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.

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. :(

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.

Lapland Santa

This is Lapland Santa designed by Sandra Cozzolino for Mill Hill, part of the Arctic Circle Santas. I was rooting around on the blog to see that the last time I worked on this was in 2015? Can that be true?

In this session Santa gained two feet but the reindeer lost one. I guess that means I'm not perfect!

I think I am going to put this one and a few of the other smaller pieces on my three-day rotation in December. I have about 37 projects going and I think that may be too many. They aren't seeing the light of day for years at a time! We must put a stop to this madness. I forsee focusing on what I've got going and not many new starts in {gasp!} 2018.

Balance in All Things

Posting later than usual because I had to walk the streets after dinner. I spent all day on my ass stitching with strangers and the Strawberry Sampler crew. I think I had about 200 steps when I got home after stitching 9-5. The dude and I walked to dinner, but that was still only about 2,000. Even the dog walk--shorter than usual because Stella's still not up to par--only brought me to about 5,000.

The good news in that paragraph is that I spent the day stitching. I feel rejuvinated. I finished Tada Santa (just needed a few silvery stitches) and worked on the dude's anniversary sampler. This is Silver Creek's 47 Hearts stitched with the called-for colors on Vintage Country Mocha. You can see the before here.

And if you are wondering how I magically know the fabric name this time and not before it's because the woman sitting next to me today wanted to know, and we asked Molly because I knew she'd know. She took one look and said, "is it plain on the back? It's Vintage Country Mocha." She's a goddess.

Sheepish

Ooooh, this is another one I love too much to stop stitching! I love this funky, swirly sheep. Okay, make sure I add this to the rotation next 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!

Greenland Santa, Nearly There

You might have thought you'd see a photo of my progress on Our Souls which was next up in the rotation. But I didn't stitch for three days (four, really) so it didn't see the light of day this month.

And that fourth day of not stitching means that I won't finish Greenland Santa in this round. So close! Just a few more beads in his boots and the ram. I love beading these things. So much!

It is time to move on to Cinnamon Stars, which is on this list because you chose it, so I am sure you don't want me to give up stitching on that just so I can finish this ornament. (And besides if I work really hard on my August small, I might have a spare day to return to this one.)

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!

Greenland Rotation

Slightly more sheep than there was in February, as projected.

Stella's having a bit of a time. She got her stitches out on Tuesday and has "resumed normal activities." Unfortunately, she is suffering from antibiotic belly (or that's what they're guessing). This has resulted in the dude and I being woken for bathroom breaks any time between midnight and five am. We aren't particularly good at well...much of anything when our sleep is interrupted this way. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!

Anyway, don't worry too much about the dog; she's getting probiotics and home-cooked food. She should be back to normal soon.

Rotation Rotates

Dear readers, I have stuck to my rotation even if I haven't been reporting in regularly. Every day this past week I thought, "This will be the day I blog," and instead I didn't. You probably realized...

Greenland Santa was going along swimmingly making me think I might finish all the stitches before the end of my three days, but that sheep is made out of confetti!

I didn't do nearly as much on The Thread that Binds as I had hoped but I did get a few words in. I am reading Just Mercy for a reading group at work, and it's devastating. I keep having to take breaks from it. Stitching and listening to Amy Poehler's Yes Please has been a good antidote, but I do still have pages left to read.

Nevertheless, life will continue to intervene. I won a Fitbit at work, but that means I am in a group of about 50 or so that are in friendly competition. Unfortunately this week I am in a contest for the most steps. Since my job is a lot more sedentary than others, I am only aiming to get over 10K steps every day. (The athletic trainer gets as many steps in a day that I am aiming to get during the work week.) So far the only time I've done that this month was when I took the day off to go to doctor's appointments*. (In the city, and I only parked my car once.) So I guess I'm going to have to spend more time walking, less time stitching. I don't think this can be entirely bad.

This past weekend the Strawberry Sampler had a stitch-in. I missed Friday night for stamping (of course!) but I was there from 9(ish)-5 on Saturday and 9(ish)-12 on Sunday. (So much for the step count, right?) I got soooooo much done on Winter Row that I am two swooshes and 12 snowflakes from being done. I'm going to keep on going with this one even though the rules tell me I should put it away to start stitching on my small. {Shhhh. Don't tell.}

*And today. I'm just back from my third walk of the day!

Hawaiian Santa

I finished Hawaiian Santa on Saturday morning!

 When I went to put him in the finishing pile I realized he'd have some company joining him on the tree this year. How did I lose track of these guys? They just need hangers, backing, and a couple of beards.

And when I was rooting around in the nearly-finished Santa bag, I found another one I'd started. This is Southern Cross Santa. Apparently it's very easy for me to lose track of things because I don't have the beads for this anymore either. (Don't worry, I'm sure I have something somewhere.) Not sure if I should slot him into Hawaiian Santa's spot or finish the ones I started last year first. No worries. I have two months to decide.

SAL Report: Santa Knew

My first small of the year--staying on track for 12 new ones in 2016! This is from Lizzie*Kate's Tiny Tidings XIX, stitched on the called-for fabric with the called-for colors. I did change the words from "Santa Knows" though because I've always thought of Santa as being the spirit of giving rather than someone who is all about surveillance.

This is for Sugar Rea and sometime this year, I'll be stitching the snowman from this booklet for Special K. In fact, when I chose this one, I went a little overboard and ordered Jim Shore's Snowy Owl Snowman and Best Friend Santa and Amy Bruecken's Ta-da Santa and Ta-da Snowman. I had already pulled L*K's Sled Dudes, so I have enough planned to stitch until the girls reach kindergarten. I'm not excited or anything!

This post is linked to Heather's Smalls SAL. You can get more information there or if you click the graphic in the sidebar. You can join at any time.