Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful...

Hey Blog Buddies,

Yes, the weather outside is frightful.  Yesterday we got about six inches of snow, and today it's very cold and windy.  And we're right smack dab in the middle of December, snow and cold, Christmas, the Winter Solstice -- and what am I doing?

Halloween in December

Yes, that's right, I still had one more ornament to do for the 2013 Halloween Ornament SAL...

I'm surprised the photo turned out --

it was so windy, the branch and ornament

were bobbing up and down.

Yes, the Nut was out without a coat,

taking photos of a Halloween ornament

in the snow and cold.

 

Here is the "Official Portrait"...

 

This is Knotted Tree NeedleArt's Little Owl Sampler

from the 2012 Just Cross Stitch Halloween Issue.

I had purple and orange #5 pearl cotton for the cording.

I asked DH the question:

Purple, orange, or both?

He said to go with solid orange, and I'm glad I did.

It brightens up the whole piece.

 

Stitchers are The Most Generous People

 

A little while ago I won Anne's giveaway at

Doll's Musings. 

It was her Third Blogoversary,

and she offered to stitch three small pieces,

for three different people.

The winners got to pick out their prizes

from an assortment of patterns selected by Anne.

I chose a Prairie Schooler fall pattern,

a crow on a pumpkin.

How cute is that?!!

I just love the way she finished it!

 

But that's not all...

These items were also in the envelope,

clockwise from top left:

small note pad, 3 skeins of floss, cute piece

of red-and-white fabric, lovely card,

Russian Earl Grey tea, cute hemstitch/eyelet piece

from Victoria Sampler, her stitched piece,

and a length of black rick rack.

 

This did not make the above photo:

A packet of the cutest seasonal buttons.

I was just about to go out searching

for snowflake buttons when her package came.

Thanks again, Anne!

 

Stitch from Stash 2014

 

It's the end of the year,

and the new 2014 virtual Stitch Alongs

are now gearing up on various blogs.

(No more Halloween ornaments for me next year!)

 

What I haven't mentioned here is

that I went on a new stash diet in the middle of October

(two months and counting).

I had told certain of my stitching buddies

that as of January 1st, all bets were off, but...

Mel at Epic Stitching is hosting Stitch from Stash,

and it sounds like it will be right up my alley.

If it sounds interesting to you,

click here to check it out. 

 

That's it from here.

Hope you had a great weekend.

Thanks, as always, for visiting!

Fraidy Cat

Hey Blog Buddies,
I finished--and ornamentified--my February Halloween ornament:  Fraidy Cat by Jamie Kile of Knotted Tree NeedleArt.

I'm not  totally satisfied with it...

The one strand of black doesn't cover all that well,

even on 40-count linen.

But I do like the orange linen (brighter IRL),

and it will certainly be hung on my tree come October.

I also managed to finish my prework

for the Nordic Needle Retreat

intermediate hardanger project...

...and I'm not even leaving until April 17th!

 

To celebrate this victory over procrastination,

I started a new piece:

Little House Needlework's Home of a Needleworker.

That will be my rotation piece for this week (photo soon).

DH is now beginning to ask questions about

just how many WIPs I have.

Actually, the WIPs are at five now.

The UFOs are another story!

 

Hope you had a groovy weekend.

Thanks for visiting!