Have a Victorian Motto Sampler Christmas!

Because it's nice to share...  Nancy from Victorian Motto Sampler is having her Christmas gift-away.. 16 more days of fun!

Merry Christmas!

let's do it

I've been telling myself over and over the past several months to blog, but with so much uncertainty over the past year on the work front, I haven't had any mojo to write, much less stitch. Happily things have been resolved for the better - at work, and some little progress on the stitching front.  But you be the judge :-)

First up, we have this:

I finally finished the little rays representing the "halo".  The little golden aura over the baby in the manger,  Of course, not finished finished yet, because I don't know how.

Next up:

More stitching done on the left border - the top if the picture's displayed the way I'm seeing it. Why Oh why is this displaying so oddly?  On the chart, the year (09) is written on the left side, so if you notice, my corner is not quite aligned, which is making the opposite corner not right, too! I also noticed I am off one column somehow on the bird wing and tail.  What to do. I'm scared that if I continue stitching, the lines won't meet,   But I guess it's the easiest thing to check and do, or do and check, today.
Do all stitchers obsess this way?

Okay I had to stop because my photos were all awry.

That's better.  See what I mean?

And then the La D Da... done with all the little stitching of the borders.  Just have to do the initials.  My dad's, my brother's and his son's initials.

I changed the color of the flowers from the odd brown as charted, to two shades of yellow as it looked more cheerful and it's meant for my nephew.  But maybe I'll keep it.

Then there's this little PS ornament for the same nephew, still looking lonely.  I did the back stitching on the zepellin and its propeller, but haven't added the little berries to the two leaves at the bottom, which would make it look like holly and more Christmas-sy.

Last, there's my project from 2013, all by its lonesome.  I finished the entire border (supposed to be done in 1 month as planned by the designer!) and am revving up to do the border going up (another 1 month project, I recall). I am up to it (I should be, it's been 2 years lol), but looking at the chart I have no idea how much space to leave above the medallion motif before I start upward on the next motifs which I think are leaf motifs.  The page for the medallion motif is separate from the page for the motif going upwards. We had 2 months to do it before the next installment.  If I want to finish this, I'd have to buy the chart now, because the stitch-along for this is long finished.

I really don't know what I will do with this - wait until a sale, maybe.  Or leave it unfinished (sad face).  I also did some frogging on my LK Christmas double flip (the border which I mentioned awhile back - border again!), but otherwise not much progress on that.

In other, better news, my brother brought me some fabric I bought, and sent to his address:

This blue shade, which on my screen looks like DMC 996, is actually DMC 927 or something like that.  Just goes to show how colors aren't exact onscreen. (Or how I need a new camera.  This iPod just isn't cutting it).   I also had another fabric, folded just the same way, but it is a pale green, and I don't know where it went.  Sigh.  It took just 2 weeks for it to disappear, but I'm sure it's around somewhere.  And there's the needles I bought in Spotlight in Singapore last August. I thought I took a picture months ago, but it seems I didn't.

So I'm happy.

One more bit of good news -- there is a giveaway going on at Victorian Motto Sampler with Ms. Nancy.. Twelve days to Christmas, there's still time!

Wish me luck with all the little bits I have left to do.. and I wish the same for you!

..and here it is, pardon the lighting!

I think I was concentrating more on the display rather than the stitched pieces, but I'm sure you'll recognize most of them..

Most of them are Just Nans and maybe a Prairie Schooler thrown in, with Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin as the tableau.  My niece jokingly said to her mom (my cousin, and the stitcher of all these) - "I'm going to tell lola (grandmother) that you have this little shrine to a pagan holiday!"

Personally I'm not much into Halloween stitching, but looking at these and other stitcher's stitching, they are starting to look cute!

Have a lovely Sunday, and a good week ahead!

Thought i'd share a little stitching

not by me, alas, but by the cousin who got me started stitching!

I took some photos last November when I was visiting her, and she had a Halloween display in her living room.

??????????  scroll, scroll, scroll..........

Okay, sorry about that, I must have used something else to take the pictures and haven't uploaded them yet so I'll just post these pics of the kits she gave me for my birthday.  I am really lucky to have my cousin and she's the closest to a sister I'll ever have since we grew up next door to each other (she has two other sisters but she was the one I was closest to).

Aren't they cute?  I'm not really one for birds but these are super Christmas-sy.  Maybe one day I'll do some bird watching while I'm there.  I do know I saw a hummingbird on one of my visits.

I took the pics against the sofa in her family room,  her blinds caused the shadow on the pics.

I've been having the worst time of it following the many, many blogs I used to follow - unless I open my dashboard or they moved to Bloglovin, where I can get alerts when they post.  What I usually do is open my dashboard, or open a post in Bloglovin, where someone's blog is usually linked to many others I follow and I go on from there.  Anyway, I discovered 2 blogs (lots of followers!) who keep me in stitches or are inspirational - Marly's samplersandsantas, Shirlee's Easily Influenced Stitcher, and Lee of Lake Stitcher.  Lee's latest post had me laughing as she debated the merits of Sherlock vs. Watson (the BBC series). I vote for Watson - as she said Sherlock may have the brainpower but he also has drama going on.. and who needs drama?

I badly needed the laughs and this weekend's days off as I worked for 12 days straight and pulled some midnighters, 10pms and 8pms and got into an argument with my mother and we are still tiptoeing around each other.  I got mad at her, and then it all got turned around and she was mad at me  - danged if it didn't feel the world had turned upside down and the whole thing was totally incomprehensible!

I spent most of today asleep and then watched tv.  I must exercise - missed that the past 12 days!

Anyway, hope your weekend is better than mine and you get lots of happy hours stitching! *

*Actually my weekend isn't bad - + for having the weekend, + for the sleep and rest, - for the spat.

Stitchy Progress in the New Year

Hola! Long time no see again. You know how it is..  Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

I've been busy and I have some progress to show:

O Holy Night ornament by Knotted Tree Needle Art (from the JCS Ornament issue 2013)

O Holy Night

My cousin bought the fabric and the Anchor flosses for this one, whoops.. this isn't the finished photo (see the border?) but anyway.. the fabric from this LNS in Escondido, name withheld since it's probably the only store I'll be able to go to again.  Nice to be able to visit a real LNS with all the goodies.  And the fabric.. wow!  Pity I didn't take pics. The fabric displayed is no rival to Needle in a Haystack in Alameda (never been, but I've seen pics), but still... coming from way over here, and the dearth of supplies... WoW!  This little piece cost $2, I think (or might be a bit more).  The edges weren't serged so you can see where they're fraying because of my handling.. but even then, I doubt it was exactly the size specified in the little sticker attached to its plastic cover.

Christmas double flip-its from Lizzie Kate:

LK Christmas Double Flip

Do you see it?  Do you see it?  Mistake in the border.  See where the stocking kisses the green border.. augh!   I'll have to frog that soon as it really bugs me. I'm so glad I didn't stitch that border all the way down, and that I didn't finish the right side of the border either.  Time enough to do that when I've stitched a few more words (a "few" - not belonging to the chart - are floating through my head right now!).  I used the "freebie" diagram on the LK site and let me tell you, if you're a newbie, it doesn't give enough information about where to position things.. if you use it "literally", you'll be wrong about where to start the "h" in holly!  Ask me how I know...

Joyeux Noel, a freebie from L'R de Rien:

L'R de Rien

This one was stitched right after Christmas.. I couldn't decide whether to put in the year or not (not a good year), so I stopped the border right near the bird's head, and there I've been stuck ever since.   It's a bad habit, I know.. a few stitches from the finish and I leave the piece "unfinished".  There's the La D Da (just a bit on the border and the initials of my dad, brother, and nephew left).  There's the "Z" that's my nephew's initial (nickname) - just some backstitching left..  and meanwhile, waiting for me are the LK Christmas Double Flip, Whimsey and Wit Advent Calendar, the "A Most Noble Pursuit" sampler, the Pelin Tezer samplers, the Moira Blackburn, the Prairie Schooler.. ah well.

I hope you're doing better than I am with your stitching.. and apropos of stitching.. learning for the day:

"Time and patience achieve more than strength and passion".  

a give-away at Naughts and Crosses

Caitlin over at Naughts and Crosses is having a give-away.. any pattern from her Etsy store!
Head on over quick to http://mangogirl-naughtscrossstitches.blogspot.com/
It ends December 8 (that's today, I hope she means end-of-the-day!)

VMS - still more floss!

Still more floss.. 25 skeins of the 1795 Sampler Collection colors - your choice, per the generous Ms. Nancy!