Friday, December 31, 2021

Crafts completed in 2021

 I didn't think that I completed all that many crafts this past year, but I do have several to show you. 

The first was the Breeze Infinity scarf finished in January!

I didn't have another finish until May. This time it was the crocheted Bobble Baby Blanket.


Next I completed the finishing touches on a July 4th decoration that I had stitched in 2020.

In August I put the finishing touches on a Christmas decoration.

I also finished another baby blanket. This one was knitted.

In September I went back to in-person work full-time and my crafting definitely slowed down.
I was able to do some crafting at work during periods when no students needed help. I made plarn and crocheted this pumpkin.


Although not completely finished, I did manage to assemble my mother's Overall Sam quilt top.


I quickly stitched up a wedding sampler for one of my daughter's childhood friends. This was my gift to her for her bridal shower. As you can see, the wedding is today. My daughter is one of her bridesmaids. 


I also worked on these Christmas ornaments in brief spurts at work. The finishing was completed at home. One was given to my son,  one to my daughter and her husband and the last to her in-laws. 

I finished this ornament for Hubby, my own personal Scott(ie).


Finally, another ornament that I haven't yet shared as I wanted to surprise the recipient. 

I sent this one to Kathi at Designoriginalsbykc. She has been a great blogging friend for several years. I am glad she sent me a picture of it on her tree as I forgot to take one myself. 

Of course there was one more major finish this year, but I still can't share it. You will see the secret stitching soon, I hope.

So 14 finishes in total is not too bad if I do say so myself. I hope you enjoyed the retrospective on my crafts of 2021. 

On Sunday I will share what I will be working on in 2022. 

Thanks for stopping by!



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Sunday, December 26, 2021

The last Slow Sunday Stitching of 2021

It is the day after Christmas and the last Slow Sunday Stitching of 2021. This year seems to have gone by very quickly while taking forever at the same time. There wasn't enough time to get all of my crafting completed, but the pandemic certainly made the year drag on. 

Our son came to visit starting on Tuesday. He brought with him Chocolate Crinkle and Christmas Butter Cookie batters. All we had to do was roll, decorate and bake.

The Chocolate Crinkles are stored in an holiday Dunkin Donut munchkin holder that I got many years ago.

Matthew halved the recipe so we got two sheet pans full of cookies. 
Don't they look pretty and yummy. You can find the recipe here.


We had a very nice, but small, Christmas celebration yesterday. Just my son, hubby and me.

Today my daughter, her husband and her pup are coming for a few days. We will have another Christmas celebration tomorrow.  

Look at the goodies that my son gifted me. 

I have some great ideas for these pretty fabrics!

He also gave Hubby and me this great game. 

We have played The Crew - Quest for Planet Nine previously. This is an alternate version. I can't wait to try it. 

I made a cute Scottie cross-stitch for my husband, Scott.

I have had the booklet with a whole bunch of Scottie patterns for years. I finally made one of the cute patterns. Thankfully I had the hoop and the cording in my stash. 

I am still working on the Santa stocking. It won't get any use until next year, but that is fine. I am working on the furry cuff right now.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and a cookine an pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching.

I will add a few more stitches to Santa's cuff this morning before I have to store it away while my son-in-law is visiting. I will take out the apron to work on while everyone is here.

Thanks for stopping by!




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Saturday, December 25, 2021

Merry Christmas!

I am wishing all of my readers the merriest of Christmases. 

Be happy and stay healthy!
 

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Sunday, December 19, 2021

Merry Christmas!

If you are looking for the Stitch Along update, you can find it here in the previous post of the day.

Last week Hubby and I bought our Christmas tree and got it decorated.

I also put up the New England Christmas village.

There's no TV in that cabinet. Just our large stereo speakers.
I try to change where I put the houses each year.
I think it looks pretty and makes our living room festive.

Last weekend Hubby and I took a break and drove to Pennsylvania to visit our son. He will be moving to California in January. It was a nice break from the regular routine. Saturday night we ordered take-out from Seasons 52 for dinner, but Sunday night our son cooked a really tasty chicken thigh meal for us. He is quite the chef. He's a much better cook than I am.  Hubby helped him by making the salad.


 Since packing will be happening in January, Matt only put out the crocheted Christmas tree that I made him a couple of years ago.

I finally finished the secret cross-stitch and it is off to the framer. Now I am concentrating on stitching the Santa stocking. You can see an update on my progress in another post later today.

I have been working on other projects at work during the periods when no students show up. For your info, I run the Math Center at a local high school that allows students to come any period of the day that they have free to get help with their various math classes. I am basically an on-call math tutor. Some periods are busy and others are not, so I keep a small item to work on that can be easily put aside to help any student who shows up. Santa is too big to come to work with me.

I recently picked up this cross-stitch apron to work on. It will be a future gift.

Yesterday I started my cookie baking. I made the dough for Raspberry Walnut Thumbprint Cookies. You can find that recipe here. I also baked up some good ole Nestle Toll House cookies. These are by far my favorite cookie. I am not sure yet what other cookies I will be baking. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching! Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. You know that I will be working on Santa.

Merry Christmas! 

Thanks for stopping by!

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December Stitch Along update

I am working on Santa whenever I can, but sadly there is no way that he will be finished for Christmas this year. I can't stitch that fast. Here is where Santa was three weeks ago.

Now Santa's mitten is finished. 

I had to remove the scroll frame so that I can work on the cuff of his arm. There isn't enough fabric to keep it in the frame and keep it taut enough for my liking.

I hope you enjoyed the Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange. You can see my post here along with the links to the other posters. 

A big "Thank you" to Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting this Stitch Along every three weeks and sending us the needed posting reminders.

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other talented bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. You will see a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, 

Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

 Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy,

 Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen  

Thanks for stopping by!

  
 

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Monday, December 6, 2021

Virtual Cookie Exchange 2021

 Welcome to the Virtual Cookie Exchange and blog hop hosted by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt. I am excited to share a favorite Christmas cookie recipe that I started making just last year. Part of this exchange is to share a family tradition and quilt too.

One family tradition that we enjoy almost every year is to visit a local house that goes way overboard with the decorations. They do it for the community and they collect donations for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Last year they collected over $18,000. Each year they raise little more than the previous year. Enjoy the photos and videos.

This first video is a new addition to the display.

There is a reindeer barn. You can see Rudolph in the center.

There are carolers. Don't you just love the pup on the sled.


Santa is checking his list and Mrs Claus is enjoy a hot chocolate. This is in the home's garage.


Here the elves are making and wrapping the gifts.

The entire front lawn is covered with more Christmas displays.

Even the animals get a nod. Look at the penguins roasting marshmallows and the swaying squirrels as well as the skaters.


There is a nativity, but my photo didn't come out well. The penguin igloo construction company has this sign on display. Don't you love the name of the company....Igglouie Construction Co.?!

 Finally here is the bear Christmas Tree lot. 

The quilt that I am sharing this year is one I made for my daughter several years ago. She is a big fan of "A Charlie Brown Christmas". I found a fabric panel online and made her a pretty lap quilt to keep her warm each winter. She asked me to add a sleeve to it and now she hangs it as a decoration sometimes.

Last year, for the first time, I made Oatmeal Gingersnaps. The recipe was in an old Country Woman Christmas book Volume 1. I loved them, though they were a little too sweet for the rest of the family. I plan on making them again this year as I liked them so much.

Here is the recipe:

Below is the list of all the Virtual Cookie Exchange participants. This is a great way to find a new cookie to add to your recipe box. Please spend some time exploring the blogs.

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Sunday, December 5, 2021

Santa

Santa will now be my sole focus for the next few weeks as I will be finishing the secret stitching this weekend. Yay! Then it needs to be washed, ironed and brought to the framer.

I have been working on Santa whenever I get the chance while watching TV as the secret stitching got to the point where I really had to concentrate on what I was doing. After several hours yesterday morning I managed to get the difficult part done. All that is left is French knots which are fairly easy for me. I know there are those who hate them, but I seemed to have figured out what works for me each and almost every time. 

So here is what Santa looks like now. I have been working on his mitten. 

I have also added some rows to the Baby Elephant blanket. You can just see some pink starting on the top row that will be the ears. I have completed 50 of 106 rows of the graph. 

Last Sunday Hubby decided to hang the Christmas lights on the house. 

 I put together the nativity, hung the bows and wreath and added some colored lights to the bushes.
Santa says "Hi"!

Hubby and I drove around our neighborhood looking at the decorations Friday night. One family had a great display in an upstairs window.


You can see another wonderful house display tomorrow when I participate in the Virtual Cookie Exchange. Participants share a cookie recipe as well as a quilt and a family tradition. The last is where the house display will be shown.

Below is the list of all the blogs that are participating.


I hope you take the time to visit some of the other blogs throughout the week.

Today I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

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