January 3, 2017

Today was my regular day off from work and because we have both been home since December 30th, we have been able to take care of several of those little projects around the house that only take a few minutes, but never seem to get done. The outside Christmas decorations and lights came down and were stored away. Christmas cards were put away because I keep cards that are sent to me although I did re-purpose one of them into the red gift tags seen here. I used the gift tag on the right as a template to cut out the shape and a hole punch to make the hole.

Then, I moved onto finishing this ornament wreath that I had made recently. I was going to put a ribbon through the wreath itself to better camouflage the wire, but I was not able to manipulate the wire ribbon in such a way that I was happy with the result so I re-positioned a few bulbs instead to hide the wire. Making bows is something that I have never attempted before so this bow is my first! I used a snowflake patterned white ribbon and a twist tie to make the bow along with several passes at plumping the ribbon to look full while hiding the twist tie.

This piece was finished late last night, too late for a blog update. I did not get around to washing it today or thinking any further about how it will be finished.

A Christmas ornament that I had stitched before Christmas was partially finished today. While I was waiting for the glue to set on part of it, I started stitching on this ornament that I found on pinterest recently. The fabric is a 28 count amber coloured linen and the threads are from my mystery thread box.

My computer is telling my that is 10:07pm and 6:30am is going to come early after being off for most of the Christmas break and such a productive day that also included a hike in the woods with our Maggie and a loss at curling tonight. Ciao!

January 2, 2017

The tail of the momma cat just needs a few more stitches that I was too tired last night to stitch. The back stitching on this piece is fairly minimal so hopefully the stitching on this piece will be completed this evening while we hunker down on the dark and cold January night. My Canadian version of the Danish hygge is to curl up on the couch with my guy and to wait for Maggie, our black Lab, to wiggle her way in between us. We usually have an herbal tea to ward off the chilly night while I stitch away and my guy watches TV.

I am still undecided as to whether I will make this into a quilted wall hanging or perhaps stretch it over a canvas or a piece of plywood to hang on the wall. More to follow!

December 19, 2016

Now that the Christmas gifts are pretty much finished, bought, wrapped and sorted out for family, friends and co-workers, I started this cute little pattern last week during one of our stormy, snowy days as a reminder that this too shall pass and warm summer days will return. I have a love-hate relationship with winter. I love the beauty of falling snow and the crisp air on a cold sunny day, but I hate driving in blowing snow and paying the heat bills. Again, my thoughts wander. 

This pattern is a kit that I bought on a whim from eBay. The brand is Needle Kung Fu and comes from China. The quality of the kit fabric and threads certainly does not rival that of a Dimensions or Janlynn kit, but the pattern was bright and cute and a 180 change from making Christmas ornaments so that makes it worth it for me. Plus, I love cats.