The very best

WISHING YOU ALL THE VERY BEST IN 2015!

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL Hopefuls

For 2015, I've signed up for and hope to stick with  three SALs.

 First up is Jo's Serendipitous Stitching Gifted Gorgeousness SAL

The premise behind the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL is to only post about stitchery that has been gifted to you or by you to someone else, wins also count.

 Any part of the gift can be gifted, from the cloth to embellishments.

I'll be starting and hopefully finishing( and certainly adding) to this list over the next year.

Gifted to me by my sons:

1) "Out For A Ride" designed by Diane Arthurs

2) "Rose Watercolor Butterfly"  designed by Karen Kluba

3) "Woodland St. Nick designed by Sandi Gore Evans

*

 Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe 25 Days of Christmas Giveaway wins:

(images are from VMSS ebay store)

4) "Decorating the Tree" by Nancy Turner

5) "Always Remember" AA Milne quote designed by Nancy Turner

6) "Two Long~Eared Rabbits Poem" designed by Nancy Turner

*

Kate of  By the Babbling Brooke  "gifted" me with the information that this HAED design was a freebie from  Cross Stitch Collection Magazine's Facebook page. 

Thank you, Kate ")

7) "Christmas Animals" designed by Luthu Travisi

That's all for now! Not many by some standards but considering I've also got a 

HAED chart that's 304,650 stitches covering 25" x 38", I'm good with this !!

until next time,

HAPPY STITCHING ")

and to all a good night

Wuz zat! Ah, Son of a Stitch!!

Foxy and Carli are about to experience their first Christmas!

Fox is impatiently waiting for the man in red,

here she's peering out the front window. Alas, no Father Christmas yet!

This is what Fox is peeking through

a gorgeous blanket of heavy frost. Actually several blankets of frost have hit us

over the past week, it is like being enveloped in a cloud and the peacefulness outside is euphoric.

(our 3 boys are home and die hard gamers, so things can get a little heated)!

So what's a Mom to do? 

stitch, stitch, stitch 

(it's better than the alternative, which no one ever listens to anyways)

"LITTLE SWEEPER"

This is a Weekenders kit, 5" x 7" finished, 14 ct. after a couple of hours.

until next time,

HAPPY STITCHING  ")

TUSAL for December

Time for It's Daffy Cat's TUSAL

Not too shabby, since I started saving my orts back in October of this year.

That's about 1/3 of a 1 quart sealer.

I'm Thrilled with My Win, However

I'm thrilled with my selections from 

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe's 25 Days of Christmas Giveaway!

I won Day 7, a $25.00 gift certificate that I immediately spent!

2 samplers and a kit complete with jingle bells

I can't wait to get started on these ")

Thank you again, Nancy!

*

Now for the "however" part of this post...

for those of you that have furry kids and have tried to take the obligatory Christmas hat/antler photos

to capture the true spirit of the season "), you might be able to relate to this

and for the feline lovers, 

can you guess what Carli's thinking when she saw her wee Santa hat? 

you can add your own caption!!

*

Gotta head to the city again today to finish things up.

I'll have progress picture tomorrow of my Windowsill Birdhouses.

until then,

HAPPY STITCHING  ")

What's Your Reason?

Why do you cross stitch?

I'm not trying to be a smart~aleck!

 I'm genuinely curious as to your motivation for this form of art.

Sweet Tweet

This is a quick little stitching project from

Cross Stitcher, you can download the freebie from

HERE ")

until next time,

HAPPY STITCHING ")

10 for $1.00

My progress with "Windowsill Birdhouses" so far.

                         

An afternoon of good light brought me to this place.

I started this 2 nights ago since the light in my corner of the livingroom suuucks and working on either of my larger pieces is impossible at the moment.

 Especially hampered by the stitchery on black aida!

I'm hoping Santa can see his way ")  to bringing me a magnifier and lamp.

my apologies for the blur

I should have this finished tonight.

Any ideas as to what it will become?

Finally, I'll leave you with this little ditty.

Do you remember WOOLCO, the department store? 

My Mom was a divisional supervisor back in the 70's/80's.

I found this in amongst some skeins of floss and thought you might get a kick out of it!

Can you imagine being able to pay that nowadays?!

Do pop over and see all the lovelies @  Serendipitous Stitching Advent Calendar Hop

until next time,

HAPPY STITCHING  ")

Finishes!

For my son,

  "GRUMPY CAT"!

What a mug on this kitty ")

Another finish for a dear friend, must mount it and send it off by tomorrow!

and I've got coasters to press and wrap, cookies to start baking,

a suite to clean and a Christmas concert Thursday evening!

Guess I'd better get my butt in gear ")

*

Check out the ADVENT CALENDAR HOP at Serendipitous Stitching

for some lovely seasonal inspirations.

Until next time,

HAPPY STITCHING ")

Kept in Stitches!

I've been doing some sewing and stitching this week.

First up, the sweet Fox showing off her new flannel quilt for those chilly winter evenings.

Of course it's all pinks and flowers here and the backing is pink gingham, 

she's a girlie girl!

 Up next, the progress on my youngest's request of the infamous

"GRUMPY CAT"

I just saw a piece on the computer, this cat has earned an astounding $100 million!!!

Cute kitty but something is seriously wrong when this can happen in a world so completely

out of whack! Just putting it out there, that's all.

cross stitch chart is courtesy of  Brooke's Books

available on her site under freebies  ")

Maybe Carli can give Grumpy Cat a run for her money?

Calsberg (as she has been tagged) loves to cover herself with newspapers and now throw mats.

This one she "turtled" out of our bedroom and into the kitchen!

These new additions to our family keep us all in stitches!

until next time,

HAPPY STITCHING  ")

Dusting Off Windowsill Birdhouses

I decided to dust off this cross stitch designed by Martha Edwards for Dimensions and maybe, just maybe I'll finish it in due course.

 10" X 14" on 18ct 

The Alchemist ~ One Huge A** Project

Crossed Stitches is hosting a  "HAP" SAL  in  2015.

 I have joined along with other fellow crazed cross stitch enthusiasts that enjoy a sizeable challenge. 

I'm talking 

HUGE here!!

(above picture from HAED site)

This is my recent purchase from Heaven and Earth Designs,

"The Alchemist".

I just love this chart, the character, the colours, all the craziness going on on that table.

My boys think it's fabulous too since they're both into science in a big way!

Here's the thing though, this chart is 450 X 677 stitches! 

That means the finished picture will be 25" X  37 5/8" on 18ct!!

Hence the HAP.

HAP stands for "Huge A** Project".

Hence HAP SAL to encourage and cheer on each others progress of their respective project or

projects (heaven forbid more than one of these at a time)!

So on the first of each month I will be posting my start and subsequent progress on "The Alchemist",

and cheering on the HAP participants. 

I'm just waiting for my cloth to arrive and Santa to bring me the floss ")

*HAPPINESS IS STITCHING*

until next time,

hugs

ADVENT CALENDAR BLOG HOP

Today is my stop on 

Serendipitous Stitching's Advent Calendar Blog Hop,

Thank you Jo for hosting this festive gathering of cross stitchers.

This jolly little man of snow is "Mr. Frostickles"

There's a topic of discussion each year as well. This holiday season we're asking

"What's the Best Present You've Ever Received?"

It can be at any time in your life and from anyone.

Mine was a special soft sculpture doll I named Cathy.

 It was a gift my Mom busily stitched while I was at school.

Cathy came to me with a pink flannel nightie covered in tiny rose buds,

a dress, 2 pinafores and 2 pairs of bloomers! She had an embroidered face, long black wool hair done up in braids and bangs. I remember taking her everywhere and that's probably why Cindy,

 our beagle (who was extremely jealous), chewed her to bits one day!

*

Join us right up until Christmas and see all the lovely cross stitch this hop has to offer.

MERRY CHRISTMAS