advent time . . .

Once upon a time there was a blogger who was participating in an online Advent calendar blog hop with Jo at Serendipitous Stitching, but she got her dates mixed up and didn't realize her date was the 20th (instead of the 22nd) until she hopped over to check out today's feature.  

It was me. I'm that blogger. Glad I made the realization before noon (CST)!

This year, Jo, who so graciously hosts this annual hop, has asked participants to share about their Christmas tree traditions!  This is an easy one for me!

Growing up, and even well into adulthood, I always enjoyed a real tree!  I love the trudging out to get it, setting it up, stringing the lights, bringing out the ornaments and enjoying all the memories that they evoked, and then enjoying the tree's grandeur all through the season.  Even though they're work, a live tree just smelled good and made me happy.

Trees of Christmas past.

But when we made the move from the sticks & bricks house to the RV in 2009, we realized there was no bringing a live tree into our living space.  There simply wasn't room. So we purchased a small, artificial tree . . . 

I adore this tree.  We've had it for every year we've been in the RV except one.  But paring down on the tree meant paring down on the ornaments I'd collected over the years, too--though you wouldn't know it, seeing how packed it is! I kept the ones with the most poignant memories (that weren't huge/too big for the tree) and gave my son and daughter their pick from the remainder.  It's fun to visit their homes during the Christmas season and see ornaments I purchased over the years, on their trees! But I know the origin/story/gifter of every single ornament on my RV tree.  It almost makes me a little teary-eyed thinking about it!

I also have a little quilted tree in my mini stand that makes me smile . . .

Ellie saw this one yesterday and decided she'd like to make a Christmas pillow similar to it.  She liked all the beaded 'ornaments' on it!

Our family's favorite Christmas tree story involves a cat.  Gwenevere was full of cattitude.  I'd been holding her in my lap, playing with her, and evidently she got tired of me messing with her.  She escaped from my lap, ran over to the Christmas tree, gave me a look over her shoulder as if to say, "I'll show you," and turned around and BIT a light off the Christmas tree.  I was horrified!  I mean, she could have electrified herself or short circuited the whole house ... or at the very least, cut her mouth! But no, she just ate glass ... kind of like the Grinch ... and sulked under the tree for the rest of the day.

I think we retell that story every year, with more and more hilarity! :)

This season, my stitching has looked very different.  I mentioned in the prior post about the paper ornaments I've been making.  They are hand-stitched down the center.

I think these are so pretty!  The angel is my very favorite.

And I learned how to make these cute little canvas poppers, too . . . 

I taught Ellie to make one yesterday.  They're cute, easy to make, quick to put together, and house a sweet little surprise!

The mouth is just big enough to tuck a Hershey's kiss inside.  Fun!

So there you have it. Just in the (St.) nick of time!  Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Jo's page to see all the wonderful participants!

Merry, merry!

:)

early darkness . . .

Daylight savings time ends tonight!  To that end, this cartoon made me laugh, laugh, laugh!

It's funny ... but it's also very true, no?  Be sure you turn your clocks back ... and enjoy that extra hour of sleep in the morning! It's a little ironic to me that we get that extra hour of sleep on the morning that sun rises an hour earlier.  Why can't we get it right?!  LOL!

The girls were SO cute as the fairies from Sleeping Beauty!  

Aren't they just precious?! Of course, they were the tip of the iceberg . . .

Jason was Prince Valiant, and Jocelyn was a fabulous Maleficent! Aren't they fun?? We had a good time manning their front door while the crew trick or treated.

I've been diligently working on my "Pick a Pumpkin" project, but this is all you get . . .

It'll be all ready on Wednesday!

I've also been working on mug rugs samples for our guild's December swap, which we'll introduce at this month's meeting.  The theme is Christmas/Winter.  Here are my offerings so far . . .

This is my own design, which I "prototyped" in Publisher. I'll clean up the quilting on the one I actually swap. I was struggling with the metallic thread I was using. Ugh. Here's the graphic from the mock up:

He's pretty close! The second one is also my design . . .

Also prototyped in Publisher . . . 

But you can see my (semi)finished product ended up being a little bigger than the concept!

LOL! I got excited. I still need to quilt this one.

My slow Sunday stitching will involve stitching my wool pieces (the hat and scarf) down on the snowman and embellishing the tree.  I've got to find the perfect star button to garnish the tree top!

Enjoy your day . . . make the most of it! And be sure to check out Kathy's Quilts to see what projects everyone is else slow stitching on!

:)

stash report and *so* much more . . .

This past week has been so busy . . . probably the busiest of the season so far!  And even though today has been busy too, it was good to stop and celebrate my favorite Sunday in Advent . . .

The Sunday of JOY!

My Stitcher, etc. Christmas party was Tuesday evening and that's where the nominal change in my stash report occurred.  (And can you believe we're at week 50?!?)

The bottom line didn't change, because there was an even exchange of fat quarters. We do an ornament exchange and the "wrapping" is a fat quarter of Christmas fabric.  Here's mine ready to go in Christmas plaid (with a bonus yo-yo candy cane ornament):

And here's the pretty fat quarter I received:

I also received a darling little teapot ornament from my darling friend Kari:

Isn't it sweet?!  I opted to 'spruce' up my tea corner with it, instead of putting it on the tree. This sweet little thing may stay out year 'round!

With regard to stash, thanks to all of you who share input on de-stashing.  I've got thirteen days over Christmas, and I have decided for sure to spend at *least* one of those in the Nook, sorting and reorganizing (and de-stashing)!

I had a little time to get in some handwork in spite of the busyness.  For example, the yo-yo candy cane ornie was finished, and I stitched up another wool tree . . . this one in pinks, white and red.

I think I like this one even better!!  The white and blue one I gifted to our hostess on Tuesday.

I also will be working on some more felt poinsettias.

I've always done these in regular craft felt, but I think they'd be pretty in wool felt. I may have to try one out. The hardest part of finishing these is trying to decide which button to use for the center! I'll probably do a little slow stitching on those to carry me through my Sunday evening!

Wednesday we had church and packed Lunches of Love, Thursday we had our MSC missionary Christmas dinner, Friday I finished wrapping anything that had come in late, boxed it all up and got all my out-of-town gifts in the mail!  Whoa!  Is this really me?!?  Ha!  Speaking of gifts for out-of-towners, we also got to do a little FaceTiming with this crew . . .

Their first California Christmas tree!

Sawyer and June were busy 'working' on colorings for us.

Liv was happy to blow kisses to Neesey and Pawpaw!

Saturday was an outing to Miss Mary Bobo's, in Lynchburg, Tennessee.  A group of ladies from Wears Chapel have now made this trip two years in a row!  

The food is always excellent, and it was fun to walk around the square of Lynchburg (home of Jack Daniels), too!

Then today, after church, I met Jocelyn, Ellie and Joc's mother-in-law, Marilyn, at the Von Braun Center for the matinee performance of The Nutcracker!

Ellie was really excited to see it again and told us her favorite part was the Mouse King!  She really was entranced with the ballet and watched through the whole thing quite intently!  I think this year was even more enchanting for her, because she's been taking ballet lessons!

And she was able again this year to wear the pretty little Nutcracker dress that I hand-embroidered the "E" on!  In another year or two, Everley will be able to wear it, too!

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts.  And I'm off to see what little stitches I can make before bedtime!

Have a fabulous week!

:)

'tis the season . . .

It's been a busy, but happy week.  We got out the Christmas tree at work and decorated there . . .

I love decorating the work tree . . . that have big HUGE ornaments, and I love to tuck them in here and there.  Plus, since the RV tree is tiny (20"), this gives me a little bigger playing field! 

I finally finished up Mr. Snowbuddy.  I'm *so* pleased with the final product:

Isn't he just festive and handsome??

I should have moved on to the wool final snowman I have . . .

He'll be a doozy!  But I felt like playing with something a little smaller, so I pulled out these two mini yo-yo ornament kits I picked up in Paducah a couple of years ago . . .

The yo-yo's whip together quickly, and in no time I had a finished wreath:

My *intention* was to finish the candy cane, next, but I got distracted on the internet and came across a darling wool ornament tutorial on Camellia Rose (by way of Buttermilk Basin):

Yes, I was so enchanted with it, I had to stop what I was doing and make one for myself (see above)! So now I don't know whether I'll be making mini yo-yo candy canes, white wool Christmas trees, or a big ol' woolen snowman for Slow Stitching Sunday . . . but I've got options!

Of course, the day isn't really a 'slow' day.  This afternoon we're headed out for an adult Sunday school class party.  It's Mexican (food) themed, and I think we're going to have a great crowd!  

I've made guacamole and Mexican Wedding cookies for my offerings.  *Spicy*!!  But we'll be home before seven, so I'll have some quiet evening time to sit and stitch.  :)

My stash report hasn't changed a whit since last week.  

Again.  More often than not this year, that's been the case!  I need to get into my stash and thin it out a bit.  There's a lot there that I'll probably never use. What do you do with fabric you know you'll never use? I'd love to hear some ideas!  I'll be linking up to the stash report at Patchwork Times and to the Slow Sunday Stitching linky party at Kathy's Quilts.  

That's it for me this week.  Our Stitcher's group has its Christmas party on Tuesday, we have our MSC Missionary Christmas dinner on Thursday, our church ladies' Christmas dinner at Mrs. Mary Bobo's (in Lynchburg, Tennessee) on Saturday, and then Joc, Ellie and I are going to the Nutcracker on Sunday.  'Tis the season, right?!

Have a blessing-filled week!!

:)

a stitch in time . . .

I haven't done a design wall Monday post in FORever, but I made such great progress on my Noel doodle tree yesterday, I didn't want to not post a pic!

I back stitched all the silver and then whipped stitched those stitches to (1) make it stand out nicely and (2) to help hide my pattern lines.  I love the look!

With the green, I'm either stem stitching or outline stitching, depending on which side of the letter/curves of the letters I'm working on.  Yes.  I use the two stitches interchangeably, depending on my need.  Don't tell the embroidery police on me. Ha!  Now that I'm seeing the word stitched in part, I think the NOEL will stand out quite nicely.  

My big problem (and where the design wall comes in) is what to do with this little stitchery once I've finished it.  I worked a red and green patchwork frame for a stitchery design I sketched out last week (based on the same design I used for my November cornucopia piece, last year) . . .

Here's the stitchery colored . . .

I'll probably raw edge applique the words and stitch the heart, manger scene, star and holly.  And gosh, the patchwork frame works rather perfectly for that, so I hate to use it for the doodle tree.  Plus I don't think it's the right shape.

Which brings me back to, "What do I do with it?!"  Hmmmmm....I may have an idea.  Just maybe. Just. Maybe.  Linking up to Patchwork Times.

Have a GREAT week!

:)

things november . . .

It's been a dreary, damp, chilly day . . . the kind of day that makes for the perfect backdrop for inside chores and projects!  I finally got around to pulling the few jack-o-lantern and candy corn pieces I had out and replaced them with more seasonally appropriate pieces . . .

Oh, and I baked my first apple pie of the season, too.  It was *quite* yummy -- and hopefully will continue to be for the next several days.  I love apple pie for breakfast -- especially with a slice of melted cheddar cheese on it!  It's my Yankee roots.  :)

Earlier in the week I finished my little pumpkin stitchery.

It's very sweet -- I really enjoyed stitching that particular pumpkin pattern and may stitch it again. But I'm tired of stitching, crafting, and baking pumpkins (I can't believe I just typed that!!!!) for the time being, so my goal was to find something more Christmassy to work on.  I rooted around in the RV's basement space (after going through every storage tub and drawer in the Nook) and finally found the jackpot of wool projects in various stages of completion . . .

Mostly wool, anyway - the project on the far left is a reindeer dish towel.  The rest are wool snowmen!  Yessssss.  I'll be working on several of these over the next few weeks.  I've had 'em for ages (seriously -- since 2007) and it's time to get 'em finished!

But that's not what I'll be working on for my slow Sunday stitching . . . instead, I'll be working on a little stitchery of a doodled Christmas tree I saw on pinterest . . .

But instead of the solid, bold lines making up the right side of the tree, I wanted to put the word, "NOEL".  Not in your face, but a subtle gliding word down the side.

I think I've got it!  I'm stitching the 'doodles' in silver and will stitch "NOEL" in a bright metallic green.  I'm not sure about the stars, but I'm thinking gold.  Or a satin stitched yellow.  And the dots will be in red.  

I'm not sure how I'm going to use it, in fact, I'm not sure that it will finish out on fabric like I saw it in my head. But I wanted to stitch a little Christmas whimsy, and this seemed to fit the bill! Plus something about working with things that sparkle just makes my heart happy. 

My stash report remains unchanged.  Again.  For real.

What can I say?  I'm evening actually thinking of clearing out some of my stash.  I need to do SOMETHING with what I've got sitting there.  Seriously.  It's not stitching itself together.  Where are the cobbler's elves when you need them??!

Linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts!  Enjoy the remainder of the weekend -- you know what I'll be doing!

:)