or as we say in English: ABC Birds Mini Cushion. I made this into a fob last night, my first time trying the instructions on the freebies at The Drawn Thread (www.drawnthread.com). It was definitely interesting, and although the back looks bad enough I won't share a pic, it's not TOO bad. Will definitely do much better next time! Filled it with tiny pebbles from the front yard, my oldest son thought I was really crazy last night when I asked him at 10pm to go get me a handful of little rocks ;O)

Stitched on a scrap of R & R Reproductions linen using Dragon Blood silk for the stitching as well as making the cord and mini-tassel (my first mini-tassel). I added a heart stone onto the mini tassel to dress it up a little. All in all I'm quite pleased with my little fob!

Now what to start next?? And what stitching goals should I set for 2006? How can I decide when every new project I see makes me want to stitch it??

Isn't this darling? She did a beautiful job and even included a needle!

Aren't these too cute?? She did a beautiful job quilting them! Thanks Cheryl :o)

Finally finished this tiny little one! I had planned to finish it on Christmas day, told myself that I could stitch just for ME for that day, but time got away from me and I never did get to stitch at all. I had some spacing issues because the "T" is one stitch longer than the pattern allows for, but I think I handled them in a way no one will notice, especially since this is such a tiny count (40 I think, over 2 stitches). This has been set aside for so long I can't remember what fabric I used, but I do know I used Dragon's Blood silk fromVicki Clayton's Hand-dyed Fibers. What a joy to work with! I'm going to make this into a fob (I hope), wish me luck on the actual finishing aspect!

Now for what to do next? I need to get my grandmother's long overdue birthday magnet started and finished, and also one more of the Noel pillow ornies before I can do anything else :P Then I'm not sure, I'm trying to decide on something for the kid's bathroom, something for my room, or something for the living room. I have WAY too many things to decide on!

I had to stitch like mad this morning to get this done before we went next door to exchange gifts with my neighbor. I was so behind on stitching this year and had to stitch all the out of town gifts to mail first! The kids and I settled in and watched movies (they are so sick all they can do is watch TV, poor things) and I got it done in no time! I think it turned out to be really cute and my neighbor really liked it.

Hmmm, can we count how many ways I made a mistake on this one?? I decided not to worry about it, the person I'm giving it to wouldn't like it even if it was totally perfect :o) Definitely learned some lessons on this one!

Wow, I seem to have a theme this year? The majority of my holiday stitching says Noel ;o) I promise I didn't plan it that way! This one I started last night, finished early this morning. I was so tired I forgot to add the buttons and the backing fabric until I was almost done glueing the trim on so I had to do some re-arranging! This is from Sam Hawkin's 50 Cross Stitch Christmas (American School of Needlework). I stitched it on a Silkweaver solo (I love light green this Christmas!) using DMC and Weeks Dye Works threads. The background fabric is what I used for the ornament backing. Only 1 (?) more project to go??? Then wrapping, wrapping, etc. I will be so glad when Christmas is done this year, everyone in the house is sick but me and I haven't slept in days with all the stitching, wrapping, mailing, and tending sick kiddos. Bah HUMBUG!!!!

Pattern by X-Appeal stitched for Aunt Sis using Silkweaver Purely Primitive linen and The Shop threads. I did the cording myself but I wasn't pleased with the way it turned out. It was so funny, I showed John as soon as I had it stitched and he thought it looked great. I showed him again after I turned it into an ornament and he said it looked fine. Apparently he liked it better when it was just fabric and not finished into anything. I tried to explain that generally these things need to be framed, pillowed, etc. in order to be given away ;o) Maybe he just didn't like all the foofy trim, buttons and such? Only one or two more projects to go!

Normally my gift-wrapping is a little hurried and careless but this year I have new relatives to impress so I tried to fancy it up a bit :o)

This one was a quickie little gift to let the recipient know we were thinking about them. I went all over looking for a little angel pin to put inside it and finally found one, then broke it trying to get it out of the little box it came in :/ So I attached a little hanger to this so it could be hung. This was a freebie from the Victoria Sampler. I used white linen (I HATE white) and managed to keep it clean (ok so I was only stitching on it for a few hours, lol). I am terrible at finishing this kind of thing and I think this was my first treat bag. I learned the picot stitch for the top edging and it turned out ok, just no one look at the back too carefully to see how I stitched it up. Dye Shop threads, Kreinik metallic, and Mill Hill beads were used for the stitching.

Probably! Haven't had a minute to do anything but get ready for the holiday. With the wedding I really let everything slide and I am paying dearly. I finally bought gift cards and scratched a whole slew of handmade gifts, I stayed up last night till 3:30am stitching, wrapping, and packing for John's east coast family members in hopes their gifts will make it on time. I still have another Noel ornie and also a small simple wreath ornie to go, but so many presents that need wrapping, packing, and shipping, and some cards still if you can believe it! Have two new finishes to post, probably tomorrow as I'm looking forward to going home and sleeping a bit. Forget the gym, who needs to get into the new jeans I bought?? Not me!! Bah humbug!

Boy am I a grouch today! I think we'll skip the school tutoring and I'll go straight home to bed and wallow there ;o) It's gloomy and rainy here, the perfect weather to cuddle up with a few furry dogs and drift a bit. I still have this head cold!!!

For family night tonight I promised Bryce shopping, I am getting so tired of hearing his teenage complaints about his clothes, lol, and he has a birthday gift card to spend. He hissed at me all through church yesterday about how everyone is going to notice the small hole in the crotch of his pants (not at all visible unless he spreads his legs completely open and bends over, not a position usually assumed during church *grin*). I told him be thankful he was wearing underwear at least ;o) I am feeling old and tired today! Goodnight all!!

Made for Bri and she has received it finally! Stitched on a Silkweaver solo using DMC, Weeks Dye Works, Kreinik, and Mill Hill beads. Pattern is by Dragon Dreams from one of the older JCS ornie magazines.

Homespun Elegance NOEL ornie from the 2005 JCS ornament issue stitched on a pointedly stitched ornament by Olde Colonial using DMC, Weeks Dye Works, mill hill beads, brass pinwheel button (from HE), and a regular pearl button from my collection. I wasn't sure if I could get it to look like the designer model in the magazine but it was surprisingly easy although a bit time consuming. I will be stitching several as holiday gifts I hope! The centering can be a little tricky since even when it's centered correctly it might look off depending on the shape of the letter. Lots of frogging on this one! Finished around 12/5/05

Seri is showing a common occurence around here these days with 5 dogs running around--Watty being the smallest and meanest often has a "beard" made from snapping at someone and getting a mouthful of fur :o)

Someone posted today that there are 15 days till Christmas--I almost threw up. I am not ready yet!! No decorating has been done, definitely not enough stitching, and we haven't gotten to do any of our traditional fun things :/ Whatever has been threatening me the last few weeks finally appeared last Sunday and I've definitely not felt well enough to deal with plumbing problems, holiday cards, frantic stitching to be done, shopping, a journey to the desert museum (a museum and zoo here with desert creatures, normally a hoot), or hosting a birthday slumber party for my son and 8 of his friends ("Mom, boys don't call it a slumber party", says Bryce).

I made it through this week (and the party--although we won't mention what the house looks like after they made gingerbread car garages (houses are too uncool these days?)), there does seem to be an end in sight (??), well except for the stitching. I really should have started in June like I have the past few years! I have work today, then a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese for old family friends, and then John, my sister, and I are off to the Ice Cat hockey game. After that, I hope to collapse because I am feeling better but definitely not at 100%! Can someone please stop the world?? I want to get off!! LOL

Amazing what the change in month will do for my attitude ;o) November was really hard for me, but now that it's December I'm starting to feel some holiday cheer. Perhaps due to the ornaments I'm stitching on??? I have to say I'm not ready for the lights, tinsel, and tree route yet but I'm sure I will be soon.

Off to the post office today to send out my secret ornie exchange, hope my partner likes it and also what goodies I sent! Picked up my holiday cards last night so I'll be working on those over the weekend I guess. I have almost finished the Noel ornie, just need the rest of the beads and then to attach the ribbon and button and such. I am a little nervous but it sounds easy enough in the instructions (knock on wood!). I started the second (same) Noel ornie and just need to get the leaves and beads on it, I may just wait and try to do the finishing on both of them at once.

Have to take the dogs into the clinic for rabies shots tomorrow, then an oil change and work. bleech!! Hope to get some good photos to show for next week, I'm yearning for a finish!!