2014 Online Advent Calendar

Only 2 more sleeps to go...........

Welcome to everyone who has taken the time to stop by at this busy time of year and a huge thank you to Jo at Serendipitous Stitching for organising this festive blog hop.

I love Christmas and I love stitching Christmas themed designs.   Christmas stitching is quite a large part of our decorations now so I will just pick out a few to show you.  Some of the photos aren't as good as I would like due to the poor light at this time of year.  I call this "pit pony weather" as I only see daylight at the weekends.

Christmas Angel by Passione Ricamo

This was stitched a couple of years ago but I only got it framed in 2014 so this is the first Christmas it has been on display.  It's stitched on an oatmeal 14 count aida and I love the rich red colours of the cloak.

This next photo is of a cushion using stitchery and patchwork on a Christmas theme.  I did it as a class so I don't know who the designer is.

I like to put stitched pieces into coasters - here are 3 which started out as Christmas cards from fellow stitchers

And finally here are 2 of the many stockings I have stitched over the years.  Most of the ones I have stitched are from the Shepherd's Bush designs and they are scattered over the country hanging up waiting for Santa to fill them soon.

2 Stockings - design by Lizzie Kate

As you can see I used the same pattern but adapted the colours so that each sister has a slightly different version.  Both are stitched on 20 count evenweave using #5 perle thread.  You can't see it in the photo but both fabrics have sparkly threads - one gold and one silver.

As well as displaying some Christmas stitching Jo asked us to write about our best ever Christmas present.    This was tough.   I was fortunate enough to have a happy childhood with lots of lovely Christmas gifts and then a husband who, while he was able, bought me lovely gifts.  

But I suppose that using the "what would you save first from a fire" test I would pick out the necklace given to me by my paternal grandmother one Christmas.   It is a lovely Victorian design of gold, amethyst and seed pearls and while not particularly valuable it has a great sentimental value to me as it was given to my grandmother on her 21st birthday.  She gave it to me "to make sure I got it" and I have always treasured it.  It is always much admired when I wear it and I hope at some future date to pass it on to my own granddaughter.


And the final hop in this advent calendar is to Shirlee

I wish each and everyone of you a happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas and New Year with just the right amount of stitching time and stitching goodies.