2016 in stitches

Hello blog friends! 
Apologies for the absence, been so busy (and tired!) lately. I hope you and your family are all having fun this holiday season and what's left of it. 
In the tradition of yearend reports (which in my case has been two years - 2014, 2015. Wow, I've been blogging two years now!), here's my year in stitching... (you can click on the title to see the complete details/closeups/finish post):

Love of the Lord

Pumpkin Hollow Farms

Farmer's Almanac

A Time to Rend, A Time to Stitch

Begin Row

Yesteryear

I See Trees of Green

Where There Are Bees

Where there are Bees (Bonus)

Prairie Schooler Santas (yrs. 2004-2007)

Make Do and Mend

We Thank Thee

For The Record

Prairie Stars

Away We Ride

Christmas Eve

Mischief-making Reindeer

And my carryovers for the new year:

 Sea Life

Read Between The Lines

 

 Houses of Peace

 Spells' Store

...and my WIPs of shame (carryovers from 2015 that never made it to the stitching spot this year, boohoo...)

 Petal Fairy

Summer Fragrance

Overall I think I did good this year, save for those last two pictures...

I still haven't organized the haul I got for Christmas. Thankfully, I already received sampler charts I ordered (1.5 months and 2 emails after).

A Blessed New Year to You. May 2017 be a great year for us all.
Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

Merry Christmas!!!

Hello Everyone!
Just a short post to greet you a very Merry Christmas!
...and to let you know I forgot to include this in my Advent Calendar Blog Hop on the 21st:

Prairie Stars

by Prairie Schooler

How could I miss that, I'm really out of my element these days!?!

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

Advent Calendar Blog Hop

Hello stitchers. Welcome to Day 21!
Thanks to Jo of Serendipitous Stitching for giving me a later date so I can finish up two recent WIPs.

So now I have four Christmas finishes to share this year... 

I See Trees of Green
by Heartstring Samplery
14ct. vintage country cream aida

I loved that the chart also includes this trivia: "What a Wonderful World," released in 1967, intended as an antidote for the racially and politically charged climate of everyday life in the US. It was initially not a hit in the US because the ABC Records head didn't like it and did not promote it, but was a major success in the UK. Went on to later grow in popularity and ultimately became a Christmas Classic.
Next we got, not one but four Prairie Schooler Santas which I decided to stitch together to fondly call a Needleworker's Christmas wishlist:

 Prairie Schooler Santas (2004-2007)

14ct. natural Aida

And here are my latest finishes which haven't been posted yet:

 Christmas Eve
by Prairie Schooler
14ct. blue blizzard opalescent aida

I changed the colors for the words, chose darker and cheerful ones. I also changed the word Noel to Hope. Lastly, omitted that one behind Santa's sleigh. Can't figure what it is... an elf left behind? a toy robot that fell from the sack? or a naughty/stalker kid wanting more. So a snowflake gladly took his spot. Here's the original pattern:

My latest finish:

Remember my tiny tree...

and my reindeer...

put them together and we got...

Mischief-making Reindeer

from BHG's 101 Best-loved Designs fr.

Cross Stitch & Country Crafts

14ct. light blue aida

Major change: this is 80 lightbulbs less. It's not that I wanted to save a lot on electricity (just a bit maybe), but it's because...

I can't find my sweater size, LOL.

To answer this year's question. Growing up it was usually store-bought decorations. But I remember when I was in Elementary, my dad's aunt gifted me and my sister felt-stockings with our names on it and both were stitched using a lot of ...beads and sequins! Of course anything that glitters was a hit, mine was a snowman, hers was poinsettia. They couldn't hold anything heavy. But it was a favorite of mine... even though my name was misspelled, haha.  

Thanks for visiting. Be sure to check out the whole Advent Calendar Blog Hop. Just a few days more... MERRY CHRISTMAS and a BLESSED NEW YEAR!!!

WIP update

Hello blog friends. 
Just a quick update on two WIPs:
The Christmas one I started a week ago:

 Not done with all the reds yet, but since it's almost Christmas I have to add some green:

Houses of Peace

Cross Country Stitching Magazine

14ct black aida

 This is how it will look like, hopefully by first quarter of next year😅

And here's Read Between the Lines:

 Focused on the bottom portion:

I got one more which will be finished by today, but that I have to wait a specific day to post about. No progress on SeaLife, may take it up next weekend. I just emailed the supplier again for charts ordered first week of November, which they responded will be mailed last Monday but no tracking given. So I guess no Christmas haul til after the season?
I guess everyone's been busy. And we just had our department Christmas party yesterday too. Had fun. Then it's back to work tomorrow. I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend. 

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching.

What I'm guilty of

Hello blog friends! 
I'm back (to blogging). It's been almost three weeks without posting. I missed you. Trying to catch up with the reading.
Frankly, I wasn't too keen with the changes in Blogger, still getting used to the minor changes.
So what have I been doing since Thanksgiving? Gift shopping, wrapping, mailing. Happy to say that all gifts for out-of-state have been mailed, the last batch sent last week. Had to rewrap two of them as the postage went up more than my budget ($46 just for one box going to Canada, oh no, don't want to spend that much on a single package, had to take out some of them). 
What else have I been up to? Hauling! Shopping for my own presents, LOL. Unfortunately, I had to email a seller as it has been more than a month without a word on the status. I got my answer after a week and said they'll be posting it today, well let's see. Why can't they just say out-of-stock on their website before you hit that order button. 
But I'm happy, for I received my Aida fabric order from reliable 123stitch (ordered some more this week):

14ct.vintage blue whisper (10x18), 16ct. pewter (18x21), 16ct. antique white (1yd), 16ct. country french cafe mocha (36x51), 18ct. vintage country mocha (1yd), 18ct. vintage smokey white (36x43)

What's unusual with this line-up? 18count! Yes, my first! Actually I've started stitching on it last weekend. Need getting used to it. 

I couldn't pass up on Joann's Black Friday sale either:

 

DMC - 4 for $1

Threads I bought for patterns I don't have yet, haha. I searched online for each sampler's floss list. 2017 will be a Sampler year for me. I bought books from Amazon as well (forgot to take a picture). Oh, and I also got the JCS Halloween DVD. I'm only drawn to 5 patterns, and started one with the 18 count (!), you'll see it later.

Having said that, let's go to stitching progress. My teeny weeny Christmas tree is now lit up,

and Reindeer is being backstitched,

 more blocks on Read Between the Lines,

 

 

 focused on these blocks,

 and my start from JCS Halloween DVD,

 Spells' Store

by Primitive Hare

JCS Halloween 2013 issue

18ct.. vintage smokey white aida

I felt it's okay to have a new WIP because...

I have a finish!!! But I can't show the whole piece yet for a reason. But here's a peek at the changes I made:

 

Darkened all the colors for the words to make it clear, here's a picture of the words from the leaflet (I changed Noel to Hope):

I'm also guilty of... not doing good on my 2016 goals. Ooopsy, I did great during the first half, had 4 finishes from that list... and was sidetracked with other patterns, haha.

To make up for it, I dug up an old magazine:

 Houses of Peace

Cross Country Stitching Dec.2010

14ct. black aida

I've already put in some red stitches, two shades, no picture. No expectations on getting this done by Christmas!

Lastly, here's the culprit of my blog absence...

After a long while, I was caught up again in the vortex of Korean drama, courtesy of Big niece. Legend of the Blue Sea (teaser on youtube).

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching.