New Years is almost here

And as you can see Rory is all dresses up with no where to go. But that's okay since I am not a big fan of New Years eve celebrations. A nice quiet night with a bottle of wine (a gift from one of my Goddaughters. Thank you Erin!) is fine by me.

But I am getting ahead of myself on this post. So let's go back to Christmas Eve. I run around like a nut case running errands and getting those last minutes gifts for Rory and Rosie. Got all that done and I still had to finish the stitching and finishing on two last gifts. As you can see both Rory and Rosie were on their bestest behavior! They even stayed close enough so I could take a few photo! My very own Christmas miracle!! Now don't get me wrong, they don't fight or anything (though I wouldn't blame Rosie in the least for scratching Rory) but they are rarely ever this close to one another and sitting still no less. (Rory thinks Rosie is his own personal chase toy! Round and round the house!)

Christmas morning. Rory was so good waiting until I was ready before heading into the living room to see what Santa brought. (Oh, okay I kept him on a leash until I was ready. LOL) I think Santa may have gotten too much for him. (Rosie got hers early because Rory tends to steal her toys.) What do you think?

Following a nice quiet morning watching Rory play and a few hundred tosses of his new favorite toy, the cow that moos, I headed out to celebrate Christmas and have dinner with my Aunt and Uncle and cousins. Little Matthew is such a doll. And he just loved the Buzz Lightyear things his Aunt Erin and Uncle Ian had bought him. (The cars I gave him were pushed aside when he saw this gift!) For Erin and Ian I gave them one of the ornaments I was working on so feverishly the night before. I actually made three of these. One for each of this past years newlyweds. And. silly, me I only got a photo of this one. Oh well, the other two, except for the names, look and are finished the same way.

Next was a visit to my nieces home. There my sister and her children were all together. A rare occasion so I made sure to get a photo of them all. And one of them insisted that I be in a photo of me, my sister and her middle daughter, who is also one of my Goddaughters and soon to be a mother herself. (Her baby is due in mid February.)

Back home Rory was finally tired and just crashed. And so did I. After all my frantic stitching and finishing the week before I was too tired to even stitch!

Sunday brought this winters first (and I hope last!) major snowstorm, well, actually it was a blizzard. Sunday into Monday we got somewhere between 15 and 24 inches of snow! Yes, that is a lot but in many areas it is hard to tell. The winds both days were wicked with gusts up 50 miles and hour! Which piled the snow in drifts. Thank goodness I didn't need anything. Well, nothing except patience. Why you ask? Rory adores the snow. He is worse than any snow crazy child. In and out and in and out but mostly out until I can coax him in. Then after 20 minutes of all the snow melting out of his coat he wants back out again.

To say I haven't gotten much done the past few days is an understatement. As soon a I get settled to try and stitch he either wants out. Or is it in? Usually about now he has exhausted himself so that is why I am able to update and I am so hoping that I will now be able to go stitch. Or even start getting my 15 wip together for the January challenge which will be here before you know it!

And until then I wish you all the healthiest and happiest of New Years. May 2011 bring you everything you wish for. From Rory, Rosie and me.

Until next time....................

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love and stitches,

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

I finally got a decent photo of the angel at the top of my tree.

PS. I also want to thank all of you who have left such wonderful comments on my last few posts. You have helped me through a difficult time more than you know. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

Christmas past and present

An Irish Manger given to me by a very dear friend.

For the past week or so memories of Christmas have filled my mind and heart. Many bring a smile. Some a tear.

This little ornament was painted by my Mom. Dated 2001.




















My very first stitched ornament. I had never made an ornament before this. The date on it is 2007.

As I decorated my trees (see the last post) and put up my Christmas village each piece had a special memory attached.

The village is especially dear to me. My Mom always had a village under the tree. I have many photos of her sitting on the floor creating that years scene. As a young child I loved watching the train she had under the tree circling the Manger. One of my treasured memories, though it sounds sacrilegious, was giving the baby Jesus a ride in the coal car on Christmas day! My Christmas village collection started about 10 years ago. And one of the first things was this tree with the people that my Mom painted. (She loved to paint plaster pieces. I think we all have at least one that she painted.) Notice that she painted to dog as close to Irish setter red as she could. Over the years I have added houses to my village. I only wish I could live in a town like this, a pub, a bookstore, a pet store, a sweet shop, a market, and best of all a sewing and craft store! My ideal town!

This is the set my Mom painted for me.















The skaters are cast iron and belonged to my Grandmother.












A couple of very special decorations. These were also plaster pieces that my Mom painted for me.












Last week was also the Christmas get together at my LNS, The Lazy Daisy. We had an ornament exchange. Those are always fun. I have so enjoyed these monthly gatherings.

All the ornaments from the LNS ornament exchange.

This is the ornament I stitched for the exchange.

I also heard that both my partners from the HoE ornament and smalls exchanges have received their pieces. So I can now show what I stitched.LHN's Fa La La I made into a small pillow. Amy said she like it.

And another LHN ornament I sent to Gabi. I like how they both turned out. I just may need to do them again for myself.

Last but not least is the ornament I receive in the HoE exchange. This one came from Ina in the Netherlands. It is just beautiful and looks gorgeous on my stitchy tree. Thank you Ina.

This past weekend and the past few days have been a whirlwind of finishing, wrapping, stitching and mailing. As mentioned in an earlier post, money for gifts is pretty scarce. I love to give but was getting so depressed realizing that I just couldn't do my usual for each and every member of my family. Until I had a brainstorm. And at this point I think it was a nor'easter! I have a largish storage container of stitched pieces that have been sitting there. Some for almost 5 years! Sitting there waiting to be finished or framed. So I thought I would use these. There were more than enough. So between the few ornaments I had stitched this year (9 of those) that were specially stitched for certain people and those older pieces I spent all day Sunday and most of Monday finishing them and making pillows and ornaments. Here are some of them. I was so crazed to get them done and wrapped that I actually forgot to take photos of some so they will have to wait until I can ask for a picture. Even if they read my blog (and I know most don't.) they won't know who gets what.

As you can see Rory was just exhausted after all this work. Either that or he is trying to be a good boy so Santa will bring him something good.

I want to thank each and everyone of you who have left me comments in my last few posts. I appreciate them more than you know.

And just in case I don't find time between now and Friday.........A very Merry Christmas to you all!

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too