First Finish of the New Year

Hello, dear friends,
I am back again! Yesterday, I finished the Christmas Heirloom Stocking, and today I am celebrating (so far, on the inside).

"Santa's Workshop" Heirloom Stocking

I have been living with this project for two months, and today, looking at the finished piece, I could not stop taking pictures. I think I took over 30 of them in all... one for every two days of stitching (haha).

Doll House Detail

I could not figure out what that white/grey thing on the top of the bar stool was until the very end. Once the last back stitch was put in, I saw it - it's an apron! The whole time I was expecting some sort of a cloak, the way it was draping all over that stool.

Noah's Arc detail

I look at the toys in these patterns and ask myself: do they still have toys like these? The arc, the animals, the house -they are so... realistic, so detailed. Honestly, I want to visit a nursery like the one in the stockings some day - just to reassure myself they still exist. Although, to be fair, this is a "workshop"... Never mind. I would still like to see the toys.

My personal favorite - and a matter of pride. Look at all this popcorn and cranberries on a string! All those French Knots in a row (and there are more of them elsewhere), three different colors. Making the long brag into a short one - I am proud of the result.

Another one of my favorite details - the coffee cup. I loved stitching it, not to mention - Santa drinks coffee, too? Makes sense, he has a lot of work to do on Christmas Eve...

Another detail... I did not particularly "like" the fruit bowl while stitching it, but once finished - it has become so colorful and sharp! Thank you, back stitch...

Fruit bowl with paint can and car

Here, I should probably stop, for as much as I know you, my readers, like cross stitch, twenty-something pictures of the same project taken from different angle will wear out the most enthusiastic and patient reader.

Perhaps one more picture of the whole stocking..

Until next time,

Stitching, Watching and Reading

Hello, my dear friends! Once again, it has been a while - three months since I posted last... Thank you for not giving up on me.
What has happened in those months? First of all - lots of stitching (of course)... Since January, I have been working on a Christmas Stocking - yes, another one - and yesterday night, late - very late - I put in the last stitch! To celebrate the completion, I had a glass of champagne  cup of sparkling cider...

"Toys and Games" Stocking

Here it is - all ready and made.... I enjoyed working on it - so many details, so many French Knots! 

Jack in the Box and Teddy

I have never in my life seen a real Jack in the Box. The closest thing to it might be the one in the episode of "Twilight Zone", when the monster boy turns his neighbor into a Jack in the Box toy and sends him into the corn field. Hmmm, I am getting a bit morbid here, aren't I? 

While working on this project, I have seen a couple of shows, and I also discovered for myself books on tape. Well, to be precise, I discovered them a while ago - on the shelves of a local Barnes and Noble store... Then I also discovered their prices - and realized I would have to take out a loan to have an audio library I would want. But where is a will, there is a way... Long story short, our local library happened to have quite a few audio books on CDs. I checked out "Kiss Me Like a Stranger" by Gene Wilder - best... listen I have ever had in a long time - while also stitching. Now my goal is to listen to "Notes on a Scandal" by Zoe Heller.... 

What was I talking about? Ah, yes, shows... One of the shows I watched this year was "American Horror Story". Amazing actors (Kathy Bates as a Southern slave owner, Jessica Lange - evil power hungry woman), good script... The only down side - for me - was that I often ended up staring at the screen with my mouth open - instead of stitching.

Another good show I discovered was "Once Upon a Time" - fairy tale characters "stuck" in our world by the enchantment of the evil queen... Only, with time we learn that the queen is not so evil - just miserable... Little Red Riding Hood - not so little any more, and required to wear the red cape to avoid turning into a blood thirsty monster.. And in the middle of all - Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin. Could it get any better?

In conclusion, I want to share the results of my experiment. I have got the idea from Laura - my long distance friend and a talented stitcher - when she published a video/slide show of her stitching progress on a project, from beginning to end. So, that got me interested. I asked my DH to help with the Movie Maker program, he obliged - and... voila!

Now that this project is finished, I will have to find a new one... I think I will work on a family sampler, it has been calling my name for a while now...

Thank you for reading my ramblings!