Christmas in July

July is over and we're on the downhill slide toward Christmas! Unlike most stitchers, I don't have a ton of Christmas designs in my stash, but I do seem to have accumulated a dozen or so  small, ornament-sized designs. I had intended to work through them this year, stitching one per month. The reason you haven't seen any Christmas finishes this year is because this is my first. {sigh} Maybe I'll try again next year. Anyway, here's a Lizzie Kate freebie found here. As you can see, I've fiddled with mine a bit. It's stitched in GAST Buckeye Scarlet (my favorite red!) and good ol' DMC ecru.  The snowflake I added to the mug is from some random book in my little stitchy library, and the cookies are JABCO.

Mmmm... cookies.

Almost finished with another Button Up Birdie (#13!) and hope to have that posted soon.
Happy Stitching!

All that waiting...

...on the royal baby was so tiring.

Woodland Babies Finished!

Just finished the last Woodland Baby (Victoria Sampler), a little fawn. This one is in the 2012 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue.

And here's the whole family.

I think they'll be living in the finishes box for a while, as I just can't make up my mind about how I want to finish them. I could make little round ornaments out of them, but I also thought a wintery wall hanging would be really pretty. But for now, I'm just enjoying the small triumph of having finished this series. Yay, me!

Now then, what next... ?

New Family Member!

Tiger Lily has a new cousin!

You can see her here. I hear she's learning the ropes of helping with stitching.

Stitchy Happiness

There are lots of great things about having stitching as a hobby, and one of them is how happy I can be made by small things, like a magazine. Perhaps I'm simple-minded, but it sure makes me easier to live with when I can get all excited about the annual Just Cross Stitch Halloween Special Issue and remain unmoved by designer shoes and bags. Just ask Mr. Wonderful.

I love Halloween. I don't love the gory, bloody, body-parts-strewn-everywhere direction it seems to have taken in recent years. The Halloween I love is the Halloween from my childhood: fat pumpkins, smiley black cats, and cute little ghosts. Halloween is one of my favorite subjects to stitch and the appearance of Halloween stitchy magazines every summer is an event at my house, so when I called my LNS this morning and discovered they had just received their shipment of the JCS Halloween Special Issue, I was off and running. What was I supposed to be doing? Cleaning the house. Did I clean the house? No. Do I feel guilty? Maybe a teensy bit, but it goes away when I'm flipping through my new magazines.

I also picked up the floss and fabric for our next SAL... but the design is still a secret!

Pretty, huh? The fabric is 32 ct. Blue Spruce. If you're getting in the mood for Halloween stitching, too, check out the Stitchy Cousin's newly posted freebie finish here. How cool is that?!

SAL Update: Miss Witchy Face

No update last month, what with computer problems and all kinds of nonsense, but I have a little progress to show this month. Most of the witchy figurehead is done.

I think I'll finish the bow of the ship and then go back to working on masts and sails.

The deadline--October--is creeping up on me. Must. stitch. faster. Or if not faster, more. This is the largest piece I've ever done, and surprisingly, I haven't gotten tired of it. But I'm already looking forward to our next SAL, which will remain super secret until this one is finished. Hint: more spooky!

Itty Bitty Baby Bunny

Six done, one to go! Here's the baby bunny from Victoria Sampler's Woodland Babies series.

When I finish the last baby, I'll be getting back to Victoria Sampler's Button Up Birdie series.  I was close to finishing that series, having stitched 12 of the 14 birds... and then they published four more birds! So now I have six of those left. I wonder if I can get them stitched before any more are added. I wonder if there will be any more Woodland Babies. I wonder if there will be a baby skunk (how cute would that be?). I wonder why I'm blathering away on my blog when I should be stitching on Skeleton Crew. I wonder if I can finish that on time... 

Independence Day

(Brooke's Books Spirit of America Angel)

Summer Stuff

Just back from a week's vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine, with lots of hiking in Acadia National Park. Spectacular. A few pictures coming soon.

We rolled in at 1 a.m. Saturday morning after a four-hour flight delay due to weather, but I actually managed to get a little finishing done when I regained conciousness.

Here's a little freebie from The Little Stitcher. It's stitched on 28 ct. dirty Cashel linen with DMC Color Variations.

And here's my little summer freebie (posted below) finished.

So. I have a functioning computer, a new camera, I'm back from vacation, and I have some time to stitch. Stand by to be astounded.