2025 in Review

The year has almost come to an end and it is time to look back and see what I accomplished in the last 12 months. 

January 

At the very end of this month I finished knitting a hat for my Hubby.

I also assembled a pillow from the small whole cloth that I had quilted in 2024.

February 

This month I finished a hat for no one in particular. It used up some yarn that I really didn't like to work with at all.

March

Royal Squares finally became a flimsy. It still needs to be quilted.

April 

My newest granddaughter’s birth announcement was finished this month. It is so adorable! 

May

May saw Windows Into My World, now called Having a Ball, become a flimsy. It is still in the process of being hand quilted.

July

I finished two Christmas ornaments this month. The first was for my younger granddaughter. 

The second was for my older granddaughter.

August

One more Christmas ornament was finished in August. This one for my grandson.

October

The Harvesttime pillow with the scarecrow of this trio was completed quickly at the beginning of the month. 

Another hat for donation was also completed. I like the hat, but the pompom needs some help.

November

This month saw three finishes. First I made a quick pillow out of a small printed panel.

Second I finished a polar bear hat for my older granddaughter.

I also finished the scrappy baby blanket that will eventually be donated.

December

I finished a hat that was supposed to be for donation, but ended up in my wardrobe.

Then, of course I had to make another hat for donation.

Hubby requested a hat.

So did my mother in law.

I also finished my granddaughter's stocking.

Two Prairie Schooler Santas were made into small pillows. One has braiding around the edge, the other is still waiting to get its braid.

All in all there were 20 needlework items finished this year with 3 of them still needing final finishing touches...quilting or adding the braid to the pillow.

I will be joining Frederique at the Quilting Patch on Saturday and Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I hope you take some time to relax with some tea, coffee or hot chocolate and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year! Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2026!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Around town and at home

 Although today is a miserably rainy, windy, stormy day, recently we have had some warmer clear weather that was great for driving around our neighborhood at night and viewing the pretty decorated houses. 

The house below is just down the street from our house. We will bring the grandkids to see it for sure.

This is known on social media as the "Big Santa" house.

 It is a few blocks away from our house. Yes, the Santa is taller than the two story house. 

We had about 6 inches of snow at the beginning of the week.

The view out our front window was a winter wonderland.

 I love baking on snowy days, so I made chocolate thins (a new recipe for me that is just okay) and Raspberry Walnut Thumbprint cookies. The latter are a Christmas time staple that I make every year. You can find the recipe under the Baking tab.

You can see some more recipes scattered around these cookies. I will be working on them this weekend. I like to make the clams and cream puffs early and put them in the freezer until needed. I have also put half of every cookie dough in the freezer to use later or to have my grandchildren help with when they are here.

You can see in the photo above a Prairie Schooler Santa that has been made into a pillow. It still needs some braid around the outside, but at least it can be on display.

I finished another Prairie Schooler Santa into a pillow also. This one has its braid completed. 

 I worked on the braid while baking the chocolate cookies.

Another hat has been almost completed. The seam needs to be sewn. This one is for Hubby. 

I have started a green one also for donation. My mother in law has requested another hat as she has lost/misplaced the last one that I made for her. I will be knitting a whole lot of hats over the next few weeks. 

I quilted the centers of two more blocks on Having a Ball and have marked one of the blocks for the rest of its quilting. 

As I listen to the wind whip around our home, I think I will head to the kitchen and start on my Christmas Butter Cookies. The butter should be softened by now. 

Merry Christmas!

I will be joining Frederique at the Quilting Patch on Saturday and Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I hope you take some time to relax with some tea or coffee and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Done!

My granddaughter’s stocking is done!! It is completely stitched and assembled. I finished all the stitching on Friday and assembled it today.

 

I used fabric that was in my stash for the lining. 

The donation hat has grown. It is almost long enough to finish. 

Decorating for Christmas is all done. The bay window in our dining room has handmade Santas facing the front porch and my snowman collection facing the dining room.

 I scattered my mom’s Putz houses around my china cabinet along with several bottle brush trees. 

The dining room is decorated. 

Here are some other displays.

 I used almost all of my Christmas decorations this year. Of course I had to make our home magical for when the grandkids come. 

We bought our tree this week. Lights were strung on Thursday and ornaments added on Friday. We were able to use almost all of our ornaments also.

 I love seeing the tree in the front window. I know, by January I will be ready to be done with all the decorations, but right now I am a happy camper. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching tomorrow. I hope you take some time to relax with some tea or coffee and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

December Stitch Along Update

 As I stated in the last Stitch Along post most of my cross stitch focus has been on my granddaughter’s Christmas stocking. That being said, I only spent one short afternoon stitching on Three Boats. This is how it looked 3 weeks ago. 

This is where it is now. You can see that I filled in some of the open holes. 

Our next Stitch Along post won’t be until January 18th.

This Stitch Along is hosted every three weeks by Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea who kindly sends us the needed posting reminders.

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is 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, Kathy, Margaret,

 Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

Thanks for stopping by!