The Pressure is Off

I think I got everything done that needed to get done before Christmas. I was in a bit of a panic at the beginning of this week as I was still painting cards, wrapping gifts, buying last-minute items, composing and sending our annual Christmas newsletter, finishing an ornament for the guild's ornament exchange, and prepping for the holidays.

This is the ornament I stitched for my Secret Santa person. It's the Vintage Christmas Ornament by Victoria Sampler and was in Issue #34 of 'The Gift of Stitching' from November 2008. It's a digital stitching magazine that quit publishing in 2012 because of Internet piracy. All the issues can be purchased here. I used threads from my stash, white 28ct Monaco cloth, sparkly beads, and cording made from Perle cotton. There was just a little bit of Hardanger with the Greek cross in the centre.

You can see the rest of the ornaments we exchanged here. 

I can now reveal the ornaments I stitched and mailed a couple of weeks ago. Holy Night by Barbara Ana. I used gold beads for the stars, HotFix 'jewels' for the snowflakes and stitched a Rhodes star.

I had coordinating fabric for the back.

I used a beaded border around this one. It's from the 2005 Christmas issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine. I corrected the key signature.

Not surprisingly, all the finishing items were from my stash - fabric, cording, threads, beads, etc.

The niece I stitched this for loves 'bling' so I alternated cross stitches with HotFix jewels in the border.

Next year I must get my finishing done sooner - perhaps dedicate a day in November for the task?

I sewed some gift items for some of my stitchy friends but, of course, wrapped and gifted them before remembering to take photos of them. Suffice it to say they were well received.

I have already ordered a bunch of 2023 charms. 

I only baked one recipe this year - my pressed sugar cookies. There was no green and red candied peel left at the bulk food store when I got there so I used quartered green and red candied maraschino cherries. They tasted really good on the cookies.

I gave all but a few away.

Next week we hope to get together for a sewing/stitching day. Once Christmas is over, we can relax a bit. The days leading up to Christmas is a very busy time so it will be nice to have it all behind us. 

Skip and I have been invited to a friend's place for Christmas dinner so I don't have to worry about preparing a dinner that day. Scooter will be with his mother and that family. We will see him again in the new year. I owe Skip a birthday dinner from a local, fancy restaurant and have a seasoned, spatchcocked chicken in the freezer just waiting to be thawed and cooked. 

We have been thoroughly enjoying spending the evenings in front of our wood-burning fireplace and Christmas tree, streaming videos. I get quite a bit of stitching done on the models I'm working on.

Almost all the ornaments on my tree were handmade. I love turning off all the lamps and sitting in the glow of the electronic candles (on the left of the mantle) and my tree lights. Such a cozy feeling.

Skip is STILL having tests done. I believe there will be at least one more before they determine what treatment he'll undergo. It is really annoying to be in this holding pattern for so long. 

That aside, I hope to get a LOT of stitching done over the next few days. 

I wish all my readers lots of joy over the holidays however celebrate the season.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Festive Festivus.