The theme for this week’s PhotoHunt is all about Surprise.  Given it’s also Christmas Eve, I’m sure lots of folks will be posting pics of the shocked faces of their children opening gifts and such.  Well, there’ll be none of that here since I don’t have any children and my cat refuses to open Christmas gifts.

My take on this week’s theme is definitely all about surprise though.  My long-time online stitching friend Erin surprised me yesterday with a lovely little package.  When I opened it up, it was this beautiful Temari ornament.

Isn’t it gorgeous?!!  Thanks for such a beautiful Christmas surprise, Erin!

I also wanted to let everyone know that I’ve decided to use my Flickr account to store all of PhotoHunt photos.  If you’re ever interested in going back to view them all, you can find the set here.  You can also subscribe via RSS directly to my PhotoHunt Flickr set  well.

Until next time …

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Since I’m stuck at home most of the time right now due to a bum knee, I’m getting in some good stitching time.  It gives me a much welcome break from studying for finals for school!

After finishing Sunflower Fairy recently, I decided to go through my WIPs and pull out a couple of smaller projects that I thought I could get knocked out before year’s end.  Pear Tree is part of the ornament of the month series from Little House Needleworks.  We won’t discuss how long ago I started it.  All that matters is that it’s finished now.   Here is a pic of my finish followed by a close-up view that shows off the beads.  As always, click to biggify.

After I finished that piece on Saturday.  I pulled out It is Never Too Late from Primrose Needleworks.  I love the saying on this piece!  It’s a quote from author George Eliot (who was actually a woman in case you didn’t know).  I’m thinking of framing it and hanging in my office after I finish it. Anyway, I think I made really good progress on it.  Here are pics of before I started stitching on it this weekend followed by the after pic showing how much I got done on it. I hope I can finish it this week as well, but time will tell since I’ve got finals.  It would be really nice to mark another WIP off my list.

I also signed up for the WIPocalypse 2012 that Measi is coordinating on her blog.  There are lots of familiar faces on the participant list, so it’ll be fun to see how we all fare.  I’ll be spending time over the Christmas holiday coming up with my list of projects I want to focus on for the challenge.

I’ve also made some progress in my decision-making for the Mirabilia round robin over at TWRRB (The Worldwide Round Robin Board).  Sign-ups closed a few days ago and we ended up with eight stitchers in our group. I’ve decided to use the Pixie Couture collection for my theme.  Now that I know exactly how many stitchers will be in the group, I can get more serious about figuring out my exact layout and which of the pixies I want to use for it.  Our first mailing date isn’t going to be until late February/early March, so I’ve still got time to sort it out.

Well, that’s it for now.  Until next time …

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I finished my Sunflower Fairy a few days ago and I love how she turned out!  Here’s a pic of my finish followed by a close-up view of the glitter and bling.  As always, click to biggify.

This is a design by Nora Corbett (of Mirabilia) that appeared in the September 2009 issue of Cross-Stitch & Needlework magazine.  I stitched her on 32-count Copper Penny linen from Wichelt using the recommended Valdani cotton floss.  The only change I made was substituting Creamy Peach from Crescent Colors for the skin because the recommended Valdani seemed a bit too fair to me.

I was on a business trip last and got in a bit of stitching time on another Nora Corbett magazine design.  This time is was her Halloween Fairy (a.k.a. Trick or Treat Fairy).  It’s also from Cross-Stitch & Needlework magazine in their September 2008 issue.  Here’s my progress thus far on it:

Given I’m on such a Mirabilia/Nora Corbett kick lately, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that I’ve signed up for a Mirabilia Round Robin that’s starting up in February.  It’s being coordinated through TWRRB (The Worldwide Round Robin Board).   It seems like a really great group of stitchers and Kathy is moderating our group which should be fun, too. Now I just have to figure out my theme and layout.

I’m currently work on the Pear Tree ornament from last year’s ornament of the month series by Little House Needleworks.  I don’t really have enough done yet to show a progress pic.  Since it’s an ornament, you may not see a pic until it’s actually finished. LOL

Well, that’s it from me for now.  Until next time …

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Yes, as you can see, I’ve been playing around with my theme again since my last update. I decided to go with a somewhat generic theme that will allow me to swap out photos of my own stitching from time to time as the header image. The piece currently being displayed is my Rosemarkie from French designer Long Dog Samplers. I stitched it over 1 on 25-count Lugana using Dragon Blood silk from Hand-Dyed Fibers by Vikki Clayton.

Now, on to more current topics. Amazingly enough, I’ve actually been able to make some time for stitching recently. I unplugged from the internet and my iPhone for a few hours last night and spent a bit of time doing some guiltless stitching. It was heavenly!

I thought I would share my progress so far on my Little House Needleworks Winter Band Sampler which is part of my Crazy 2011 WIP/UFO Challenge. I’m stitching it 2-over-2 on 28-count Summer Khaki Lugana using the recommended DMC fibers. I did make one color swap. I’m using DMC 321 for the red instead of the recommended DMC 355.

I know the colors are off a bit in the photos, but I didn’t have any choice but to photograph at night. I took these under my Ott without camera flash. As always, you can click to biggify.

Aren’t those little cardinals cute?

Speaking of Little House Needleworks, I guess it’s time for me to come clean about something. I know I committed to little to no stash spending this year in my 2011 Goals. Unfortunately, that was before I learned that Diane was going to continue her Ornament of the Month series for another year. Since I already have all of the ornaments for 2010, I decided to add this to my list of exceptions for the no stash spending.

I had been struggling with myself for a couple of weeks trying to decide whether or not to continue. I got an email from Drema on Friday asking me if I wanted to continue this year or not. I took that as a sign it was meant to be. Yeah, I’m looking for any excuse easily swayed, what can I say? So, yes, Drema will be hooking me up again this year with the autos on the ornie kits. (Thanks, Drema! )

Ok, off to bed for me. If I don’t get there soon, I won’t be able to get out of bed on time in the morning.

Until next time …

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I put up my Christmas tree today. It made me realize just how few stitched ornaments I have. Most of the ornaments I’ve stitched over the years have been for gifts. I plan to change that over the next couple of years and stitch some ornaments for my own tree. The very first ornament I put on my tree this year was an adorable little stitched stocking ornament that I received a few years ago from Alison. It always brings a smile to my face when I pull it out and put it on the tree.

As pretty as I think my tree is, I really wish I had less of a generic tree. I love the trees many of my friends have that are a hodge podge of ornaments from their childhood or ornaments with special meaning/memories. I love hearing their stories as they show off all of their beautiful ornaments. I don’t have any of that sort of thing. My mother kept all of our childhood ornaments, and I ended up getting rid of the ones I collected during my marriage after I got divorced. I just didn’t want any reminders of that period of my life, especially around the holidays.

So, other than the previously mentioned 3 or 4 stitched ornaments I had from stitchy friends, all I have are just glass ornaments of no special significance. That’s something else I really want to change as well. I plan to start collecting ornaments during my travels in order to make some new memories for myself.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of my tree, one taken during the day (left) and another taken at night (right). Even though it’s not the hodge podge I would like, I still think it’s pretty. As always, you can click on either image to see a larger version of the photo.

Until next time …

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