A Few of The Santa's I Have Made Over the Years

Here it is the day after Christmas 2020. It seems with all of the time it takes getting ready for this special day, the day it's self goes by so quickly. I know this year was a very different one for all of us. Many were not able to be with loved ones which really put a downer on celebrating this year. I had a few friends that didn't even put up a Christmas tree or any decorations at all. I find this so sad. We choose to go ahead, as always, and put up our little tree and decorations thru out our home and even some outdoor lights. It did me good to have the house look so cheery with the greenery and other decorations. I do have to admit that I didn't put out everything. This was not because of the covid19 issue, but because I am getting older and what comes out, must be packed up and put back. This week between Christmas and New Years is a time for me to just relax and enjoy some reading, catching up on flosstube and getting some stitching done. Oh yes and eating those yummy leftovers. 

I know this is rather late, but here are a few pictures of some of the Santa's I have made through out the years. It is so much fun getting them out each year and remembering the fun I had making each on of them. 

This is the little tree I have in kitchen. I decorate it with dried apples and oranges and of course popcorn.

This pattern is called Santa Barry, he is one of my favorites.

                                                         

                                             I wish I had not used the jute for this ones beard! 

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas.

We now can look forward to a new year and pray that it will be much better than this one has been, and that life can get back to normal once again. 

BLESSINGS TO ALL OF YOU AND  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 We Are Now Officially in the Christmas Season!

Getting a Few Things Ready for my Etsy Shop

Well I was unable to hardly get any cross stitching done these past two weeks. Life just got in the way. That happens sometimes. I did get a few items made for my little Etsy Shop though. There was a beautiful horse panel at the quilt shop where I work (one day a week) that I just had to buy and figure out something to do with it. The artwork on it was beautiful and I couldn't figure out a way of quilting it or even what to make out of it to quilt. One evening as I was about to fall asleep an idea popped into my head. Apply the pictures onto a stretched canvas. I have been going thru all of my Mom's art supplies and found several canvases. So the next day I tried it. There is definitely a learning curve to getting them on nicely, but I think I finally have it figured out. Here are the four that I have in my shop.

I am finally pleased with how they turned out. They measure 16" x 20".

Being a horse lover and owner myself , I just love all of them.

I did manage to make up a small Santa with his stick reindeer, called a Bean Bagger Santa from a very old pattern book called Kindred Christmas by Kindred Spirits. It is full of really cute primitive items to make for the holidays. Santa is made out of wool and his sidekick reindeer is out of wool also These are so much fun to make.

 Several years ago I made my brother this angel bean bagger. She is really cute too!

I also found another older pattern book called Santaberry Sauce by Joan Vibert &Gail Caso. These little guys are made out of an old cutter quilt. Several years ago I made up several Santaberry's out of wool and homespun, in different sizes. For some reason they just speak to my primitive heart.  

And last but not least are little primitive wreath ornaments that I made out of left over's of a Dresden Plate cutter quilt. I tea dyed these and the Santaberry's to make them look really old.

There are a few more things I would like to get made up, but time is already drawing nigh and I need to get my house decorated!

Hope everybody had a nice Thanksgiving and were able to be with some of your family and loved ones.

This has been such a hard year for all of us. Let's continue to count our blessings and look forward to the best season of all - Christmas, in celebration of our Lord's birthday.

Blessings to you all❤

My Re-found Love of Counted Cross Stitch

I've Found Cross Stitch...Again!

 Gosh here it is November, 2020!!! This year has certainly been a strange one with all that is going on in the world today. During this time of a pandemic,  I have rediscovered counted cross stitch. I follow Quilt Roadies on You Tube and she was talking about flosstube and what a wonderful community of stitchers they are. Well I went over to check it out since I had been thinking about starting cross stitch again. Oh what a wonderful place I found in them! I am hooked! I have done a few small projects to get started again and am loving it. I have never stitched on linen and I am gathering up my courage to try it. There are so many sampler patterns out there that I love, so trying to choose which one I want to start on. I have to admit I am a bit intimidated about working on linen, but I am going for it. Shanda of ShandaQuilting&StitchinginIdaho has given me some advice as to what count to start on. I love her flosstube channel. She is also a quilter and I love that too. Another stitcher/quilter that I really like is Bonnie of logcabinstitcher, she is also on Instagram. I am starting a new fall stitch for Thanksgiving. Getting a late start, but it is small and maybe I can get it done. Let me mention one more flosstube channel I really like and that is Country Stitches with Liz and Deb. They both do such beautiful work and are just fun to watch.

Here is the one that got me started again. I saw Kimberly on Fat Quarter Shop show her houses of the seasons and I loved them. So far I have only done the winter, can't wait to do more. I was a bit disappointed in this one because my snowflakes didn't show up hardly at all.

I have only gotten two bowl fillers done so far, just about to get one more done. I love the little bowl pillows, they are a quick stitch.

Pillow on left is a free Aurifil chart and the one on the right is from a very old calendar from the 80's. 

Here are two small finishes that I need to decide how to fully finish.

The one of the left is a Lizzy Kate Pattern and the one on the right I found in my old cross stitch patterns from many years ago.

 The pumpkin  has been a real challenge! Every time I would work on it I would end up having to frog out stitches. I have stuck with it and now it is almost done and ready to be made into another bowl filler.

This is from the same 80's calendar as the bee hive above.

And finally here is the new chart I just bought for Thanksgiving. It is so cute and trucks are so popular right now. I love turkeys, so I couldn't resist. I haven't gotten it kitted up yet. It calls for a lot of Weeks Dye Works floss and all I have right now is DMC. Trying to figure out if I want to invest in the Weeks. We will see.

 

This is all I have for this time. I hope to have some good progress to show you all in a couple of weeks.

Until then, take care and blessings to you all.