Santa Arrives Tonight!

...Well, last night.

I stitched and FINISHED an ornament, kids!



"Santa Arrives Tonight"
Designer: Homespun Elegance
Fabric: Unknown 30 ct. Linen
Fibers: Recommended DMC and cotton overdye with the substitution of Belle Soie "Icing" for snow
Date Complete: 26 August 2010




The dear sleigh. And the 'deer that I had to frog twice. Only 30 stitches, you say? But a pesky 30 they were! ;)





The shanty/Lean-to home makes my heart go pitter-pat. I put some snow on the roof, mostly 'cause I had to backstitch the porch post so it'd show up on the linen I chose.



I'm so glad I decided to try my hand at the braided finishing. It was easier to attach than I thought; "built-in" stitch here to attach to edge feature with the braid. My cording came out a little longer than I'd like, but I decided it was homespun and put a limit to my obsession.





This is 2009's ornament. Bought last summer. Planned for last year. Even has 2009 in the title, lol. I got "ornamented-out" from making a 6-instrument beaded ornie kit set from Mill Hill, and just couldn't do any more before the year ended. 2009 was the 5th Christmas Marc and I spent together, so I added the numeral.

You can see where I trimmed through the blanket stitch on the left; oops! I decided to just go for the homespun and cut another length of ecru and stitched over! :D Love it!



Have I told you how much I love blanket stitches? Also, I had to leave this 2009 'cause I spent forever charting up a "cute" "2009" last year and just HAD to use it.

I also love Homespun Elegance. Love, I tell you! Sandra's been putting in a lot of work to offer us a nice blog and even a freebie lately! o_o! You can see the picasa album of her autumn designs here. I've stitched more than one of them lately, let me tell you!

Meanwhile, I won Patty C.'s giveaway! It arrived just as I was ready to begin the finishing on SAT. She described it as the poppy pincushion (which I've been salivating over since she first started stitching it--whoopee!) and a few extras. What an anemic description! I was shocked speechless upon opening the box! 0_o (Brace yourself as this Giveaway sends the photo-count of this blog over the top!)



The "inner wrapping"!



Lift off "Out on a Limb" to reveal this treasure basket. :o



I love the apple pins! I think they're marking pins? Also, a watermelon-y crescent floss, and ribbon--I love grosgrain ribbon.



The star of the show! I really wanted to put some poppies in window boxes this year (generous Edgar even sent me some!) but it was not to be. Now, I have some that will last all winter! :D And they're gorgeous!





I think these are spider's web stitches.



Coquelicot! Yay! An adorable French vocab word; it's a region-specific type of poppy!





Santa has friends! :D I don't even like snowmen at Christmas, but I love this one! Now I know what Patti (Tapestry of Dreams) means when she says that the finishing on something is so good "it just isn't true". Patty is so talented! (Patti L, you are too! ;)







My first strawberry! The finishing on this is also breath-taking.



Marc was smitten with this because it's jingly (see the jingle bells nestled in there? And a "strawberry", his favorite fruit.

Well, Friends, it's the weekend! I hope you've all got a relaxing, stitchy, sunny, cool-weathered couple of days coming up. Thanks again for all your prayers and thoughts lately; they mean, and are helping so much. :)

Yours in Stitches,
Berit


Note: Those who admired the bunny cup and saucer in the last post can own their own (and the 3 companions) for the same price I paid plus shipping through the company's site here.