Happy Dance!

 A major Happy Dance at my house - all of the stitched items which have collected in my work basket over the past six weeks or so are now finished up.  There were twenty four stitched pieces in all. Twenty one are now Christmas ornaments, and the other  three are in tiny gold frames.  I now remember why I usually finish my ornaments on smaller batches. A group of 24 is very daunting, and a lot of work!

 

This set is my  favourite one:

And I also like this set, for neighbourhood children:

These are for two English boys and their much-loved cat:

These are for family pets:

And these are for family and friends:

I have also stitched a snowflake Christmas Tree, from a design by the Ukrainian designer 'CrossstitchForFun'. I used an ice blue evenweave fabric and three shades of blue floss, because the niece I am stitching it for has a distinct preference for blue. I am really pleased with how this turned out  though if I were stitching it for myself I would have added a light scattering of silver delica beads. My niece, unfortunately, does not share my love of Christmas bling.  It will fit nicely into a purchased frame with a 9" x 7" (22.5 cm x 17.5 cm) or possibly 10" x 8" (25 cm x 20cm) mat. I am about to start another for a different niece. It will be in white floss on a dark fabric. 

Gifted Gorgeousness report for March

 It's the middle of March - time for the Gifted Gorgeousness report, hosted on the 15th of each month by Jo at  Serendipitous Stitching.  Anything stitched with gifted supplies, or stitched to be gifted, qualifies for inclusion in the GG report.

It's been a hectic month. I've done some stitching of Christmas designs to turn into Christmas ornaments but no finishing up of the ornaments. I currently have 22 stitched design in my work basket. Some of them have been shown in previous posts, so I'll only show the 'new' ones here.  Usually I try to keep my finishing batches to 8, or 12 at a pinch.  22 is daunting, even for me! 

First up, four bead decorated trees, just because  stitching them relaxes me.

I did try to go easy on the beads, but I wasn't very successful.  I did omit the usual beaded borders on a couple as a compromise.

This little angel will be going to a friend who likes 'quirky' angels. I adapted the design from a Christmas Borders leaflet.

This one is for my youngest sister. I adapted a Sam Hawkins design, by changing the floss colours and facial features  and adding the text and border.

I stitched two more of Barbara Sestok's 12 Day set. I know it diesn't look like it but the fabric is the same for both of them - an ice blue 24 count evenweave.

I hope to be able to finish up the 22 ornaments soon, but it may not happen. My household is very disrupted at present. My partner's cancer is more widespread than we had hoped for, and metastasised from an aggressive cancer we thought was beaten 10 years ago, so we are well and truly on the cancer treadmill once again.