A HUGE Christmas finish!

Dear Stitching Friends, please excuse my very long absence.  I have been very busy trying to finish my massive train project.  As some of you know, this is a project that has been 10 years in the making and I swore it would not go past the 10 year mark!  It was set aside many times due to things of life getting in the way and sometimes out of pure frustration. But, alas, it is finally finished!

May I present...drumroll, please...

Holiday Express

by

Stardust

Stitched on 28 ct Pewter Jobelyn 

Used called for threads, beads & blending filament

Stitched from June 2003 - December 24, 2013

Please, ignore all the wrinkles!  I was trying to get it finished, in a box and wrapped before my husband got home from work on Christmas Eve.  He came home while I was putting it in the box.  ;-)

My Christmas Exchange!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I did a personal Christmas ornament exchange with Hannah. I forgot to take a picture of what I sent her, but just received a picture of it today from Hannah. Here is the package I sent to her:

Snow Bird by La-D-Da

2004 Cross-stitch ornament magazine

Belle Soie Old Crow

My January has been tremedously busy at work. Not much time for stitching. I have, however, worked a tiny bit on my train. Hate to announce that it still isn't finished. Started work on "F" from the Celtic Alphabet by M Designs for my niece's wedding. And also worked on a Quaker Sampler Round Robin piece. Will post pictures from both new starts soon.

Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm.

Happy New Year!

Design: Happy New Year

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Threads: Recommended GAST & WDW (except used GAST Blue Jay for Presidential Blue)

Fabric: note sure...a lavender color that has a smokey grey tint to it. 28 ct

Please excuse the wrinkles, but here is my first finish of 2008! Can't believe that the holidays have flown by and 2008 is here already. Our Christmas was nice and quiet. My son turned 13 on New Year's Eve and we will celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary tomorrow! So, alot of celebrating going on here! :-)

I actually seem to have gotten a little bit of my stitching mojo back over the Christmas break. I finished up 3 ornaments (see below), stitched the above Lizzie Kate, started another small Lizzie Kate and signed up for The Bride's Tree SAL. I've never done a SAL before and am looking forward to it.

Here are my ornaments:

Left: for my best friend, Lori

Design: Dearest Friend

Designer: Brightneedle - from the booklet "Small Samplings"

Threads: DMC

Fabric: 28 ct Cream linen

Middle: for my friend Cindy, who is currently going through treatments for Breast Cancer

Design: Breast Cancer Christmas Tree

Designer: freebie from Stitch Pink website

Threads: Tree - Thread Gatherer Silk 'n Colors Green Leaves, Lt

Ribbons - DMC metallic 5288

Hearts - GAST Tea Rose

Did not do 3 dots together from pattern, but put on Mill Hill Petite Crstal Beads (40161) instead

Fabric: 28 ct. Baby Lotion linen (stitched over 1)

Right: for my hubby

Design: French Country V - Reindeer

Designer: JBW

Threads: Thread Gatherer Silk 'n Colors Green Leaves, Lt

Fabric: 28 ct Opalescent Linen (stitched over 1)

2008 Stitching Goals:

1. Finish Train!
2. Finish numerous WIPs
3. Do all ornaments for SAL
4. Do all the 12 Day of Christmas ornaments from Erica Michaels (wanted to do for son this Christmas)
5. Stitch Dragon Dreams' ornament from the 2007 Just Cross-Stitch Ornament issue for son
6. Start either "Christmas Wishes" by Mirabilia or "The Toy Gatherer" by Shepherd's Bush
7. Do several Sekas ornaments (Santas or Snowmen)

2007 Movie Favorites:

Here are my top 10 movie favorites for 2007. In no particular order!

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Miss Potter
• PS I Love You
• National Treasure: Book of Secrets
• Spider Man 3
• Dan in Real Life
• Meet the Robinsons (animated)
• Enchanted
• Ratatouille (animated)
• Music and Lyrics

If I could add another 2 to the list, they would be:

• I am Legend (though quite scary!)
• Fred Clause

Other movies I really enjoyed, some surprisingly:

• Transformers
• Alvin & the Chipmunks
• Surf's Up
• The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep
• The Astronaut Farmer
• The Seeker: The Dark is Rising
• Firehouse Dog

Biggest disappointments of the year:

• Shrek 3
• Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End

I may have mentioned other movies throughout the year, both negatively or positively, but they didn't stand out enough for me to really mention here.

2008 Anticipated Movies:

• WALL-E
• Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
• Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Star Trek

Here is my final finish for 2007:

Design: Santa

Designer: Henzeit

Threads: GAST Cranberry & Pine

Fabric: No idea...taupe colored, approx. 16 ct evenweave

Finished as a pillow. Not bad, for my first ever pillow!

No Time!

I think that should be my middle name lately. No Time!!! That's how it has felt lately.

I still don't have my ornaments I mentioned in the last post "finished". I guess it's a good thing that I won't see either friend before Christmas. Gives me more time. Which I need right now.

I stayed up until midnight baking goodies for my son's teachers on Tuesday night. Date Nut Balls, Pumpkin Pecan Bread, and Cocoa Banana Squares. They were delivered early on Wed. morning.

I was finally finished with all my catching up at work and am now off until my son returned to school in Jan. YAY!!!! Maybe I can relax a little bit now. Once I return to work I should be able to only work 2 weeks a month like I was originally promised. We can hope.

My time off started on Thursday. I spend that entire day finishing with all my decorating. I have never been this late with the decorating before. I generally have that done around Thanksgiving. Oh, well. It will be staying up until at least mid-January.

All of these pictures were taken in my foyer.

Santa Clothes by Raise The Roof

A close up of the small stitched piece from above.

Christmas Memories by Olde Colonial Designs

from JSC 2005 Ornament Issue

I Shall Not Want

by Just Another Button Company

Come Let Us Adore Him

by Lizzie Kate

Merry Christmas to everyone! Have a safe and wonderful one!

A Christmas "Finish"

It's hard to believe that December starts tomorrow! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Mine went fairly well. I tried the recipe I posted in the previous post and didn't like it. If anyone tried it, I hope they liked it. Will try to have a better recipe next time.

I finally got all my computer stuff caught up at work and was able to cut back on my work load this week. Yeah!!! So happy about that! I feel like a load has been lifted off my shoulders!

I spent this morning paying bills, wrapping presents, making a last Christmas order and running a couple of errands. I think all my Christmas shopping is done now except for purchasing the Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix DVD when it comes out in December. Other than that I am done! I didn't get my son's annual ornament stitched yet this year, so I will have to do 2 next year to make up for it. Still hoping my stitching mojo will come back soon.

On a stitching note...I "finished" this little Christmas design into a cube today. I stitched it last year and finally dug it out of the "to be finished or framed" basket.

Christmas Candy Cane (not sure of "real" name)

by: Hobb Nob Designs

stitched on 28 ct. Willow by Picture this Plus

Latest movie thoughts:

Enchanted - Cute!

August Rush - I really enjoyed it, but my son did not. He thought it was very boring. There is a lot of "just" music. However, the music is beautiful!

It's Christmas Time!

It's so hard to believe that it's that time of year already! The last few months seem to have flown by. I am very much a planner and generally have things wrapped and ready by Halloween, but not this year! I still haven't made my "major" purchase for my son yet. UGH! It's on my list to do this weekend while he is at a party. Maybe I'll be ready after that. Maybe!

Well, at least I have my decorating done! I was a little behind this year on that as well, due to having company come Thanksgiving, but it's all up and ready now.

Here is a picture of my foyer. If you remember I had it decorated at Halloween. Well...here it is for Christmas!

From the top:

Name: Come Let Us Adore Him

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 17 ct. Cork Linen (I think!)


Name: Snow Fence

Designer: Raise the Roof

Fabric: 28 ct. Ice Blue Cashel


Name: Santa Clothes (my favorite!)

Designer: Raise the Roof

Fabric: 28 ct. Opalescent Belfast Linen



I can't believe that as much as I like Christmas that I don't have much other Christmas, and especially Santa, stitching! I have tons of patterns, but not real finsihed products! Hope to remedy that someday soon. I do have (not pictured, of course) "Dear Santa, I Can Explain" by Lizzie Kate stitched and put in the frame that goes with it on a bookcase and I also have "Shall Not Want" by Just Another Button Co. framed and in the kitchen on top of my cabinets.

Here's a picture of our tree! And, yes, those are wooden snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. I generally have the blinds open, but the glare was too much for the camera! :-)

Has anyone seen "The Nativity Story" yet? I am taking my son this afternoon after school with some other friends. I have heard it is very well done.

Still stitching away on my train. The progress is soooooo slow. Also stitching a little on "The Stockings Were Hung" by Shepherd's Bush. Not much progress to speak of, but hope to have it done by Christmas. Almost done with my son's name tree by M Designs. On the last letter! Yeah!

Here's Christmas recipe for your guys:

Santa's Snack Mix

1 (12 oz) pkg chocolate chips
1 (16 oz) container salted peanuts *
1 (11 oz) pkg Sesame Sticks **
1 (12 oz) pkg white chocolate chips
1 (12 oz) pkg vanilla yogurt - covered raisins
2 (6 oz) pkgs dried cranberries (like Craisins)
1 (10 oz) container cashews *

Mix all ingredients together in large mixing bowl. Store in plastic storage container or in plastic storage bags.

* I used approx. 24 oz. of mixed nuts for the two nuts.

** Sesame Sticks are hard to find, but Pepperidge Farm does make them. They are sold in a 7 oz. pkg., which is what I used. That seemed plenty. I think you could also use mini pretzels, pretzel sticks or pretzel nuggets as well.

A couple Finished Ornaments

We finally got a little nip in the air here in Florida and it made me start to feel anxious for Christmas. So...with that in mind I picked up the ornaments I finished stitching last week and decided to finish them. They are by no means professional, but I think they don't look too bad. These are the ornaments for my son for the last 2 years. I finally got them done!




Rudolph

By: Leisure Arts

Stitched on 28 ct. Opalescent Linen

I used Sampler Threads instead of the listed DMC.








Chrismyth Giant

By: Dragon Dreams (freebie)

Stitched on a scrap of hand-dyed 28 count linen I had on hand. Don't know exact color.

I changed the colors from what was listed. I also used Sampler Threads and Weeks Dye Works.






Here is a picture of the backs. Not too exciting, but at least they are all together and "finished" now.


Here are some recent movie thoughts:

"Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3-D. I did not see it the first time around, but my son wanted to go see it, so...I thought it was actually pretty good. I think Tim Burton is quite talented in his unique approach to animation. Let me clarify this and say...I do find a lot of his work very dark though. I am just speaking of this particular movie and his approach to this form of animation (also seen in "Corpse Bride").

"Flicka" I thought it was a pretty good movie. I know I read this book when I was very little (around 8), but cannot remember exact details about it. So, I cannot say how much it deviated from the book. Tim McGraw was better than I expected. That doesn't mean great, but not bad. The scenery of Wyoming and the horses was beautiful. I also must say I like Tim McGraw's song "My Little Girl" for the soundtrack.

"The Guardian" I really enjoyed. I am not a big Ashton Kutcher fan, but was surprised by how much I liked him in this. I don't think enough can be said about the bravery of the Coast Guard. There is no way I would want to go into the situations they do.

"Fly Boys" I enjoyed this very much. A great look at the first fighter pilots in early WWI. Hate to see that this movie did not do well at all in the box office. It is a great period movie without as much violence as a lot of war movies can have.

"Open Season" Cute.

"Invincible" One of the better sports movies I have seen. I went with my husband, but actually enjoyed it very much. It's kind of up there in the "Rudy" category for me in sports movies.

I must once again recommend "The Illusionist" for anyone that hasn't seen it. It was a gem of a movie. Loved Ed Norton!

Movies I am looking forward this holiday seasoon:

"The Prestige" - I haven't seen it yet, but love Hugh Jackman
"Santa Clause 3" - enjoyed the first 2. Love fun, good holiday movies.
"Flushed Away" - looks like a cute, animated movie
"Stranger Than Fiction" - Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson (love her!) - looks funny!
"Happy Feet" - another cute, animated movie about penguins
"Deck the Halls" - another fun holiday movie with Danny Devito and Matthew Broderick
"The Nativity Story" - a "real" movie version of the birth of Christ
"The Holiday" - romantic comedy with Kate Winslet (love her!), Jack Black and Cameron Diaz
"Charlotte's Web" - "real" movie version of the beloved children's book
"Night at the Museum" - a fun movie about a security guard at a museum where things come to life at night while he is on duty.


Well...enough of my thoughts for now. Hope to get more stitching done soon.

A few Hob Nobb finishes

Well...thank God it's a new week. This one hasn't started off great, but hopefully it will get better as it goes along. Last week was quite horrid! If you've never had a migraine headache, I hope you never have one. But, if you have...you can understand. I had a migraine for 5 straight days! I finally got a little relief this weekend, but I could still feel it threatening in the back of my head.

Here are 3 Hob Nobb pieces that I recently finished. None are framed yet.

Name: December

Threads: GAST - Dried Thyme (leaves), Seaweed (vine), Picket Fence and Holly Berry (candy cane) WDW - Curry (star)

Beads: Petite Mill Hill beads (42043) used for berries instead of stitches

Fabric: Picture This Plus 28 ct. Willow

Name: July

Threads: GAST - Midnight (star) & Tarnished Gold (vine)

Beads: Petite Mill Hill beads (42043) used for berries instead of stitches

Fabric: White Birch 16 ct Heatherfield by Wichelt

Name: November

Threads used: GAST - Pumpkins - Fragrant Cloves & Harvest Moon, leaves - Copper, Gold Leaf, Tarnished Gold, Avocado & Bittersweet, outline of pumpkin & stem - Gingersnap, vine - Sarsparilla

Beads: Petite Mill Hill Beads (42028) used for random stitches (a few extra added at bottom)

Fabric: Camel 16 ct Heatherfield by Witchelt

NOTE: Did not stitch border on any of the pieces.

Oops! I did not realize I forgot to put date on July or November. Will have to add that.

It's nice to get a few things accomplished stitching wise recently. With headaches last week I did absolutely no stitching! All my other projects are just too big or time consuming to get accomplished/completed right now. Hopefully soon! That train still needs tons of work!

A few small finishes!

I promised to post a few recent finishes. Here they are:





"Come Let Us Adore Him" by Lizzie Kate

Fabric used: not sure. Was in a scrap bag from LNS

Threads: Sampler Threads










"Bloom" by Lizzie Kate (a free chart from site)

Fabric used: 28 ct. Miracle Mint

Changes made:
* Morning Glory GAST for the border
* JAB ladybug button (1103T) instead of silver charm









"March" by Hob Nobb Designs

Fabric: 28 ct. Willow linen by Picture this Plus

Threads used: Envy & Seaweed by WDW







"Easter Row" by Bent Creek

Fabric Used: 28 ct. Ray of Light (I believe) - very pale yellow

Changes made:
* changed placement of some of the buttons
* added sheep button (All buttons JAB)

Note: Actually put wrong year. Finished it this April, but put 2005. LOL :-D Where was my brain?!!!



I also have a BIG finish this year, but will post it later.