Back at It!

Thank you for the kind words and warm wishes. I'm waiting for the "it gets easier" part to begin, but I'm doing well and thankful for every day.

The last few weekends have felt pretty "normal." I've been visiting blogs, admiring everyone's work, and I've picked up the needle again. Yeah! Remember the little kitten ornament I started during the Olympics? Well, I completed the stitching,...

and I finished the back stitching.

I'll admit that back stitching is not my favorite part of the process, but it certainly makes a difference. I'll hold off on really "finishing" this little guy until the other kittens are stitched and ready (so who knows what decade that will be). For now, though, I'm back at it!

Christmas Past

Can you believe Christmas is past, and here we are looking at New Year's eve??? Unbelievable! We were fortunate enough to spend Christmas in Ohio with my family, so I'll share a few pictures of my Mom's tree (which I love) and some of the cross-stitched ornaments I've made for her in Christmases past.

Mom's tree is filled primarily with snowman and cardinal ornaments. It's always fun to search for something new for her tree.

The ornament, above, was the first cardinal ornament I made for her. My finishing skills are not very good, but the pale blue fabric and the egg shape at least related to the subject matter!


The year I made the wreath ornaments, Mom got one too. It's not one that I would have picked out for her, but I wrapped all my ornaments that year, and let folks select, at random, their gift.

My favorite, though, is the cardinal on the mailbox. This is one I'd like to have hanging on my tree as well!

Finally, I'll share a photo of a stitched piece I made for Mom and Dad back in the late 80s/early 90s.

Mom had moved the location of this P. Buckley Moss design for the first time, and I was able to get close enough to take a shot. The photo is not so hot, but this is still one of my favorite finishes. When I purchased the pattern, my plans were to make one for my parents, and one for me. After hours and hours of working with white floss on white 36 count linen, and ripping out an entire lower section of the snow because I had messed up, I decided that this finish was going to be my one and only for this particular design. I love P. Buckley Moss's work, though, and have several other cross stitch patterns of her prints that may get worked up if I live to be an old, old woman!

One last look...
and a wish to all of you checking in for a healthy, happy, and peaceful New Year!

'Tis the Season

I love the holiday season, the decorations, and all the handmade ornaments. Please enjoy a few pictures from my holiday cross stitch projects from Christmas past.

Remember these? These are the first four Prairie Schooler Santa cards, stitched and framed in the 80s. They were my first laced and framed projects, so I was pretty pleased with the results. I still love them! Here's a closer look.

And two more....

One Christmas past, I stitched and finished wreath ornaments for others and saved one for my tree....


And finally, one Christmas trip from the past I spent stitching the mini ornaments, below, that still hang on a small table tree....

Mrs. Claus, her animal friends...



Two of my favorites...


And Santa himself....

Happy holidays...from me...to you!

Me Too

I know I'm not alone when I say I joined the Me, Myself, and I Round Robin that Vonna has opened. Not like I need another project, but this one was too enticing to resist! Like a lot of others who are participating, I've spent the past week thinking A LOT about my neighborhood. Last weekend I went through all of my cross stitch patterns thinking about the possibilities. Thank goodness it was a long holiday weekend! I finally decided to use design elements from reproductions of historical samplers.

Last night I sat down and started pulling out the houses to see what my options are and how large of a building lot I might need. I'm already concerned about size, but that's another issue altogether. So far, I have five house options out of the charts I pulled.

I'm so glad we have time to plan this project. Putting all the ideas together will be a challenge. I'm looking for a few specific elements from historical samplers that I don't have, such as a church, so I get to continue my research and see what else I can find. Seriously, this planning part is just downright fun!


On the stitching front, my "Olympic kitty" is still in training. I'll blame my early bedtime and too much Olympic event watching for my lack of stitching progress! My husband just asked me this morning if I was going to finish this cat before I start my next project. He always makes me smile. Bless his heart!

Opening Ceremonies

While I watched the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics Friday night, which were spectacular, I participated in my own "opening ceremonies," of sorts. I had opened the kit for my kitten ornaments awhile ago, prepared the fabric, and had started sorting the floss. So Friday night, I sorted the remainder of the floss (a task itself!) and started on my first "olympic" kitty.

I'll admit that I paid more attention to the TV than I did the cross stitching, because this little kitty already deviates from the pattern. I ripped out one section where I had miscounted, but when I noticed that I had been using the wrong color all along, I didn't have the heart to rip it out. Of course, if I can't stand the way it looks as I make more progress, I'll reconsider. Until then, this little one will have its own unique look. Now which one might he be?