October WIPocalypse Report

Wow!  Hasn't this year just flown! I can hardly believe that it will be November in just one more day!  So, this is my eleventh WIPoclaypse Report.

October was a quiet stitching month for me.  I stitched and finished up 9 Christmas ornaments.  I have credited the designers in earlier posts.  And I kitted up my final project for 2012 - my niece's wedding sampler.

Here's what I stitched:

 

And now I'm off to make a start in my final project for 2012 - Rosewood Manor's Baltimore Rose Wedding Sampler.  Happy stitching!

A little finish, and a delayed start

I know I said I had stitched my last ornament for 2012 - I was wrong.  Here is my second 'last' ornament:

This design is one of my absolute favourites.  It's one I have stitched a lot in the past, because I think he's so cute.  The designer is Dale Burdett, and it's from her 1990 booklet DB 132 "A Mini Christmas".  As is my wont, I changed a few of the floss colours.

The chart for my niece's wedding sampler has finally arrived (it took 3 weeks to get here!), and I have kitted it up changing the pink floss pallet to a purple one (purple being my niece's favourite colour, and the colour her attendants will be wearing at the wedding).  I am about to put the fabric onto the lap frame and make a start on the first flower.  I love that feeling!

This could be my final ornament finish for 2012 ...

such a pity it is a quickie finished in a little gold coloured star shaped frame.  I would have preferred a majestic ornament finish.  Poor planning, I guess.  I'll have to watch that next year.

Once again it's adapted from the little stocking design in LA's Christmas Caboodle leaflet.  I changed all the colours, the pattern and contents of the stocking, so it's really just the stocking shape I'm acknowledging I suppose.

Just one thing left on my stitching list now - my niece's wedding sampler - and I'm still waiting for the chart to arrive from USA.  I'm hopeful it will be in my letterbox after the postie does his round today.  I've decided to change the floss colours to match the colours of my niece's bridal party (also her favourite colour - purple).  And I'll stitch it on a linen to match the cream colour of her bridal gown.  I'm keen to get it kitted up and started.

Excitement is starting to build in my house - well, on my part anyway! Just 2 months now until my big day (that's Christmas Day - the highlight of my year!).  I'm about to take the pre-Christmas photos (to help me return everything to its rightful place after Christmas) and start amping up the planning of the Christmas decoration placement for 2012 - though I have to admit I've already spent way too much time on that. 

Three little Christmas trees

for three sweet little sisters, who have a fondness for a little bling.

If my memory serves me right, that makes ten of these little button and bead decorated trees I have stitched this year.  I really enjoy decorating the trees - I try to make each one look a little different.  I have almost worked through my 2012 stitching list - just one more ornament to stitch, and my niece's wedding sampler.  I'm still waiting for the Baltimore Rose Wedding Sampler chart.  I had hoped it would have arrived by now, so I could decide on colours and get it kitted up.  Hopefully it will arrive Monday or Tuesday.

Two little angels

These angels are Christmas gifts for two little Irish-Aussies girls.

I'm almost at the end of my stitching list for 2012.  Just two more ornaments to go, and my list is done.  So, it's a good time to add four more projects - Christmas ornaments for three little sisters, and a wedding sampler for my niece Aislinn [Ashlin]and her fiance Ben.  I consulted with Ais and she selected a lovely Sampler by Rosewood Manor - the Baltimore Rose Wedding Sampler.  I've ordered it and it should be in my letterbox sometime in the coming week.  She wants the verse border omitted, and I may change the flower colours to those of her wedding.  My framer says if I get it to him by early December he'll frame it before the Christmas break, so that's the target.  Ais & Ben are getting married in the second week in January, and I would like to have it framed for then.  If I'd known they were planning to marry so soon I would have got an earlier start on this, but they just announced their engagement, and the wedding is planned for the tenth anniversary of when they started going out together.  They are such a lovely couple, it will be a pleasure to stitch a memento of their wedding for them.

Another two ornaments finished

Progress is slow this month.  I've stitched just two little ornaments, and tonight I finished them up.  They're gifts for two young ladies (16 year old Alex and 5 year old Georgia) who will be visiting this Christmas.  This will be the 17th Christmas ornament I've stitched for Alex. 

The tiny angel is adapted from Pat Water's "A Christmas Collection" leaflet (1986).  The Christmas tree is my own design.

My much loved niece is getting married early next year, and her mother has suggested that I stitch her a wedding sampler.  This has thrown me into a state of uncertainty.  I'd love to stitch one for her, but there's a  HUGE difference in our ages and taste, and I would hate to lumber her with something she felt obliged to give wall space to but didn't really want.  My niece is a cross-stitcher herself, and is a very honest and practical person.  I have just talked myself into consulting her - I'll stitch a design of her choice.  If not a sampler, maybe a ring cushion which could later do duty as a pot pourri holder - though I'd much prefer to stitch a framed sampler.