One Week from Christmas and I feel Like The Mad

Hatter and I ain't no Alice and this is definitely NOT Wonderland. The clock and calendar are officially "The Enemy"! This is about the same time every year I wonder why I have so many things I wanted to get done, not finished. The "excuse" this year is my youngest (4) came down with a bladder infection.......the "reason" is that I am organizationally disfunctional.

Every year I start off with the greatest intention but set no real timetable. Then I go off on these merry little tangents of working on this a little bit, that a little bit and so on and so forth. I am hopeless!!! Still, I shall not let this minor detail rob me of the joy I find from my craft. After 45 years, my relatives should be quite used to my penchant and if not, well, maybe they should pay attention to history! LOL

I have managed to turn a few of my hardanger pieces into ornies.......yayyy (and I get the gold medal for best camoflauge of a badly placed design) Amazing what you can do with a plastic sprig of holly!
My silk hardanger piece (A Star Is Born) turned out much better as I eliminated the circle in favor of a much more me-friendly shape....yes, the square. Oh how unappreciated this little shape can be ~ but turn him on his side and you have a lovely little diamond. A little creative zigzag on the sewing machine and it pouffed up nicely. (Actually that was a mistake when I tried to sew up the stuffing hole, but it looked so cool, I just carried on.) My stash of craft cording in a sparkling white was just the contrast I was looking for. Carrying the overlapping cording to the top, tie a nice little knot and viola, an ornie is born!

Now I did manage to make my little girls happy, and isn't that just the best part of Christmas, after all. I finished up the quilting and sewing of this little stocking started by my late sister, Heather. Add some sparkling red cording and this little beauty gets to reside in my daughters' room for part of their holiday glitter. Their little faces lit right up (sorry Mr. Sun, you may make my flowers grow and bloom, but they make my heart sing) when I gave it to them. At that moment, I knew I was going to become very greedy and do whatever it takes to see that expression as often as I can. As humble (and with its crooked toe), this little stocking brought back the memories of all the blessings these 2 little munchkins have made in my life. So as unassuming as he is, this is the star of this Christmas season:


If I accomplish not one single thing more before The Big Day, it really doesn't matter to me. Seeing the wonder and joy on those two little faces has already made this one of the bestest Christmases I've ever enjoyed.

May this feeling be blessed to each and every one around the world. Merry Christmas!!

Adding some Joy to my Day................

I am so in love with hardanger.......you get beautiful results and it doesn't take that long. This is my third piece done giving me a total of six finishes for the Challenge. I am very impressed with the progress I'm making......though this new obsession seems to go faster than my regular stitching!!! LOL

This last piece is called Joy from Julia Lucas Designs out of the 2006 Just Cross Stitch ornie edition. She used red and greens too on a white fabric. I opted for using red and green Kreinik Silk Mori along with turquoise #4 braid and her suggested #4 Kreinik braid in pearl. My scan doesn't show it well, but I like the contrast by using the black jobelan. So here is my little bit of Joy:


The weekend shall be my ornementation day~for those unfamiliar with that word (it's made-up) and simply refers to the act of taking these stitched piece and really turning them into actual ornaments. One of the things that has quickly been added to my Wish List has been those round and oval ornament forms.........I really suck at stitching circles that don't end up looking like something a 3 year old did. Actually, my 4 year old could probably do a better job, but I have no intention of handing her anything sharp that could be used against me! ROFL

I'd love my girls to have this obsession as they get older, but just the thought of sharing my stash breaks me out into a cold sweat.


Now I shall return to my endless pile of UFO's that have been crying shamelessly in an attempt to get my attention. Angel of Healing has already been pulled out of her storage bag and I'll be giving her my undivided attention until she is finished. Then I have a Christmas one called Aria by Pam Kellogg that I need to do as I would really love to finish that this year. I started it last December and work on it whenever a holiday shows up on my calendar.....that way I always have a little bit of Christmas happening all year long.

And I bought myself a really cool Christmas present....a digital camera!!! Now all my really large pieces and things that won't fit in the scanner can be recorded. Not to mention all the endless photos that never seem to leave my film camera!!! (blushes loudly) Wonder if I should tell DH or just stick it in my own stocking and see if he figures it out?

Off to work some more magic........

To Each Their Own..............

One of the things that keeps me so interested in needlework is the individuality you can accomplish even using a pattern. With my foray into hardanger, I have discovered that there is no limit except what you place upon yourself. Almost all the cutwork I have seen done has utilized white or cream fabrics.....and they all have looked gorgeous. But I wanted to try something totally different. Mostly because I have this gorgeous silk that I used on my Enchanted Alphabet called Orchid and knew it would look absolutely stunning on a black background. My friend (and teacher) thought that silk would not make a good base for hardanger work and the black would be too difficult to work on, especially for a beginner. She is probably right and as much as I value her opinion, I do tend to walk to the beat of a different drummer. What's the worst that can happen? If it doesn't work, you chalk it up to experience.

Needle Play had a beautiful ornie in the 2006 Just Cross Stitch issue called A Star is Born. It is delicate and the colors they used are definitely christmasy and added much to the charm of this design. Decided this would work with the black fabric and my lovely Orchid silk. As I went through the materials list, I discovered I would need another floss for wrapping the bars. Scavenging through my stash I found 2009 in the Needlepaints that looked like a good match for the colors in silk but with enough contrast to make it's own impact, but still be subtle. The gold originally called for did not look good, even looking at the white gold in petite treasure braid it still wasn't quite a good match. Hidden beneath I discovered a card of silver and it looked great with the soft purple colors. A quick look in my bead bag and there were some lovely lavender Mill Hill Antique seed beads that were just a tad darker than any of the floss colors but should still give me the effect I wanted. Now this design has some major bar wrapping to it, but once I got a rhythm going, it only took a couple of days to finish that part.

So here's my rendition of A Star Is Born:



This picture doesn't do it justice, as you can't see the cutouts (which have silver braid crosses with a bead in the centre) and the sparkle.

All in all, I am quite delighted with the way this piece turned out. I've decided to finish it in a diamond shape with a silver lining so the cutwork shows up better and edge it in silver cording. Hopefully I'll get a little time this weekend to do that part of it and then I'll post the finished project.

I really like being able to utilize the smaller fabric pieces of my stash this way, but I did splurge a little and invest in a good pair of bent hardanger scissors. With 2 curious little girls, I will keep them under lock and key. Just the thought of their tender skin and those sharp points......ouch!

I just realized something.....this makes 5 finishes since I started The Challenge!!!