Mill Hill Santas finished

Just in time to put the ornaments away, I finished two Arctic Circle Santas--Nunavut Santa and Greenland Santa. 

I finished stitching Nunavut after um ... five years, started for Debbie's Crazy Ultimate January Challenge. I also want to correct my previous statement that the sable and pebble beads were in the same pack. The pebble beads were sort of gray-brown and I was using them as if they were two different beads because I can't read instructions. Once I realized my mistake I was too far along, so no sable beads appear in this piece. Oh well.

I finish-finished (um, glued on felt backing and cut out) Greenland Santa which I finished stitching in 2016. You all, there is some sadness in that craft room-cum-home office. A number of unfinished projects of all sorts. Now that I'm hanging out in there regularly (like many, I have been work from home since March 13) I'm feeling more compelled to get stuff done. I'll keep you updated about that vague goal.

Button Up Your Overcoat!

Hello, friends! Thank you for your encouraging words on my pathetic output of last year. You are a wonder.

Although the weather outside is frightful (Below zero in southeastern Pennsylvania? Crazy talk!), I haven't stitched quite as much as I might have sitting here bundled up on the couch like Bob Cratchit (stocking cap, scarf, fingerless gloves). I did continue to work on Nunavut Santa as promised. I think one more round ought to do it!

Speaking of ornaments, the tree is down and the little glitter lights that I love to watch in the afterwork hours (and dine by) have disappeared. I'll have to find another way to add some sparkle into these dark cold (cold cold cold) nights.

Stay warm; unless you're near the equator. And if you are, you might not want to mention it to people on the east coast of America right now.

Arctic Santas

After Christmas, I was able to get back to stitching partly because of the arctic cold we were having. (We accidentally went to the Franklin Institute on what must have been the coldest day of the year, to see the Terracotta Warriors, and I'm pretty sure my face froze off!) I managed a few hours on both Lapland Santa (top) and Nunavut Santa.

Here's what Lapland looked like in November.

Nunavut got a lot of action! Here's what my polar bear friend looked like the last time.

I plan to take some time tomorrow and visit all of you and leave some notes. I want, like so many others, to get back to blogging. (I only wrote 60 posts in all of 2017!) And stitching! But more on my plans tomorrow.

Happy new year, everyone!

O Christmas Tree

I've definitely been collecting things to show you even if I haven't been able to post.

The weekend after we got back from DC, we went with my sister and the girls to Longwood Gardens to see their trees. Fabulous as always! (The girls are three and a half now.) We saw so many trees with unusual color combos. This one was (advertised as) "Tiffany blue" and had some copper accents. Another one was red and lemon yellow--it worked!

Then we put up our own trees. The snowman tree, last year (because we were heading to Florida) we bought a new artificial tree--black tinsel!--we got it back out this year because I was too sick to want to wander around tree lots. We didn't put it up until the Monday before Christmas when I was shamed into it at work. The dude helped so much over this period. He doesn't usually love all the Christmas brouhaha, but he really pitched in, buying presents, decorating, cooking, baking. I found a good one!

This is the handmade tree. Almost all the ornaments were stitched (or made) by me (there are a few by you too!). When we were at Winterthur, there was a tree of needlepoint ornaments that rotated. (I don't know how I managed to miss a photo of it!) The dude said we'll have to get one of those for this tree. Ha ha!

My collection of Sandy Cozzolino ornaments, growing slowly. I posted this photo on her Facebook page, and she said two in the middle, the Santa with holding the tree and the teddy bear Santa, are among the earliest ones she designed!

I did get the trees for the mugs that I set out to do over Thanksgiving break. I bought that huge gold tree at Target. (It is in there straight; I don't know what went wrong with this picture.) A fun little vignette. I shared it on Facebook and lots of people have these mugs. I think they might be looking for trees to stick inside during the sales!

For my aunt's December 27th birthday, we headed to Winterthur to see their trees. Although I should have photographed the needlepoint tree, I took this one instead. For the past 30 years, Winterthur has had a dried flower tree. All of the flowers are grown and preserved on the property and saved for this tree, which was HUGE. I think you can tell if you look at some of the flowers, like the sunflowers or the hydrangea. Pretty amazing!

I hope you were able to enjoy lots of lovely Christmas trees--if that's your thing. I do love the sparkly lights in this dark time of year.

Back to Stitching

Sunday is the traditional day of rest, and I rested the hell out of Sunday. Eventually, I also stitched. I worked on the Mill Hill Arctic Circles Santa, Nunavut Santa, the one with the polar bear. I started this for Debbie's Ultimate January Challenge back in 2015, but I made some good headway on this round. (You can see the start here.) He's almost starting to look like a bear! And I switched to color! I'll be happy to get back to this in the December rotation wherein I will try to finish ALL THE PROJECTS so that I can feel like I actually stitched this year.

More Santas

This is one of the Starlight Santas by Sandra Cozzolino for Mill Hill. I have no idea when I started it; I found it in a bag of mostly finished Santas last January.

He now has the beginnings of a head. Unfortunately while I was working on his face, I seem to have lost the floss. It's got to be here someplace. I worked on it at home! (When I originally "refound" it, I had somehow lost the beads.) I think this piece doesn't want to be stitched*!

*There is also a distinct lack of that light green color which is used in most of the coat.

What Stitches We Can

I've never read Javier Marias, but I did find him absolutely fascinating last night. He talked about his books, but also about growing up in Franco's Spain. Very interesting. After the interview, we waited in line to have him sign the dude's book*. We got home with just enough time to walk the dog, stitch a handful of stitches, and go to bed. I know it only looks like one color, but there are two there. You can see proof if you click back to January 19, 2015.

*Tricia B, I saw your picture request after we were home. People were getting their photos taken but the dude was too shy to ask, and he's the fan.

Thin Red Line

I haven't worked on this one since I kicked off the Crazy January Challenge in honor of Debbie in 2015. But with meetings, dog walking, grocery shopping, and dinner preparation, I just didn't get that much time with it last night.

Unfortunately, I'm not going to get much done tonight either. The dude wanted to go see Javier Marias speak at the Free Library of Philadelphia tonight. I am accompanying him. Like now. See you tomorrow!

Greenland Santa Finis

Many of you had complete confidence that I would be able to complete Mill Hill's Greenland Santa. And we were right! Woo-hoo!

Not only did I complete my small with enough time to finish this, I started my next project--JABCo's Lovebird--with the "extra time!" Look for some incredible progress on that one. Of course, I started out rather weakly.

Okay, kids, keep on keeping on!

Finish Work

On Friday, I started a bit of cleaning in the craft room. I came across these Mill Hill Santas. I had chosen floss for hangers and felt for backing and it was all in a pile together, but that's as far as I'd gotten. I had a moment debating whether I should put it all away (boo!) or just finish it already. It went on the to-do list.

Last night, after Cookbook Club* and a quick tidy up, I flopped on the couch too tired to tackle her royal PITA, Mary's Stocking. Glue and scissors, somehow, I could handle. Now I have four new ornaments to add to the tree. Clockwise, from top left, Polar Santa - Glacier Santa; Woodland Santa - Frosty Santa; Olde Time Santa - Grandfather Frost (not Mill Hill); and Tropical Santa - Hawaiian Santa. As always, these are fun to stitch and easy to finish.

Looking at these, I realize how haphazardly I approach the sets. (I have all the MH kits, except Renaissance Santas, which just came out.) I've only stitched one Polar Santa, but two Woodland Santas, one Tropical Santa but 5/7 of the Olde Time Santas.** There are 19 Mill Hill sets.  I also have the first Yarn Tree series; some of the early Astor Place series, Bucilla series, and Janlynn series; one offs she did for magazines, and a couple of leaflets featuring her Nutcracker Santas from Imaginating. How does she do it?! (You can find a complete list through 2005 here.) (The Silver Needle has a comprehensive list--all available for sale--of the Mill Hill Santas after 2005.) (That's not clear. If you want a list after 2005, go there, but she has all--since 1998--for sale.)

Anyway, you know what I'll be stitching in my retirement!

*Sheila Lukins USA Cookbook, I made Lemon Zucchini Loaf and the dude made Laurie's Winter Lemon Ice Cream, which Lukins suggested to serve together, and oh.my.awesomesauce!

** Yarn Tree has several sets of the Olde Time Santas. Only the first series involved Sandra Cozzolino, even though she mostly designed the others (coughrippedoffcough) So they're the only ones I have. Except for the Santa Riding a Chicken from the second series. Because Santa. Riding a chicken!

Hawaiian Santa

Thank you for all your good wishes for my continued recovery. I am able to sleep on my side again, if I can remember not to push myself up with my elbow which has developed a spectacular bruise that, remarkably, goes all the way around my joint like a bullseye. I appreciate your sympathy and your advice. Now I know why so many newer homes have laundry rooms on the second floor! Anyway, I'm back to work and back to tidying up, if not carrying laundry to the basement!

Hawaiian Santa was next on my rotation. Unfortunately on Monday, with the weather turning so much colder, it was necessary for me to use my time sewing buttons on the dude's winter coat. Since that was also my first day back to work since December 23, I was a little sleepy and spent the rest of the night playing stupid computer games. I rebounded well on Tuesday and was able to put some time into beading the Santa. I will work on it tonight too, and I'm looking forward to that. I especially love beading these Santas because that means I'm in the home stretch! 

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!

Day 15 and 16

Today's post should really be called "Another Blob of White."

I was really looking forward to a lot of stitching time on Thursday. The dude had a meeting that I was sure would go on forever, and I thought that would free up a lot of time, but instead of stitching, I picked up a little, folded some laundry, made some food to bring to stamping on Friday, and walked the dog. Clearly, I need to rehire my staff. I decided since I was home, it was a good opportunity to start another one of the Arctic Santas. I definitely need my DMC Collection handy so that I can sort out the floss. I broke my eyeglasses a few weeks ago, and have yet to replace them. (I can see without them; I just get eyestrain.) Anyway, long story short, bad eyes, bad lighting, and loads of grey flosses, and that simple task took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Here's my start on Nunavut Santa.

On Friday, I knew I was going to rush from work to pick up the dog before rushing off again to stamp night. So at lunch time I started By the Bay's Autumn in Vermont. I love the vibrant colors of this one. It reminds me of my youth in New Hampshire. Of course, the middle doesn't use any of those fabulous colors. No, the middle features a couple of clouds stitched not just in white, but in DMC's extra white white. (B5200) Oh well, I'll get to the good stuff someday.

My Name is Anna, and I'm a Hoarder

When the ladies at Strawberry Sampler called to let me know my thread was in, I hightailed it right over. And, as you can see, a couple of other things hopped into my basket. I love these Sandra Cozzolino ornaments. I collect them. (And sometimes I even stitch them.) I love these colonial Santas. I think they're her best in years. I may have to have the dude take me down to Colonial Williamsburg* to stitch them. It only seems right.

When I said I collect them, I'm not lying. Someday I'll catch up. In about 35 years when I retire.





* I once read about how Williamsburg was completely reconstructed and is a fiction. It broke my twelve year old heart. But I'd still like to go back with the dude to show him our paltry, Disneyfied history.

Tis the Season to Stitch a Santa

For a while, I was avidly collecting Sandra Cozzolino's perforated paper santa ornaments. I think they are cute. In fact, I corresponded with her to get a complete list of all the kits she had designed. Here it is, my gift to you...

ASTOR PLACE 918 Santa Claus 919 Pere Noel 920 St. Nicholas 921 Sinterklaas 922 Father Christmas 923 Von Klaus 926 Grandfather Frost 927 Black Forest Santa 961 Patriotic Santa 962 Prairie Santa 963 Pioneer Santa 964 Mystical Santa 965 Magical Santa 966 Musical Santa 979 Solar Santa 980 Lunar Santa 981 Terrestrial Santa 982 Arctic Santa 983 Wilderness Santa 984 Nordic Santa 985 Birdhouse Santa 986 Garden Santa 987 Wildlife Santa 988 Feline Santa 989 Canine Santa 990 Equine Santa 997 Baker Santa 998 Tree Trimmer Santa 999 Toy Maker Santa	BUCILLA 9000 Skiing Santa 9001 Hockey Santa 9002 Sledding Santa 9003 Noel Santa 9004 Joy Santa 9005 Peace Santa	JANLYNN 093-323 Bee Keeper Santa 093-324 Greens Keeper Santa 093-325 Game Keeper Santa 093-329 St. Nick 093-330 Kris Kringle 093-331 Santa Claus 093-322 We Believe* 093-327 Deck the Halls* 093-328 Here Comes Santa*
	YARN TREE** Pere Noel - France Sinterklaas - Holland Father Christmas - Ireland Babbo Natale - Italy Santy Nick - Poland Grandfather Frost - Russia Mac Santa - Scotland Papa Navidad - Spain St. Nicholas - Switzerland	MILL HILL MHNS1 Juniper Santa MHNS2 Holly Berry Santa MHNS3 Pine Tree Santa MHNS4 Northern Light Santa MHNS5 Southern Cross Santa MHNS6 Eastern Star Santa MHWS7 Bell Ringer Santa MHWS8 Frosty Santa MHWS9 Holly and Ivy Santa MHMS10 Mandolin Santa MHMS11 Drum Santa MHMS12 French Horn Santa MHAS13 Bluebird Alpine Santa MHAS14 Dove Alpine Santa MHAS15 Cardinal Alpine Santa MHMS16 Mt Ranier Santa MHMS17 Mt McKinley Santa MSMH18 Mt Whitney Santa MHPS18 Snow Drift Santa MHPS19 Ice Cap Santa MHPS20 Glacier Santa

* Stocking kits which include Santa ornament

**Sandra only designed these for one year. However, Yarn Tree altered some of Sandra's designs and sold them the following years. Series two, three, and four are not by Ms Cozzolino.