month. 

 I started out the month with an ornament that I've had kitted up for a few years now. It's a Little House Needleworks Design called Saltbox Village. I don't know what got into me but for some strange reason I decided to stitch the entire ornament over one. I was looking to do some small bowl fillers that are winter scenes or that can fit in with my winter decor and this one fit the bill.

The next pic gives you an idea of just how small this sweet piece is.

I think all told it measures 1 3/4" squared. I really love how it turned out!

I started a second ornament, this time a Prairie Schooler, and decided to continue on the same fabric. The piece is large enough that I could do a few more on it.

This Prairie Schooler is from the booklet Button Up and I'm calling it the Snow Angel.

There are a couple more from this book that I want to add to these but I also have a Valentine small to stitch first in February. See you next month!

 

December Smalls

There was no new stitching of smalls that took place this month. I had all these plans and had pulled all manner of charts from my stash however a vile virus destroyed all my plans. Around Dec. 8 I started to feel not quite like myself and over the next few days realized that my body was fighting something. By my husband's birthday on the 12th I knew I was full out sick and I didn't recover to any extent until the 23rd! By then I had seen the doctor who diagnosed a chest cold/virus that had morphed into bronchitis and now required antibiotics. The drugs did their thing and my lungs are very slowly recovering. I suspect the coughing will go on for a couple more weeks though.
Consequently I did nothing and I mean nothing! I had no energy to even pick up my needle and I'm only just now starting to stitch again. Once my energy did start returning I got down to some serious finishing. I had my granddaughters ornies to complete as well as a friend's gift. During the process I also finished off several other small pillows.

Here are my gift finishes:

The two for my granddaughters are designed by The Little Stitcher and the last one is a design by Little House Needleworks called Potted Poinsettia.

Here is a pic of the ornaments and pillows I set out to finish followed by some pics of my small pillow displays throughout the house.

So no new stitches but lots of finishes! I'm pleased with how the month ended after losing most of it to ill health. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was very low key because although I'm somewhat recovered, my hubby is just coming down with a cold. 
Here's to lots of new smalls stitching in the New Year!

December Smalls and December WIPocalypse

Most of December's stitching was accomplished in the first few days and the last few days of the month. Early in the month I came down with a bout of vertigo due to a sinus infection which meant that stitching was out of the question. I'm feeling much better now but I'm still unable to lie down with my head flat without feeling off balance. So I continue to elevate my head with 2 pillows for sleeping. I'm just starting to feel like picking up my needle again. Thank goodness that of my stitching gifts the actual stitching was complete and only the final finishing remained. That took place in the last few days before Christmas. 

Here are my name trees which have now been gifted with resounding success.....Robert, Chris and Violet!

These were designed by Helga Mandl. In addition I completed the final finishing on a design I had stitched a couple of years ago by The Primitive Hare called I Believe in Christmas. I did an easel finish and gifted this to a close friend, Trish.

I also managed to squeeze in one final small finish for 2017. This is a sweet little design by Diane Williams of Little House Needleworks called Potted Poinsettia.

For my December WIPocalypse I managed to finish off a piece which I started early in the year or it might even have been last December. This is Joy by SubRosa Designs.

I stitched this with a Gloriana silk called Winter Woods. I love how the variegation turned out! I'm on the look now for a box on which I can display it.This will be my final finish for 2017. 

In addition, I managed a small bit of time on Heartstring Samplery Sing We Then Merrily. I'm hoping to complete this one in early January, ready for next Christmas.

A few days before Christmas I picked up a piece of my stitching from 2016 which I had framed for display this winter. This is by With Thy Needle & Thread and is called Paper Snowflakes.

The frame on this complements another piece by the same designer which my husband framed for me a couple of Christmas' ago, Heaven & Nature Sing.

So another year is coming to an end and 2018 looms on the horizon with all its promises and possibilities. Looking over my WIPocalypse list I'm pretty pleased with what I accomplished this year. I completed 4 of my original list and started 2 others. In addition I stitched 18 other pieces not on the original list. That's usually how it goes though. I always change my mind and start something other than what I originally chose. Here's a link to the page with pics of all this year's finishes.

WIPocalypse Year's End with some Smalls

Wow, 2016 is almost here! Another full year of stitching is complete too. I've spent what little time I've had the past month stitching on all my small projects. I completed 4 new smalls but only managed to do the final finished on one of the four.  Here they are!

 Notforgotten Farm Sleigh Bells

Threadwork Primitives Let It Snow

Stacy Nash Snowed In

Sub Rosa Designs Christmas Blessings

 The Stacy Nash piece was a Christmas gift for a friend who hinted very strongly that she would love to have one of my small tin finishes, lol! She got her wish!

There has been no stitching put into my two larger pieces recently but I will return to them once the holidays are over.

I did receive two lovely gifts from some stitching friends. Pat sent me the prettiest floss keep along with 2 Christmas colours of floss. The floss keep says Stitch Every Day. She is so thoughtful and I loved it.

Theresa made me the sweetest little stitched stocking. It looks right at home on my twig tree.

As you can see from the first pic, she also sent me 2 skeins of Valdani floss, a pair of scissors and some lovely antique buttons. I am so very blessed to have such great friends!

Earlier in the month I took one of previously stitched Little House Needlework ornaments and finished it off for one of my husband's choir members. Dan is an avid admirer of needlework and has a couple of antique pieces in his home. He told me how much he admired my work and that some day he hoped he could have a small momento of my needles at work. Here is what I gave him. I'm so glad that he liked it and I promised another next year.

 Little House Needleworks Bringing Home The Tree

Another of my previous finishes finally met up with the framer and came home in time to grace my wall for Christmas. This is Plum Street Samplers Mary's Sampler, a mystery sampler from a couple of years ago.

That pretty well wraps things up here.  My family are all arriving here tomorrow to celebrate our belated Christmas. I have spent all day preparing food for the meal despite being knocked out with another cold. I certainly hope that this year brings me much better health than last year. I wish you all a very Happy New Year and nothing but the best for 2016!! 

My first Stitch From Stash post

Good morning all! It's a beautiful, bright but bitterly cold morning here in Eastern Ontario. A perfect day to stitch indoors with natural light. Being the crazy Canuck that I am though, I'll be venturing outdoors into the frigid temperatures to revel in the glories of a Canadian winter!

I am so pleased to have joined with many bloggers to take part in the first Stitch From Stash group. I joined this group to try and keep check on my addiction to increasing my cross stitch stash and assist my dwindling pocketbook too. The group is now closed to new members but please stop by see how well controlled we are, or not, lol! I am going to make every effort to control my spending and stitch only from my existing stash which btw is massive!

My first stitching pic is one that some of you may have already seen on previous posts this month. I picked up an older WIP called Paradis Perdu which I started 2 years ago and added a few more stitches to it.

Hopefully I'll stick with this one a little more than I did last year and get closer to a finish.

My first start of the year is a gorgeous, colourful design that was just calling out to me from the stash pile. Welcome to With Thy Needle and Thread - The Pink Sparrow Sampler.

My second new start is an older Little House Needleworks design, The Counting House.

I've already found an error in my stitching so I'll be frogging one of those sheep in the very near future.

All fabric, floss and charts are from my current stash. I didn't learn of this group until just before Christmas and joined as soon as I found out. However I am more fortunate than some in that my stash will still increase somewhat but not by my own hand. My son gave me a GC to 123 Stitch for Christmas and my MIL always gives me a very generous gift of cash, a portion of which I earmark for framing and stitching supplies. So I will still have a few new items arriving without having to use any of my own cash. This should satisfy my urge to spend without any major damage. Of course, Market is just around the corner though, lol! By then I'm sure to have exhausted my generous gifts.
I look forward to popping by your blogs and seeing what treasures you've found to work on from your own supplies. Thanks for stopping by!

December's Ornies

I surprised myself this month in that I manage to stitch not one but two ornies. The first was earmarked for the Ornament SAL and was finished up pretty early on in the month. The second one was a spur of the moment start and I was happy that despite all the bustle of Christmas preparations I managed to complete this pretty addition as well.

First up, Little House Needleworks Seven Pines. This sweet little ornament was offered as a Christmas freebie gift. I stitched it up over one on the same fabric I used for Peppermint Twist.

I'm hoping to finish this one as a pillow ornament. It's a darling little design and I thank Diane of LHN for the wonderful addition to our tree.

The second ornament is one of the Box Ornaments from Country Garden Stitchery. I've stitched one other of these in the past and loved the delicate look of them.

Just one more remaining in this trio for me to tackle. The next one I want to stitch on a white opalescent using a red and green overdyed floss. They finish up very nicely.

I can't believe that brings me to the end of the year's commitment. I'm so happy that I was able to keep up and managed to stitch at least one ornament a month. Thank you so much Heather for organizing this SAL and I can't wait for next year's smalls!

Final WIPocalypse post for 2013

It's here! Whether we're ready or not, the full moon has arrived once more and it's time for the final WIPocalypse report of 2013. I had a look back at what I set out to do this year and I'm pretty pleased with my progress. So far I have 35 designs completed and I know that I'll have one more ornament completed by this weekend which makes a total of 36 finishes for 2013. I know that I didn't complete several of my choices on my first list but that's always a rough draft for me. My tastes and feelings change as the year passes and I don't always feel like stitching some of my original picks.  This year I stitched more large pieces as compared to last year so I'm very happy with the finished pieces.

Here's where I am with this past month's progress:

These two ornaments are designed by The Sunflower House and the second one is meant to be the backing for the first. However I have decided to finish each as a separate ornament.

I finished Plum Street Sampler's Mary's Sampler II which was a Christmas gift SAL from Paulette.

My ornie commitment for November was Little House Needleworks Peppermint Twist.

I have one other ornament finish which is also a Little House Needleworks design. I will post that on the last Wednesday of this month since it is for my ornament SAL.

In addition I started two other new ornaments.

First up The Primitive Hare Santa's Welcome - Ho, Ho, Ho
This one is being stitched over one so that it won't end up being too big.

The second ornament is Country Garden Stitchery Box Ornament III. I only have 4 more rows of stitches on this one and I know it will be complete before year's end. It stitches up very quickly despite its looks. There will also be some beading added to this one.

Last but certainly not least is my Torah Stitch By Stitch project. My portion of this project is nearing completion. The bottom border is nearly complete which only leaves one remaining side border. I will also be extending the border on the left to reach the edge of the bottom border.

Certainly it has been both a successful month of stitching and a successful year's worth! If you want to see all of my completions for this past year, just click on the title 2013 Finishes at the head of my blog.

Christmas is fast approaching now and I'm just about ready. Tomorrow I'll do a bit of baking, Sunday after church we are picking up the necessary food supplies for the meal and Monday is the final choir practice for Christmas Eve. I finished wrapping my gifts this morning and my cards are all out. 
I am very grateful to my son Daniel for all his help with decorating the house. Due to my hip issues I'm not able to get up and down on my stepladder to decorate the tree so he spent last Friday with me and we got the job done.

Here are some pictures of the results.

Lots of freezing rain is expected here this weekend so I plan on staying indoors, snug as a bug. I'll be back with another post of some of our recent Christmas festivities. Until then stay safe and stay warm!