Where does the time go?

I can't believe so much time has passed since I last wrote. I hope I haven't let the side down. Last night, I worked on battlestargalactica while watching the rain delay... er ...tennis. I've finished the stems, one leaf, and part of a petal. As amy! explained Gallica is a hearty rose for the northern climes, and the picture I have is of a full-blown rose. The part-of-the-petal will be more defined once the backstitching is in.

As for the promised reviews of the JCS Christmas Ornaments issue as we wait for the new publication, here is the first installment.

I remember how excited I was by the first issue in 1997. The only real disappointment was the Told in a Garden ornament by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum. She reprinted the 1994 Christmas madonna. She even called it the "1994 Christmas Madonna," in 1997! If you don't know about her Christmas angels, click. There are 51 ornaments I have stitched 3: the Sweetheart Tree's "A-maze-ing Holiday Heart," the Heart's Content's "Hark," and Hollie Design's "Santa." The only one that is finished is the Santa because it was on perforated paper. The magazine shows "Hark" finished as a box pillow, and I really wish I had those kind of sewing skills. I can't even manage to sew regular stuffed shapes. There are about 16 other ornaments that I have on my to-be-stitched list. And now I'm 6 years behind! The Christmas stories were oddly touching, but also demonstrated that some people really need editors, and the editor of the mag let readers down on that score. Other disappointments for me were the Precious Moments ornament (oh, God, the schmaltz!) and this strange "Christmas helper" ornament that shows a fluffy white dog with a gift in his mouth. Little did I realize, even weirder Christmas ornaments were on the horizon . . .