Focusing on Finishing

This weekend I spent time trying to focus on the final finishing of some of my ornaments. So often I leave these sitting in a drawer figuring I'll get them finished and on the tree by Christmas. Does it happen? Not usually! The season catches up with me and I always run out of time or energy. I'm making an effort this time to try and get at least a few new ones up on the tree. To that end, here are the three ornaments I managed to finish off.

Here are the backing fabrics for them.

The pics look a little washed out but my camera battery is fading fast. I'm pretty pleased with how they've turned out. As you know, I've always said that finishing is not my forte and I do struggle with it. Honestly, it takes me hours to finish these! I can't make up my mind on fabric, trim, placement, etc. and I waste so much time fretting over things. I'm sure anyone else could have finished off these plus 3 more by the time I've made up my mind on the selection. I don't have much time this week to finish more but I'm hoping that Saturday will be a good day to tackle some of the others.

I finally started by BBD 'Tis The Season.

 I'm definitely loving this one and plan on spending some quality time with it tonight.

The ornament bug still hasn't left me though. I added another one to my collection this week. 

This one is by Full Circle Designs and called A Christmas Song. It can be found in the 2008 JCS ornament issue. I'm already looking for my next one to start on. If I can stitch a lot of ornaments this year then maybe I can forego the stitching next year and concentrate solely on the finishing. Of course, there are always new ones that I want to add to the mix! That's the problem!

 I hope your week is off to a good start. I'm off now to check out a few items for Christmas gifts. Wish me luck!

TUSAL and one more ornie

 I was thinking it must be getting close to a TUSAL post and sure enough when I checked the calendar this morning I found that today is the day of the new moon. It's such a lovely, sunny afternoon that when I headed out to check on the bird feeders I decided to take my  TUSAL jar along with me and snap a pic outdoors. 
Here it is, hanging on the post for my bird feeder. In the first pic you can see all the blacks from my Halloween stitching. Then, when you turn it around you start to see the red, greens and whites from my Christmas stitching.

I'm afraid that in the process, I disturbed these little fellows who were patiently waiting for their next meal!

After snapping the pics, I headed around to the front yard to the feeder there only to find that my DH had already filled it. Our neighbourhood birds are messy fellows who spill half the seed on the ground. These female finches dropped in to clean up the mess while their friend patiently waited her turn.

When I went to put the camera away in the back bedroom I opened the blinds to find a surprise in my neighbour's back yard.
They've just finished putting up a gazebo like ours. Guess they're trying to keep up with the Joneses!

Ladies, do you suppose he'd rent it out for our SALs? That way we'd all have a spot in the outdoors!

I've finally started stitching on my BBD 'Tis The Season but I don't have enough stitched for a picture. In the meantime, here's my latest ornie which I finished up on the weekend.... LHN It's Snow Cold!

Hope to post again soon with a pic of my new start!

Remember

I will, always.......

Check This Out!

So I'm just getting caught up in my blog reading when I find the most amazing giveaway over at Victorian Motto. You just have to head on over and check this one out!! I promise, it's worth your while!

Two More!

I can't believe it but I'm really on a roll now. I cranked out two more ornaments in the last three days! That's amazing for me. I'm going to try and stitch another one or two before the weekend is over.
Here are the latest additions:

Little House Needleworks  Ding Dong Merrily on High

Primrose Needleworks Sing Noel

Sing Noel was taken from the December 2008 issue of The Gift of Stitching. I changed the colours up on this one. The original was stitched with green, white and pink.

Here's my pile of Christmas fabrics that I'm working on finishing these with. I haven't quite decided on all the choices yet.

Once I'm done with stitching all these ornies I'll set aside a day strictly for finishing. Now I'm off to find another one to start. I think this one should have a snowman on it! Have a good day!

Adding To My Ornaments

For the past week I've been concentrating solely on stitching Christmas ornaments. Although the final finishing still remains, I did manage to finish off  three. 
First up is Christmas Morning by The Stitcherhood. I love how this one turned out!

Next up is Lizzie Kate Feelin' Festive. This little ornament is so cute and I've admired it on several other blogs. It's been sitting in my stash since last year so it definitely was time to bring this one out.

Last up is I Believe in Santa by The Primitive Hare. This one has turned out to be too big for an ornament so I'm thinking of doing a flatfold finish for it. Seeing this photo I know I'm really in need of a new iron!

I'll be digging through my stash this week in the hunt for some finishing fabrics and trims.

I want to try and stitch as many ornaments as possible before the supplies arrive for my next big stitch. I'll be starting Blackbird Designs 'Tis The Season. I have most of the called for floss as well as the fabric and I'm only waiting for a couple of skeins of floss I was missing. Once that arrives I'll get started.

It's been a busy week here with family. I've had my son Dan visiting for the weekend and I'll be taking him home later today. On Saturday we all headed down to one of the clubs in Ottawa to take in the final show of my youngest son's group, Hands Of The Few. Chris and the boys have been playing as a group for ten years and this was their final performance as they are all heading in separate directions now. I can remember many times when our basement was used for practice. Theirs is a punk group and not really my kind of thing but we all wanted to support them and be there for the last show. Even my hubby went! Of course we supplied him with ear plugs first, lol! Here's an early pic of the boys, when they were first starting to play the clubs.

The following pics were taken by Tooma Productions who also took the photos at the zombie walk.  Fabulous job Brian! It's amazing that you even got these pics since there were so many people in the mosh pit at the front of the stage. 

  Good luck fellas in all your future endeavours!

Dreary November

November has blown in just as I expected...... overcast, rainy, dreary and depressing. November is not a good month for our family and I'm always looking forward to the end of the month when the season of Advent and Christmas start approaching. Unfortunately I know there will be many families stateside who will always remember the latter part of October and early November, having had their lives turned upside down by Hurricane Sandy. My heart goes out to all those who have lost so much. Please keep them in your prayers.

In an effort to bring a little colour to this month, I've started stitching some of my Christmas ornaments. I finished off Christmas Morning this week and got started on Lizzie Kate Feelin' Festive. The latter is an ornament I've admired on many blogs. When I spotted it on one of my trips to visit family last year, I snapped it up. It's a fun stitch and will be done quickly.

The Stitcherhood Christmas Morning
stitched on 28 ct white evenweave
using DMC floss

I also finished off this little Christmas design into a pillow ornament for a stitching friend for her very special birthday. 

This past Tuesday I also had the pleasure of seeing a dear friend, Kathy of Kathy's Sit and Stitch. Kathy was in town visiting Dani and dropped by our Tuesday evening SAL. It was wonderful to spend some time with her. I've not been able to attend any of the stitching get togethers over the summer and spend time with these ladies so this was a real treat. Kathy recently sent me a little surprise. A few years ago I had loaned her several of my Mirabilia mermaid charts for her upcoming RRs. Having finished with them, she mailed them back to me along with a little thank you treat..... an adorable pair of bunny scissors with a gorgeous fob attached which Kathy made herself.

Isn't that fob gorgeous!! She also sent me the most fitting card for a stitcher.

I love it! Thank you so much Kathy. It brought a smile to my day and I was so pleased to see you on Tuesday. Safe travels south, we'll miss you!

Halloween is over and done with but I'll leave you with a few pics of my pumpkin carvings from this year and some of my son Chris and his girlfriend during Ottawa's zombie walk.  The price of admission is a donation to the Ottawa Food Bank and provides much needed supplies. 
The photography was done by Tooma Productions and they did an awesome job.Enjoy!