Happy Black Friday!

 No, I am not out and about in the shopping madness and frenzy. I am sitting at home, wrapped in an afghan because it's cold and getting colder, and I've been watching Flosstubes and the Crewel Work Company Zoom demonstrations (all weekend! how cool is that!) and threading a needle or two.

And at the moment, I am avoiding looking at my worktable where the following can be seen:

I have finishing to do on Betsy Morgan's Christmas Treats and Alison Cole's Elizabethan Rose, and I need to embellish Tricia Nguyen's Christmas Garland and put it together.

And I still have the new Barbara Jackson ornament to stitch, plus a couple more on my list for this year.

AND today's mail is supposed to bring a model for me to stitch--all Queen stitch, which I love to do--from Cissy Bailey Smith of Gentle Pursuit Designs.

And the rest of the tree needs ornamentifying and the halls need to be decked.

I have plenty to do, so I'd best get to it.

(I have been asked where I've been for almost two weeks. The November Nasties got me this year but good. Not enough sun, too many gray days--some years it hits and this year it did. It doesn't usually last too long and I think I'm over it, but I may keep the Christmas lights on until March. Or April, Or maybe May.)

Still catching up on homework

I am still catching up on my homework on Summer Crewel.

 This is where I am after stitching through most of three Zoom meetings today (total of 5 hours).

This is where I was the last time I posted.  At least I can see some progress, although I still have a lot of fiddly, time-consuming elements to stitch. But I have two more days before class, so maybe I can get it all done.

Before I have more homework to do . . .

Fa-la-la-ing

My Christmas tree ornament is almost finished. I just have to do the embellishing--gold thread and beads--and then this will go into the finishing pile. 

And the results of my poll on what projects to do for this year are in. Sone of my readers sent private messages since Blogger is making commenting on posts a PITA in some instances, which may mean that there were other opinions that didn't get stated--but I went by the numbers I got.

Christmas Treats won, with Christmas in Virginia in second place.

And then, for third place, there is a three-way tie: Poinsettia Heart, Elizabethan Christmas, and Christmas Rose are all vying for a spot on the tree (if I have time).

But then there is the last place ornament, that may push its way to the top of the heap. Joyful Pome didn't get many votes, but one of them is Dearly Beloved's. There's a family joke about pomegranates, and he thinks that this ornament deserves a place on the tree because of that. 

I am taking his opinion under advisement.

Doing my homework

 We had a mid-term break in the online crewel class I'm taking. We also had a LOT of homework to do before we resume classes this coming Tuesday.

And of course I procrastinated.

So today I've been stabbing linen with a sharp needle, and I'm about halfway through the assignment.

My eyes and hands are getting tired, and I'm starting to make mistakes, so I think I better set this aside tonight. This leads to a dilemma. Tomorrow is Sampler Sunday. Monday we are going back to see our "old" dentist since Dearly Beloved needs a root canal--this will be a day-long trip since we also want to get there early enough to have lunch at our favorite Japanese restaurant. I don't think I'd have enough time Tuesday morning to finish everything. I think I'm going to have to sacrifice Sampler Sunday to get this done. Phooey!

Meanwhile, thanks to the readers who are voting on my Christmas ornament decision. I'm going to wait a couple of days to tabulate the results to give anyone else who might be interested a chance to weigh in. So far, from what I can tell, the numbers are very close.

Help Me Decide

I had to have a biopsy done on what's left of my thyroid this morning. While I was lying on the table getting stabbed in the throat multiple times, I was doing my best to distract myself. And how do I generally distract myself? I think of needlework. Of course.

Anyway, I was thinking that I could probably do another four or five ornaments before Christmas. Two of them will be Tricia Nguyen's 2024 ornament (free pattern available from Thistle Threads) and Barbara Jackson's 2024 ornament through the Shining Needle Society.

That leaves spots for two or three more ornaments.

And I can't decide which ones to do.

So, please help me decide by voting in the comments. The choices are:

Poinsettia Heart

Christmas Treats

Elizabethan Christmas

Joyful Pome

Christmas in Virginia

Christmas Rose

Please pick up to three and let me know what you think. The three with the most votes will go in the basket by the chair, and the rest will wait 'til later.

Thank you in advance!

Planting Trees

I needed something mindless to work on, so I'm stitching tree trunks. Rows and rows and rows of stem stitch--so mindless!

The striped Seuss tree on the right is done. I need to stitch a big bird to sit on top of one of the clump of leaves. The tree on the left has the rest of this branch plus one more--then I can add the leaves. Actually, I'm not sure what they're called--fronds?--because this is a weeping willow tree. I suppose I could google it but I do not feel that strongly about finding out. If anyone out there is an arborist and knows, please inform the rest of us.

I ran across an article the other day written by a scientist who studies creativity. She suggests that any creative person should have multiple projects going at one time--she suggests something like five to a dozen. This way, if you hit a snag on one thing, it's easy to move to something else. It also maintains the "creative flow."

Well, as a total failure at even partial project monogamy, which I have been trying this year, her ideas fit the way I usually work. I have a whole basket of WIPs sitting by my chair so it's easy to move from one thing to another as the mood strikes. I would like to keep Sampler Sunday going, but it's nice to have actual scientific research to back up the fact that I generally bounce from one thing to another like a BB in a boxcar.

Elizabethan Rose

 The stitching for the Elizabethan Rose Christmas ornament is complete.

I just realized the image is turned sideways, much like I feel after the election results.

So very, very close

I am so very close to finishing the stitching for the Elizabethan Rose Christmas Ornament, designed by Alison Cole.

So very, very close.

 I was going to spend today getting my homework done for the Summer Crewel online class I'm taking from Sara Rickards, but now I'm leaning towards working on this instead. I mean, I am SO close.

Of course, I can always work on both of them in the course of the day. That sounds like a legitimate compromise. 

Oh, Christmas Tree . . .

 The tree is still sitting right in front of me. And, yesterday, after I finished House on the Hill, I was rummaging around in the stash room, and stumbled across one of the bins where I stashed things I planned to stitch in retirement.

It happened to be the Christmas bin.

And Christmas is coming. And there is a tree sitting in front of me, calling for new ornaments.

So I pulled out one of Alison Cole's ornament kits and started it this morning.

I have now learned a new stitch, which Alison calls The Elizabethan Double Twisted Chain. It's a chain stitch that is slightly raised, so it has more texture than a regular chain or broad chain. This has me ridiculously excited.

It is quite possible that there will be Christmas music playing as I stitch this afternoon. Dearly Beloved (aka Santa's Evil Twin Skippy, aka Ebenezer Scrooge) is already muttering. After all these decades of marriage, he should know better.

Totally Finished!

 House on the Hill Shaker Carrier by Merry Cox has all its goodies assembled!!!!

I have also attended a lecture this afternoon so I have had my mental stimulation for the week, which obviously I needed because I had totally forgotten about going until I got a reminder.

Now I think I'll put the ironing board away and clean up my worktable.

What about Sampler Sunday, you ask?

It may be Sampler A-Different-Day-This-Week. No excuses, just not feeling it today. Actually, I would like to just sit here and bask in the glow of finishing something all the way. It happens so rarely, I think I deserve to bask. So, I just decided, I'm going to bask.

Out of Chaos

 This is what my worktable looked like earlier this afternoon:

This is what it looks like now:

House on the Hill

designed by Merry Cox

I think I mentioned before that I started this at Christmas in Williamsburg in 1999.  I think a quarter of a century is long enough for anything to age in the stash.

However, I am not through yet. I still have all the goodies that fit into the pockets to assemble.

I think I know what I'm going to be doing with the extra hour this weekend.

P.S. Several people have asked for photos of the tree in the middle of the living room. I will take a picture once we get it in its assigned place and get the branches fluffed out and get an ornament or two on it. At the moment, it is not fit for photography.

Oh, Tannenbaum

 There is a tree in the middle of my living room.

A Christmas tree.

You are probably saying that we're rushing the season, but let me explain.

The lights on our old tree started dying last Christmas, so we had decided to replace the tree this year. We found one we liked, but the store was out, so we had to order. The box came yesterday. It was damaged, so Dearly Beloved felt we needed to unpack and assemble the tree to make sure we had all the parts and that everything works.

We have all the parts and everything works.

So I assumed that he was going to take it apart and stash it until after Thanksgiving. I was wrong in my assumption. Having gone through the hassle of assembly, he is disinclined to go through the process again in the same calendar year.

So I have a tree in my living room.

Meanwhile, I had planned to show some of the stash enhancement I have indulged in lately, and today's installment comes from Sassy Jack's. I decided to sign up for a couple of Kim's regular clubs.

First off, this month's installment in the Week's Dye Works linen club.

Cappuccino, 40 count, plus a skein of Weeks floss. Both are much darker, richer colors than the flash on my camera allows. I'm not really a seasonal stitcher (other than Christmas), but I can see something fall-ish on this. It will go in the linen stash until the right thing comes along.

Then, Jack's Stash, which comes out quarterly. Loads of goodies! A couple of Plum Street Sampler charts, stickers to go on the back of samplers, a lovely selection of threads (including a full skein of Floche, which I love), ribbons, a Jack-o-Lantern pin, and another piece of Weeks linen, just the right size for an ornament or small.

Stash enhancement is so much fun! I'm thinking maybe I should have wrapped all this up and put under the tree.

Which we have in the middle of the living room.