Winding down the year

The final days of each year seem to signal the end of yet another chapter in one's life history... It's always so hard to believe that another year has flown by so quickly, isn't it? We end the year on such a busy note with the preparation for Thanksgiving in late November right into the excitement and bustling days of the Christmas season. I have to admit, I'm truly looking forward to the peace and quiet that a new year brings--how about you? 

Our Christmas was nice, but not quite the "whole family together" time that I had pictured. My middle son came down with some sort of stomach flu and neither he nor his girlfriend were here on Christmas morning. The hardest part of his illness for him? Having to miss out on our traditional once-a-year homemade cinnamon rolls (you can find the recipe right here)! Oh, we saved a couple for him, but it wasn't quite the same as sitting down for  Christmas brunch with the whole family. We also saved his presents and the ones he had given all of us and opened them two days later when he felt well enough to come over again. Unbelievably, not a single one of the rest of us got sick!

Another odd thing about Christmas this year was the weather... it was such a warm and rainy week! We did get a bit of sunshine on Christmas Day itself, but that was it. And the temperature... it was 60° here in western Pennsylvania--the eighth warmest Christmas on record! I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually missing snow right now.

As the end of this year draws near, I have a number of folks I'd like to thank--there are just so many kind and caring fellow stitchers out there! I enjoyed opening each gift and card so much and  want to share what I received for Christmas this year...

From June in England: a beautifully stitched card, a sweet Tralala chart, some finishing accessories and a Christmas towel. Thank you, my friend!

 

From Manuela in Germany: the cutest little snowman card, a pretty-in-pink hexie mug rug, and two floss tags. Thank you, my friend!

From Cindy C. (cindycstitches on Instagram): a beautifully stitched ornament featuring Santa and his deer. Thank you, my friend!

From Stasi in Virginia: an adorable (and very appropriately named!) ornament. This is a design by Mani di Donna. Thank you, my friend!

From Vickie in Wisconsin: a charming little star ornament. Thank you, my friend!

From Claire in Canada (blackberryhill1 on Instagram): The most darling woolen strawberry adorned with a sweet angel and a Santa Claus floss holder. Thank you, my friend!

From Robin in Virginia: a beautifully stitched Silver Bells ornament. Thank you, my friend!

From Cindy in Tennessee (cindyderosa on Instagram): a lovely blue bird ornament. Thank you, my friend!

From Martina and Gabi in Germany: sweetly stitched cards which I plan on making into ornaments. Thank you, my friends!

From Nathalie in France: some pretty pastel ribbons, lip balm, and incense. Thank you, my friend!

What a lucky stitcher I am, wouldn't you agree? And thank you, too, for the lovely Christmas cards I received from many of you... Sandy P., Marilyn, Tricia, Barb R., Karen Y., Lee, and Kim H. I do love receiving a real Christmas card in my mailbox even though that tradition seems to be fading away these days. Just call me old-fashioned! 

As Christmas draws closer, I move my newest dozen ornaments from the garland going up my stairs to our tree and replace them with stitched ornaments I've received from so many of you throughout the years. These will stay up until the new year. 

My garland now bears many, many ornaments sent from stitching friends over the years.

Both sides are covered with so many wonderful gifts!

Here are the six lovely new ornaments I received this year.

The saga of Mister B and the elf... Do you all remember the photo of the little mechanized elf I showed you in my last post? For those of you who missed it, here is the impish fellow once again...

The little elf was met with a lot of suspicion by Mister B!

I was sure that my 3-year-old grandson would love him. Wrong! He was quite wary of him and  simply stared at him with wide-eyes for quite a while. At first he refused to go near him, telling me, "he looks dangerous!" He slowly got up his nerve to draw closer and proudly told me, "I touched his hat!" And, after being told many times that the elf's saw wasn't going to hurt him (that it was actually made of wood), he finally got up his nerve to touch it. Watching the whole scenario develop over a few days time was so cute. He was very proud when he and the elf finally became "friends!"

Mister B's not quite sure if that elf is to be trusted or not!

It was such fun watching Mister B discover each one of my Christmas decorations--the Nativity Set, the little tree on my kitchen table, the Christmas lights shining around the house and in our neighborhood...

Helping to rearrange Nonna's little Christmas village

As always food (well... sweets to be exact!) was a big part of our holiday. I ended up making my grandmother's homemade caramels, slowly stirring them for nearly 2 1/2 hours. Oh, they were delicious--so smooth and buttery! My husband nicely wrapped each one in wax paper--the part of making these goodies that I really don't enjoy.

Gram B's yummy homemade caramels--a Christmas tradition

I've been asked for this recipe many times, so I thought some of you might like to try making them for yourself. Just make sure to have a good candy thermometer and lots of patience!

A very special family recipe

 

Of course, Christmas cookies were also on hand and below are some of our favorites. 

I sure went through a lot of butter in my baking this year!

We spent an afternoon decorating gingerbread  cookies a few days after Christmas. What fun to watch my grandson with some of his "creative" decorating style (read that: dumping a lot of sprinkles on to each and every cookie!). And, of course, those were his favorite ones to eat, too!

The more sprinkles, the better!

I could go on and on posting photos of our Christmas, but I'll  leave you with this last one.

Christmas morning with Mister B!

So, that's a wrap on 2023... it was a quiet year for us. I have to say I'm relieved after the ups and downs of the previous few years. We do hope to travel more in the coming year... We realize we aren't getting any younger and know that, one of these days, traveling will be out of the question. Do you have any plans for your coming year? Whatever they may be, I hope your new year is filled with much love and laughter, good health, and happy days. Try to enjoy the simple things in life... often they bring the most joy, don't you agree? Thank you, one and all for taking the time to read my little blog, leave a friendly word or two, and inspire me with all of your stitching. I'll see you next year! Bye for now...

Wishing you all the best life has to offer in the New Year!

200 and counting!

Ornaments, that is! Yes, this year, I reached a milestone as I passed the 200 mark (203 to be exact) with my stitched ornaments. There are actually only 181 on this tree, though, because 22 of them are displayed in my Pottery Barn cubby. My tree is up and the presents are patiently resting underneath just waiting to be opened on Christmas morning. In keeping with tradition, we'll let my grandson open one present on Christmas Eve and I bet I know exactly which one he'll choose--the largest one! Do you have any traditions when it comes to your tree or gift opening? We try to open our gifts one by one, but with nine people this Christmas morning, that may take a bit too long. We'll see what happens! I'm so looking forward to this entire weekend and the following week--family time with all nine of us present is so rare these days. I'm going to treasure each moment... (well, maybe not all of the cooking :) 

My cross-stitch Christmas tree: 2023

Here are a few close-ups for you from top to bottom...

Love the trio of Prairie Schooler angels

And here is the view from my sunroom  into the family room where I have another tiny tree on my bookshelf. 

 The little tree on the bookshelf  on the right is just two feet high and has a mixture of gingerbread ornaments and snowflakes.

Did you happen to notice the tiny elf peeking out at you in the first photo on the left? He is making an appearance after many years of being boxed up in the attic because my grandson will be here this year and I know he'll love him! This elf was a constant Christmas companion when my sons were growing up. When he is turned on, his arm moves back and forth as if he were sawing wood. (It actually looks like he's about to cut his own arm off, but... ) I can't wait to see my grandson's reaction when he first sees him. 

I'm sure 3-year-old "Mister B" will be enchanted by this 21-inch elf!

Love the view at night, too--my sunroom is filled with windows, skylights, and doors and the reflection of the tree lights is almost magical.

"Blue Christmas"... I mentioned earlier that 22 of my ornaments are not on my tree, but are displayed in my Pottery Barn cubby this year. I chose to pull many of the blue-themed ornaments and display them in the cubby in my family room. If you look closely, you'll see that most of them are snowmen or Santas, but there are a few houses and a pretty bird, as well. You probably know by this time that my favorite color is blue so this display certainly makes me smile each time I walk by!

My "Blue Christmas" cubby

Here are some close-ups. I'm sorry, I don't have time right now to identify each ornament in this post, but if you have a question about a particular one, just email me (make sure to include your email address, too!), and I'll get back to you with an answer.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite? I think mine is the crescent-shaped Prairie Schooler Santa in the lower left space. And you know what one of the best things is about this display?  I can simply replace the Santas with other snow-themed finishes and leave it up all winter! 

♥ And in the very center, as always, is the silhouette of my dear mother ♥

This is actually one of my favorite days of the year! Why, you may ask? Well, it's simply because, after today, the days will start getting longer again. I relish the extra light in the evenings, even though it may not be noticeable for a while yet. I still remember, very vividly, a moment with my second son who was born in early December 1985. Like any young mother, I was exhausted and a bit depressed. One January evening, while I sat in his bedroom singing to him as we rocked back and forth in the creaky wooden rocking chair, I happened to glance out the window. My eyes widened and my tired face brightened as I realized it was still light out--even at almost 6 PM! Somehow, that fact soothed me and I knew brighter days were coming. From that moment on, I always associated the Winter Solstice with the start of lighter, brighter days...

In four days another Christmas will dawn. I hope it's a very special one for each of you. I'll have my entire family with me this year so I'm sure it will be for me. But, I know some of you are far from your families or dealing with serious illnesses or worries. I'm sure it's hard to be "merry" under those circumstances. So, my wish for you is a peaceful Christmas, my friends. Take care now and I'll see you soon. Bye for now...

Wishing you a peaceful Christmas

A new year begins...

January is half over and I haven't even popped in to wish you all a Happy New Year yet! I hope your 2023 is off to a great start... All is fine here and tomorrow I'll be celebrating yet another birthday. How can that be? It feels as though I just wrote about my 67th birthday and here I am 365 days later... Yes, I'm turning 68 tomorrow--just two years left until the big one! I've received some lovely birthday gifts and cards which I'll share with you in my next post. Today, I want to concentrate on the last of my stitching for 2022--the gifts I sent to friends around the world. As I've said, many times, I so wish I could send out more gifts, but I am only human. Perhaps if I could exist on two hours of sleep each night? Anyway... I hope you enjoy these and, perhaps, get some inspiration for stitching gifts of your own.

This JBW Designs star is from a chart called "French Country Ornaments." I left off the word "star" that was on the original chart and finished it as a simple round ornament. This one is stitched on 40 ct. white Newcastle linen with one strand of Sulky thread 1169 (which is similar in color to DMC 221). I made some cording using DMC 221 and added a gingham bow and gold star charm to the bottom of the ornament.

JBW Designs "French Country Ornaments"

 

The Prairie Schooler deer design is one I've stitched before--a couple of times in fact! It is from the 1998 Just Cross Stitch Ornament magazine and is called "Two by Two: Deer." It was stitched on a piece of 40 ct. mystery linen with the suggested DMC colors. Again, I made some cording and added a gingham bow (have you noticed how much I love little gingham bows?!).

Prairie Schooler "Two by Two: Deer"

This pair of Prairie Schooler Santas will also look familiar as they among my favorites to stitch for gifts. I've stitched this one at least six times, I think! One of these was a Christmas gift, one was a thank you gift and, I'm happy to say, both were very well received. This Santa is from the Prairie Schooler "Kris Kringle" (book no. 62) and was finished into an oval. I believe these were stitched on 40 ct. raw natural Newcastle linen--not quite sure as I forgot to write it down.

Prairie Schooler "Kris Kringle" (book no. 62)

Another design that I've stitched several times before is the JBW Designs "Christmas Motif Sampler II." These are such fun pieces to stitch with all the miniature motifs charted to form a Christmas tree. I stitched it "over one" on 25 ct. Victorian green Lugana using DMC 3865. I did make one change and substituted another bunny for the deer that was charted underneath the tree. I liked the symmetry of the two rabbits facing each other (of course!). The two-toned cording and satin bow finished it off quite nicely, don't you think?

JBW Designs "Christmas Motif Sampler II"

This sweet cardinal stitched on black is one of my favorites! He is from the Plum Pudding Needleart "Winter's Song" chart. For this one, I used 28 ct. black Monaco and the suggested DMC colors. Such a cheerful little ornament!

Plum Pudding Needleart "Winter's Song"

My final stitched gifts were made into cards for various friends. The three on the right you'll recognize because I stitched that design for my November 2022 ornament, too. It is by Heart In Hand and is called "Pocket Round: December 25." It's stitched on 40 ct Vintage Country Mocha Newcastle using a mixture of DMC and overdyed threads. The pink design (using DMC 3326) is a freebie from L'R de rien which you can find right here. I used 40 ct. white Newcastle to make it small enough to fit into the card opening. Finally, the card on the bottom left may look familiar because it is a smaller version of my ornament from December (which you can find more information about here). It is a sweet motif from Madame Chantilly's "Celebrate Winter" chart  and is stitched on 40 ct. raw natural Newcastle linen using most of the suggested DMC colors.

 Stitched cards sent to friends around the world

 

Last, but certainly not least--I stitched an ornament for my 2 1/2 year old grandson's third Christmas. I thought this Annie Beez Folk Art design was so adorable with that cute snowman trying to sell his wagon full of snowballs for 5 cents each! It is part 4 of her "Snowy 9 Patch" designs. The original had a square red zig-zag border, but I wanted a round ornament so I gave the poor one-armed snowman another arm and left off the border. This was the first time I had stitched on the 32 ct. petit point raw/white Belfast linen and, to my surprise, I rather enjoyed it! The coverage of the white printed dots was quite good using two strands of thread. I stitched Mister B's name "over one" using black DMC thread and it looks so cute. For privacy, though, I've covered up most of the name.

Annie Beez Folk Art "Snowy 9 Patch" (block 4)

And here is a photo of the little elf himself "fixing" the tree at our belated Christmas celebration last Sunday in Maryland. He rearranged the ornaments many, many times as you can imagine! I just can't get over how tall he has grown--very "long and lean" as they say. What a change from the little baby shown in this photo on his very first Christmas back in 2020!

Santa's little helper--Mister B!

Thank goodness I snapped a photo of him in his Santa suit early on as that hat didn't last long! Here he is again with Nonna and Pompaw before opening presents. We had such a fun morning watching him open his gifts! He was so excited over each and every little thing (well, except for the clothes--ha ha!). My youngest son and his girlfriend were also able to join us as they live just 40 minutes away from my grandson and his family in the heart of Washington, DC. We all enjoyed  a tasty brunch of blueberry pancakes, French toast casserole, scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, and orange juice before opening gifts. I'm already looking forward to next Christmas when everyone will be here!

Belated Christmas in Maryland

I meant to share the following photos with you in my last post, but it slipped my mind. After I take the "Parade of Ornaments" pictures each year, I move my dozen new ornaments to my Christmas tree. But, I certainly don't want to leave the stairway garland bare so I've begun filling it with ornaments I have been given over the years. Some are from long ago friends who no longer blog, some are from current stitchers and Instagram friends. Chances are, if you've ever sent me an ornament--it is on this garland. I love seeing these beautiful reminders of stitching friendships that started from the time I began blogging in 2009. Thank you one and all--these mean so much to me!

Ornaments from stitching friends around the world!

 

Giveaway winner... Thank you for joining in on the fun and answering the last "Getting to Know You" question! I enjoyed reading about your goals and resolutions for this new year. So far, I'm not doing very well on my goal of getting out of bed earlier--it's just too cold! I want to snuggle under the covers and read the morning away! I hope you are all achieving your own goals a bit better...  I had several entries for the Waxing Moon winter chart and the winner is...

Kathy H. from New Hampshire

Kathy H.--you are the winner of the "Winter Things" chart. Please email me with your address and I'll get the chart off to you this week!

If you are a Christmas ornament stitcher, you may wish to join me in my #12in23ornament stitch along over on Instagram. The goal is to stitch and finish one ornament each month in order to have a dozen new ornaments for your tree (or to give as gifts) by year's end. It's so much fun to see the cute finishes from stitchers around the world each month and it's a wonderful way to "meet" new stitching friends. No need to sign up--just add the hashtag #12in23ornamentstitchalong to your ornament posts on Instagram. This is our third year creating ornaments for the stitch along and we'd love to have you join us!

A new year--a new ornament stitch along begins!

 

My views on January have definitely changed over the past few years... I used to hate the month and dread the way its gray days and cold nights seemed to drag on forever. But now I relish the peace and quiet of the month after the hustle-bustle of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I enjoy the soft blues and whites in my more limited decorations and I truly enjoy the extra time I have to stitch, read, and just putter around the house. Who else loves to putter (or potter as they say in England!)? There is nothing better than a day with no outside commitments where you can just stay inside and do whatever makes you smile! So, January--forgive me... for so long I viewed you as my least favorite month. Now you've jumped near the top of the list! 

My grandma's dough bowl is filled with lots of pale blue and white ornaments and is sitting on a vintage quilt from my husband's family. The whole vignette makes for a cozy winter scene on our kitchen table this month!

And that wraps up the first post of the new year! Did you know that January 24th will mark the 14th anniversary of my blog? The world of blogging has seen many changes since I began "Stitching Dreams" in 2009, hasn't it? Reading blogs has definitely become less popular, but I still view it as my primary connection to cross stitchers. The relationships formed are stronger and much less superficial than those made on other social media platforms. So, thank you--each one of you, who has left a comment or sent an email my way because of "Stitching Dreams." You've touched my life in such wonderful ways. Here's to another year of successful blogging and stitching--I hope you'll join me! Bye for now...