Another Year Gone By

Another year has come and gone, and this past Tuesday we found ourselves gathering at Jody's house for our annual Christmas cross stitch meeting.  Our monthly get togethers are usually held in the evening hours, but this time around it worked out that we were all able to arrive by mid-afternoon to start the festivities.

Whenever you pull into Jody's drive there is always a beautiful outdoor vignette she's put together to co-ordinate with the season.  As usual, we weren't disappointed!

After some catching up, and getting our stitching spots set up for the day, someone made the comment that Jody's Christmas tree needed some ornaments.  "I was waiting for you all to get here to help me!" was Jody's response.  About that time, Jody's 3 boys arrived home from school, and they were more than happy to help! 

These guys kept us in stitches - of a different kind - with their fun-loving ways!

We'd worked up an appetite from trimming the tree, so we decided it was time to eat!  Lots of variety with our potluck meal... and let's not forget the candy!!  

With our bellies full, and getting settled in our chairs, it was gift giving time!   As usual we were spoiled rotten!!

From Jody:

A gift card from Chapters, a cute little Santa ornament and yummy Apple-Walnut shower gel.

 From Bonnie:

A Vanilla Sugar Satin Hands kit (that came in an adorable sweater bag!) and a cute button ornament.

 From Anita:

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A toiletry bag, a cosmetic bag, and a tissue holder to match our beautiful "weekender" bags that she made us earlier in the year. ( Handwash and wax bars from Scentsy were also tucked inside.) Two "Mug Rugs" that she also sewed, along with a gorgeous hand-made ornament. 

From me:

A stitched "Friendship" sampler by Silver Creek Samplers.  As you can see, only 2 got done in time (due to other stitching commitments).  Thanks for understanding, Bonnie... you will get yours ASAP!

We also got spoiled with a very special treat that arrived for us in the mail the week before.  There was sure a lot of oooing and awwwing as each one of us opened our package from the "Stitching Sisters", who so lovingly stitched ornaments for us... the "Four from Forest".  We get together with these special ladies at our Brentwood Stitching Retreat each May... we only wish we lived closer to one another!  Jayne - when you get the chance, could you please identify who stitched what for us?  Some we could figure out; some are still a mystery :-)  (We did manage to guess who knitted the stars, though! lol) 

It's hard to believe that our little group of 4 is coming up to our 19th year of getting together every month -  laughing, sharing, and stitching .

Jody, Bonnie, Tracey & Anita

We hope that all of our blogging/stitching friends out there, near and far, have a wonderful Christmas and a happy and healthy 2013!

Tracey

"Sew" Lucky

A while back, Anita and I made a date to spend the day together at her house finishing some of my cross stitch pieces.  Years ago, I had made a cross stitch for Halloween and put it together as a small hanging to put on my front door.  I liked it so much, that I recently thought- why not stitch a bunch of different pieces to change up with each season?  (I have more details about it here in this post.)

Now, I could have attempted this finishing on my own; but between my ancient, finicky sewing machine, and my limited sewing skills it would have taken me forever.  Anita has the most perfect sewing/craft room- not to mention amazing sewing skills- plus all the right gadgets to get the job done.

I also had a couple of Christmas ornaments to finish, so we thought that would be a good place to start.  No sewing involved with these ones... so even I was able to help!  We headed over to Vonna's blog, where she has a list of  tutorials for numerous finishing ideas.  We decided on the flat ornament and with the easy to follow instructions we had these done in no time at all.

Time to get busy with the wall hangings!  Now, I did bring some fabric to use, but Anita insisted I go through her fabric stash to see if there was anything different I would like to use.  What fun going through all the drawers of fabric...there was every colour of the rainbow!

What a lucky lady to have this view while sewing!

We Anita had a very productive day, and I was more than thrilled how everything turned out!  I am "sew" lucky to have such a special friend that is more than willing to help me out when I come begging calling.

The next week, I was hosting cross stitch night and Anita was the first to arrive.  We lined up all of the finishes so we could show Bonnie and Jody when they came over... Anita even brought 2 of her own pretties to share!

Notice the bit of sparkle I added to my ornaments?  I added old buttons from my Nana's button tin.  They both have a clear crystal in the centre.

I love how Anita changed up the colours of Lizzie Kate's "One Hundred Years From Now".  The recommended threads didn't quite work with the rustic fabric that she chose.  Here's a closer look:

Another by Lizzie Kate... don't you just love the frame she picked for the "ABC's Of Parenting"?

After seeing all of our finishes, Jody said that she can't wait to gather up her own cross stitch pieces and have her own "sewing day" at Anita's! :-)

Tracey

Better Late Than Never

Rewind to December 2010. I stitched 2 ornaments-- one for my daughter, and the other for my (then) future son-in-law.  Santa then tucked them into their stockings for Christmas morning.

For many years, one of our favourite Christmas films to watch as a family is "It's A Wonderful Life", so when I saw this pattern on The Sampler Girl's Blog I knew just the person to stitch it for... Chantelle.  

 Martin has a few different sock monkey items (which in my opinion is the start of a "collection"), so the particular pattern I chose for him was staring right at me on the cover of the 2010 issue of Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments.

Now, I said at the beginning of this post that I stitched the ornaments in December 2010.   Fast forward to the end of November 2011 and that was when I finally got around to finishing them.  I borrowed Bonnie's sewing machine and spent an evening putting them both together.

Once I got going, it didn't really take that long at all (you can see the backing material I used for each one in the first picture).  I then sent them off in the mail as a little surprise for the newlyweds.  I thought maybe they would like to have them as part of their Christmas decor for the month of December...

...plus don't you think it's kind of fun to get a little unexpected package in the mail during the holiday season?

Happy ornament stitching everyone!  :^)

Tracey

These are a few of my favourite things...

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things....

Do you remember the story I told about how I never did anything small, and that the very first cross stitch I learned to do was pretty intricate for a beginner? It was of an angel's face. I found three patterns; each one seemed to represent all of my girls at their exact age, 12, 6 and 1. Below is the very first cross I ever made. It won 1st place when I entered it in the Forest Fall Fair. This little angel reminded me of my oldest daughter, Niki.

This little angel reminded me of my daughter Holly. The picture below this one was taken with no flash; Isn't it funny how the expression seems to change.

And last but not least, the baby of the family - Paige. Tracey and I could never get over how I could always find patterns in 'threes' of little girls. Even the hair is the right colour for each one of them.

Another favourite ornament of mine is one that was made for me by a pen-pal several years ago. We never kept in touch, which often happens with pen-pals, but I wish I could find her to let her know how much I LOVE this ornament and how much I have enjoyed it all these years. I can't even imagine how she knit such a tiny sweater.

This next ornament is also hand-made. It was purchased at the Big Sister craft sale that is held annually in Sarnia. At that time, Paige belonged to the Big Sisters and she was volunteering at the sale too. My sister Kathy had entered a vendor booth and I offered to help her out at the sale. Next to our table was a vendor selling all these teeny-tiny bears made from little pieces of twigs. She sat and cut the pieces of wood and created ornaments right there on the spot. It was fascinating. I guess my excitement was pretty evident because this little ornament magically appeared at Christmas. (I have great sisters, they would always buy some thing for me at Christmas for my girls to be able to put something under the tree for mommy. Paige was pretty excited to give it to me because she knew how much I would like it and she knew I had no idea her and Aunt Kathy's secret)

I've tried numerous times to get a picture of the entire tree all decorated, but you just can't seem to capture how pretty a tree is with a camera. To use the flash - you loose the sparkle of the lights, and well... it just doesn't look the same. And if you don't use the flash - you just can't see the ornaments. So, I've taken just a snapshot of a 'portion' of the tree to give you an idea of what it looks like.

Enjoying the evening with family and friends, good company, great conversation, homemade cookies and hot apple cider, sitting in the living room with all the lights dimmed and just the glow of the tree....

....these are a few of my favourite things.

Bonnie