Goodbye 2021, Welcome 2022

 I had a very productive year in 2021, if I do say so myself . I did have more time at home than usual, because of the COVID restrictions limiting social interactions.  This is what I achieved:

• 19 pages of HAED Christmas Dreams (finishing it)
• 1 framed birth sampler
• 3 framed name samplers
• 3 personalised cushions
• 1 L& L rose, which will be framed professionally very soon
• 112 cross stitched Christmas ornaments
• 98 beaded hanging angels
• 8 crochet beanies
• 1 crochet market bag
• 4 crochet angels
• 1 crochet unicorn
• 1 crochet sundress for Miss 4, and a crochet  baby cardigan and beanie.

Here is a selection of photos:

Smalls Report - December 2021

 The last day of the year, and the final Smalls Report for 2021. This year has just flown by, despite its hurdles and lockdowns. I am pleased to have some Smalls to show this month. The Smalls report is hosted by Mary at Mary's Thread.

My niece's baby arrived according to plan on 14th December, so I have finished my new greatnephew's First Christmas ornament, and mailed it to the new parents.

I finished all my 2021 stitching list early, and was missing my stitching, so I started another 12 Day set in December (because one can never have too many sets of 12 Day ornaments)  and I surprised myself by stitching all 12 this month.  I intended to stitch a maximum of 6, and do the rest in 2022, but I just kept stitching. I had the Dimensions chart, and plenty of floss,  but not enough of any one fabric to stitch the set  and right now with my 3 lns having closed down in 2021, and postal deliveries delayed because of COVID and stock unavailability, I decided to use what fabric I did have to hand. That's why the ornaments vary in fabric colour and stitch count, but I can live with that. It will be a reminder of how we were 'living with COVID' (if I am ever lucky enough to forget!). 

All 12 were stitched in time to be made up into Christmas ornaments.

I have enjoyed being part of the Smalls group again this year. Mary, thank you for hosting it.

Christmas Tree Ornament Draw

 When I came to drawing a name for my beaded Christmas Tree ornament, I couldn't stop at one. I actually had five Christmas tree ornaments left in my take-home gift basket, so I drew five names. 

The people who will be getting an ornament are:

Clare-Amateu

Denise

Mary

Jo

Sandy

I will email each of you to get your mailing address, but I won't mail them before the New Year. 

Edited to add that I can't find email addresses for Mary or Sandy (yes, they probably are somewhere obvious on the blogs, but my internet detection skills are very sketchy). My email is on my blog, so would you please send your mailing address to me?

Advent Blog Hop - 18th December

 The Advent Blog Hop is always my favourite of the year. Once again it is being hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. Pop over there to find the doors that lead to the rest of the Advent posts. Jo has assigned me Day 18. Just one week now to the Big Day.

Christmas is my favourite time of the year, and I spend most of my leisure time stitching Christmas projects and/or Christmas gifts. This year I finished my largest Christmas cross stitch, HAED Christmas Dreams. I may be a trifle biased, but I think it is so beautiful!  I'm showing it here because it does have two beautifully decorated Christmas trees, and the topic Jo has given us for this year is our Christmas trees.

Christmas Dreams hangs in my craft room during the year. It should be downstairs now, decorating the house, along with the other 30+ framed Christmas cross stitched projects,  Christmas trees, hundreds of angels, around 1000 Santas, a good number of snow persons, and more Nativities than any one person needs.  They are all still packed away safely in their cupboards, trunks, and boxes.  This year I decided not to decorate for Christmas, as a result of the COVID situation. As I write this, my hometown is a COVID 'hot spot'.  I usually get a lot of Christmas visitors, and most are young children and their parents.  Children are not yet offered COVID vaccination here. I hope by next Christmas the  children will be protected, and the threat of  COVID will be diminished.  I am already planning my 2022 Christmas.

I stitched this L&L  Christmas Tree 15 years ago, but it is still one of my absolute favourites. I do have quite a lot of favourites.

I live in Australia, and here Christmas is a summer event. It is HOT.  Real Christmas trees are available if you really go looking for them, and I do remember having real trees at Christmas when I was a very young child (which is a very long time ago) but  they didn't survive well in the heat, and my family switched to artificial trees when they became available in the 1950s. I have never switched back to real trees, though I do love the look and smell of real Christmas trees. I like vintage items, and a lot of my Christmas items started their life in someone else's house, and came to me after they were discarded by the original owners, including my artificial trees.  Usually I have at least five large Christmas trees  scattered through the house: my 1950s tree decorated with treasures given to me by others; my 1970s tree decorated with dark red and gold ornaments;  two 1980s trees  one decorated with angels, red, and white ornaments, and the other decorated with stitched and beaded ornaments I have made; and my two dowelling hanging trees, one decorated with angels and the other with Santas. I treasure my ornaments, and enjoy getting them out of their boxes, and then packing them away safely after Christmas. I always get a couple of new ones each year to add to my collection. My 1950s tree has a vintage star topper, the 1970 and 1980 trees have angels on top.  The dowelling trees have a Santa or Angel at the top.

I usually spend the month of November cleaning, packing away the regular decor and decorating the house for Christmas, and from December 1 to Christmas Eve I have lots of Christmas visitors. I often start taking down Christmas trees late on Christmas Day, and by New Year's Day I usually have removed all the Christmas items and returned the house to its usual state.

I am indulging myself by putting in a picture of my Angel tree, despite the fact that it is not on display this year.  

And my Santa tree:

This year I have just one decorated tree. It's one of my 1980s trees ( the one that I found in the first place I looked). The decorations that would normally be on that tree are still packed away safely (they could be in any number of storage places), so I have put on the tree the beaded angels and stitched ornaments I had made in the past 2 years, which were conveniently in a box in my craftroom, and some icicle ornaments I had bought at garage sales during the year. I found a vintage angel (another garage sale treasure acquired this year) to pop on the top.

I also have an Advent tree that I made for myself about 25 years ago. I actually made quite a few of these for friends and family members.  The Advent Tree is another one of my favourites.  It is about 60cm (2') tall.  I bought the unpainted craftwood tree shape and the wooden stars. I painted the tree, and painted each star with a Santa on one side, and gold spattered red paint on the other side. Then I hung the stars on tiny gold nails, with the red side showing. Each day in December I turn over one star to show the Santa.  This is my Advent Tree today (18 Santas showing).

I can't finish without showing a photo of my Christmas tree ornaments, just because I love making them. These are the ornaments left in my take-home gift basket. If you would like to go in the draw for one of these  just let me know in a comment, and it would be helpful if you let me know if you'd prefer a heavily beaded or scantily beaded one. I'll do the draw on Christmas Day.

I hope your Christmas is a happy one, and that 2022 brings for all of us a less COVID-effected year.  Special thanks to Jo for being such a great host for GG and all the blog hops during the year. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for December

December already. This year has flown, and now just two weeks are remaining before we have to get used to writing '2022' in the date. It's time for the final Gifted Gorgeousness (GG) Report for 2021.  GG is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching on the 15th of each month. Anything stitched with gifted supplies, or stitched to be gifted, qualifies for inclusion in GG.

This will be a very short report. My hands have not been very busy in the past month. I did make another little white crochet angel, to bring the set to 3.

This is my new angel:

And here are the three of them:

I took advantage of having finished my 2021 stitching list, and decided to stitch a design that I have wanted to stitch since way back in 1997. For my birthday in 1997 I was given the L&L chart Tea Garden, with fabric and floss. I promply stitched the pansies and the violets, and had them framed. I intended to stitch the rose, but just never got around to doing it. Until now. It took me just 5 days to do what I hadn't managed to do in 24 years!

It is such a pretty rose. My framer is too busy to frame it before Christmas, so I will have to wait till 2022 to get it framed and up on the wall next to the pansies and violets.

I also made another batch of beaded angels, using the last of the large clear glass beads I got for my birthday in August.

I wasn't coping very well with having no project to work on, so I decided to start  another 12 Days of Christmas set for myself. Luckily I had in my stash a Dimensions chart and some fabric that came as a birthday gift last year from my youngest sister. My sister found the chart in a charity shop  and guessed that I would like it (she does know me really well!). I've stitched seven of the designs so far. Having a touch of OCD, I did of course stitch them in order. Despite the evidence to the contrary in the photos below, all seven were stitched on the same pale ice blue fabric. My photo skills do need some work!

I still have one Baby's First Christmas ornament in my work basket, and I was pleased to hear yesterday that my niece has had a little boy. As soon as the parents decide on a name I will be able to finish up that ornament. I'll make up the stitched 12 Days ornaments at the same time, and hang them on my Christmas tree, even though the set is incomplete. Completing this 12 Days of Christmas set will be first up on my 2022 stitching list.

I have enjoyed taking part in the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL once again this year  thank you Jo for hosting it.

Merry Christmas! I hope 2022 is a less disruptive year for all of us.