Where did the last 2 weeks go???? I thought it would be a pretty quiet Thanksgiving and for the most part it was but I never had a spare minute to post. I've been doing a bit of knitting and finally got around to blocking 3 shawls.... Hallelujah!!!! I procrastinate endlessly when in comes to blocking... and I know I can't wear the shawls till they are blocked but I still drag my feet. I will post pics of them later in the week. Right now I want to talk about Christmas... its coming... and I would like to request more time right up front... say another week or so? Not gonna happen, is it?
Well I have gotten one Christmas piece finished... and I started a new piece ...and there are only a bazillion more charts I want to get to... sounds like my normal behavior. First the finish...ta dah!!!
This is the Tournicoton J'Arrive chart. I stitched it on a 32 count linen I painted... in real life it is a very soft mottled blue with hints of aqua. The reins for the reindeer were a pain in the butt and I kept putting off stitching them...and then I got to the stars/snowflakes or whatever they are. The called for stitched had 18 steps and was done with one ply of floss... I did exactly ONE and knew that there was no way that was happening. I took that one star/snowflake out and went with a simpler big cross stitch with another on top of it. Like true snowflakes no two of my stitches are the same...but they are done...and they do add a nice accent to the piece. My plan is to finish it ala Priscilla... got a piece of galvanized metal that I think will work... it is on my list of things to do...next week.
And today I started this piece...
Lizzie Kate's Merry... ain't he a cute Santa? Reminds me of my son... big head...hope Santa has a big brain too...LOL!!! Another piece of 32 count linen I painted with a diluted Cherry Red Rit dye and some Turquoise. I hope to have a little stitching time after dinner, but I also hope to get my Fall decorations put away so I can start getting out the Christmas stuff.
The weather was great yesterday so I put out the inflatables ... a BIG snowman, a little snowman, a little gingerbread man and a hippo!!! The hippo is new and has a lot of meaning...one of my favorite Christmas songs is Gayla Peevey's "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". You can see an video of the song from 1953 here... and you can see another video about Gayla here. And here in Cincinnati we've got a rock star hippopotamus at the zoo... Fiona...a little hippo born prematurely that the zoo hand raised. She's adorable and has captured every one's heart. She was even featured in an article in the New York Times which you can read here.
A fellow crafter I met this year has done some wonderful pottery featuring Fiona...
In Cincinnati we are known for our Flying Pigs and now we have the cutest hippo too!! You can see Trish's creations here in her Etsy shop, Gardenhouse Pottery. I'm getting one of these mugs for me!!
Oh...the inflatables...well when I put them up yesterday it was sunny ...so it wasn't till the evening I realized the big snowman didn't light up ... darn darn darn...he's only 2 years old...he still inflates but no lights, no kaleidoscope inside. So I went online and searched for how to fix it. Probably is a burnt out bulb but you have to get inside the inflatable through the zipper opening in the bottom and fish out the bulb and release it from its protective covering. Hmmm... I think I can do this... so I performed the surgery on the snowman, took the little bulb that looked burnt out so off to the hardware store and got a replacement and put it back together. I have to wait till it gets dark to see if I fixed it...fingers crossed.
I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts today and Super Mom - No Cape on Monday. I have BIG BIG BIG plans to get so much done this week... we shall see how much actually gets accomplished. The weather is suppose to be unseasonably warm...I'll take it... 60 degrees on Tuesday. I plan to put out my Christmas lights that day...and there is a quilt for the living room wall that needs quilting ...and I'm taking a class to make a crossbody purse ...I'm doing it in Christmas fabrics in hopes that I'll get it finished...and I have a couple several oh heck a whole bunch of new Christmas charts headed for my mail box this week. It's the most busiest time of the year!!!
Hope your week is as productive as I want mine to be!!!
happy stitching-
carol fun
Love that new Christmas stitchery--you are so good at cross stitching and fast!!! Glad you are getting the outside decorations done while it is still somewhat nice outside--I only have inside things to do--that was suppose to happen on Saturday--but I am still waiting for the elves to come and do it--oh wait I forgot I fired them last year--so guess it is up to me to do it!!!
ReplyDeletehappy stitching-enjoy the moments, di
So cute. We all have so ma y patterns we want to do. Merry Christmas
ReplyDeleteVery cute finish! Your painting on the cloth looks great. Hope you accomplish all you want in the next few weeks. We resist Christmas decorating until it’s actually December, though plenty of folks in the neighborhood put up lights and inflatables this weekend. Some put theirs out when Halloween was over. ??? The rush. Have fun stitching, whatever lands from the list!
ReplyDeleteI really do not want to accomplish anything. Reading about all of this activity is tiring me out.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading about Fiona for several months now. She is a dear. Tournicoton J'Arrive is awesome. I just bought the LK chart Merry.
ReplyDeleteI love your Joyeux Noel!!
ReplyDeleteLove your Santa and his sleigh. It just looks like pure fun to make. I'm still working on my Halloween cross stitch and am determined to finish before I start another. It's my "Don't have to do it" project so it's not getting done as fast as some others. Look forward to seeing what you do next.
ReplyDeleteSuper stitch finish and nice start on LK's Merry! I hope your surgery on the snowman worked. Enjoy your week!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your finish! I would love to see your inflatables. The Hippo song is a favorite of mine too. :D
ReplyDeleteSounds like you’ve got the spirit....and a good start on some really cute projects! Have fun.
ReplyDeleteYour stitcheries are so cute! I hope the snowman lit up after your fix! We always seem to cheese the coldest day of the year to put up our lights...
ReplyDeleteLove your finish--it's too darn cute!!! Hope the snowman repair worked out!
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