Christmas Ornament Finished!!

Bonjour mes amies!!

I am happy to report that I caugt the finishing bug on the weekend and managed to finish two ornaments!! Chippy is pretty adorable I must say.  I really loved the trim that I used.  I find that while I am stitching, I mentally choose the trims and fabrics I will use to finish the piece.  If it doesn't come to me while I am stitching, like the Plum Street Sampler ornie, the piece usually ends up in my to do pile for awhile. I have to envision the finished ornament before I can make it.  Odd isn't it? What is the process that you go through for finishing a piece? Is it before, during, after....?

The red fabric is on the back of the Snowflake

Estonian snowflake stitched last year

Sometimes I don't have what I need to finish, actually, most of the time I don't have what I need to finish a piece!! For example, all those beautiful designs I stitched through out the year, still need frames or boxes or whatever will work to display them.  While I was busy piecing together Chippy, I pulled out some of my stitching and tried to find at least one frame to use! Alas! Nothing fit or looked right!! I sadly put my pieces back into storage and I think I heard their sad sighs of dismay.  Especially my Geisha girl....insert tears here :(  Tanglewood is sad too.  Really sad.  I really need to save some money and just bite the bullet and get the two of them framed.  Sadness aside, I am quite impressed with my mad skillz and gusto for finishing two ornaments. As for the reindeer fabric, I think I will make a couple of gift bags and perhaps a table runner.  Good thing we have Youtube!! There are some great sewing tutorials on how to make both of those projects.  I'm looking forward to next weekend to sewing up a storm!!

Here's my friend's "M" finished.  I still need to stitch the "P" , then I will be done 1 gift.  I am trying not to freak out so much.  Thank you all for your kind comments and suggestions.  It really helped me organize my list and just work steadily down the list.  I think that if I stay focused, I will get everything done that I need to do!!

Remember this Chatelaine I started awhile ago? Well I got sidetracked from my list and decided to try and finish it.  Nearly done!! Just need to finish the Algerian eyelets, backstitching and beading!!  Hopefully by next weekend it will be complete. 

I hope to visit and comment on everyone's blogs today.  I have to say that there are some of you who are posting everyday, making it difficult for me to keep up!! Even if I haven't commented, I do enjoy reading each and everyone of your posts!!

Take care and happy stitching!!

Anne

Stitching Gifts...Freaking Out!!

Hello everyone!

So here we are in November.  I am sad to say good bye to October since it was such a lovely month of glorious weather, beautiful colours and not so much rain.  I still have high hopes for November though.  Yesterday it was a decent day, albeit blustery, but nice. 

With November beginning, so does the FREAKING OUT!! Eeek!! I feel as though there are FAR too many things to stitch up in time for Christmas.  Yes, I mentioned the "C" word! Maybe I should take a deep breath and focus on one thing at a time.  Perhaps I should set myself a schedule so I won't be freaking out!! I want to stitch ornaments for my mom, sister, Dad, friends, and of course for me and my hubby. The problem is every time I want to finish something, I don't have the materials?!! Yes I have some fabrics, like those cute reindeer ones I bought last week, but they don't match with any of my stitched pieces.  So what should I do with them? I've been wracking my brain thinking of how to use those darling fabrics.  I wish I was a master sewer, or at least have my mom around, since she's an amazing sewer.  If you have any ideas for simple/easy sewing projects, let me know!

Ok, freak out done...onto some stitchy stuff.  First off, since I didn't post a progress pic of TBF (Tea Bath Fairy) in the last post, here's one now.  I've managed to really tackle it over the past few weeks and am pretty pleased with the progress.

Yes! I can see the outline of the cup!!

Seeing as my eyes can handle only so much of teensy stitching, I began to work on two personalized gifts for my girlfriends.  I am using two of the Valdani threads I ordered and I really love the deep wine red colour a lot!! The threads aren't too bad, although I do notice a tad bit of fraying at the ends, but what thread doesn't?! I still have to put in an order for HDF threads and I asked my husband if I could buy some more "strings" that will only cost xx amount and he said yes, if the STRINGS are needed for a project...hehehehe!! And I also mentioned that I need a smaller Qsnap frame and if I could buy that too...you know to help out my wrists.  He's agreed! I love that he's become more agreeable!!

Valdani and DMC threads stitched on 32ct.Sandstone linen

The above design is from the Sajou alphabet.  J'adore SAJOU!!!  The second gift I won't bother posting a picture of because it only has a few stitches on it and is basic black on white.

Now  I started doing another cute Christmas ornament from the JCS magazine.  This one is from Victoria Sampler. It's the squirrel one.  Pause for a squirrel story:

Me and Squirrels

Ever since I was a young girl, I have been know as the squirrel whisperer.  It takes time and patience to become one and only a few are called to this. (Insert sarcasm here).  Anyways, one day, as I was traipsing around the woods behind our home in Prince George, I heard a squirrel chatter nearby.  The squirrel seemed to be trying to tell me something.  Perhaps a secret he wanted to share with a 10 year old girl? As I strolled back to the house, the chattering followed me from behind.  I slowly walked up the stairs,  grabbed some of the chickadees seeds and held it in my hand and crouched down low. The chattering stopped.  There he was, Chippy.  Me: waiting quietly, patiently. Him: unsure, skittish.  Slowly he climbed the stairs to check me out.  I flinched! He skedaddled!!  Sigh...I suppose I'll try again.  For the next few weeks, we played this game...but with each day, he approached closer, and closer, until one day, he ran up to me, grabbed a seed and took off!! Serious patience here for a young girl of 10!! It wasn't until the second week that Chippy found his courage and managed to take seeds from me and NOT run away!! I was ecstatic! After a few more days of building trust, Chippy let me pet him! Then, after more days of gently petting, he let me pick him up!! We became good friends, Chippy and me.  When I would walk around the house, I could see him following me around.  Of course it was just for the seeds I was giving him, but as a young girl I thought he just really wanted to be my friend.  Ever since then, I have been able to feed and pet wild squirrels, not the city squirrels that we have here in Vancouver.  Those squirrels are a different breed altogether.  Like they are part of a squirrel gang called the Tuff Nut Gang.  Those squirrels I wouldn't mess with!!

So with that, I leave you with a picture of The Victorian Sampler's squirrel, which I started yesterday and made me think fondly of Chippy and the other cute squirrels I have fed and petted.

Finally, here are my photos of the pin cushion I stitched for Valerie.  She posted pictures of her package on her blog, so now I can post mine!!

Stitched on unknown 40ct linen with Waterlilies thread Amethyst

I kind of went NUTS with pictures since I LOVE purple and have a lot of purple things to take photos with!!

Take care and happy stitching!!

Anne