December IHSW - A Finish and A Start

Hey Blog Buddies,

This is the last IHSW for 2012, and it was a good weekend here for indoor activities such as stitching:  chilly, gray and rainy all weekend.  I did do things other than stitch:  got my Christmas cards done--another indoor activity.  But Christmas card writing is not what brought you here.  Let's check out my finish...

This is my fifth (of five) Laura J. Perin canvaswork ornament.

The first four were from her

American Quilt Collection, Holiday Ornaments-Series 1.

Not wanting to have to stitch a duplicate from there

(I plan on finishing the five as a cube),

I discovered a bonus ornament chart to go along with

her Red Hot Peppers chart which I also have.

I switched the colors around to make it Christmasy.

Here is a collage of the first four charts

to refresh your memory...

All five of these charts are at the finisher's as I write this.

They won't be ready for Christmas,

but I've got a headstart on the holidays for 2013!

Recently, I've been kitting up a lot of things for next year,

and I had a hankering to start one of them.

But I was good (surprise!) and went off of my 2012 list

and started Plum Street Samplers' Hare's Christmas.

I got more done than I expected...

The fabric is a pretty buttercream,

but the lighting was bad for all the photos.

I decided to stitch this one in hand,

and I think the stitching went faster.

Back in the day (waay back in the day),

I stitched most projects in hand,

but then went to Q-snaps.

Anything bigger than 6" x 6" is a little too heavy

(for me at this point)

if you don't have a gizmo to hold your work.

I have priced a couple of systems out,

and they are quite expensive.

So for now, this will be my

stitching method of choice.

Thank you so much, Joyce, for hosting

this fun SAL this year, and I'm looking forward

to joining in again in 2013.

To see what my fellow hermitters have been up to,

go to Joyce's blog.

That's it for now.

Thank you for all the wonderful comments,

and thanks, as always, for visiting!