2022 Advent Calendar Blog Hop - Day 17

Hello Dear Reader,

 

I’m here today to join in with Jo’s annual Christmas blog hop on day 17. 

Jo asked us to show some Christmas/Winter stitching and talk about “afters”.  

You can visit Jo for all the details and for the list of everyone joining in here. 

And so this is my Winter stitching:

Stitched from this free pattern
by Melisa of PinkernPunkin Quilting 

I had hoped to have finished this, but sadly not. It’s going to be a small cushion, the same as Melissa’s - but the scrap of fabric I was intending to use wasn’t wide enough for the backing so I need to think what other fabric I can use !!!

I’ve also been stitching the advent calendar from CrossStitcher magazine, 

as I love every motif, 

but, alas this too will have to be finished for 2023. 

Surprisingly I got a little diverted from my Christmas projects by a little “everyday” stitching, when my crochet hook, pens and nail file all jumped out of their place in my project bag  - obviously I needed a little pouch to keep all these little things safe.  I wonder if this will be finished soon ….. or will it join all my many WIPs in “The Dreaded Cupboard” ???

My latest whim. 

I’ve been tea dying a lot of my fabric lately - I find I just don’t like plain white fabric any more, and I keep wanting to see what colour the different teas will make my fabric. I could be back with more on that. 

- oooooo -

Ooooh! I almost forgot ….. “afters” - Back when I was growing up my maternal grandmother used to stay with us over Christmas and she would do lots of cooking to help mum and dad, each Christmas she would  cook : Christmas pudding, a Dundee Cake and lots of mince pies for all the family, however, nowadays we don’t eat many puds or cakes although hubbie and I are rather partial to mince pies and custard, or a Christmas pud - but sadly shop bought. 

I have lots more sewing I want to do before Christmas, and a couple of photos for Gifted Gorgeousness,

 so I’ll try and write here again soon. 

A Very Happy Christmas to you!

Many hugs,

Barbara xxx

Advent Calendar

Today I’m joining Jo of Serendipitous Stitching for her Christmas Advent.  I’m a bit late telling you this, but each day of December you can visit Jo to see who is posting!  If you haven’t seen the calendar yet perhaps you’d like to pop over to Jo's blog now to catch up! 

So, this is my day for door 22

Jo asks that we show a photo of stitching for Christmas:

“Christmas Cheers” by Lucie Heaton

I started Christmas Cheers in November, inspired by Rachel’s Naughty November (see HERE) and finished it around midnight on Sunday !  I was going to try to FFO yesterday, and write my post, but then I realised that would be  bit of a “tall ask” as I wouldn’t be able to eat all day, and I’d end up with severe back ache, so this is it for now ..... but it’s not going in the pile to linger ..... I’m working on it already!

Unfortunately the weather is awful here today and the photo I took, trying to show the colour of the fabric as well as the stitching has not gone so well ..... 

so I thought you might like to see a close up I took while stitching was in progress:

Pattern from The Ultimate Christmas Cross Stitch Collection - July 2014

I really enjoyed stitching this Lucie Heaton pattern and have already ordered the kit for her latest pattern on the cover of the current CrossStitcher magazine (Issue 365) - a lovely winter scene! I hope I don't have to wait too long as I feel lost without a project to pick up in the evening! The strange thing is I've ordered the kit and only today they have sent me an email saying only certain cottons are available and they are on their way ...... but I'm confused, why are they sending these cottons alone when I've ordered a kit? They're not much use without the fabric!!!!

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Jo also asked us to talk about our favourite Christmas book, and I've enjoyed following the others and finding out what their book choices and memories are ......

but, unfortunately, I don’t really have a Christmas favourite  ..... however I especially love the Agatha Raisin series, and remember reading “Kissing Christmas Goodbye” by M C Beaton.

If you’ve read any of the Agatha Raisin series you will know just what to expect.  It’s a while since I read the book and I've forgotten much of the detail of the plot, so don't worry I won't give a spoiler here, but suffice to say it’s full of the usual light-hearted fun we expect from Aggie! The story wasn't quite what I'd expected but I do love reading about Aggie! However I feel the more books Ms Beaton wrote the quality was perhaps not of the same high standard or as entertaining as her earlier books, but that didn't stop my enjoyment of the story. 

Do pop over to Jo's to see all the beautiful stitching of our blogging friends

I do hope you have a Happy Christmas despite all that is happening with Covid, and let's hope things will be better in 2021!

Hugs.

Barbara xxx

Christmas Hop 2019 - Day 20

Hello!

Today is my day on Jo's advent calendar bloghop! If you haven't already visited her, pop over to see all the fun!! 

HERE!

And, what a surprise, I haven't been able to stitch as fast as I thought I would!!!

I've been stitching this little free kit from CrossStitcher magazine every spare minute ...... and I still have more backstitching to do!! I don't know why but my photos look a little fuzzy to me, they were alright in "files", so, if you can't see them very well don't forget to double click on the photo and all should be much clearer!

The kit has a frame to make it into a Christmas Card, so I guess you could say this is my virtual Christmas Card to all my friends! (The binding you can see here is only temporary, to stop the edges fraying.)

CrossStitcher Issue 351

Despite the little tree being finished, it's still not FFO'd. I wasn't sure what to do with it really!

PM25 Christmas Tree by Anchor

But now I've decided ..... it will be an ornament. I'm going to add  ric rak, then make it up into a little cushion thingy that can hang from a tree. I am aiming to finish very soon as otherwise I shall probably lose track of it!

This year Jo asked us to talk about our favourite Christmas film. My favourite film of all time has already been mentioned and is "It's a Wonderful Life"! but there are so many I really love but I'm not sure of their names (what am I like?!?), but I do think Christmas isn't Christmas without seeing at least one version of "A Christmas Carol"!



Have fun, but remember the old saying "A moment on the lips, and a lifetime on the hips" ..... oops, tee hee, did I really just say that out loud type that out loud!?

Ha, ha!

As always, Jo, "Thank You so much for organising us!"



And here's wishing you all a "Very Happy Christmas, and a Happy New Year!"





Hugs,
Barbara xxx

Gifted Gorgeousness and Christmassy things

Hello my friends,



It's lovely to have you visiting me today!


This cold damp day it's nice to be indoors thinking about Christmassy things!


Again this year I'm going to join Jo of Serendipitous Stitching and some cross stitch friends for Jo's Advent Calendar post. This is one where we all write posts about our Christmas stitching and then share them via Jo's blog on a date that she allots. Pop over to Jo's to see exactly how the Advent Calendar Blog Post worked last year! (This is my post! HERE)



Anyhow, I'm getting ahead of myself, it's been a while since I joined in with Gifted Gorgeousness (GG) because I haven't had any cross stitch to share ..... but all that has changed now, and I have some new kits I'm threading up ready to start !



I'm joining GG today with these surprise gifts I received. Some lovely fat quarters and, in the background Osnaburg - one of my favourite fabrics. Osnaburg is not a long-lasting fabric but it's really nice for embroidery,

and the lovely magnetic needle keeper is from my friend, Grace.

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Because this post would be soo short otherwise I'd like to mention a couple of other things while I am here ..... do you remember my lace, tee hee, HERE, how could you forget? Well, here are a few photos of my latest piece in progress ..... or should I say "when I had just finished and was about to pull all the pins out"!

I had finished before the bobbins
gathered together like this, tee hee!

I'm really excited how great this lace looks!
AND I MADE IT!!

It was such fun pulling all those pins out!!

So, I've made two leaves and the red piece
will eventually be a flower.

(Oh, and since starting this post I was gifted a "new" lace making cushion which needed a cover before I could make more lace, so I made one yesterday, but that's a tale for next time.)

And here are my latest cross stitch purchases:

Three Christmassy kits ..... second hand, and a bargain!

I had to enlarge patterns and wash the folded fabric ready to use.

I have made a start, but no more pictures as yet!

Actually I started one of them a couple of days ago, and now its almost finished - this was meant to be my travel stitching ..... but it just took me over!!!!

Do pop over to Jo's blog to read more about Gifted Gorgeousness and to see what everyone else has stitched!

Keeping with the Christmas theme ..... I've just seen that Selma of Eclectic Home Life is returning to blogging once again this year with her latest Norwegian Christmas countdown!

HERE is a link to one of Selma's fabulous recipe posts - there are lots!!

Hugs and smiles,

Barbara xxx

Thank you for visiting, I love to hear from you!

Day 12 of Jo's On-Line Advent Calendar Blog Hop - 2017

Every year "Jo who can't think of a clever nickname" holds a seasonal blog hop, and this year a "few" of us are joining her for .....

Jo's Online Advent Calendar!

However, some of you may not know Jo, so let me explain:

Jo's blog, Serendipitous Stitching, is all about Cross Stitch ..... in a big way! Pop over to have a look ..... later, (she has links to freebie cross stitch patterns too, so if you think you would like to cross stitch take a peek at the files in her header!).

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Soooo ...... here is my Day 12 .....

As in previous years, Jo has asked us to display a piece of Christmas stitching .....

When I picked up my Goldwork piece again recently I found I had lost my meticulously written instructions, but I was able to check with our tutor at my Handicraft group for guidance. For more info on starting Goldwork follow this link. You can see here where I left my stitching last December.

After speaking to our tutor I was able to continue stitching right up to last night to finish. I couldn't take photos then ..... and now, although it's  frosty, it's a brilliantly sunny day ...... just right for photos!

I really meant to be finished well before today, but things didn't go according to plan! Maybe they will next year!?!

It was very hard to take a clear photo, showing all the aspects of the Goldwork!

The little circles were tricky at first, but
once I knew what I was doing, it was quite fun!

Another view because the light reflected
on the Goldwork better here!

and now, to answer the second question from Jo: "What are your plans and traditions for Boxing Day?"

We don't really have any great family tradition, but I remember that, before I married, when I lived with my parents, we used to have my Mum's Mum come to visit one day and my father's parents would come the next day ..... not that they didn't get on or anything, it was just the way it was!

My Mum and her Mum (Nan) used to make: Christmas Pudding, Christmas cake, mince pies, sausage rolls, and Dundee cake, as well as the main meal of roast turkey, roast potatoes, stuffing and “all the trimmings”. There was so much food it kept us going for weeks afterwards ..... I think it was really so Mum didn't have to cook over Christmas! Tee hee!

There was lots of TV viewing, of course, and card playing ..... we played Newmarket too, Jo! and, as kiddies, it was such fun winning all the pennies, and lots of other board games ..... oh and, Cluedo too!

These days Christmas is a lot quieter! My mum and sister come to visit over both days and we have a Vegetarian Christmas lunch, and then play cards, or possibly Rummikub this year (using my new Game Piece Bag which you may have seen on the previous post!).

Boxing day was pretty much more of the same.

That's about all I can say I'm afraid, so thank you for stopping by today, and now, if you haven’t already visited, here's the link to:

Jo's Online Advent Calendar!

Many thanks Jo, for all your work organising us all again this Christmas.

Tell me, what Christmas traditions do you have?

Wishing you all a Very Happy Christmas,

Hugs from Barbara xxx

And tomorrow it's Christine of  "The Alchemist's Study" 

Advent calendar - Day 18

Hello my friends,

Today I am joining in with Jo's Advent Calendar!

If you haven't been following along so far ..... have a look here, on Jo's blog to see what is behind the other doors!

Thank you Jo for the work you do in organising your blog hops ..... it is such a fun way of meeting, and getting to know other stitching bloggers!

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Jo asked us to post a photo of a Seasonal design:

I think this pattern for a cake band was from Cross Stitcher magazine ..... 

if you've visited my blog before you may have seen this one .....

..... as this Margaret Sherry cat is one of my favorites!

Jo also asked us to share a treasured ornament, something with sentimental memories. I was intending to have finished the Goldwork ornament I have been making this year ..... but I spent too long stitching my Christmas bag 

..... and ran out of time for my Goldwork .....

so, perhaps...... just for this year ..... Jo would accept last year's new door wreath as our treasured ornament?

I look forward to sharing more stitching with you next year!

Thank you for visiting, 

and

Happy Christmas everyone!

Hugs,

Barbara xxx