Gifted Gorgeousness Report for July

Well, I sort of met my target for this month, and I have made an impact on my 'to stitch' list.   I have had quite a busy month.  And apart from my stitching, we had a birthday in the family - Miss Angela turned one.  Her favourite Auntie taught her all about party caps and opening presents.

So - the stitching.  My target was ten ornaments, and I have stitched and finished 8, and stitched another 4 - so I'm calling that a win! I also stitched and finished two other gift items. These four ornaments, are the ones I have yet to make up. The Christmas tree is for a favourite aunt who likes a bit of Christmas bling, and the other three are for children who will visit me at Christmas time.

The chart for the candy cane (but not the letter T) came from

 Alma Lynne's Christmas Alphabets booklet - I did change all the colours

(only because I used floss colours already in my work basket).

The Santa hat alphabet chart was in Alma Lynne's Christmas alphabet booklet (I changed the floss, and removed some of the hats - also changed some of the letters). I adapted the star design from a Dale Burton design, changing the floss colours and adding backstitching.

I also made this pendant (well, made the double-sided cross stitch insert for the pendant), as a gift for a friend.

I also stitched and made up these eight Christmas Tree Christmas ornaments - the first two are for friends (ex-work colleagues) who will visit at Christmas, the other six are for children who will come to see my Christmas house.

And I made this lavender sachet holder for a friend's 50th birthday. 

The inspiration for the letter came from the very first cross stitch chart book I ever bought - also the first one I ever saw! - a very old Vanessa Anne booklet.

WIPocalypse Report, April

I've not had a great stitching month.  Sometimes life just gets in the way!  I had hoped to have finished my Dimensions Santa's Secret by now, but still have the bottom right hand corner to stitch.

This is how he was at the March WIPocalypse Report:

Here he is at the end of today's stitching session:

I will be very disappointed if I am still working on him when the next WIPocalypse report rolls round.

Now to this month's discussion topic - specialty stitches.  Satin stitch is the one I dread.  I can never get the required coverage, even if I add extra strands of floss.  I usually resort to double stitching - horizontal satin stitches topped by vertical satin stitches - and even then I am never happy with it.  I used to dread french knots, until I learned to do colonial knots instead.  I find the colonial knots much easier to do and they look just as good.  I happily tackle any other specialty stitches, provided there are diagrams to follow.

I can't resist showing a few pics of my Angela, who is now 9 months old, and just gorgeous!

Playing with toys in the lounge-room.

Imagine it's the right way up. It's the best I can do! She was meant to be walking nicely on the lead, but gt a bit exuberant, and took off like a little rocket.

Resting on the lounge - but ready to spring into action as soon as anyone moves.