Cirque des Cercles

Here it is, all washed and pressed. This Ink Circles design was stitched on 25-count mushroom lugana over 1 thread. I really like how it turned out.

Santa's Village

Here is the first house in the collection, Santa's House. I'm picking up the Crescent Colors floss for the house tomorrow. This was two days of stitching.

Santa's Village from Country Cottage

I found out about this SAL for this adorable project, and then discovered that it was on sale at Beach Cottage Stitchers. I ordered the lambswool linen to stitch it all on one big piece.

Here are the first two houses. More information is at Country Cottage Needleworks. I'll be getting a chart each month. I've got a little bit started, but I don't my camera handy so I'll post photos when I get a chance. Unfortunately I discovered the SAL too late and it was already full.

I made my stitching plans for 2013 and can now report that I have done a big nothing on them. Cleopatra's Cat, which could not be finished by the middle of January anyway due to waiting for my thread, had not been touched. I have been working on my Ink Circles design because I was so close to getting it and it is finished and soaking in Orvus right now.

Christmas Stockings

Before I put all the Christmas things away, I thought I'd show off my stockings.

 I love seeing these over the fireplace. My stocking is the red plush from my childhood. Most are from felt embroidery kits.

Michal's stocking is the oldest dating from 1988. Kaitlyn's is next oldest, dating from 1990. Kaitlyn's looks a bit ragged because she loved her stocking and refused to let me put it away one year. Leigh's was made in 1996.

Timothy's stocking was made in 1998 and Alfred's in 1991. Most years I hang them in story order: Santa in his workshop (Leigh), Santa in his sleigh (Kaitlyn), Santa on the roof (Michal), and Santa in the house (Alfred). Tim's big Santa and my red plush went in some random place.
 

  When my daughter Michal got engaged to Jonathan in 2009 I decided to make him a stocking too. I wanted to do a cross stitch stocking and he chose this design "Bad Landing" from the book "A Cross Stitch Christmas/Season of Joy." It was my first all-over cross stitch.

The quality of this stocking is so much more than the felt ones that I toyed with the idea of making everybody a new stocking. I've decided that I won't do that after all. Each stocking represents where my skill level was at the time and really, each is done very well. They hold such sweet memories, too, of my children's excitement on so many Christmas mornings.

But I really should make a stocking for me.






For needleworkers Christmas is all year long. I've decided to start the Country Cottage Needleworks Santa's Village, a monthly mystery series. I also picked up some of The Victoria Sampler Gingerbread series charts at the Needlepoints Ltd. after-Christmas sale. Cute, cute, cute!

New Year Update

It's been awhile since I've posted so I thought it was time for an update.

I've completed about 1/3 of Cleopatra's Cat. Click on any of the pictures to enlarge it. I chose reds that ranged from darker burgundy to lighter rust. Also, a lot of the threads are over-dyed which provides contrast within the stitched area itself. Some of the areas are empty because the thread is on order.

 Here are some detail photos. I like the contrast of the "open" stitch on the left that shows some of the canvas compared to the "closed" stitch on the right that covers the canvas completely. These are or nue or laid stitches where you secure a long piece of (usually metallic) thread over the entire area and then stitch over it with a contrasting thread.

Here are three different areas. The stitches at the top are done with a wool, the stitches at the bottom are done in cotton and silk flosses. I am using Splendor and Waterlilies silks and am surprised how different they are from each other. I am waiting for Gloriana silk so I get to try that too!

I really like this area. I would never have guessed how a stitch like that is done.

I've been working on Circque des Cercles from Ink Circles for awhile now. Even though I'm stitching it on 25-count fabric over 1 thread, it is actually pretty easy to see and has been my to-go project but I've bumped it up to working at home because I'm so close to getting it done.

And here is "A Williamsburg Illumination" that I gave my husband for Christmas. I picked up the chart at Haus Tyrol in Williamsburg back in December 2009 and have worked on it on and off since. It's stitched on 18-count navy aida. What's fun about this piece is that it isn't a picture of the palace, it's the fireworks reflecting on the palace. The Grand Illumination at historic Williamsburg is held early December and is super-fun!