Advent Blog Hop

Jo at Serendipitous Stitching has organised this Advent Blog Hop. I so enjoyed taking part in last year's Advent blog hop that I had no hesitation in signing up again this year. Christmas is the high point of my year; a very happy time for me. I was allocated December 4 as my day to report. I'm in Australia, so while it is December 4 here, many of you will still be experiencing December 3.  We are in the middle of bushfire season, and currently experiencing a heatwave with strong hot winds. A cold snow-filled Christmas is totally foreign to me!

There are two elements to cover in the Advent Blog. The first is to show something Christmas related that I have crafted. The second is to nominate my favourite Christmas movie.

The photo has several items I have made. The biggest is my Advent Tree. I bought the craftwood tree some 25 years, and painted it, then turned it onto an Advent Tree by attaching 24 star - shaped wooden pieces. I painted one side of each star with a Santa, and the other side red with gold highlights.  When I put the tree on display I have all the red stars showing, then each day in December I turn over one star so that Santa is showing. You can see that this photo was taken on December 3. By December 24 all the Santas are showing.

Above the tree is a framed cross stitch Santa which actually took me 5 years to complete. I started it in 1992, not long after I started cross stitching, and before I discovered evenweave. I used a piece of 18 count rustico Aida over 1 - not a great choice for a chart full of fractional stitches. It's a lovely design, but stitching it would have been less stressful had I chosen to stitch it over 2 on linen or evenweave.  It would also have produced a larger Santa - the small size of this one does not reflect the amount of work involved! Live and learn!

If you have good eyesight you might see my clothes peg Santas standing in front of the Advent Tree. I painted them over 20 years ago. They are still amongst my favourite Santas (though I have to admit to having quite a lot of favourite Santas!). The second pic above also has my fridge magnet clothes peg Santas (magnet on the base - they stand on top of the fridge door).

This is one of my favourite Christmas movies - and again, I have to admit that I have quite a large list of  favourite Christmas movies! Most years one of the local TV stations plays 'It's A Wonderful Life' in the week leading up to Christmas, and I always watch it (and every other Christmas related movie as well).

Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope that you and your loved ones have a happy Christmas, and that 2020 brings a year of good health, good fortune, and contentment.  Merry Christmas!