Advent Blog Hop, Day 23

Welcome to Day 23 of the annual Serendipitous Stitching Advent Blog Hop. Two more sleeps! (Actually for us it's just one more, but that's a story for another day.)

I have an annual tradition--insofar as something you have been doing for four years is a "tradition"--of making my nieces a Christmas ornament. This year it's a Lizzie*Kate Sled Dudes Snow Man for Special K and a Stocking Sleds Santa for Sugar Rea. (Santa was stitched for Craft Month.)

You can follow these links to see the other ornaments I've made for the girls:
First Christmas
Second Christmas: Santa and Snowman
Third Christmas: Santa and Snowman

Jo asked us to share our favorite Christmas Songs with you, and I went all Rob Gordon:

5. "The Christmas Waltz," She and Him
4."Fairytale of New York," The Pogues
3. "Christmas Wrapping," The Waitresses
2. "Elf's Lament", Barenaked Ladies (with Michael Bublé)
1. "Silver Bells"

 Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!

Santa Appears

This is definitely the most cross stitch I have ever done in a Craft Month (number of projects, not necessarily number of stitches).

I give you Lizzie * Kate's Santa from the Stocking Sleds. I used most of the called for overdyed threads but I didn't have Bright Leaf (the gold around the edge).

I'm sorry that the blogging of Craft Month has been so haphazard. :(

A Month of Blogging Finis

I wasn't sure what I was going to stitch last night that could also serve as my small for today's Small SAL report. I pawed through the stash, reviewed the three Two Hour Cross Stitch books I had, selected and discarded a few items. At last my eye alighted on the Lizzie*Kate pattern Sled Dudes. One of the women sitting next to me at the Strawberry Sampler Stitch In at the beginning of this month was stitching this very piece. She started it and then I looked over again a few minutes later and she had nearly finished it! With this memory in mind, I knew I had found the perfect piece.

I only stitched on it for an hour last night, but I was able to finish-finish it in another hour or so! Since I decided on this piece at the last minute, only two of the flosses are the called-for colors. I used WDW Grasshopper for the green and WDW Peony for the pink, as called for. But the blue is GAST Huckleberry, the white is WDW Whitewash, the black is GAST Wrought Iron and the red is DMC 321 (which is listed as an alternate to Louisiana Hot Sauce). I also used metallic gold perforated paper instead of plain brown; it was all I had. Linking up with Heather of Stitching Lotus who hosts the Smalls SAL.

This is the most fun I have ever had doing NaBloPoMo! I really went back to the roots of the blog for that one, and it worked!  I'll be back to the regular rotation tomorrow.

Wisteria Snowman
Love Bird
Christian's Stocking
Our Souls
Waldorff
Cinnamon Stars
Lapland Santa
small
Ladybug, Ladybug
Tis the Season

Small SAL - Biscornu

It's nice to be missed! Thanks for all your comments. This week is a little less scheduled but there is a party coming up soon! And work to be done for that. This business of being old(er) is hard. ;)

For Heather's Small SAL, I chose Lizzie*Kate's Hoot, a limited edition biscornu and fob. And half a biscornu is better than none. I started this on the appointed day, and have spent the rest of the month--and more!--finishing it. Thus I decided each side of the biscornu could be a finish for this SAL.

So let's review this month.

1. Waldorff, Homespun Sampler--finished page two
2. Mary's Stocking, SB--closing in on a finish
3. Wisteria Snowman, SB--she has a head!
4. Our Souls, Midsummer Night Designs --a tiny bit of progress
5. Christian's Stocking, SB--some good progress
6. Cinnamon Stars, Plum Street--just a bit, but no photo
7. Small #9--yes!
8. Lovebird, JABC--no, see above
9. I haven't decided yet what to put here. I may call audible on game day.--found Ladybug, Ladybug but didn't stitch on it
10. Tis the Season, Blackbird--and also no.

In October I hope to stick to my Molly rotation with the same line-up, including Ladybug, Ladybug at Number 9. I also plan to have a fun and happy birthday in two weeks (give or take).

Days 27 through 31

This last week of January flew by! Although I haven't had a chance to show you what I worked on Tuesday (or Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday!), I did manage to stitch five more patterns.

This is Christian's Stocking by Shepherd's Bush. I'm stitching it for Jersey. But I will say right now that if I cannot finish all four of this family's stockings, I will finish the stockings for the girls (even though I've stitched less on theirs at this point).

The last of the scheduled Mill Hill Santa starts, Lapland Santa. This one had six different browns in it. I think they do this on purpose so you can have a nervous breakdown when you are sorting the floss. Seriously. I worked on this while watching the last episode of Hinterlands. I hope when the second series airs in the UK this fall, we won't have to wait long to see it on this side of the Atlantic.

I am restitching Mary's Stocking for Sissy. It has to be done so her sock matches the rest of the family's. Honestly I stitched this so long ago the first time, that I don't think it will feel repetitive. 

These were stitched on Friday and Saturday for two special little twins. I think these will show up in my February rotation in the "new start" slot. Gotta get these done and in frames before the babies have their first birthday! I am stitching this on a 28-ct white Monaco with Belle Soie silks in Carnation.

My goals for this month were to start a new project every day (check), stitch every day (check), and finish a small (check). Not a bad outing.

February:

Week One: Love Me, Love My Dog (started CJC 2011)

Week Two: Oh, Baby

Week Three: Smalls project

Week Four: free stitch/craft

I hope to continue to work on my annual goals of stitching every day and finishing 12 projects for the year.

Okay, I'm way behind on commenting on your blogs and checking out the Grow Your Blog Party. Don't give up on me!

Days 21 and 22

I'm guessing you could tell this is a Lizzie*Kate. It's a freebie called "Love Lives Here" that I actually have on paper. I checked, and it's not on the website. That's how old it is! The dude was at his always-runs-long meeting, so I turned on some mindless tv and got some serious stitching done! This is stitched in DMC on the same fabric as the Bent Creek Wedding Row. Whatever that was.

On Thursday, I was abandoned again but for less time and a better cause. (He was tutoring ESL.) Stella and I kept the couch warm, and I stitched this Amy Breucken design, Saint Nick's Noel, stitched with the called-for colors on 30 ct guacamole. (I can still not get the color of this fabric to come out!) I love all of her St. Nicks including the ones she did with her sister (Sister and Best Friends). But I once sent one out for a round robin that never returned so I've had a problem picking them up ever since. This is the beginning of a new day! (And a really cute sheep!)

Smalls SAL: Baby Edition

My entries into the Smalls SAL. Please forgive the horrible retouching; it's there to protect the babies' privacy, and I did it on my phone. 

I don't know what was up with my math skills on this but I stitched both baby names (over one!) twice because I simply could not align them. And I'm not certain that Sugar Rea's is centered. (The dude says it is fine.) I also had to do the year twice on both. Sigh. 

I'm taking them to the LNS this Saturday to have them finished. Just too cute to leave a heart-shape in my incapable hands. This is a Lizzie*Kate pattern called 1st Christmas. Every time I saw the cover photo of the couple's first Christmas ornament with "The Thompson's" I went nuts. It should be "The Thompsons" (plural, not possessive). Even if you were implying that it was the Thompsons' Christmas tree that the ornament was hanging on or the Thompsons' house it was in or that it was the Thompsons' ornament it would have to be both plural and possessive. It's only Thompson's if you are talking about one Thompson, and since it is "Our First Christmas" ornament, well, I hope you get the idea by now.

You can get more information on this stitchalong hosted by Heather at the Stitching Lotus by clicking on the badge in the sidebar. You can get links to the other stitchers' (see what I did there?) posts here.

Crazy {Modified} Crazy January Challenge

First, I must apologize for that BBQ post. I'm sorry I drove so many of you out for what passes for barbecue in your neck of the woods. Also, I seem to have stressed out the North Carolinians by putting in the crazy, funny, and notsogood. I apologize. We enjoyed ourselves. And we thank you for your recommendations. We'll be back!

Unbeknownst to me, another of the modifications of my 2012 Crazy January is that I don't have to start something new every day for the first nine days. And even when I do, I don't have to show it to you right away.

Lizzie * Kate Snowman '10, my second start on this challenge.

I do still have three starts to make, and I am now armed with all the supplies. The dude is playing in the "It Must Be a Holiday" Open in Philadelphia. That means Stella and I are on our own this weekend, and we plan to get a case of stitch ass. Or at least I do. I can't speak for the dog.

No, you can't speak for me. You have no idea about my life, lady.

Fairy Tales

So Mother's Day...that came and went. Here's the present I made for my mother. Not really a sentiment that I espouse...sometimes when I was stitching it, it made me a little depressed. Sure, shoes can give you special powers, but they're only a tool. I should have finish-finished it for Sunday but I'm a slacker so it just went out today. My aunt and grandmother were here though, so we had brunch at my sister's house. They got me a nice periwinkle lacecap hydrangea for... being a woman who chose not to use her womb? It's the thought that counts.

Today I went to see the dude's boss. The dude works in career services, so it's sort of a no brainer to get help from his office. She had a lot of good ideas for me. On the way home, at the bus station, this guy asked about the 104. Then he started chatting with me, telling me he was from Colombia and it was his first time on the bus. "A lot of blacks," he says. What the hell do you say to that? "In fact, Philadelphia is 45% African American." Then he gives me a look like that's a bad thing. So I say, "we're all the same: some rich, some poor, some bad, some good." He says, "But there's a lot of crime in Philadelphia." The conversation continues from there and it transpires he is from Medellin, Colombia. Um, MEDELLIN once the most violent city in the world. (Philadelphia isn't even the most violent city in America.) Oh, you clean up your act for a couple of years and you get to be the pot calling the kettle black? The mind boggles.

In the spirit of bringing together all races, I want to point out that I made that three color cord on the easel. I followed the not entirely comprehensible directions of Marcia Brown in the Fall 1998 issue of Fine Lines. (The dude read them and was at a loss.) Not bad, huh?

Oops almost forgot the most important part: the backing fabric. Thanks to dd (she of RR fame) who not only thought of it but also bought the fabric and sent it to me. Sweet!

Edited to add: The pattern is Lizzie*Kate's Cinderella. I changed the colors to make them match better with the backing fabric. That lime green is the called-for DMC; darker green is WDW spring grass; dark red is GAST cranberry; the star is GAST poppy; lighter blue is GAST Tropical Ocean. I don't know what I used for the darker blue and the medium red, but surely your conversion will be as good as mine!