It's not a pretty sight and lots of ramblings and musings on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - I hope you had a lovely Christmas... mine was very nice and it isn't even over yet... after giving Elliott three Christmas present opening days (Elliott is supremely blessed with great parents and grandparents...IMHO) ... the adults haven't found time to exchange their gifts... but we will get around to it.

As for this post...when I started to write this I thought it would be short and sweet...insert hysterical laughter... I'm rarely... probably never short and sweet...wait I take it back I am short... the sweet part is certainly debatable ... anyway I have definitely rambled today... just a heads up for you... 

Yesterday my dear son  helped me put away all the Christmas decor... well almost all of it ... as I looked around the room I forgot to take Olive, the other reindeer to the basement... I think I'll let her hang out a little while longer.  And when he was done toting everything back to the basement, he turned around and toted upstairs all the snowman and winter decor... and here is the evidence... not a pretty sight... but I'll get there...

Keeping it real... and offering my sincere gratitude to whoever perfected the Sterlite plastic bin ... especially the 66 qt size... it is my favorite!  LOL... good for storing quilts and all kinds of decor.. . you'll never see me blocking traffic and protesting oil... I'm  old...but not stupid... 

I have today and tomorrow to release all these quilts and knickknacks and get them displayed... I'll be watching Elliott on Tuesday and while I'm sure he'd be happy to "help" me I think I'll pass on that offer. 

With the Christmas festivities behind me I have done a little  winter stitching...  nothing is totally finished  yet... I did another Prairie Schooler Snowman.... this one from the book  Holly Days No. 157... I need a quintet of snowman for the centerpiece tray for my dining table... hopefully I still have some of the same fabric I used for the other 4... I know I have the tinsel trim... 

And I stitched  this Snowman sampler from Tra La La  called ABC Bonhomme  de Neige....

I didn't stitch the border or the snowflakes... I have some snowflake buttons I think will fit in the empty spaces and without the border I think it will fit in a frame I found in my picture frame stash... yes I have a picture frame stash... I pick up frames that are marked down or on sale when I see them... mostly the smaller sizes ... and I don't care what color they are because I can always paint them...which is what I plan for the one I want to use. 

I also spent a couple of evenings working on The Red Bird Sampler by With Thy Needle & Thread... this was a New Year's Day  start in January of 2022... whoa... I didn't think it was that long ago ... anyway.. I got some more stitches in it... completed the satin stitch band...my spin on the piece along with the addition of the alphabet which I completed... now there isn't an alphabet on the chart, but in my world a sampler always has a alphabet. Sorry for the wrinkles and the not great photography... everything today is just a little on the rough side...

Earlier this year I was going to put in my initials in the bottom right space and the year  2023...wishful thinking on my part... but I plan to made a bold move and stitch in 2024 to motivate me to finish this one.  It really isn't a big sampler... those birds and baskets are spaced out quite a bit... and I love the turquoise fabric I dyed for this one and the red threads...not sure why I kept putting it on back burner. 

And while working on this I got to thinking what I want to stitch in 2024... and what I want for a New Year's Day start.... so let me start with New Year's Day... I have several good sized samplers I want to start... but not yet... cause I have several good sized samplers I started in 2023 that I  need ... no WANT to  finished... and right now I'm in a finish them up mood... let's see how long  this mood lasts... So my starting point is The Red Bird Sampler... making myself look good here... and then  there is Prairie Schooler Garden Sampler  chart No.  45 (this was part of my 7 for 70th that got blown out of the water when I got sick this Fall)...

oh and then there was also Every Opening Flower by With Thy Needle & Thread... also a casualty of my September I don't want to remember...

and Fragments in Time 2022 by Summer House Stitche Works... I think this one was a July 2022 start... gosh I LOVE LOVE LOVE that  center band with the alphabet and the colors in this one...

So that's 4 good sized samplers... and then these two are on my radar too... Prairie Schooler No. 64 Christmas Alphabet...

all the cool kids are doing this one... the flosses are Lori Holt's picks which you can see here... and while the cool kids have been stitching this one vertically I think I'm sticking with the horizontal orientation... I have a plan where it would fit...

And there is this one calling my name... La D Da Peacock Band Sampler...

I really like the "To thine own self be true" verse  and the vertical orientation of this one...however I'm not as thrilled with the called for flosses... kinda dark and a bit too much beige... I need to sit down and pick my own palette for this... thinking of doing the beiges in greens, making the bird a bit more turquoise...

oh...  getting back to what I want to do for a new start on New Year's Day ( you thought I forgot didn't you?  actually I did and came back to this when I was proofing it...sheesh) ... anyway I think I will start a piece from Pinker n Punkin Quilting... probably A Cold Winter's Day which you can see here... I want to change the color of the house but I love the cardinals and the snowman... and I hope to do 6 of her saltboxes in 2024 for the hashtag #pnpsixhouses2024SAL and I need to figure out how to post my choices... and I need to kit this up today!!

As for quilting I have a couple of quilts I'd like to do... the Dorothy pattern with the Momo fabrics I showed a couple of weeks ago is on my design wall. I thought the fabric for the alternate plain blocks was still in production... it was when I looked a couple of months ago but it appears it isn't now... so I don't know that I have enough to make it a bed size quilt... which it probably doesn't need to be... and I'll take this as a sign it should just be a throw... see ...sometimes I do pay attention when reality comes calling... 

There a new Christmas pattern from Lori Holt  called Home Town Holiday Decorating the Tree. ..you can see it here...  I may order this as a kit... and there is  Millie's Dresses...I like a small version of this over my cutting table in my sewing studio done in American  Jane fabrics... and I'd like to do a quilt with the Layer Cake Loop pattern, which you can see here... it is a free pattern...  thinking of this in low volumes... nice and summery...and I'd like to so something with that bin of Tilda fabrics I've been aging... and there's a tulip quilt  by Coriander Quilts  Tulip Market...that's been calling my name... I have the background for it and plenty of tone on tone yellows and greens in my stash... and that Christmas quilt I started 2 weeks ago with Basic Grey's Jolly Good... I put a reminder in my phone to get back to it in July 2024... and I'm still in love with the GIANT Disappearing 9 Patch quilt... so far I've made a version in plaids for my son, a version in American Jane fabrics for me and another using Momo fabrics which is on my bed right now... I'd like to do a Christmas version with one of my many many layer cakes of Basic Grey Christmas fabrics and a Fall one with one of my many many layer cakes of Sandy Gervais Fall fabrics ...she does the best Fall IMHO... 

Well that's quite a list isn't it?? ... and there probably isn't a snowball's chance in hell that I'll get all those done... I checked to see how many quilts I finished this year... by my accounting I finished 9 tops and 7 got quilted. Actually, that more than I thought... as for cross stitch I did 41 pieces...lots of seasonal smalls and there were 5  BIG samplers... click on the blue links for pics!

O Joyous Day by Blackbird Designs...

Primitive Lady by Ewe & Eye & Friends...

1889 Alphabet by Needlework Press...

Sunnyside Sampler by The Drawn Thread... oh good grief I finished this back in July...  I need to get this one framed ASAP...

and

Remember Me by Teresa Kogut which is at the framers. 

So overall I guess it was a decently productive year...  I do feel like I totally lost September and October and even part of November with my bout of diverticulitis and C-diff... yuck yuck yuck... and more than just being sick the amount of time it took to recover certainly kicked my butt and left me feeling truly old for the first time... I've been very good at deluding myself that age was only a number prior to this... it certainly gave me a heightened insight into my mortality ... I'm not fond of the view...

Well I was certainly long winded here today... I'm still discombobulated as to what day of the week it is... I kept thinking Christmas was a Sunday... which it wasn't... so while today is Sunday and I was thinking it was New Year's Day it isn't... maybe next week I'll get back on track.   My plans for New Year's Day are the same they've been for many years... no resolutions will be made... all the projects I listed are goals ... some I'll meet ... some I won't... I will spend the day doing the things I want to do ALL year... I'm going to cross stitch starting with a new project... I'm going to sew on a quilt a bit, that Dorothy Momo has some pieces cut and sitting by my machine... I'll pick up a sock and knit a bit... we will go out to eat (cause I don't need to cook any more than absolutely necessary) and I'll do a little shopping... probably online... and I'm going to relax and try not to stress over what might be... that part is hard to do.

So if you've hung in there till this part I want to thank you for coming and reading my musings... and I wish you health and happiness in the year ahead... the world is a crazy scary place right not... it needs lots of prayers and understanding ... I hope it gets that...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... always fun stuff to read there... oh, I wanted to point out that with this post I have posted for the last 4 weeks in a row and even had a Design Wall Monday post... don't know what has gotten into me but I will say I do still enjoy having a blog as well as posting on Instagram... so much more opportunity to ramble... and I like to ramble...LOL... this will make 28 posts for this year... a definite improvement over a pitiful 18 in 2022 but no where near the years of 2011-15  where I topped  over a 100 posts a year... I don't think I'll ever get back to those numbers but I will try to do as many as I did this year... maybe even more... it isn't that I don't have any to talk about (insert eyes rolling back into my head and hysterical laughing)... I find the thing that curtails posting is the difficulty in getting pictures to upload from my phone to my computer... there probably is a better way than I do it, but I'm an old dog and an unless someone can show me another way I'll muddle on as I have... thanks again for reading my blog... and have a Healthy and Happy 2024!!

happy stitching,

carol fun 

Twas the day before Christmas on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well that week flew by at warp speed... I don't think I've had one so chock full of things to do in quite a while... but tomorrow is Christmas and I think I'm ready... although I still worry that I've forgotten something major... but it is probably too late to fix whatever that could be... so I'm not going to think about it.

As I promised I have one more post of Christmas decor... this is large shelf display... some old stuff and a little new stuff ... and yes Olive, the other reindeer, who came to live in my house last year is standing guard...

Recapping from the top..The Quaker Noel Row sampler from Bent Creek... notice it is pronounced Noel but the reality is there is no letter L in this sampler... get the joke?? LOL I brightened it up a bit adding the red and the gold...

My Nativity set that I needlepointed in 1984 has the top spot... the designer was Polly Carbonari.. I needlepointed a lot of her stuff back in the day. I stitched this when my oldest child was 1 year old ... I wanted a Nativity set that wouldn't get broke if handled by a small child... 

Below that a couple of Christmas samplers from Blackbird Designs... Feliz Navidad is stitched on an 32 or maybe it was 36 ct. linen dyed with Apple Green Rit Dye... I don't remember what Merry Christmas was stitched on ... and in the center I have Christmas Bird by With Thy Needle & Thread.   As far as I know there are 4 Christmas samplers by Blackbird Designs and I think I have the charts for the other two... maybe I'll do another before next Christmas... good to have goals right?

This middle shelf  is all Prairie Schooler and has my new finishes for 2023. The little deer were in a Cross Stitch magazine Christmas edition years ago... in the middle The 12 Days of Christmas No. 74,  stitched on a 32 count linen I dyed with some concoction of Golden Yellow and Tan... 

the two angels are from the appropriately named Angels chart, it is No. 42... the linen was dyed with Rit Aquamarine... the frames were picked up at Hobby Lobby this year... they had a whitewashed finished and I repainted them with a sparkly gold paint... I think they have a Russian icon look... but that may be my wishful thinking... and on a Prairie Schooler tangent... these charts are available ... if you click on any of the blue links it should take you to a site that has the charts.

 Since I posted my list of PS charts I had, Nancy, a lovely reader of this blog reached out to me and had a couple of charts that I didn't have that she offered to me to purchase ...and I did... and now my count is over 75 PS charts...  here's my new list...

it harkens back to the day when I use to go with my Grandma to play bingo... there was a board with the numbers on it that lit up when the number was called... and where did that memory come from?  LOL... lots of old ladies in the church basement... smoky haze and a small glass bottle of Coca-Cola... I would run the winning cards up to the front of the room for my Grandma and my great aunts Lucy and Kate...

okay lets get back on track... below that memory filled shelf is Oh Christmas Tree by All Through the Night... like the No "L" sampler I brightened this one up too making the stars gold and the birds red... the linen was painted with Lemon Yellow and I think Evening Blue... I didn't have a plan when I painted this, I just wanted splotches of yellow and blue... the frame was from Hobby Lobby and it was already a shabby yellow... it was meant for this piece!   The little pillow with the  little yellow house came from  Prairie Schooler Up on the Housetops No. 25.

The other side of the shelf is my putz houses... little cardboard sparkly houses...and if you are interested in a little history of putz houses check out this article... I remember having little decorations like them when I was a child...all of these are ones I've picked up over the last couple of years... some have little lights inside and occasionally I remember to turn them on. 

At the bottom... along with some Christmas quilts is In Santa Claus Land by With Thy Needle & Thread...another one where I stitched it on a turquoise (Aquamarine dye by Rit) instead of the beige called for.  

Well we are opening gifts tonight primarily for Elliot... it will be a lot of fun!   Tomorrow my older son is doing a open house and we are bringing appetizers and finger food... got a couple of yummy things at Costco and will make some deviled eggs... afterwards I'm going to sit and  relax ... I've moved onto stitching some snowman stuff. I'll redecorate after the 1st of the year and the snowmen will hang around till about March when I'll be longing for Spring.  Fingers crossed for a mild winter... 

Hope you are all set and ready to go... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts to see what everyone else it up to!

May you have a blessed and peaceful and joyous Christmas!

carol fun 

T'was a week before Christmas on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - t'was a  week before Christmas and all through the house, this old lady isn't stirring much...LOL...and I'm glad I got things done when I did.  I've done a little tweaking of my decorations and I think other than some gift cards which I can get online my shopping is pretty well done...however there are still a couple of small things I want to stitch up ... and I'm going to finish up my Christmas cards today and take then to the post office tomorrow... I always drag my feet over the cards... I've been making my cards for years... and settling on an idea takes me  a while... and then I need to do a sample and see how long it takes ... which I've done. Now some years I'm over the moon about the design I picked... this year it's just okay... I like it ...but I'm not up to doing as much as I have in the past. I  even considered not making cards at all... but so many of my friends tell me they look forward to my card every year that I making them again... I should get an earlier start on them... but I never do. 

Anyway, lets look at more decor... I'll start with the quilt on the wall...

The Santa panel from Moda a couple of years ago... the one that was suppose to be appliqued to a background of bajillion log cabin blocks, which was never gonna happen in my sewing room ... my technique was to apply  Heat N Bond to the edges of Santa and ironed him onto a large swatch of minty green Grunge ... then I machine appliqued him down... HO HO HO's came from the pattern Jingle Jangle... there are suppose to be a lot more HO's and even though there is a bunch of them cut out and in a sterlite bin these are the only ones that have ever seen the light of day.  I had the best of intentions to make the Jingle Jangle quilt back in 2018, but it has never happened and probably won't...oh well... moving on...

The tier tray has 2 different themes going on ... up top ladies and angels... below Santas.... I kind  wish I had more stitching and knickknacks to do either theme... I probably could do just Santas... and maybe I will... I could move the angel and ladies to the big display shelf unit... hmmm might do some tweaking in this before the week is out... anyway... sorry about that tangent... the ladies  on the top right and left are from Pineberry Lane ... and the angel in the middle is a snippet from WTN&T Peppermint & Holly....

Below a couple of Santas I needlepointed about 35 years ago and my finished WTN&T freebie from last year... Merry& Minty...  I pinned this to a piece of foam core board... I wanted to try pinning a piece and I thought this would be good practice. I may try to do some larger pieces in the future. I trimmed it with tinsel trim from the gift wrap department... I was able to pull up every other pin or so and wrap the tinsel trim around the pin and then push it back down as the tinsel trim has a wire core... easy peasy and I had the trim on in nothing flat.  The little boy holding the train is a needlepoint tree topper stitched waaaay back in the day... he looks like my older son when he was 4 or so... and now my older son looked at it and said "it looks like Elliott" which is does... there's no denying genetics.   The cookie jar is a Debbie Mumm piece... Elliott keeps checking to be sure there is nothing in it... so disappointing...LOL

Here are some close ups of the stitching pieces...

Now next to this display is the cabinet that has my TV... and I've definitely tweaked it. I'm still obsessed with Shiny Brite ornaments this season and I saw a display like this in a magazine. Basically a tier tray/tree  made from cake stands... oooohhh...I could do this... I have a ton of cake stands... so I put together this "tree" and filled it with reproduction Shiny Brites and topped it with a Christopher Radko tree topper... here's a couple of views...

And it is very pretty but the scale is off... it is too big for this space... can you see it is as tall as the TV?...not pleasing to my eye...  

So  I went with another arrangement I saw in a magazine... pretty apothecary jars filled with ornaments... and I like this sooooo much more!! Here's a pic of the whole arrangement...

I got the jars at Michaels with a 30% off coupon... and it is amazing how many ornaments can fit inside these jars... and the scale is in proportion for my little house... 

On the other side of the TV I have my December piece from Hands On Designs ... some pixies, the tree topper I used on the cake stand tree and a countdown calendar.

Below that is my needlepoint stocking... 

In the middle some knickknacks (this space needs some cross stitched smalls IMHO) ...

and to the right Nick's needlepoint stocking... 

these are LARGE stockings ... about 8" wide at the top and 23" long... when I started this venture I stitched 3 of these in one year and had a newborn... and obviously a lot more energy... I've stitched 6 of these stockings ... and unless Elliott get a sibling I won't be doing any more... my needlepoint days are complete...

Oh somewhere in the last year I'm pretty sure I said I was going to hang a different quilt on the wall.. the Bright Ornaments quilt that I finished in like January of 2023... well I changed my mind about hanging it on the wall but I did hang it over the back of the couch...

The ornaments are made from the Basic Grey Peppermint Bark collection and the background is Grunge in the Ale colorway... I like that one a lot as I used in the quilt I showed on Monday.  Anyway it looks nice here. I already have plans for another ornament quilt... saw a pattern from Lori Holt that I'd like to do but it doesn't get released until  August  2024... you can check out a kit of the quilt here.  I'm tempted to buy the kit, I don't think that is a bad price for a 80 x 86 " quilt... but I don't need it that big... I think I really only need a wall size quilt... which I will put on my list of things I want to do in 2024... and we will see how that turns out...LOL

In the hallway telephone niche I have another cookie jar (this was my score from my neighbors' trash a couple of years ago .. I really like it) and a new for this year cross stitch piece... the Merry String from Lizzie Kate...

I stitched the string on a piece of 32 ct green linen I had in my stash... don't know what colors I mixed for this but think fresh guacamole as the green... I LOVE it!   I finished in a kinda Christmas cracker fashion. I rolled up cotton batting and sewed it around the roll... just tied the ends with some string ... it fits perfectly in this spot and was an easy way to FFO this long skinny piece. I have more of this linen and I think I'd like to do another small with it... might get something done before Christmas... 

And speaking of things I got done... I FINISHED  the Remember Me sampler from Teresa Kogut!!

Here's a pic of it with the frame I chose... got a rustic finish in green an specks of a coppery peach that goes so well with this piece...

I went to a new framer and I really liked the guy... and he has TONS of beautiful moldings... I saw several that made me want to stitch some thing so I could use them... this is a big piece... the stitching is a little over 14 x 16 inches... so I knew it wasn't going to be cheap to frame it but the price was where I anticipated. Now to see how well he laces and frames it... he's been doing framing for 50 years so I assume it will look great. I have a couple of other pieces waiting in the wings that I'd like to get framed. 

It was my goal to finish this before the end of 2023...so happy happy happy to have completed this...now I'm contemplating what I should stitch between now and Christmas...more Christmas pieces?  start on some new snowmen? pick up an WIP and work in it?  Haven't made up my mind yet... I have thought about what I want to stitch overall in 2024.... definitely want to do a long narrow sampler or two or three... I have a couple of space in my house that format fits well ... and I'm running out of wall space ... lots of stuff that is a WIP I'd like to get back to... and I have no doubt there will be new stuff coming out that I can NOT resist!!

As for quilting I got a little bit of sewing done last Tuesday when Elliot was here ...while he played in an exploded bag of fluff as he calls it (actually a bag of polyester fiberfill)... 

and he worked on putting some fluff back in his lovey that he poked a hole in ages ago...

I sewed up some units for a Dorothy quilt using my Momo fabrics...

I'm glad I slapped these up on my design wall... I can see that I will need to pay attention and do some of the units so the directional fabrics are horizontal rather than vertical ... my OCD  would be very upset with items like those little deer on the green background. if they were facing the wrong direction... and I love this fabric for the plain blocks... that scissors print first appeared in a Momo collection... I have it in blue and pink... and I have been saving about 4 to 5 yards of this colorway forever in a day... WHY??  They actually still make it as part of the Muslin Mates line... although the background may be darker... anyway, this fabric isn't getting any younger and neither am I ... gonna sew the stuff that makes my heart happy!! 

 I feel like I have some quilting mojo back... I hope it lasts...might get a little sewing in on Monday... that would be nice. 

Well I realize that there is one more Sunday before Christmas... so I'll wait till then to show the big shelf display... I think I've overloaded you enough again this week...  I'm off to get my Christmas cards done today... going with Elliott  and his Daddy to see the giant train display at Cincinnati's Union Terminal this week... got dinner plans for a couple of nights...and will need to do a Kroger and Costco run for stuff to make appetizers with for Christmas Day... 

I will link up with Kathy's Quilts today  .. I'll be dropping by to see what others are up to ... I hope your week running up to Christmas goes smoothly... 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

A rare occurrence.... a Design Wall Monday post!

 Hello...well this hasn't happened for a very long time ... I have a post for Design Wall Monday....  I want to remember what I did ... and what I plan on doing... as what I have is all Christmas-y... and by the middle of January this will have completely disappeared from my radar...LOL

One quilt top finished and another started.... let's do one at a time....

The pattern for this throw is Piece of Cake 2 from Thimble Blossoms... here's a link ... in the past I've done Piece of Cake 1 and Piece of Cake 3... love those patterns for showing off a layer cake... the fabric is Christmas Faire by Cathe Holden... I LOVE this collection... vintage images  and soft muted  tones... the sashing is Grunge and as I remember the colorway is Ale... a muted gold with touches of green.

I believe these fabrics are digitally printed as the designs are quite sharp and crisp... a couple of close up of my favorite blocks...

I love how the jingle bells look 3 dimensional and the sheet music piece is Jingle Bells!!   Also note that there were a lot of directional prints in this collection... and my OCD did NOT want them to be on their sides... so before I cut any blocks I took my time and determined what direction I should cut the fabrics so that everything would be right side up... 

Now I have no illusions that I will be able to get this back from the longarmer before Christmas but that's okay... I'll be ahead for next year... I even got the binding made... but I probably won't get it on until November 2024...LOL

As for the other blocks on my design wall...

well... I just had to make a couple to see how I like them... and I like them A LOT!!!   The fabrics are Jolly Good from Basic Grey ... and the "white" isn't totally white, it has soft green and turquoise splotches... it s a Grunge but I don't remember the name. 

The pattern is a freebie from Fat Quarter Shop  called Fat Quarter 4-Patch...you can find it here...  it makes BIG blocks... they finish 15"... but very easy to put together... this will be going into a plastic bin by the end of December... but I'm going to set a reminder on my phone to get it back out in July and then it will be totally done by Christmas of next year... at least that's the plan...we'll see if it is executed as well  as I hope... 

I'll be linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.... already looked and there are several design walls I need to check out...

Hope your week is off to a good start!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

It's Beginning to look a bit like Christmas on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello.. well I definitely moved into Christmas decorating... I have old stuff and new stuff to share... I am glad I got started early with my Christmas-ing,  as the energy I had 2 weeks ago has faded at bit... and that seems to be the way things go anymore. I have a brief period of manic productivity followed by a long interlude of just sitting and vegging... but I do enjoy the vegging and the cross stitching and the knitting...which I've indulged in last week.

So let's dive into the Christmasy stuff shall we... it is going to be another looooooong post... just to warn you... LOL

First off is my brand new display of Christmas ornaments... now I saw this idea here on Instagram... and I was gobsmacked... I contemplated how I could fit something like this into my small home as I am at a dearth for big chunks of wall space that I haven't already decorated... and then it hit me... I could use the space over my small shelf display that has my giant Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart... and I really like it here.

Now this is a smaller version of what I saw on IG but I think the scale works... I got the rack here at Natural Life...it was brown so I spray painted it white...the ornaments are a mix of new and reproduction Shiny Brites and ornaments from my childhood that hung on my Grandma's tree...

The gazebo,  the clown, stagecoach, the lamp and the  are at least 70 years old...

this little Shiny Brite was purchased by my Mom in the late 50s'... I just recently found out these are called "sugared" ornaments and the little piece at the top even says Shiny Brite.

I will be keeping my eye out to see if I can find anymore vintage Shiny Brites... to add to this display. Now the garland and the bow at the top add a nice touch IMHO but  in truth, they were necessary to cover up the hole from the nails I used to hang the BBD piece... oh well .. 

The small shelf display has quite a few knickknacks and a little cross stitch...from left to right a reproduction tree... I remember my  Mom made one of these back in the day... but I have no clue where it when to. The little TV came from Walmart a couple of years ago. Elliott likes to turn it on and watch the train go round and round and listen to the Christmas carols it plays. 

The cross stitch is J'Arrive by Tournicoton...and those 3 little choir girls are reproduction Gurley candles... I got mine here.  I remember having these when I was a kid.  I like having these vintage looking pieces all together...lots of memories... oh I didn't mention the Lego Snowman... Elliott and I assembled it and he put it there... and there it will stay... if I move it when he finds it elsewhere he will move it back because "it belongs here"... and now we are making more memories!

This year I put all my Santa head mugs in this display... I thought I might have room for a couple more... and if I stack them I may be able to squeeze in a couple more... 

and speaking of squeezing things in... I tucked in Jolly Old Elf by Pineberry Lane is in the pattern Merry Little Stitches ...

and this guy from Barbara Ana's  Christmas Joy...

I can never decide if he's a Santa or an elf but I'm going with Santa here... love the striped socks! 

On the bottom shelf there is Little Bits of Christmas from The Drawn Thread 

and Best Time of the Year by With Thy Needle & Thread. 

Out in the kitchen I do a gingerbread man theme... the cookie jar on the right is new this year... got him a Walmart after seeing him on a Auntie Coo Coo shopping video?  

Do you watch shopping videos on youtube?  I like the gals that go to places like Walmart and Michael's and Joann's and Hobby Lobby and show what's new... and several times they've enticed me to go get a piece that caught my eye... this year it was this gingerbread guy ... and a candle from Joanns... and those are the only new knickknacks I picked up ... which is good because I'm running out of room for knickknacks... such a tragedy... LOL

Last Saturday I went down to my sewing studio and spent the day FFO'ing stuff... started off with the 5 Prairie Schooler Santas from book No. 215  A Merry Mini Surprise.  The tray came from Walmart... you can see it here... it was too white so I painted it a creamy white... I know I know...no one else would care... but I did ... so I did it... here's the display for my dining table... it is a nice size for my table and easy to pick up and move when we eat...my son is very happy about that as he usually sets the table and doesn't like it if the center piece is heavy... anyway... 

Here's a close up of the left side....

and the right side...

and the backs...

Now I finished them by sewing around all 4 sides and then cutting a slit in the back to stuff them... I thought it would be fun to close that slit with a candy cane I cut out of fabric and used fusible interfacing on... it worked great... except for that last one... I wasn't paying attention and that candy cane is upside down... oh well ... finished is better than perfect, right??

The sunroom porch is all pink and minty and aqua again this year... I wouldn't want a whole house of pink Christmas but  I sure do like one room of it... here's the display I see from my chair...

up top is Lizzie Kate's Christmas ABC's... did this one on 36 ct but still used 2 threads... 

and the angel is one I needlepointed about 37 years ago...

I've wracked my brain to remember the designer... I think it was Petei and from what I can tell they are still producing canvases. Before I did cross stitch I was in love with needlepoint...even taught classes. I didn't start cross stitching until after my first son was born... and he'll be 38 next month... where does the time go??? Don't answer... I know where it went... it just went really fast, didn't it?  

Moving on...a new finish for this year, the tree from Quilted Christmas by Emily Call... 

used some red tinsel for the trim...and Tiny Tidings XXI by Lizzie Kate to keep my pink deer company.

On the bottom shelf,  Barbara Ana's Christmas Joy... the little pillow I showed with the Santa head mugs is from my first false start on this pattern...  

On the wall Jingles by Lizzie Kate...are we seeing theme out here?  Lots of Lizzie Kate Christmas... there are 12 parts to Jingles but I mis-calculated how long the linen should have been so there are only 10 here... oh well... 

And the pink wreath that started this whole pink decorating explosion... LOL

Okay I think we should stop here... not that I'm finished with the Christmas decor by any means... but that was a lot, wasn't it?  I'll be back next week with the big display shelf and the wall quilt and tier tray and the niche in the hall way and the TV display... plenty more to fill another post... LOL

The week ahead has some dental/medical appointments... still need to do a bit of Christmas shopping... since I was last here I stitched the second Prairie Schooler Angel, a Lizzie Kate string and an small Santa from Not Forgotten Farms... and then I said I was done stitching Christmas for this year... but I may change my mind... I did pick back up my Teresa Kogut Remember Me sampler... I want this done by the end of the year and there was more left to stitch than I remembered... but I'm making progress. Want to start the new year with a new sampler, but haven't decided which one... so many good choices... 

Hope your Christmas preparations/decorating/stitching/quilting etc etc is going well. I always wish that Thanksgiving and Christmas were a bit farther apart on the calendar... I think we could all use more time to  get ready for the holidays... never enough time...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... weather is yuckky outside to I'll be happy to stay in my stitching chair, read blogs and stitch ... hope your day is a cozy one too!

happy stitching-

carol fun