So when I did my stitchy planning for 2014--I always do stitchy planning for the coming year in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day--I decided to tackle my little pile of Christmas designs. I don't think of myself as particularly drawn to Christmas designs, but over the years I've accumulated a tidy little collection of them, almost all of which are ornament-size. My plan is to spend this year whittling down my pile of Christmas smalls. We'll see if I'm still feeling Christmas-y by April.
Here's my 2013 Christmas ornament, Brooke Nolan's Ho Ho Santa from the 2013 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue. Yes, I'm a month late. But my neighbors still have their Christmas lights up, so there's that.
I liked this little Santa because he looks like an elf... "a right jolly old elf" (The Night Before Christmas) and most Santas don't. I hadn't worked with the DMC Memory Thread before and was a little skeptical I could reproduce the look of the model, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's easier to work with than I thought it would be. Also, if you're on pins and needles about the glue I used, it was Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue (purple label). It's great stuff. Instant stick.
Happy Stitching!
Happy Birthday to the Stitchy Cousin!
In celebration of her dual obsession--cross stitch and pandas--here's a sweet little panda freebie.
Cake for everyone!
And if you're going to have blue hair, it may as well be sparkly, too. I finally finished Wendy (Brooke's Books) and she took me the better part of two weeks! She has a fancy little hat that I haven't stitched yet, but I wanted to show her off without it anyway so you could see her pretty blue hair.
Here she is in all her glory.
A dainty little skate and a beaded hem and petticoats.
The pictures really don't do her justice. She's so sparkly and frosty looking. And speaking of a pretty girl whose pictures don't do her justice...
"Blues" as in the color, not the mood. I love winter, love snow (in inches--not in feet), love being "stuck" at home. I don't love blue, which seems to be the go-to color for 90% of winter designs, so I'm always converting my winter designs to pale green, which I do love. But! I am working on a winter design with lots of pretty blues--Brooke Nolan's Wendy Winter.
Why are most winter designs blue? Because this:
Look at all that blue! This is the view from my sewing room window today. It's frigid out there. Here's Tiger Lily watching the birds have their breakfast this morning.
Sweet little bird prints.
Back to Wendy... and my blanket!
My first finish of 2014. This is a freebie which can be found here. I stitched mine on 28 ct. raw opalescent linen with DMC 5200, Kreinik pearl, and Threadworx 011471 and 01087. The snowflakes are Mill Hill Treasures.
Can you tell how sparkly this is? You know we are all about sparkly on this blog.
Wishing you a Happy New Year with tons of finishes!
Happy Stitching!
