Another Year in Review

Lee is encouraging us to do a Stitcher's Year in Review. And so it is.

1. Did you discover any new (or new-to-you) designers in 2008? And your favorite was? Sampler Girl and a lot of French designers that give their stuff away.
2. Same question - New Fabrics? Oooh! Love the colors of the Weeks Dye Works linens. I used it for Angels Sang.
3. Same question - New fibres? Belle Soie was last year; I didn't try any this year.
4. Same question - New finishing techniques? Nothing new I'm afraid.
5. Did you have a favorite "theme" in 2008? It was supposed to be Selfish Stitching.
6. Did you try any new gadgets? No, but I did buy a cord maker finally. No more pencils and sore wrists!
7. Did you discover any new (or new-to-you) LNS in 2008? No new stores.
8. Same question: new or new-to-you online stores? Boy, am I ever boring. Nothing new...
9. Same question: new or new-to-you bloggers?
a) stitching bloggers: The sisters and the people who are on the yahoo stitching bloggers group. It'd be a long list. Oh, let's not forget the blogs I discovered from comments left here.
b) bloggers in general: Marie Claire Idees
10. Same question: communities/forums? I am not really a community person, but you knew that. I joined the Craft Circle at my local library a couple of times. I may have to go back to that.
11. Whose blog in 2008 was the most inspirational for keeping you stitching? When I hacked off my finger tip, I stitched vicariously through all of you. If I visited your blog between April and June, consider yourself the most inspirational.
12. Whose blog was funniest in 2008? Spinster Stitcher. Before she started a blog, she sent me a doozie of an e-mail. I knew her blog was going to be a good read.
13.Which blog's posts did you "star" the most in your reader in 2008? Craftzine.

Since I didn't have any great finds to share, here's a website that I used a lot this year: StitchPoint for those times you need some letters charted quickly. Cheers!

Here's to a happy and healthy 2009!

PS Just so you can be sure you're on the right website, I've seen a lot of people writing about "bringing in the new year." I don't know if that's some crazy regionalism--hey I don't put anything past you southerners--but the phrase is "ringing in the new year" like with bells. Which we don't use often enough. So put some bells on and ring it in, will ya?

Year in Review

This year I had very few goals:

• finish-finish two projects a month: My original intent was to finish-finish things that were in the pile rather than new things. And I did mean *I* would do them, but I am going to count everything that got finished. I finished 23 pieces--10 of them to give away. Thirteen came out of the finishing pile and 10 were new stitches. I think I should be more specific next year.
• hang Toy Gatherer in my house this Christmas: It was so. (There it is hanging where the mola usually goes.)
  
• stitch a lot of things for myself: 13 of 29, I don't think that was more than usual.
• I also said I'd like to start these projects: some I did, they're italicized; some I finished, they're struck through:

Hillside Samplings, Folk Art Threadkeep

Heart in Hand, Monthly Mania

4 My Boys, Pumpkins Three for Thee

Sisters &BF, Button Borders: Pumpkins

Mirabilia, Emerald Mermaid (SAL)

BOAF, Spring Garden

Raise the Roof, Off the Deep End

Blackbird Designs, Flea Market Souvenir

Little House, Curly Q Ewe

Lilybet, Spots II

Cricket Collection, Skeleton Crew

Little by Little, Star Light, Star Bright

Fancy Work, Sampler Scissors Box

Liberty Street, Rose Bunnie [sic]

2008 Finishes

1. Heart in Hand, Monthly Mania February
2. Heart in Hand, Monthly Mania April
3. Heart in Hand, Monthly Mania May
4. Heart in Hand, Monthly Mania June
5. Heart in Hand, Monthly Mania July
6. Fancy Work, Sampler Scissors Box
7. Liberty Street Designs, Rose Bunnie
8. Liberty Street Designs, In the Tall Flowers
9. Sue Hillis, Why Men Fish
10. Quaker fob
11. Quaker scissor pocket
12. Quaker biscornu
13. Heart in Hand, Mother's Day Roundabout
14. E&E&F, Heart Fob for Stephanie's birthday
15. Waxing Moon, My Needle and My Floss
16. Heart in Hand, 2001 Collector's Heart
17. LHN, Willow Tree Inn Edgar's Neighborhood RR
18. Heinzit, Family Matters
19. Quaker stitching set prize
20. S&BF Pumpkin
21. S&BF, Leaf
22. EE&F, flower fob
23. CCN, JCS ornament preview for Melita
24. JBW, Silver Needle Freebie, blue
25. JBW, Silver Needle Freebie, red
26. LHN, Dog House Sampler
27. Shepherds Bush, Toy Gatherer
28. Yankee Stitcher, By the Sea
29. Lizzie Kate, Home for the Holidays for Paula D.
30. LHN, The Angels Sang
31. LHN, Curly Q Ewe

Edited to add my last finish of 2008.

Curly Q Ewe
c Little House Needleworks
stitched with the called for DMC and Crescent Colours Floss
18-count Waterlily

Most of these were small pieces, but Toy Gatherer, which I can't stop yammering about, feels like a majestic triumph. Now to think about what I hope to accomplish in 2009...

Yammering on...

Lots of new people coming out of the woodwork here. Hello and welcome! And happy new year to all my regular readers too. Sometimes I'd like to shoot a little e-mail back to some of you but you keep that bit of information a tightly guarded secret. So I can't. But I do think about it when I read your welcome comments.

Here's a photo of what you can do in a few hours in the car. Click here to see what Curly Q Ewe looked like the last time I worked on it in September.

The dude and I are off this week, so I hope to have more to show you, with some photos taken in daylight and everything. I haven't stitched much today; we went to the movies at 11 o'clock. It was like we were playing hookey.

I made dinner for my parents tonight. I know we left them in NH only yesterday. But today they were in Pennsylvania on their way to Florida. My dad retired last summer and they are trying this winter-in-Florida-thing this year. They rented a house in Venice for three months; they're two blocks from the beach and they have a heated indoor pool. We'll be visiting when we are thoroughly sick of winter. Though our mid-Atlantic winters hardly qualify as winters. I didn't even wear a coat today. Still how horrible can an indoor pool be?

Return Trip

And we're back. I could've written more from my parents' house but we were having too much fun playing Phase 10. My mother gets us all a game every Christmas (still) and we play and play and play. Phase 10 was the big hit. Fact or Crap was okay, and we never even opened Partini (a Cranium knock off). Christmas Day was a little weird. My parents have been eating at the Red Arrow Diner a lot lately, and when they found out the diner was open on Christmas day, we went. So, no Chinese in our jammies. It felt very confusing. (I even had to put on a bra! On Christmas!)

On Boxing Day, we took my father's mother to Hart's for lunch. That was less painful than I thought it might be.

December 27th is my aunt's birthday and even though we've just spent Christmas Eve together, my mother's family gathered again for dinner and presents. We also celebrated her and my uncle's 40th anniversary that night (just about a month late, but they refused to have a party).

We drove home today, and it took eight hours again. Loads of traffic in NJ. (When we left on the 24th, it was icy and there was a detour not two blocks from our house because of accidents. So, yeah, another 8 hour trip. Thank goodness we sprang for a GPS.) Since the dude does all the driving, I had plenty of time to stitch. Wait til you see Curly Q Ewe!

Here's Something I Haven't Shown You

Here's my Christmas Fair and Square that I sent to Paula D. It's from A Cross Stitch Christmas: Handmade Heirlooms (c 2002). You should be able to tell it's Lizzie*Kate. I designed the signature square using elements from the original. I had to imagine what some of the other letters and the numbers would look like based on the charted "Happy Holidays."

Hope you had a Merry Christmas yourselves.

Christmas Meme

The dude and I are driving up to New Hampshire right now. Here's a little meme to hold you over.


Candy cane or peppermint patties? Peppermint patties.
Sugar or gingerbread cookies? Sugar cookies can be so hit or miss. Molasses.
Tinsel or beaded strands? Beaded strands. Tinsel is too messy. (Did I just say that?)
Multi-colored or same-colored lights? All white. Only. Ever.
Flashing or still lights? Still.
Wreaths or mistletoe/holly? I mostly decorate with wreaths.
Rudolph or Frosty? Have you watched that 60s-era Rudolph lately? It is so sexist and conformist that I can't bear it any more.
Sledding or snowball fights? Sledding. Though I haven't been in a really long time.
Snow or ice/icicles? Both can be beautiful.
Snow hat or earmuffs? Earmuffs, no hat head.
Getting or giving? Who could give if no one received?
Snow days or plow trucks? Although I work in academia, there are no such things as snow days. (The place has closed once in the past 10 years.)
Stockings or presents? There's a choice?
Cookies & milk or letter to Santa? I can't remember writing letters to Santa--I didn't believe at a very early age. And we never left cookies and milk. I think my mother couldn't be bothered to make cookies, though she has other charms. So, neither.
Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Christmas Eve. We celebrate Wigilia, so that's when the party starts. Christmas Day was always so stressful because we had to rush through the presents Santa brought to get to my paternal grandparents house before they served dinner promptly at noon. We never opened presents with my cousins from my father's side because they'd be there at the crack of dawn. Christmas Day is really low key now. We open gifts, play games and the dude and I pick up the Chinese in our pajamas. The whole family has a pj-day.
Log Burning Channel or real thing? That log burning thing is only for the New York City denizens. We didn't have that. We had a coal stove.
Cards or e-mails? Handmade cards.
Shoveling or cleaning off the car? Neither. How about neither?

Gifties

Doghouse Sampler, LHN for Sissy:

The Angels Sang, LHN for Auntie:

That backing fabric, the olive fern totally reminds me of LHN designs. I should have bought a bolt! I did get a yard, so you'll probably see it again.

I did start sending my Christmas cards. I'll be using all 12 days of Christmas to get them out because I haven't even finished making them yet!

Gotta pack up the car. We've got an early start! Cheers.

The Five Year Four Month Anniversary Winner is

Pam!
I forgot to take a screen shot, so you're just going to have to take my word for it. Pam, send me your snail mail address; my e-mail is in my profile.

Fifty entries! Wow. So now I know, you'd rather have stuff I buy than stuff I make. Hey, I can do that. Much easier.

---

Today was a mad day of cleaning--the place was a sty--and cookie baking, which the dude acknowledged was hard work. We made Clementine's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, molasses cookies, and peanut butter blossoms.

My sister and cousin came for dinner--homemade lasagna--so they could see the backsplash. Fabulous! Thanks for the complements on that. At least none of you said what my sister said, "Now you need white cabinets." (I had just said I need new cabinets, but that's because I hate the insides. I'm fine with the outsides.)

We had cookies for dessert. Between the ones that got eaten and the ones set aside for presents, I think we're going to have to make more. I volunteered to bring them in for our Christmas potluck on Tuesday. More molasses cookies, I think.

My two flatfolds are drying, so photos tomorrow.

Thanks for all the well wishes on my 64-month anniversary. And for the compliments on my kitchen. Thanks for stopping by. I know you have a lot of blogs to choose from when you waste time on the internet so thanks for reading and commenting on mine. Buh-bye.

Backsplash Fever

The backsplash is in! Our kitchen is complete! (Well, as soon as we repaint a few little patches of wall.) I've staged the photo with just a few of our red small appliances. The rest of the crap is decorating the dining room table. Fortunately, I invited my sister and cousin over for dinner on Sunday so that will all get taken care of soon.

I've been stitching on the angel. It's almost done. Tonight I am running to Joann's to pick up some finishing fabric so that I can do the finishing tomorrow. I've also been working on my Christmas cards. They're going out Monday. I'm okay with that. Aren't there like, twelve days of Christmas?

I just have to pick up a bottle of vodka and a bottle of wine. A little wrapping and a long drive on Wednesday! I am so relaxed, which just seems crazy.

"Inexpensive Gifts"

Like many of you, I'm too busy trying to finish up Christmas gifts to think let alone blog. But I saw this in my inbox and nearly flipped.

"Most-beloved gifts are often the least expensive"

"Daughter-in-law Laura, who works full time and travels also with her job,
very patiently, over 200-plus hours, made me a 12-by-20-inch counted
cross-stitch of 'The Last Supper.' I just cried with joy when I first saw this
handcrafted masterpiece."

I'm not going to confiscate it, but dude "least expensive?" Fabric, pattern, and floss probably cost let's say $40, which is a low estimate. Then, calculating her time to be worth $1/hour, and I'm guessing a woman who works full time and travels for her job is making at least $60K so much more than $1/hour. We're still talking a $240 gift. Where's the "inexpensive" in that?

Anniversary Drawing

You know things are nuts around here. So I apologize in advance that December's--Hey my blog is five, I'm going to send you prizes--drawing isn't Stitched.By.Me. But I do think every stitcher could use this lovely prize pack.

It contains five fat quarters of finishing fabrics, a stack of Christmas fabrics that are just shy of a fat quarter, several yard-long pieces of coordinating cording, a pack of 25 count raw linen, a pack of size 28 needles, 100 pearlized pins, and a pair of scissors. Basically it's everything you need to stitch except a pattern and floss, both of which you have plenty of. Go check your stash. I know you do. I'm like Santa.

All you have to do to win is leave a comment on this post. Drawing closes December 21. No guarantees, express or implied, on the arrival date. You know how crazy the US Postal system gets around this time of year. You could mail something in November and have it show up in March. Forewarned!

Not Alone

As appealing as running off to the Netherlands sounds (Hi, Annemarie! Hi, Barbara!), I'm pretty sure it will just be the same stress, different day.

A lot of people talk about making the holidays simpler by making their gifts. Ha! But I'm happy to see that I am not alone. I'm glad there's a number of us who are a little bit crazy when it comes to estimating our time, and still wanting to give it.

I've decided to finish the stockings for next year. Look how far ahead I am on the 2009 Christmas gifts! Yay, me!

Panic in Christmas Park

This morning the dude saw the draft of the Christmas newsletter. "Oh, you already got started on this?"
"Dude," says I, "dude, there are two weeks until Christmas."
There are two weeks until Christmas! TWO WEEKS!

This is where I am on the gift situation:
Stocking One:

Brett's Stocking
Sherpherd's Bush

Stocking Two:

Anna's Stocking
Shepherd's Bush

Angel for Auntie:

The Angels Sang
Little House Needleworks

I tragically keep making progress on these pieces so I keep thinking I can do it. People, I am no little engine who could. Do you want to take bets on when I will wake up and smell the chestnuts roasting on the open fire? I am thinking it will be on the drive to NH.

Plus, Christmas cards? None! They keep coming in the mail though. And when they do, they make me realize just how much there is to do still. So.much.to.do. And I suddenly realized that even though I don't have presents for at least three people (see above) I have no plans at all for my grandmother, old One-Eye (aka "sounds good since you had it fixed").

Can we invent a time machine? I'd like to go back to October and start over.

If you are uber-organized, please tell me what to do. I'm begging you: help me help myself.

Christmas Ornament Meme I

Man, I have been moody lately. I am like Scrooge in a Grinch suit. Don't even ask me about the stupid $10 gender neutral gift for a random coworker. The dude has told me I can't complain about it any more. Thanks, though, for your suggestions. You won't be hearing about it from me again. Well, maybe I'll let you know what kind of shit is cluttering up my work or living space. (Oops, did I say that out loud?)

I saw this on Donna's blog. Right now I only have one tree up--they're still working in the kitchen, so the baker's rack is in the tree's spot in the dining room. Soon, though. Wait til you see the new kitchen! :)

Christmas Ornament Meme
How many angel ornaments do you have hanging on your tree? Two

How many star ornaments do you have? None
Do you have a theme tree, and if so, what is it? Both are themed, one is snowmen and the other is full of handmade ornaments. Still leaves two Rubbermaid tubs of ornaments unused.

How many Santa ornaments? Surprisingly they do make a Santa snowman ornament. (And Mrs. Claus)

How many ornaments were handmade by you or your children? On this tree, none.
Are there any food ornaments on your tree? A whole set of baker snowmen...

Are there any ornaments that betray your origins, i.e. where you're from? The ornament my sister gave me last year is from Maine...close enough? (This is so cute, when you turn the ornament around, there's a big glittering snowman butt!)

What's the oldest ornament on your tree? It's a vintage moose ornament. It's allowed because it's all white, and it reminds me of a friend.
What ornament do you have that is the least likely to be hanging on someone else's tree? This one's handpainted so maybe, one of a kind?

And finally, do you have any new ornaments this year? These two are new that I remember. I bought them after Christmas last year. There may be some others, I'm not known for my memory.

Ramping Up for Christmas

Barbara commented on my ambitious goals for December: Are you trying to put the rest of us to shame?
Not at all! There's no way I'm getting this all done. Instead, I'm going to fall flat on my face, end up rushing out on Dec. 23 to get substitute gifts before we drive to NH on Christmas eve, and everyone will feel better about themselves!

I'm doing this for you.

We have a $10 Pollyana at work (of the Yankee Swap variety). I have to bring a gender-neutral gift. I was going to make a nice card telling the recipient I'd knit a scarf for them, color, style and material of their choice. When I was stamping last night, I asked what people thought of the idea. They nixed it. They said that unless people saw the scarf, they wouldn't be inclined to steal it. I don't particularly care if my gift gets stolen, but they really weren't thrilled by the idea of the scarf. And these are people who are crafters. Maybe that's why? (My doctor, otoh, was really impressed by Reed's Stocking. He said I had "skillz" with a "z" because he also calls me "girl." As in, "You're doing really well, girl." He says, "Hey, girl" to all the women in his office. The way he says it isn't infantilizing--he himself looks about 12--you can tell it's short for girlfriend. In all, a disconcerting experience. But I digress. He loved my simple seed-stitch scarf that has seen better days. Maybe I should just knit a scarf for him, since I could tell he would really appreciate it.)

At any rate, $10? Does $10 even buy anything any more? I feel like giving up before I even go shopping to see what kind of gender-neutral (hard enough in itself) cheap-o thing I can find. I'm thinking of a $10 gift card to Starbucks or Wawa, even though I wouldn't want those things. This is making me fall out of the Christmas spirit entirely. Sigh.

Holiday Homestretch

I didn't get to talk to Grannie Stitch Bitch on Thanksgiving but I've written a little note to let her know that so many of my friends are thinking of her. I think she will be pleased, but I am pretty sure she will have no idea what I mean by "my blogging friends." But I thank you, and so would she.

The plan for November:

Continue Emerald Mermaid SAL--I did work on it a couple of times (pictured)
SB Stocking for BIL--Here's where I am with that.
SB Stocking for cousin--Um, not so much; think I can finish both before Christmas?
Stitch LHN's The Angel's Sang for Aunt--Good progress on this, I think.
Stitch anniversary prize--done
Finish MIL's stash and dash bags--You know, I suck.
Blog every day--another NaBloPoMo successfully (?) completed

And for December:

make and send holiday cards

finish-finish LHN dog piece for Sissy
SB Stocking for cousin

finish-finish SB stockings
finish-finish Angel for Aunt

Start two new projects during my WEEK OFF!
Stitch anniversary prize