December 7th

I awoke to a beautiful frosty morning, our first this Winter.  I quickly got my jobs done inside and went out in the garden to collect leaves, there are still quite a lot to fall but the job is so much easier when they are not wet.  I've filled the green bin yet again, I'm so glad I opted to pay for extra collections this time, it's saved me so much time not having to arrange trips to the council tip every week.  

Most of you will have seen my stitched ornaments before but as they only come out once a year it's worth showing them again.  This is just a selection of them along with some new glass baubles I bought this year too, this tree is bigger and needed a bit more bling.  The Range had a great selection and they were reasonably priced too.  I think my favourite is the Santa in the last photo though, he is from The Range too, hasn't he got the cutest face!

I've had some questions about my mitred squared blanket I showed a couple of posts back, I haven't forgotten, I will put a post together for next time and share everything I know about the pattern and how I'm knitting mine, (there are several variations).

I hope you all have a lovely rest of the week.

-X-

January stitching

The end of the month has caught me by suprise, I had planned to post on my latest finish last Friday, clearly that didn't happen, no idea where the time went.

There was just enough fabric left over from my Prarie Schooler Happy Christmas finish, (which you can find in this post), to stitch the two small charts which were also included with the main chart.

They didn't take long at all, I only stitched in daylight because of the black fabric but I managed to get them both done in three or four days and got them fully finished last week.

They are only tiny, a couple of inches that's all, stitched over one on 18 count aida, I think they may be the smallest ornaments I've ever stitched.

I used some cotton gingham for the backing and think they came out quite sweet.

The lovely Carol is hosting an ornament SAL again this year, the #12in22ornamentstitchalong can be found on Instagram.  I don't have Instagram on my phone anymore and don't keep up with what's happening on there but,  I'm hoping to stitch along and share here on my blog, I hope that's ok Carol?

Mark was away again at the weekend and I had lots of crafting time planned and I'd also picked up some more charity shop bargain DVD's to keep me company.  I didn't get much crafting done nor did I watch my DVD's, thinking back, I can't actually remember what I did with my weekend, lol.

Anyway, I was just on the phone telling Mark about my films and he said he wouldn't mind watching them at the weekend so I'm going to save them now for us both to watch.   

There, my husbands guilty film secret is out, he likes a good chick flick, lol.

Do you and your other half share the same taste in movies or do your tastes differ?

-X-

3rd December - Ornaments for the boys

 You may have seen two of these ornaments when I was stitching them in Jolly July but I don't think I have shared them fully finished.

Oliver requested a reindeer for this years ornament.  I had bought a magazine chart off ebay a while ago, it was quite vintage looking, a round finish in a hoop with Santa in the middle and all the reindeers around him.  I chose to stitch Rudolf on his own and finished as an oval.

Isn't he cute?  I think this is one of my most favourite stitched finishes and Oliver loved him when he opened him this afternoon.   I may have to stitch another reindeer this year too :-)

I chose a snowman for Arty.  This is Frosty Flakes by Little House Needleworks.

I think he came out really cute too

Arty has two ornaments this year because being a bad nanny, I didn't finish his for last year.

I think this is a Lizzie Kate one, although I can't find the chart now so i'm not certain.

This was all stitched up last year but I didn't like the trim so this year I took the trim off and replaced it, I think it looks much better now.

I've fallen behind with finishing and still have Bonnie's and Jacob's to make up, hopefully I can do that at the weekend.

There are some lovely goodies in todays advents.  I opened a Mr & Mrs Rabbit Yarns one today which included a lovely lavender sachet and an angel charm, along with the one from Jo and Lisa.  Jo also included a little container of bulb stitch markers.  I do love the bulb ones, thanks Jo.  The tea light is from my candle advent and is a Winter spice, very nice.

There was also a little recipe included in with the lavender sachet and angel.  It sounds lovely.

I might give this a go nearer to Christmas.

It's been so wet and dull and dreary all day today, I really don't mind the Winter months but I prefer a cold crisp day over rain.  We have more of the same predicted for tomorrow as well.

See you tomorrow

-X-