Stitching & Stash, Part 2

Let's go shopping!

First, fabric! Hand dyed fabric doesn't go on sale very often, but over the holidays I did hit a couple of sales and decided to get some small cuts of colors I wouldn't usually buy, just to have on hand in case of emergencies. I like to be prepared.

From left to right: PTP Monet (28 ct. linen), PTP Flapper (28 ct. linen), Fiber on a Whim Cobalt (32 ct. Lugana), PTP Jay (28 ct. linen), and PTP Lupine (32 ct. linen).

I love everything stitchy, but I have a particular weakness for bags or cases to hold my stuff. Probably because I'm an organization nut. If someone wanted to lure me away, all they'd have to do is wave a really neat stitching bag at me. I found this one on Amazon and I really like it. It's small, but will hold quite a bit. The brand is Luxja, if you go hunting for it.

Top zipper compartment:

Bottom zipper compartment. That's a 6"x 8" q-snap.

I was at Hobby Lobby the other day and picked up a little embroidery kit on a whim. I haven't done embroidery since I was little but this sweet fox caught my eye. Just a few stitches here and there on printed cloth, exactly like the kind I learned on as a kid. Also had to bring home a fat quarter of adorable Highland Cow material. 

Did y'all know you can spend $30 on a pair of tweezers, if you're so inclined? For me, tweezers are an essential stitching tool for de-fuzzing my stitching as I go. Tiger Lily's fuzz wasn't too bad because it was mostly light colored, but the werewolves' fuzz is black and there's twice as much of it! I need tweezers with every project! I started looking for a few more pairs and was annoyed by the prices. I mean, they're for cat fur, not brain surgery! Dollar Store to the rescue! Three for $1.25. And they're tiny (smaller than a toothpick) so they fit in any tool case and a needle minder will hold them.

Okay, best for last! I was nosing around on Etsy (as I do) and found some really cool floss organizers for projects. They come in different sizes but I decided to get a small one just to see how it was made and if I would like it. 

I do! Well made with sturdy vinyl, with a larger vinyl pocket on the other side.

I like this floss organizer because it's flat and will fit anywhere, taking up almost no space. This one holds 12 bobbins, and I think there are ones that will hold up to 45, with several sizes in between. I usually don't do really big projects with lots of DMC colors, so I think the 20-bobbin size will probably be the most useful to me and I'm already planning to get a few of those. They just had a good sale (25% off), so if you're thinking of trying these out you may want to keep your eyes open for another sale.

Happy Stitching (and shopping)!

Stitching & Stash, Part 1

I have been trying to get this post up for weeks and in that time it just kept growing so I'm gonna have to make it a two-parter! Fix yourself a cozy beverage and get comfy because we're doin' stitching and stash!

Every January brings the previous year's blog book. This year's, like last year's, is bittersweet. It's the first without Tiger Lily in it, and it's the babies' first back cover (that was always Tiger Lily's place). 

This is the printing service I use. I've always been happy with the results, and the price is reasonable if you wait for discount codes, which they have periodically, and always in January.

Last year was a challenge and the only stitching I got done was for Christmas Open House and I really missed being able to work on other projects. I've been able to get back to my Winter Sampler. The latest block is a cold, snowy night.

I'm also still working on my 2023 Christmas ornament from the JCS ornament issue. I got Mr. Wonderful's done (but not finished).

Another January start was this lovely bull. "Lovely bull?" Well, I think he's lovely. Look at those soulful eyes. And my dad was a bull rider in his very young days, so I guess in a way this old boy reminds me of him.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm also already working on Christmas Open House 2024, aaand I'm gathering my charts and supplies for Open House 2025! There's a method to my madness, but more on that at a later time. 

Finally, I got back to my Winter House Trio as well, but don't have any interesting progress to show yet.

So that covers my January stitching. Part 2 tomorrow will cover stash! I have some neat stuff to show you!

Happy Stitching!

January Basket

 

I love a good monthly series, but I rarely find one that appeals to me enough to stitch all twelve designs. I've been looking forward to stitching this flower basket series from Cosford Rise Stitchery since last year. Isn't this January basket lovely? It's stitched on 28 ct. raw linen with the recommended hand dyed threads, although I did use DMC 3865 for the snowflakes to brighten them up a bit. I really enjoyed working on this. Quick to stitch, and even though I'm not a huge fan of blue in general, the threads for this design are just beautiful. 

This is actually my third finish this year. To be absolutely honest, the first two--a Christmas Open House 2024 finish (!) and Mr. Wonderful's 2023 ornament--only needed a little work done to put them in the finish pile, but a finish is a finish! Yay, me!

Reclaiming Christmas

 

Longtime readers will know that I keep my blog a calm, peaceful, happy place. I want it to be a refuge from upsetting things, a place you can visit any time and not have to worry about being unexpectedly confronted with sad or worrying or angry subjects. There was one exception to that practice, that being the loss of my dad, and even then I shared very little about how and why we lost him. This post is not about those details, which are intensely personal and painful. It's about grief, and holidays--specifically Christmas--and it has a happy ending. But I wanted to let you know, in case you'd rather skip this post. 

My dad had a complicated but very successful surgery at the beginning of November 2020. By Christmas 2020, it was obvious that due to several circumstances out of our control--namely pandemic protocols before and after his surgery--his recovery was not progressing as it should. He spent all of 2021 bedridden. Two days after Christmas 2021, he entered the hospital for the last time, and passed away on New Year's Day 2022. It was a tragedy--an injustice--and it should not have happened the way it did. Christmas 2022 was our first without him. 

So for the last three years, Christmas has been very, very hard. 

Now you all know that I am a Christmas girl to my core. I love Christmas. We had a Christmas wedding. I love the week between Christmas and the New Year. I love New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. It's my favorite time of year. It seems particularly cruel that all of this would happen at Christmas, but life can be that way, and no one reading this has escaped that cruelty in one way or another.

The holidays are hard for a lot of people, especially if they've suffered a loss, and especially if that loss was near a favorite holiday or special occasion. Many people cope by pulling back from those holidays, sometimes skipping celebrations all together. Sometimes that pulling back is temporary, sometimes it's permanent, and they never again celebrate in the way they used to. I have zero interest in telling people how to grieve, or how to navigate holidays. But I'd like to share what we did.

At the beginning of November, along with the approach of the holidays, those painful anniversaries were looming. They are a fact now. They will come with every Christmas from now on. On the way to worship one Sunday morning, I told Mr. Wonderful, somewhat weepy (me, not him), that I thought I wanted to make Christmas bigger this year, in an effort to increase the ratio of good to bad, sort of overwhelm the negative in a big, sparkly avalanche of Christmas. Bigger, not in terms of money spent, but in terms of what we call at our house "Christmassing." Mr. Wonderful was all in, and we were off.

Oh my, were we off. We started Veterans' Day weekend. He had some time off, and we began by just wandering aimlessly from store to store, looking at all the decorations, talking about what we might want to do this year, having lunch. We had a really lovely day. It was a good time to do it because it's early in the season and everything is well-stocked and not very crowded. We've never done that before as I'm usually the one who scouts all the Christmas stuff while he's at work, but we made a new tradition. And we committed to Christmas as hard as we could (that's Christmas as a verb, mind you, as in "Christmassing hard").

A few days later, in a moment of Christmas insanity, I revealed my idea to have an open house for the entire squadron... in a month's time. Mr. Wonderful was on it like a duck on a June bug, whipping up an invitation before I could come to my senses and change my mind. The now-famous Cookie Drop-In was born.

We didn't do anything halfway. All the decorations. All the lights. Lights and wreaths and garlands out front, lights and an inflatable Christmas kitty in the backyard (I said it was for the babies to look at, but Toasty became this year's mascot for us). Two Christmas trees. Twenty-six dozen cookies. Parties. Music. Food. Everything.

It was a wonderful Christmas. 

Did the grief break through at times? Of course. But it will break through forever. It's now a part of our lives. What happened cannot un-happen. So, what to do with it? Well, after three years, I looked at that big lump of awful sitting in the middle of my favorite holiday and decided to slap some lights on it and make cookies.

My dad would love it. My dad does love it.

Happy New Year

 

I have lots of thoughts, but they're all jumbled together and I'm too tired to sort them out. For now, I'll just wish everyone a happy, healthy, safe New Year. May it be better than the last, and may you have oodles of finishes!

Dear Santa: Day Five

 

It's the final day of my 10th annual Christmas Open House and I've saved a very special Santa for last. This is Patriotic Santa from Leisure Arts Christmas Remembered Book Eight: Down Santa Claus Lane. He's been on the to-stitch list forever, and here he is in all his patriotic glory! I stitched him with the recommed DMC on 32 count Blue Moon linen. I omitted the flag border and just sprinkled stars everywhere instead, using a smyrna cross.

I really love him, but y'all. The backstitching. Oh my stars. I guess you get what you work for, because he's pretty gorgeous, but man was that tedious!

*****

Winding down from a very successful Cookie Drop-In, the houseful of troops has quieted down and we're settling in for a respite from the busyness. 

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Two more must-share cookie recipes to round out the week's festivities. These Peppermint Meltaways are a very pretty addition to a Christmas cookie tray. I use Andes Peppermint Crunch candies for the topping, as I don't like the texture of crushed candy canes. 

And last but not least, this year I had a special request for Snickerdoodles, and this recipe is absolutely fantastic. They were devoured.

*****

Well, we've done it again. Ten years of Christmas joy: stitching, food, coziness. Thank you so much for being here to share this with me. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all the kind comments and well wishes. This is so much more fun, and the work is so much more worth it, knowing there are so many of you who look forward to and enjoy this tradition. I'll keep doing it as long as I can manage. Some years will be big and splashy, some more simple, much like celebrating Christmas each year varies. And just so you know, I have a list of ideas that currently has seven or eight themes on it. Lord willing, we've got many more years of fun ahead of us!

From our home to yours, Merry Christmas, y'all!

Dear Santa: Day Four

Day four, and we have three Santas for the price of one! I chose my favorite Prairie Schooler Santas and stitched them together as one piece. From left to right: 1989, 1990, 1991. These are available in one leaflet, Santa Collection 1988-1991. I stitched them with the recommended DMC over one on 20 count Sage Jobelan. The wood they're mounted on is from Hobby Lobby.

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It's Cookie Drop-In day! I snapped a quick picture before all the hungry troops arrived!

Info about this finish is in this post, and the wreath is from Christmas Open House 2017.

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This recipe for Gingerbread Cookies with Lemon Frosting is similar to the Percolator Punch recipe. People read the label and are intrigued, then they try one and go back for seconds or even thirds!

Another new addition to the cookie repertoire this year is Fudge Cookies. These are very similar to one of my favorites, Chocolate Espresso Cookies, but without the espresso. As with the espresso version, don't make these too far in advance. They're best made the day you need them, or the day before.

Fudge Cookies

1 12 oz. bag (2 c.) chocolate chips

2 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped

2 Tbsp. butter

2 eggs

2/3 c. sugar

1/4 c. flour

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. baking powder

Heat oven to 350. In a microwave safe bowl, on 50% power, melt 1 c. chocolate chips, baking chocolate, and 2 Tbsp. butter. Heat for about 30 seconds at a time; chocolate will be soft enough to stir together before it appears melted; no need to overheat. Cool slightly and add eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla, and baking powder. Stir until well combined; stir in remaining 1 c. chocolate chips. This will be more like a batter than a dough. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2" apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes, or until edges are firm and surfaces are dull and crackled. Cool on cookie sheets for 2 minutes before removing to racks to cool. Yield: about 3 dozen

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Only one more day left! Join me tomorrow for the finale!

Dear Santa: Day Three

 

Today's Santa is Jolly Old Elf from the Leisure Arts booklet Jolly Santas in Cross Stitch. This is the only Santa that wasn't already in my stash when I chose this year's theme. I stumbled across him while looking for something else and couldn't resist his sweet face and tiny Chickadee friend. I stitched him with the recommended DMC on Weeks 32 count Red Pear linen, and omitted the toy.

I love the red on red on red: red Santa, reddish fabric, red frame.  A note about the fabric, though. When looking at this fabric on a computer monitor, or even in hand with nothing stitched on it, it looks very, very pink. I don't think I would have considered it for this design if I didn't already have some in my stash to experiment with. When paired with red floss, it reads as a weathered or faded red, which I really like.

*****

It's almost Cookie Drop-In time! Let's have a look at final preparations. 

Self-serve coffee/cocoa/hot punch bar. I used my mom's Percolator Punch recipe, which I was raised on and remains a cold weather staple at our house. When we offered it to the troops, everyone said, "Hot punch?" They then proceeded to swig four batches! It's that good!

*****

The old favorite recipe of the day is Mexican Wedding cookies. These are a Christmas classic, and a cross-cultural cookie, with the same recipe known by different names in different cultures. We're from Texas, so to us, these are Mexican Wedding cookies. And they're fabulous.

I also tried a new Chocolate Chip cookie recipe this year and they were a hit! Lovely and soft.

*****

Tomorrow is party day! Skip lunch and spoil your supper with cookies!