A Christmas Welcome

Here's my latest finish - I will have it custom framed.  I stitched it for the 'new' Santa I got for my birthday.  He's seen quite a few Christmasses, but he's new to me.  He is an impressive Santa - way taller than me.  He is over 1.85 m (6') tall.  He will be holding this "welcome" to greet Christmas visitors to my home this December.  I would put in a picture of him, but I can't get a good enough one.  At present he is standing in my craft room, getting ready for Christmas, and I can't get far enough away to get a good clear pic.  I used letters from "Christmas Alphabet" by Barbara Christopher, from Leisure Arts Magazine December 1992.  I totally changed the C and both E's, changed all the floss shades, and added blending filament and  the little angel. It measures 30 cm (12") long.

Three more Christmas ornaments

It's been a sad time for me over the past three weeks.  My Dad finally lost his hard-fought battle with heart, kidney, and liver failure.  He almost made it to his 92nd birthday.  He suffered in his last weeks, and so did his family. It was a blessing to see him at peace.

I've hardly picked up a needle in the past few weeks, and I must say I didn't really feel like stitching today, but I had a stern chat with myself and feel a lot better for having finished up these three ornaments, which were waiting in my basket for finishing.

This is adapted from a Renee Nanneman in Need'l Love Company's L10-HN "Huckleberry Noel".  I changed the message from "Christmas Love" to "Christmas Joy".

These two ornaments just grew as I stitched.

Two Santa ornaments

I stitched these as Christmas gifts for two friends - former work colleagues.  The Santa designs are from Dimensions #175 'Christmas Quickies' by Barbara Mock.

I'm getting towards the end of my Christmas ornament list for 2014 - I feel a larger project coming on!

Six more Christmas ornaments finished

This ornament is for a young Christmas visitor.  The Santa is adapted from a chart in the Jeanette Crewes '32 Santas' leaflet [One Nighter's series] and I free-styled with the lettering.
Front:

 Back:

The next four are for my nieces.  The little angels are adapted from a Donna Kooler design, the tiny Santa is adapted from an old BH&G Christmas Ideas design (possibly 1976 edition), the Santa & sleigh is adapted from the one in Jeanette Crewes '32 Santas' One Nighter's leaflet, and the rest is free-style.

 And this one is for my sister (who collects cupids).  The design is from Christina Marshall's Angels in Cross Stitch booklet.

Message for Juliaoz

Sorry for the delay in responding to your request.  Sometimes I just don't know what I do with my time.  The magazine was the December 2012 Australian edition.  I do have an extra one and I'm happy to tear out the section with the ornament info and charts and send it to you.  Just send me an email and I'll pop it into the mail for you.

Here's the cover:

 and a pic of the ornaments in their original form.

My latest finishes

Today I finished up the last of this batch of six Christmas ornaments.

The crescent Santa is a Barbara Mock design (floss colours changed), and the Manger design is adapted from LA's Christmas Caboodle leaflet.

The ornament designs are adapted from designs in the Christmas issue of BH&G magazine from 2012. I stitched these for four siblings.

Fronts

Backs

The angels are TIAG's 1987 Angel freebie ( gold version). I reversed the design for the angel on the left, and made a few changes to personalise them for their recipients. The Santa is a Barbara Mock design (Christmas Quickies booklet). The koala design is adapted from a Di Noyce chart in Jill Oxton's Cross Stitch Australia magazine.