Final catch-up

First part of this post is long overdue.  I won a giveaway on Mel's blog a few weeks ago, and gave her my new address down in San Diego to send the surprise to.  It was a great welcome to see the brown envelope waiting in the pile of mail when I first arrived.  She sent me some great things.  First off was a really interesting chart by Raise the Roof I'd never seen before.  There was also one of the really cute Victoria's Sampler cottage series.  I stitched a few of these years and years ago, so it was nice to receive another chart in the series.  She included some 25 count fabric (perfect for those ornaments I've been wanting to do over 1) and some cotton flosses, and a beautiful card.  Mel, thank you so much for the wonderful surprise.  I know I sent you an e-mail right away, but you've patiently been waiting over a week for me to post a pic on my blog.

One of the first things I did when I got to San Diego was finish my iStitch Mystery SAL.  I still have no clue what I'm going to finish this as, since its really too big to be considered a "small," not really large enough I want to frame it, and I'm not sure I want a purple pillow.  Oh well, something will come along.  This was truly an enjoyable stitch and a very well run SAL.  Thank you Carol!

Some progress has been made on Lizzie Kate's 6 Fat Men, and actually more since I took this picture.  For now I'm not stitching the wording or any of the confetti stitches.  I have an idea floating around in my head with the song Winter Wonderland.

Here and there I've been working on some ornaments, and have another finish to show.  Not 100% sure since I can claim this one totally by myself, since I suckered my mom into doing the machine sewing herself "as a lesson on how to use her sewing machine."  Actually, make that a lesson on how to use one of the 3 machines she has (and I've actually used this one before).  It looks cute now, but this was one of those "never ever again" things.  Trying to turn a long and skinny piece, with curves, lined with interfacing, right side out was NOT fun.  It may not look like it, its stitched on 40 ct linen so was pretty tiny once sewed up.  Its an older Hands to Work design, which I don't remember the name of, but it was a chart with 3 different stockings on it.

Stitched on 40 ct linen with HDF silk
in Old Maid of the Forest and Examplar Crushed Berries

Now its time for me to admit a guilty secret.  I started Jenny Bean's Christmas sampler while I was still up in Ogden.  I just couldn't resist everyone else's beautiful pictures, and I had the perfect piece of linen for it, and the colors were just calling out to me.  Rarely do I stitch something in exactly what the designer calls for, but this is one piece I didn't make a single substitution on.  Not a huge amount done, and I  probably won't get it finished for this year, but that's fine.  It will definitely be done for next year.

Shakespeare's Peddler Jenny Bean's Christmas Sampler stitched on
40 ct PTP Legacy linen with the called for threads

We had a fairly clear day on Thursday, so I thought I'd make everyone that's shivering in snow a little jealous.  This is the view from my parent's back patio.  The islands are actually part of Mexico, and I can't remember their names.  Totally unedited photo, and no, that wasn't some super-duper zoom lens either.  Don't worry, its actually supposed to rain on Monday and Tuesday, so I do have to suffer some bad weather.  And it does seem strange going through all the holiday motions with it being in the 60s outside.  Dare I say it?  I might actually miss snow.