Electronic Tidying and Looking Ahead

I was deleting a bunch of emails and came across one from Mary Corbet I hadn't read yet. It was a Christmas message and a link to an online jigsaw puzzle she had created with an 'I Spy' theme. I enjoyed assembling the pieces and then realized the app allows one to create their own puzzles for free. Here's the link if you're interested. Of course I sent the link of one I created to some of my friends who might be interested in frittering away some time on their electronic device.

Another thing I did was print some of the patterns from last year's Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue. They're not big projects and could be completed in just a few stitching sessions. One Floss Tuber I watch suggests having a separate Christmas bag/bin with projects ready to just pick up and stitch. My stumbling block is fully finishing (FFOing) the pieces I've stitched so will make an effort to get more of these FOs FFOd.

This brings me to what will be a New Year's start. Back in 2023 I started Winter Rose Manor on New Year's Day. Several of us worked on the project that year: Sharon, Jennifer (Jen1), Poppy, Marilyn, Barb, and I. I put everyone's initials on mine. I'm very glad I did that because Sharon is no longer with us, having passed away early this year after a lengthy battle with cancer. 

I mounted the piece and framed it with a custom frame I ordered online and it hangs in my dining room.

I've wanted to to what I believe is a companion piece called, 'The Light of Winter' by the same designer, Brenda Gervais, and have had it kitted up for a while. I even have fabric that matches Winter Rose Manor's fabric. The pattern is very hard to find in .pdf but it was in Sharon's stash so I was pleased to receive it. I'm sure she'd be happy I'm doing it in her honour.

I had planned to attend the Hobby House Retreat featuring Brenda Gervais outside of Rochester NY this June. However, a lot of US designers will be doing patriotic designs in 2026 for their semiquincentennial. I contacted the designer to ask if her exclusive chart for the retreat was a patriotic theme. She got back to me fairly quickly saying she hadn't created the exclusive retreat design yet but didn't reassure me that it wouldn't be patriotic. Not wanting to risk disappointment for a chart that has no meaning for me and shelling out a lot of money for the retreat costs, I asked for a refund of my deposit. One of my tasks next week will be to follow up on that refund.

Not to worry, though. I have several stitching events planned for 2026: my guild's spring and fall retreats, the April Stitch North retreat in Brampton. Our first night in the hotel is my birthday! There will definitely be celebratory spritzers and other adult beverages that night. When we get together this weekend we'll have to discuss signing up for the fall Stitch North retreat which will feature Theresa Venette, Kitten Stitcher of Shakespeare's Peddler. 

The weekend before that is the Pastime Pieces retreat which I'm hoping to attend. Hopefully the food will be better than this year's. 

So it will be a busy fall retreat-wise. I'm planning another SW Ontario stitcherly/quilterly road trip for sometime in the summer. This year we will venture even further west in hopes of visiting some or all of the following shops: Stitch-It Central in London, Pastime Pieces near Blenheim, the new Len's Mill Store in Chatham, the Little Red Mitten in St Thomas, The Cotton Harvest Quilt shop in Seaforth, and possibly Quiltatious and Quilting Confections in and near Windsor. Although we may have to leave the last two shops for another road trip.

Clearly my head is swimming with lots of ideas for 2026. Having these events to look forward to really keep me moving forward and give me a lot of joy - especially spending time with the people I enjoy them with.

This just in...

I just signed up for an online class on another Sashiko project. I did one last year and really enjoyed it. I don't have to shop for a single thing - all the materials are in my stash.

More Progress

I stitched on Polar Bear Wishes at stitching today then again after I got home for the rest of the afternoon.

The pattern is from the 2024 Just Cross Stitch Christmas ornament issue. It calls for green Mill Hill beads in the border between the red crosses and I probably have some in my stash but I think I'm going to use green HotFix jewels - if I can find dark green ones, that is.

I could finish stitching the ornament tonight but I'm going to work on the penultimate octagon on my Persian Tiles blanket. I started #29 last night and did it from memory as I had take the pattern to another part of the house and was too lazy to get off my butt and go get it. I then remembered I had the .pdf in Files on my phone so I referred to it for the areas I have trouble remembering - whether to do a sc a the top of a fan or 3sc. I certainly should have it internalized as I've crocheted almost 60 octagons by now. 

Once they're done I'll do the rest of the granny squares, then the half grannies and corner grannies. Then sew it all together and finish up with the border.

I listened to an interesting Robin Cook book the last couple of days called. 'Night Shift'. It's about a mass murderer who works in a hospital. Their warped rationale is that they're putting the patient out of their misery. Unfortunately, unlike a medically assisted death, which is legal in Canada and becoming legal in some US states, the patients in the novel, have no say in the matter.  It was a good 'read'. I then realized the medical examiner in the novel is a character in a previous one of Cook's books so I've downloaded 'Genesis' and look forward to starting it tonight.

Yesterday I worked on a jigsaw puzzle with a Christmas theme I had set aside. 

I like these Galison puzzles. The pieces are a good size and nice and thick. This one - is a foil puzzle so has shiny bits.

I received one with a floral design for Christmas so will put it in the queue. 

Where we meet for stitching is a recreation room at an apartment building. In one area of that room is shelving with lots of jigsaw puzzles so (when I remember) I take any puzzles I have completed and don't want to keep, drop them off, and take one that is on the shelf that intrigues me. I now have quite a pile in my living room that I either need to assemble and donate or just weed a bunch out to donate and create a much smaller pile to tackle at some point.

Our rescheduled dinner from Boxing Day was moved to the following day. Four of us had a very enjoyable time at Alexa's chatting about travel, Windreach Farm, crafts, and enjoying a delicious dinner.

I've got a wee bottle of Henkel Trocken for New Year's Even and plan to spend the evening watching Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper on CNN, possibly flipping around to other NYE things on TV. I'm going to treat myself to something yummy to eat, too. It will be a nice, cozy time.

Finally, I saw a neat idea on Facebook for an easy Christmas decoration. 

Who doesn't have a couple of frames kicking around? Personally, I have a whole box of them. Kind of a neat idea for future Christmas decorating.

A New Start

After seeing this ornament in our guild's Christmas ornament exchange, I wanted to stitch it myself. It's 'Polar Bear Wishes' from the 2024 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue.

I wanted to use a dark-ish fabric for the background and decided on some uneven weave 36/30 linen called Barrick's Blend from my stash - darker than it appears in the photo below. I don't remember where I got it - probably a freebie at a retreat. Because it's uneven weave, I had to decide if I wanted oriented 36/30 for a taller image, or 30/36 for a stumpier image. I ended up orienting it so the bear would be taller and skinnier. I got this much done today. I'm using most of the called-for colours except for the pink in his ears. I'll just substitute a similar colour using the online floss color [sic] tool.

My progress so far.

Since I probably won't get it done before the new year, the photo is in my 2026 folder on my laptop. It will be good for social stitching because of the plethora of white stitches that will need to be filled in.

I also located and attached the timepiece charm onto my Time to Stitch pincushion.

The 27th octagon was completed last night and the 28th (out of 30) started last night. No new photo. Crocheting with 12 different colours and colour changes every round generates a lot of yarn ends. I keep up by burying as many as I can as I start the new colour but the remaining ends still need to be cut off. I do tuck them into a little ort bag beside where I sit but they have a habit of sticking to my clothing then falling off in different areas of the house. I chuckle every time I see one and pick it up. (It doesn't take much to amuse me).

Front hall:

Kitchen

Dining room.

r

I'm headed out this afternoon to my rescheduled dinner from last night.

Speaking of dining out, on Christmas Eve I was invited for a Swedish Christmas Eve smorgasbord at the home of former neighbours of Skip. We had the honour of being invited for Christmas Eve for many years but this was the first time I had attended in almost 10 years. Some Christmases we were not available while I taught knitting for a luxury cruise line. Then Lena and Norm moved to Sweden for 6 years, then COVID hit, the Skip was too ill to attend. It was so nice seeing their family members again and meeting some new friends. It was an amazing spread of traditional Swedish dishes. More details are in this old blog post from 2007. We were all much younger then...

For dinner on Christmas Day I was invited to the home of one of my Monday morning stitchers, Joanne, and her daughter, Jennifer. Also in attendance were her son, Scott, and his husband, Mike.  I didn't get any photos but it was a really nice way to spend the evening and have a delicious meal prepared by Jennifer and Scott. They even waited until I got there to exchange their gifts! I was so surprised to also receive gifts from them. So kind and unexpected. There was lots of pleasant conversation, some remembrances of our late husbands, and full tummies. It was so nice to be included. I am so grateful for the kindness of my friends. 

Now to get ready for the next food extravaganza.

Post Christmas

It has been a very cozy and enjoyable holiday time so far. After hosting the girlies here I had most of my Christmas stuff done so took it easy most of last week. I did finish stitching another one of the Christmas Pears from the Jingle Ball.

I'm using the called-for white silk floss but I don't like the way it gets fuzzy. I think the pears would have worked nicely with my newly-discovered DMC Étoile Blanc - white with a bit of a sparkle. I've started the last pear and will have a good chunk of the Aztec Red fabric left as I stitched all the pieces pretty close together. I only need a centimetre or so between each one for finishing.

In crochet news, I am working on the 27th octagon (out of 30) on my 2nd Persian Tiles blanket in the Eastern Jewels colourway. Here are the first 26 and a few of the granny squares. I'm itching to start sewing them together.

This is what I work on when I'm watching TV. I do bury and trim the ends on the backs of the pieces when I need a break from crocheting. I have a total of 20 granny squares to do plus the half squares and corner squares. I know I'll have enough yarn because I got all of that out of the last kit of 100g balls and I ordered extra - enough to complete the border.

I had the urge to stitch something easy and quick so I stitched one of the charts I received in my Pastime Pieces Advent box. This year the 24 days were divided into 4 seasons. The stitching on the Winter zipper bag is chronicled here. 

I modified the pattern for this summer piece a little bit both to eliminate some stuff and to correct a counting error I had made. The Aida fabric came with it and all the required threads. I still need to add the little charm that came with the little kit.

I only had one strand of the Light Khaki thread used for the face of the clock left. I wasn't sure I was going to have enough and thank goodness I hadn't made any mistakes that I had to frog and waste floss. The last few rows of the clock face I was thinking what DMC I could use if the Light Khaki from my own stash wouldn't match. I did the simple pillow finish but after seeing a couple of finishes on Periwinkle Stitcher's latest Flosstube episode, I may try something different than just a corded finish.

I don't remember where I saw this but I found a free StitchALong (SAL) from Historische Stickmuster. It's in 4 parts and could be something I work on in 2026. I have downloaded all 4 parts. Download it now until the end of the year. January 1, 2026 it will no longer be free.

I have admired this designer's work for a long time. There is a lot about this piece that I really love: the Quaker motifs, snowflakes, European-style buildings, Santa with his sleigh and reindeer. 

It's 194 x 181 so would be about 10" x 9" on 40 count fabric over 2. It calls for Soie d'Alger threads and a DMC conversion is also given. There is a LOT of stitching in this piece but I could poke away at it and possibly have it done for next Christmas.

Trying to decide what start I'll do on New Years. I've had 'The Light of Winter' kitted up thread-wise for a while. I just need to decide on the fabric. Hopefully something in my stash will match my Winter Rose Manor companion piece. I have a bunch of other charts kitted up as well and others I need to decide on. 

I forgot to mention our December meeting of the Trillium Embroidery Guild. We had excellent participation in our ornament exchange. We joined two long tables so we could pass the wrapped ornaments 'left', 'right', and 'across' as MaryK read the script.

Show and Share was also very impressive. Over half the items were brought in by Marilyn. Click the link for details about each piece.

Marilyn and Cathy also proudly wore their poinsettia pins they learned how to make at our guild stitch day earlier this month. Marilyn used a white border on hers and Cathy's was black like mine.

While I had some stitchers over last week I pulled out the Christmas charts I'd like to do and made a separate pile of other charts I'd like to do. They're now bundled in my 2026 Book of Days that I bought at Kimat Designs last Friday.

While there, I saw this chart and couldn't resist. It had a donkey!

I would probably modify the chart as chickens aren't really my 'thing'. I'll have to do some thinking on that.

Speaking of donkeys, at long last 'All is Calm' from Plum Street Samplers is now available to the general public.

I saw it online when it was an exclusive retreat chart and actually charted it from a photo. Then stitched the bottom half of it. 

It's a blustery, blizzardy day out there and I've been invited out for dinner. My host doesn't live very far from me (5km) but I just looked outside and it's almost white-out conditions. Not safe to be out driving. We have rescheduled for tomorrow night. We should be dug out by then.

Christmas Fun and Inspiration

Yesterday I had the girlies over for a craft day. Jen1 and Poppy were guided through making Drop Zone bags - the pattern we had seen on our road trip last summer. They arrived with their basic piece quilted and spent the next 6 hours finishing the project.

Jennifer is very methodical. We were impressed with the foam mat her machine is on. It really dampens the sound of the sewing machine.

Poppy worked diligently to complete her project.

Marilyn and Jeanette brought stitching. There was lots of conversation - plans for future projects. Ooh-ing, and ahh-ing over various items. Sharing lots of information on our phones.

After Barb arrived we took a bit of a break and exchanged our mostly 'consumable' Christmas gifts. Most of us have concluded that we already own everything so consumables (gift cards, edible items, etc.) are a good alternative to most 'stuff'.

My students posed proudly with their finished Drop Zone bags. One of the goals of 'Geri's Academy of Sewing' is that my students feel successful.

Jennifer mentioned she really liked the Dumpling Dish project she completed several years ago. It was an accompanying pattern to Sally Thompson's 'Bionic Gear Bag'. Thankfully, I had saved the pattern so had a look at it today and decided to make one this afternoon to remind myself of the process as the last time I made one was 2018.

I enlarged the original template to 140% on my printer. I took special care to fussy cut my fabric. The designer's instructions are unnecessarily verbose and I had whittled the 46 pages down to 2. I still needed to refer to the original instructions for some of the photos, though. 

I used the same William Morris fabric I used for my Drop Zone bag that I made on Saturday. It's called a Dumpling Dish because it looks like a dumpling...

and opens to a shape like a dish - a bowl, actually.

In order for it to open to a round shape, the zipper has to extend beyond the edge. I covered the end with a little piece of folded fabric and stitched it in place on the exterior.

This came out to a decent size. I use another one to hold my little sewing clips. Not sure what I'll put in this one.

So Geri's Academy of Sewing might have a session on this sometime over the holidays.

Having everyone here is so much fun. We all enjoy each others' company so much - particularly the sharing of creative ideas. 

After they headed for home I started tidying up a bit when I realized my Tuesday night group was having a get together at another Jennifer's home with take-out Chinese food. I beetled over there in time to enjoy a delicious plate of food. Again, there was lots of pleasant conversation and a good time was had by all. 

Man, was I pooped when I got home. I had worked hard last week getting everything ready for the craft day - treats, 'baking', tidying, making the house presentable, making and addressing cards, composing my Christmas newsletter, etc. etc. 

This morning was Monday morning stitching at MaryK's. Barb picked me up for the drive to Orono. We had a very nice time - lots of crafty chit chat,  exchanging of cards, and picking out many stitches done in error. 

MaryK's home was so festively decorated for the holidays. Everything was so cute! One of her Christmas trees had all ornaments she had cross-stitched over the last 4 decades. The tree by her front door had long-time family ornaments. Then there were the shelves in the living room with her Santa collection. Lots of decorations in her office and kitchen. Tasteful Rae Dunn crockery and décor items. And all so beautifully displayed. We were all so impressed. It really made for a Christmassy vibe. So fun!

Tomorrow I can sleep in. I have nothing planned for the day other than picking up some more red wine to make another batch of glögg and some more bread. I have SO MUCH FOOD in the house that I want to eat before I resume the meal kits from Chefs Plate. A recent purchase is the gizmo that sucks the air out of food grade vacuum bags. It arrived on the weekend and I can already see how useful it will be for saving my leftovers or portions of items I can't consume in one sitting. 

I am so fortunate to have found these groups of like-minded people who enjoy getting together and being creative. We all seem to derive a lot of enjoyment from these pursuits.

White Chocolate Covered Cranberries

I don’t remember who the designer was at Jingle Ball 2023 who shared their recipe for white-chocolate covered cranberries. The recipe looked very easy. I tried it and loved the result. Ever since then, i have made this treat whenever fresh cranberries have been available.

I pick only the best, Canadian cranberries - preferably from a family farm.

They are rinsed and dried by rolling them around on a terry (or other absorbent) kitchen towel. 

I don’t have a double boiler for melting the white chocolate chips so I put about an inch of water in a large pot and heat it up. Then I put a bowl with steep-ish sides in the hot water and add a bag of the white chocolate chips. A Pyrex or Corelle bowl would probably work, too.

When the chips begin to melt, I remove the pot from the heat. The hot water is enough to keep the chips melted.

Stirring things around helps melt to a smooth texture.

Then I dump handfuls of cranberries into the melted chocolate. This is a good way to feel for and discard any ‘squishy’ cranberries. There was only one squishy one in the whole bag!

Stir them around covering with the melted chocolate. Then spoon each one onto a parchment-covered cookie sheet.

I downloaded an app to count the berries (I just did a search for a ‘counting’ app. It was a three-day trial so I cancelled the subscription right after using it so I wouldn’t have to pay). It looks like it missed 2 of them on this sheet Including the 2 missed ones there were 118 on this sheet

and 67 on the next cookie sheet.

They’re in the fridge now, chocolate is cooling and hardening. Once they’re hardened up, they can be removed from the parchment paper and stored in containers in the fridge. They’ll stay loose until enjoyed.

There are other fresh cranberry treat recipes out there - some having them soak in ginger ale or orange juice for several hours then rolled in sugar and baked. This is WAY easier.

That’s another thing off my ‘to do’ list.

The result is a bit of crunch of the fresh cranberry, then sweetness of the white chocolate mixed with the tartness of the berry. Try it!

Ginger and A Pear

 I finished stitching Ginger, one of the patterns/classes I bought for the Jingle Ball.

I used Parchment for her skate laces and lazy daisy stitches that look more like bows. The blades of the skates are DMC Etoile Blanc for a bit of sparkle.

If I ever get around to fully finishing her, I'll make the base the width of her skirt so she can be a stand-up.

I also finished stitching one of the Christmas Pears from AnnieBeez.

It's on the same Aztec Red piece of fabric. I'm not sure I like the fuzziness of the silk thread. I have started the second pear but got distracted doing other stuff. 

The only pattern I bought in the Jingle Ball Shopping Hall was Hello from Liz Mathews' 'Quaker Christmas Star' from last year. 

I liked the Quaker-i-ness of it and thought it might be fun to stitch over one thread which would make it about 3 1/2" wide on 40ct fabric.

In crochet news - I have 18 octagons done for the second Persian Tiles blanket. 

I got only only two things off my 'to do' list yesterday. I'm hoping I'll be more productive today. I'm up early though so there's hope.