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

My late "Naughty November " post!

Apologies to Rachel and Tiffany for not posting last Monday. I had this ready to go but somehow didn’t press Publish! I don’t know why, but I’m here now!

I really enjoyed joining in with Tiffany and Rachel for Naughty November! The idea was to make a few new cross stitch starts! Mine were all Christmas projects ..... I never usually manage to start in time for Christmas so a new start thingy seemed ideal to me!

And this is where I was up to last week (it's grown a bit more since though!)

Naughty November - Week 3

Hi everyone,

Naughty November is the Brainchild of Rachel  and Tiffany - the idea was for one new start each weekend in November.

 

Well, this week I got so carried away with my stitching I forgot to make any new starts!

But I do have two finishes to show you!

Naughty November - new starts #2, 3 and 4

Hello My Friends,

Joining Rachel of Ten Hour Stitcher again for Naughty November!

So last week I carried on stitching my first new start for the month and started on the second:

1 - Cosy Christmas Wishes, from LK

2 - Christmas Cheers, from Ultimate Christmas Cross Stitcher Collection - 

Nos 3 & 4 - Christmas Tags, also from Ultimate Christmas Cross Stitcher Collection -

I was hoping to use these for Christmas cards but they are really tiny, only 1 1/4" x 1 1/2"

Then over the weekend I carried on with "Cozy", it's growing quite fast!

 It was nigh on impossible to show the colour of the fabric,
but I was at the top of our stairs when I noticed the light was just right to show the light green!

I've been jumping from one project to the other over the weekend and this is where I'm up to now on 

1 - Christmas Cheers:

Pop over to Rachel's to see who else is joining in this week.

Have a great week! Keep safe and well!

Hugs,

Barbara xxx