Happy New Year’s!

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday away from work, school, etc. Our Christmas tree was simply decorated with plastic ornaments since my aunt’s cats are notorious for knocking ornaments off the bottom of the tree and trying to play with them. Our Christmas tree was not as loaded with ornaments as it was last year. Mostly because we could not find the icicle and twisty ornaments from last year until we were already done with the holiday! My aunt and I made them after seeing the ornament kits at Hobby Lobby.



I promised myself this Fall that I would not buy any more cross-stitch patterns until I had made a sizeable dent in my stash. Of course, it isn’t as large as other bloggers, but I bought the patterns with the intention of working on them, so why not now?! I love working on my Elements sampler when I have the time and energy to do so. With that in mind, I was browsing through French Needle’s website and found a lovely design called Les Arts by Anagram Diffusions. I really didn’t think I was going to get the pattern for Christmas, but I accidentally saw it before the holidays! My aunt and I had gotten home from work, I went to check her mailbox, and there was an envelope from the French Needle. It didn’t ruin the surprise though since I didn’t know what pattern she had gotten for me!!



The only downside to having yet another French pattern in my stash is the fact that it measures about the same as Elements. Yikes! Not that it matters since I would have gotten it anyway regardless of the size. Don’t you think it’s lovely? I have to be good this year and finish my Elements sampler first, which I haven’t been stitching on as of late. Bogged down by the holidays, craziness at work, housework, being sick on and off with head colds and helping to take care of my grandmother…..really doesn’t lend much time to stitching!

My mother bought me a book on cameos that I have been eyeing for awhile at my local BN and a very nice book on collecting costume jewelry. I’ve already been browsing through it and it has an amazing chart of designers with their various dates and monograms.

With my love of period dramas, my mom and sister bought me several BBC dramas: Persuasion (2007), Bleak House (2006), and Wives and Daughters (2006). My mother and I have already watched the newest version of Persuasion; my mother prefers this version to the 1999 adaptation with Amanda Roots. I have no preference towards either one, they were both good…though I much rather prefer Anne’s sister Mary in the previous version to the new one. I thought the actress performed the part of a hysterical hypochondriac quite well compared to the newest version of Mary, who was annoying, but not as much as you would wish her to be!

My sister told me that under no circumstances could I ask for anything ‘Jane Austen’ next year. You know what that means, right? Freedom to splurge on any films I have not received and any books related in some form or fashion to Jane Austen! Woohoo!
Continuing with a historical theme, my sister found a beautiful hand mirror for me at an antique reproduction shop in Birmingham. This gift was definitely a surprise since I wasn’t excepting anything not on ‘my list.’ Sadly, I have no place for it right now so it will stay nice and safe in its box until I have a place worthy of it!

My sister and I both received several gift cards to our favorite venues, Starbucks and Target! We aren’t coffee drinkers, but we love frappuccinos. (laughing) We’ll blame it on the South’s ever-changing climates between pleasant and unbearable for our love of cold drinks.

We each were gifted a Hallmark ornament from one of our aunts who loves anything and everything Hallmark-related, a digital picture wallet, and a Barack Obama coin.

The highlight of Christmas morning wasn’t my gifts, but the look on the faces of my aunt and mother when they opened their presents from me. As you know, I was stitching throughout the Fall on several JBW designs. I didn’t let on that the fruit designs were a gift for my aunt; she assumed I was stitching them for myself. She had been looking for a nice oil painting of a still life for her dining room, but everywhere we went, the prices were exorbitant. So I thought to myself that I could stitch up several of the designs and get them framed as a gift.

While I was at Needle Delights, I also got Christmas Tea and the JBW Dog design framed. Right now, my mother has the dog design sitting in a stand beside the television in the living room and Christmas Tea is hanging up in her room. As much as my mother loves that design, I think it would have been better if I had the right linen color for the pattern. Nicole finished her Christmas Tea before the holidays and the colors are gorgeous. I think from now on, I’ll probably order what fabric I need from my LNS if they don’t have the recommended color in stock.



With my mind on framing, does anyone know of a good blog with a tutorial on framing? As much as I love the way my pieces turned out, it would be far cheaper to do it myself. I’ve noticed that several of my favorite bloggers frame their own work. Does anyone have suggestions? Hmm…

It’s amazing how fast a year can by without you noticing it. Only last Fall, my aunt was showing me how to cross-stitch after I professed an interest in it after coming back home from graduate school in England. I started out with one of the easiest ‘learner’ kits at Michael’s and worked my way up from there. I am quite indebted to the Internet for having such amazing stitcher blogs, which opened my eyes to designers I didn’t know existed outside the world of Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. My first linen project was my beloved Elements design, which I am slowly, but surely finishing. With my hands on good quality linen, I now prefer that type of fabric compared to Aida, which I learned to stitch on with my learner’s kit.

I think my stitcher’s resolution for next year will be to try my hand at new finishes after seeing the wonderful work of BeckyBee, Carolina Dreams, iStitcholic, and Be Happy. Those ladies are so talented with their stitching and always amaze me with their beautiful finishing techniques. My second resolution is too learn some specialty stitches after seeing Yuko’s lovely biscornu with her specialty stitches. I am always hesitant to try new stitches because I’m afraid I will ruin whatever I am stitching on, but I just have to remember that I can always take a spare bit of linen and work my stitches on it until I can get them right :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!