Happy Boxing Day

Well the rush and panic leading up to Christmas Day is now all over.... today is the day to relax... unless you are like us and now have round 2 of Christmas happening today!  We have Hubby's son and son's girlfriend coming over for lunch today as they spent Christmas with the girlfriend's parents, so as soon as I finish this post it will be time to start preparing Christmas Lunch part 2!!

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Christmas Day... and that the Christmas Stitching Fairy was kind!

Last time I posted I promised that I would show you my new needle minders...

First up we have some new ones that I ordered from Gina (Gina's Unique Needleminders).

Then I found another lady on FB who does some amazing needle minders and she has having a sale.... so.... I went a wee bit silly!

These beauties are from Nifty Needle Nannies... Julie has some very different ones to what I have seen on other FB pages and I just could not resist!

I have no idea what I will do with this many minders as to be honest I don't really use them for my needle as I have a magnetic strip that sits on the top of my needle box and I tend to put the needle on that with the needer threader.... but they look pretty and they are actually useful for holding the chart when I am stitching on my larger pieces :o)

Remember I mentioned a couple of times that I was waiting for a package from Russia and I thought it must have been lost in the mail as it hadn't arrived... well guess what?  It must have been on a very slow boat from Russia to Australia as 4 1/2 months after posting it finally arrived in my post box!

Lots of lovely goodies from Lena... just in time for Christmas!  Thanks Lena - it is great to get the package especially as I had given it up as lost some time ago :o)

Well that's it for today... I am going to try and spend some time over the last days of 2015 planning what my stitching will be for 2016 especially seeing as I am planning to do the January Challenge again!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a nice quiet and calmer Boxing Day.

Til next time, happy stitching

Weekend Wrap Up...

Last weekend was busy, busy, busy but surprise, surprise I did manage to get some stitching done and I even managed to complete one of my December goals!

So first up we had FNSI and Friday Night Frolics......

Friday night's stitching was all about the creepy tree and friends that I have been trying to get finished for the November and December Hallowe'en SAL Blog themes.

"Dancing in the Moonlight" - Praiseworthy Stitches

The pic above shows you where I was at with this before Friday night's stitching and the pic below is the creepy tree finished.... along with the raven, cat and resident ghosts!

"Dancing in the Moonlight" - Praiseworthy Stitches

I didn't really need to do too much on Friday night - just finish the branch off near the left hand ghost...  I still need to add beads and a bit of backstitch but that will be done at the end when everything else is stitched.

Did you notice my lovely new needle minder?  Just perfect for Halloween stitching - a spider in his silvery blingy web!

The tree on this piece was the big hurdle to get done and now the rest will be easy to pick off one piece at a time!  But for now "Dancing in the Moonlight" will go away until I am ready to do some more Halloween stitching :o)

So that was Friday night's stitching..... I didn't get much of a chance to do a lot of stitching on Saturday as it was a busy day with a visit to the hairdresser, washing and other "exciting" things and then we went out for dinner.... but Sunday afternoon I managed to get some Christmas stitching out of the basket again.

The last time I stitched on Nora Corbett's Christmas Eve Couriers was quite awhile ago so I thought I would bring "Prancer" out to play.

"Prancer" - July 2015

While not a lot happened on this one yesterday the ribbon has progressed and it now looks a bit more like a ribbon!  (the fabric colour looks so much prettier and more true to life in the photo below for some reason!)

"Prancer" December 2015

You may have also noticed another new needle minder in the picture above....

Remind me to post a picture of all my new minders... they are so boo-tiful..... ♥♥♥

That's it for today.... the countdown to Christmas is on and I only have one more day of work to get through before having 2 and bit weeks off work!  Hopefully during that break I will actually be able to catch up on my blog reading...

Til next time, happy stitching

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL 2015 - Update #12

Well, here we are.... the last Gifted Gorgeousness SAL Post for 2015!  Where did this year go?

I started off the year with 6 charts that I chose to stitch for the monthly event and, as of today I have managed to finish 3 of the 6!

GG Finishes - 2015

50% hit rate!! Of the 3 remaining charts, 2 are almost finished and 1 is lagging sadly behind all the others!

Unfortunately I don't have a GG stitching update to show you this month so instead I would like to show you a gift that I received the other day.

A few months ago I took part in an exchange through the MS Lovers Blog and I sent off my exchange piece to Angele in the Netherlands.  What I stitched and sent to her I showed off in a previous GG post.... link is here.  Angele recently sent me a package from the Netherlands to say thank you for what I sent her but also to put a smile on my face because the package that my partner sent from Russia still hasn't arrived... some 4 months after posting it would seem to be still sailing across the oceans!

Smile Exchange Gift from Angele

This gorgeous gift certainly did put a smile on my face!! Thank you Angele ♥

Well, that's it for today's post.... I will be back again on 15th January 2016 with hopefully another GG finish!!

Meanwhile, don't forget to visit Jo's blog for the link ups to see what everyone else worked on this month!

Til next time, happy stitching
Hugs xx 

If you're not sure what this particular SAL is all about.... Jo from Serendipitous Stitching hosts this SAL - the link to my post late last year about the SAL is here.... but essentially this SAL is about stitching charts/kits or using fabrics & threads that we have received as gifts, won in giveaways or anything that is intended be a gift or giveaway prize... or anything else that you can loosely use the word "gift" for!!  If you wish to sign up for this SAL, click on the button below or the button on my sidebar and you will be re-directed to Jo's blog.

TUSAL December 2015

Here we are again - new moon, new month... end of the TUSAL year!  I can't believe how quickly 2015 has flown by!

My ORT's picture this month is all about the season.... Christmas/Holiday season that is, and as you can see the ORT's have been consorting with the Elves and Angels this month....

You probably can't see the ORT's very well but there is a lot of brown sitting in the little tin... I am still stitching on my creepy tree!  Hopefully the tree will be finished this week and I can finally get a more festive WIP out to stitch on in the days leading up to Christmas.

Until next time, happy stitching!

Hugs xx

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Essentially TUSAL posts are all about stitching and saving our ORT's (Old Raggety Threads) and every New Moon those of us participating in the TUSAL post a picture of our ORT's, and then leave little msgs for Daffycat on her blog to show that we have been stitching and have posted our wonderful pics.  I haven't heard yet whether Daffycat is going to host the 2016 TUSAL, but in the meantime pop over to Daffycat's blog to see the links for everyone's last 2015 Totally Useless SAL (TUSAL) update.  

New Moons - 2016
List coming soon.....

2015 Online Advent Calendar Blog Hop

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Today is 8th December which means it's Day 8 of the Online Advent Calendar Blog Hop hosted by Serendipitous Jo.  Today is my day to post on the Advent Calendar....

I love Christmas designs and I have stitched a few, and have more than a few in my WIP basket!  For this blog post I am going to show you one that I stitched a few years ago and sent to a friend in the US for Christmas.

Kitty Ornament stitched for Crazy for Kitties Exchange (Craftbubble Group) in 2011.  Design is from a Dimensions plastic canvas kit called "Merry Kittens Ornaments".

Besides showing a photo of some Christmas stitching, Jo has also asked us to share our Christmas Eve traditions.  These days Hubby and I generally have a quiet Christmas at home wrapping pressies if we have some left to do with a glass of wine in hand...

When I was growing up we used to put out a beer and some biscuits for Father Christmas and some carrots for the reindeers on Christmas Eve.  In the morning we would get up and find the biscuits and beer finished and pieces of carrots all over the lounge room!

I remember one Christmas Eve a few years ago when the family were all staying at ours for Christmas... after the kids (my niece and nephews) went to bed all the adults went outside and prepared the way for the sleigh.... or rather we made what was supposed to look like sleigh tracks on the grass and left bits of carrots and some raisins on the ground by the sleigh tracks.  If you can't work out what the raisins were for I ain't going to tell you!!  When the kids got up the next morning it was hilarious when they went outside and saw all the mess that Father Christmas and reindeers had left behind!!

So that's it for my Day 8 Advent post.  Make sure you go back to Jo's Advent Post to get the link to the Day 9 Advent door!

Til next time, happy stitching and Merry Christmas!