Happy Dance time

 I've just finished up my latest batch of ornaments, all destined to be Christmas gifts for children on my Christmas list.  

I stitched six Jeremiah Junction nutcrackers, all charted in the Nutcracker III booklet.

And five angels inspired by L&L's Band of Angels chart or the L&L free Christmas angels.  These will all be Christmas gifts for children.

Finishes - at last!

 I was shocked when I checked my work basket earlier this month, and found 18 stitched designs waiting to be made up into Christmas ornaments.  I am happy to say now that all have been fully finished.

And here they are:

The gingerbread ornaments are adapted from a design by Barbara Mock ( in Christmas Quickies II).  I omitted the wreath, changed floss colours and made a few other changes.  The teddies with Santa hats are a Dale Burdett design.  I changed some of the floss colours.  The other teddy is an old DMC online freebie.  The small candycanes were the December design in a calendar published in a very old US magazine (possibly Just Cross Stitch, from the 1990s). I changed their orientation, and used the floss I had in my workbasket.  The larger candycane is a Kooler design (in LA's Mini Cross Stitch Ornaments, 2009). The reindeer one is adapted from The Prairie Schooler's design in the 1998 JCS Christmas ornament issue.  The beaded Christmas trees and JOY ornaments are my own designs.

Easter Blog Hop

 Once again, Jo at Serendipitous Stitching is hosting the Easter blog hop.  I always enjoy popping around to collect the letters and identify the message they form.

We are asked to share an Easter or Spring pucture. I don't have any Easter related stitching to show, so I decided on some floral pieces.  have recently moved house, and just this week had my framed items hung in their new homes. This is one wall of my craft room (shown as Bedroom 2 on the plan). It has two samplers I stitched, and in the middle a SAL project that has visited USA, Canada, Britain, and home to Australia.

The letter I was given to share is 'i'.  Specifically, little i not capital I.

You will find your next letter here.

Happy hunting!

Advent Blog Hop - 6th December

This is my favourite blog hop every year. Once again it is hosted by the lovely Jo, from  Serendipitous Stitching.  There is a blog entry each day for December 1 through 24.  Pop over to Jo's blog for the participant list.  My post is probably going in a bit early, because in my part of the world (Australia) we're a bit ahead of most other time zones.  Also, please excuse the formatting. It's all over the place, due to the fact that I am using my phone, and I haven't lesrnt how to control the appearance.

Our task this year is to show a Christmas or winter related item we have crafted, and to talk about Santa.  I spend a lot of time crafting Christmas related items, so I have lots to show and talk about, but I will try to show some restraint. 

The picture I have chosen for this year is my Christmas Tree. Usually I put up in various areas of the house five large decorated Christmas trees: two hanging dowelling trees, one decorated with angels, the other with Santas; a 7 ft tall 1970s tree decorated with dark red and gold; and two 6 ft tall 1980s trees, one with red and white decorations, the other decorated with ornaments and beaded angels I have made and just a few which have been made for me. This year has been such a sad and disruptive year for me that I really didn't plan to decorate for Christmas, but somehow a few things emerged from their hiding spots, and one of them was my 'handcrafted' tree.  I didn't actually make the tree, I have decorated it with my handcrafted items.   I didn't count the beaded angels as I was hanging them, but there were a lot.  Do enlarge the tree if you want to see my angels.

I don't have any specific family traditions involving Santa, but I collect Santas, particularly old Santas. Really, any traditional Santa with a nice happy face (and without a red nose) is welcome to retire in my house. I don't know when my love of Santa developed, but my favourite childhood memories are of Christmas Eves. My 5 siblings and I would sing Christmas carols for ages after we had been sent to bed. I do recall being sent from the classroom as a not quite 5 year old when I casually announced to my classmates that Santa was a lovely fairy story, but he wasn't real. So, my love of and belief in Santa is something that has grown over time.

I have some Santas who have spent over 40 years with me.  My oldest Santa dates from the 1930s, though he has only been with me for the past 30 years. He is close to 60cm (2') tall, and filled with straw. He's a bit tatty, but then so am I, and I'm not quite as old as he is.

My biggest Santa is way taller than me.

He had seen a lot of Christmasses before he came to live at my house about twelve years ago, and needed quite a bit of tender loving care. He used to hold an old Christmas tree with a couple of parcels, but I wasn't able to resuscitate it, so I replaced it with a stocking and a vintage bear. He is one of my all-time favourites, and has a lovely face. He is a great favourite with visiting children.

These tall Santas always bring a smile to my face. I collected them from different places over many years. The three stocking holders at the front are extra special for me because tbey were given to me by my late mother in the mid 1970s.

My most elegant Santa is also one of my most travelled Santas.  I found him on Day 1 of my stay in San Francisco in 1994, and carried him around south western USA for a month before bringing him home to Australia. 

My White Santas are absolute treasures.  Usually at Christmas they reign over the sitting room but they have come down to my loungeroom, because the sitting room is a Christmas-free zone this year. These Santas are all about 90cm (3') tall. Santa at the back is standing on a box so I can see all three Santa faces from my recliner.

Santa on the front left has been with me since I bought him new in the late 1980s. The front right Santa is the same age, but only came into my life 10 years ago, rescued from a garage sale. The Santa at the back is about 20 years younger than the other two, but just as lovable.  I found him abandoned in a park and didn't have to think too hard about giving him a home. 

This year I have put a lot of my vintage Santas, and a few other special Santas in a display cupboard in the loungeroom, and I have set up my small collection of Jim Shore Heartwood Creek Santas on top of the cupboard.

I could talk about these Santas for days, but I will spare you that.  Suffice to say I could tell you where and how I obtained each one, and that each one is very special to me.  All of these Santas started out with other families, and I wonder about the stories they could tell if only they had the gift of speech.  Not all my Santas are in perfect condition, but that's OK with me. They don't have to be perfect to be loved in this house.

I hope you and your loved ones have a happy Christmas and a healthy and contented 2024.

A batch of Angels, and a few little finishes.

I have been very slack this year. The days are just slipping away and I think I've missed many of the reporting days, for both the the Smalls and the Gifted Gorgeousness SALs.  My RA has become active, and that has slowed down my productivity. I was very lucky to be in remission since August 2022, when I had my last breast cancer surgery. So I have started back on my medications, and hope they will kick in soon.

These are the ornaments I have stitched and finished since my last blog post. Three little teddies (the chart is a very old DMC freebie that I can no longer find on their website) for three babies who will be celebrating  their first Christmasses this year.

And, stitched from another free on-line chart, the 1997 Christmas Angel from L& L (which is still available free on the TIAG website). I decided to frame it in a purchased frame, and it will be a Christmas gift for an angel-loving friend.

I was having trouble stitching, so decided to tidy up my stash. Everything was going well till I got to my bead box. I was I intending just to sort out the beads, but the first thing I pulled out of my (big) storage box was a bag of beads asking to be made into angel bodies.

And here are the 19 completed beaded angels:

The red ones in the top pic are the biggest - 11 cm (a  bit over 4") long, and the smallest ones, measuring just under 4cm  (about 1.6") long  are in the bottom pic. I do love making beaded angels. I will probably keep them for my own hand-crafted Christmas tree.

Smalls Report for August

 It's been a while since my last Smalls report, but I noticed that today was the last Friday in August, and Smalls popped into my mind. The Smalls Report is hosted by Mary at Mary's Thread.

These are the Smalls I stitched and finished this month. They are all Christmas ornaments, as usual.  

Four Santas - from the top, clockwise: 

a Jeanette Crews Santa head, a  Jim Hawkins gold Santa, a Barbara Mock Santa with sack, and a Graphworks Santa with Merry Christmas message, designed by Joy Averitt.

Five Clare Crompton wreaths and

 one  Barbara Mock tree

Two Dale Burdett Santa Teddies

The next two are stitched, but not yet finished as ornaments. The teddy was an on-line freebie on the DMC website many years ago, but I can't find it there now. 

I'm almost finished my 2023 stitching list, but I should have a couple of Smalls to show next month, if things go according to plan.

Gifted Gorgeousness Report for August

I'm a little late for the August Gifted Gorgeousness report, once again. Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  Most of my stitching meets the requirements for inclusion in the GG report, as it is stitched with gifted supplies and/or stitched to be gifted.

This year I have been stitching Jim Shore's 12 Days of Christmas, as individual ornaments. I am very happy to be able to show the final three ornaments in the set.

And here is the complete set. They are stitched 1 over 1 on 20 count, and each measures 13cm (a tad over 5") square. I replaced the charted beads with 2 over 1 cross stitches, omitted the charms and the charted border, added my own Smyrna cross and bead border, and made a few little changes to some to compensate for the missing charms (and sometimes to meet my need for symetry).

These stitched designs will be made into Christmas ornaments for the pets on my stitching list. The wreaths are Clare Crompton designs.  The little tree is adapted from a  Barbara Mock design.

These little Dale Burdett Santa teddies are for two toddlers who will be celebrating their second Christmasses this year.

The final group features Santas. From the top, the designers are Jim Hawkins, Jeanette Crews, Barbara Mock, and Joy Averitt.