My first 'Finishes' for 2015

Yesterday and today were spent with cardboard, felt, beads and floss, finishing six of the seven Christmas ornaments I have stitched this month.  The nutcracker designs come from Jeremiah Junction's 'The Nutcracker Factory III' booklet (1993).  The Santa teddy bear is a Dale Burdett design from 'A Mini Christmas' booklet, the Santa design is by Barbara Mock, from a 'Christmas Quickies' booklet, and the little stocking is very heavily adapted from LA's 'Christmas Caboodle' leaflet.

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL

I was pleased to find the SAL as most of the cross stitched items I make each year are destined to be gifts - usually Christmas gifts.  This year I will be making around 50 Christmas ornaments and also several framed works to give as Christmas presents.

So far this year I have stitched six Christmas ornaments, but not yet made them up.  I usually batch my ornament finishing, and I plan to finish up this batch after I  have stitched one more Nutcracker ornament.

Here's what I have stitched:

Nutcrackers from Jeremiah Junction Nutcracker Factory III booklet(for a pair of sisters)

Ornaments for a young niece and her baby brother.  The Santa is from Barbara Mock's Christmas Quickies I booklet.  The Santa Teddy is from a Dale Burdett Christmas booklet.

and two little stocking ornaments - one for my great-nephew who will be celebrating his second Christmas, the other for a little English boy born a few years ago (the original ornament I stitched for him got lost in transit).  The stocking design is adapted from one in LA's Christmas Caboodle leaflet. The tiny teddy is adapted from a design in Graphwork's Mini Motif Designs Christmas Vol 8.

I have just one more Nutcracker to stitch, then I will make these up before I start anything new.

January WIPOCALYPSE Report

Another year - another stitching list.  Mine looks somewhat like last year's list - predominantly Christmas ornaments.  Because I'm a compulsive 'one project at a time' stitcher, I have no UFOs or WIPs, so all my projects are new starts. This year I plan to stitch 50 Christmas ornaments, all to be given as Christmas gifts.  I also plan to stitch a Birth Sampler for my great-nephew, a name-sampler for a special little girl, and a Christmas project for myself - though I haven't yet decided what that will be.  I will also finish a Candy-Cane Santa kit that my niece has started but hasn't the time to finish now that she has a new baby in the house.

So far in 2015 I have stitched, but not yet finished up, two ornaments from my list.

I still have some buttons to add to the second one. The inspiration for the design is a little stocking chart from LA's Christmas Caboodle leaflet (1986), but I have changed the size, pattern, colours, and contents of the stockings. The tiny teddy is adapted from a design in Graphwork's Mini Motif Designs Christmas Vol 8.

I can't resist adding this photo of Miss Angela sporting her new haircut - her first ever.  It's actually a work in progress - being groomed is not Angels's favourite past-time!

I think she';s just gorgeous!  She is now 6 months old.