Christmas Stocking

DS is now 18 so I stitched him this stocking which came with a lovely poem from Father Christmas. In his final visit FC left a bottle of Jagermyster which DS has been asking for and two new books, but I guess FC will always stop by however old you are.



We're off to see John Barrowman in Robin Hood Pantomime today at the Birmingham Hippodrome, and have an Italian meal to celebrate the New Year. Midnight chimes will be just me, DH and DD, as DS is off to a party, but we have the champagne ready.

Wishing you all a very

Happy New Year

and warmest wishes for 2009.

* * Thank you * Thank you * Thank you * *

I have had such a brilliant Christmas made even more special by the wonderful gifts I have received from my stitchy friends. I hope you enjoy looking at my new stash as much as I will enjoy "playing" with it all.

Big thanks to Julie - for these two gorgeous Christmas Frames - I will search for a small chart to fit both and stitch them for next Christmas to have pride of place on our mantle - thank you Julie.

Thanks to my my friend Cathy who lives in the USA - she has sent me some beautiful Caron threads - I will have many hours of fun thinking about how to use them.

Karan sent me a beautiful religious chart - thank you Karan. I doubt whether I will stitch it fro this coming Easter but it will definately be one to do in the future.

I joined quite a few of the JA exchanges this year and I have already shared the ornament and teh card exchanges - thanks to both my partners. Polly sent me some beautiful stash for the £5 exchange - a skein of Ultra-Suede, The Dye is Cast (New Day)thread, 32ct lugana and some fab transparent sticky notes (now won't they be great for making notes on charts)- thanks Polly.

Angie was my partner for JA Secret Stash £15 - the goods she sent were fabulous in all my favourite colours - thanks Angie you're a star. Parcel parcel had:- 4 skeins of DMC perle 5#, 3 packets of stain cord, "Anemone" Pure Silk ribbon, and 22ct, 28ct and 32ct fabric in beautiful pastel shaeds. I am so spolit -thanks Angie.

I organised the JA "No stash for Christmas" exchange which was great fun. I sent a parcel to Karan which I really enjoyed putting together. My stash arrived from Dusty in USA. There was a lovely pair of socks(already worn and in the wash, a fridge magnet, Pumpkin Patch room freshener, handmade recycled writing paper, flower stickers, and flower pattern sticky notes (another new one on me). Thank you Dusty for a wonderful array of non-stitching pressies.

and my good friend in Norway, Hege, sent 10 Krenik skeins of Silk Mori (such a huge treat), a small hardanger and blackwork chart, and a beautiful chart "Flower Samplers Book 1" by Hillside Samplings. I don't know which chart to do first, or shall I go look for something fro the Krenik - thank Hege, you really spoilt me.

I do hope everyone had a good day yesterday and that you all still have the holiday feeling for a few more days. We're off to Twickenham tomorrow to see the rugby, Harlequins v Leicester Tigers, DD is so excited.

Our two children suddenly look very grown up this year, especially yesterday, so we took some photos - enjoy.

Christmas update

It's DH's birthday today - Happy Birthday - we've had a lovely chinese meal and a quick trip to a local brewery for some traditional ale, he's definitely had a good one :)

Stitching news - I received a beautiful card from Pam for the JA Stitched Card exchange - thank you.

I also received this very effective stitched card from my friend Hege in Norway - thank you.

and this is the Christmas stocking I have been stitching for DS. Now he is 18 Santa will not be leaving a sack of pressies but I have stitched this as a keep sake and it will have in it a bottle of his favourite beer. Santa is also leaving the usual socks, book and calendar. I just have the rest of the beads to attach then I can get the machine out to sew it up.

Stefan's Christmas Stocking - The Drawn Thread

Just to be Christmasy this is our tree with all the gifts waiting for Thursday - they are mainly the ones from us to family although there are some interesting packages with our names on.The cards by the fire are all DH's birthday ones, I had to lift them off the mantle to put my candles on.

As you can see I love snowmen, so we have snowmen sitting on the tv and a Hearnden snowman family on the mantle - the likeness is really good isn't it hee hee.

I hope you all have a really festive time, wishing everyone very Merry Christmas.

Christmas Tree

Here it is - thank you so much to everyone for all the gorgeous ornaments.

There are some fantastic ones there - these two are full of hand knitted ornaments, the first is based on monks bell ringing (two photos) and the other is full of santas, angels and choiristers, the look fantastic.

and this is a picture of one side of the church - there are 60 trees in there althogether - I will try to get some more on Saturday - it was hard tonight as people were setting it up so lots of ladders around and bags and boxes.

Back at last

I am finally back in the land of the living - I have felt terrible the last two weeks whilst on (and coming off) the steroids. Over the weekend I have finally found a clear head and feel I can function properly now - before I was living in a semi-drunk kind of world - which would be fine if I'd been enjoying the wine too.

There is so much to catch up on I haven't has chance to read everyone's blogs so best wishes if you need them and a hug to you all at this busy time of year.

First I had a wonderful evening last Monday when I met Julie for a coffee at a nearby shopping centre. We chatted for over an hour and it seemed like we'd known each other ages. It certainly made me feel tons better- thanks Julie.

I will be decorating the church tree on Thursday and have had some more gorgeous ornaments. The first is from my friend Maria in USA, the second is a beaded Santa from Cathy another USA friend, the third is a beaded one from Elaine my friend who works at college, and the fourth is from my secret (as yet) partner in the JA Christmas Ornament Exchange. DH has bought me a set of lights, and mum has given me loads of tinsel, so everything is ready to put up on Thursday. I will be adding photos so you can all see both my tree and all the others.












Church details for those wanting to visit :-
St Lawrence's Church,
Church End,
Ansley Village,
Nuneaton CV10 0QR

The church is open 13th, 14th, 20th and 21st December - 10am until 6pm - admission £2

I haven't done much stitching but am working on a stocking for DS as this is his last visit from Santa - I can't believe he's 18 - and I still expect him to be awake all Christmas Eve with excitement - hee hee.

Thanks for all the get well messages, happy stitching.