2011 Christmas Ornaments and Crazy for Cranberries

Good morning my friends! And how is the countdown to Christmas progressing for you? I'm slowly making some headway, however it seems to be taking me longer than ever this year. If I can just get my cards done and a few more cookies baked, I think I'll be in fairly good shape, though! I do have some good news--my final monthly ornament has been stitched and finished and I couldn't be more pleased seeing them all displayed together. My December ornament is from a very old Leisure Arts Magazine from way back in February 1993. It is actually just the bottom motif of a very pretty monochromatic sampler called "Woodland Peace". I enjoyed stitching it so much, that you may just be seeing other motifs from this sampler stitched up as ornaments in the future.












DMC 3750 was used for my December ornament--and it has to be one of my favorite DMC colors. It's blue after all and I love any and all shades of that color as I'm sure you know if you are a regular reader of my blog. This skating scene is stitched over one on 28 ct. white evenweave and then accented with a pretty coordinating blue snowflake fabric, some tiny lace trim, a silver button, and a couple of silver bells. This whole ornament has such a nice old-fashioned appeal, don't you think?

So do you want to see my 2011 monthly ornaments displayed all together? Do you? Do you really? I've had emails and comments saying just how much some of you enjoyed last year's 2010 ornament post and I'm truly touched. So, I decided to recreate it for you with this year's ornaments (all pictures are clickable for a bigger view)...

Monthly Ornaments: 2011

2011 Monthly Ornaments: January ~ March

2011 Monthly Ornaments: April ~ June

2011 Monthly Ornaments: July ~ September

2011 Monthly Ornaments: October ~ December

Do you have a favorite? I think mine is my October ornament "Good Tidings To You," but close seconds are November's "Oh, Joy" and January's "Santa Quartet." I tried to make each one a bit special with added buttons, bows, and bells. Some are frilly, some cute, some a bit country, and some are more traditional--but, overall, I'm very proud of my "2011 Collection"!

On to the second part of my blog post title: Crazy For Cranberries... Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Lee and Linda for lunch and a bit of shopping and stitching. I wanted to take them a little gift for Christmas so I whipped up two of these tiny treasures. What does this have to do with cranberries?







Well, the name of this design is Cranberry Deer Pinkeep by Beehive Needleworks. It was the first time I had ever stitched one of Judy's designs and I really enjoyed it. These are stitched over one on some mystery 28 ct. linen with DMC 221 (which I call the Prairie Schooler Christmas red!). I couldn't decide whether to turn them into hanging ornaments or just leave them as pinkeeps so I included a little hanger made out of the same cording for Lee and Linda. That way they can decide how they want to display their pieces and it took the pressure off me. Too many decisions this month anyway, don't you think?


I also gave each of them a loaf of my Cranberry Pumpkin Bread. Here is a photo of all that I was able to hide away from my husband who is just crazy about this stuff. It has a really unique flavor with the tang of the cranberries and the sweetness of the pumpkin and spices. A perfect bread for this time of year and it's always a big hit when I serve it at Thanksgiving, too. If anyone wants the recipe, just let me know...

So what started my cranberry craze? Well, my two older sons came over for their usual Sunday night dinner last week and I mentioned that I really wanted to string popcorn and cranberries to use as the garland on my tree in the kitchen. Honestly, the looks they gave me--it was like I had just grown another head or something. They thought that was one of the silliest ideas ever: "Why on earth would you want to do that, mom?!!" Because, it's something I always wanted to do...Because, to me, stringing popcorn represents a time when Christmas wasn't so crazy busy and handmade gifts and simple, good cheer were more abundant...Because, simply put, it would make me happy...

So, I set out to do it all by myself (which seems to happen a lot at Christmas time when you are the lone female in a family with older sons!)... Did you know that you can pop regular old popcorn right in the microwave?? Who knew?? All you do is take about 1/4 cup of plain popcorn, place it in a small, brown paper lunch bag, fold down the top edges several times, lay it on its side, and microwave it on high for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes (remove when the popping slows down so it doesn't burn). I then took some invisible thread, a long, strong needle, and my cranberries and set to work. You can use any pattern you want, but I chose a three popcorns to one cranberry ratio. One hint to make the stringing easier is to use day old popcorn so it doesn't crumble as easily.



The result of my efforts were these cranberry and puffy white garlands that now adorn my little "snowman" tree in my kitchen. What do you think? For years we had had this 4-foot tree downstairs in the basement where the boys and their friends used to gather to play video games or watch television. But, with my sons all grown and gone now, I decided to bring it up into the kitchen. I wish I had done this years ago as I just love seeing the soft white lights as we eat dinner or do the dishes each evening. Yes, every single ornament on it is a snowman with the exception of a few red and green jingle bells... We have snowmen (and a few snowwomen) of every size and shape. There are sledding snowmen, skating snowmen, even a snowman fishing. (None of my stitched snowmen are on this little three foot tree--I save them for my big tree). With all those tiny faces grinning at me each morning, it certainly gets my day off to a great start!

Snowman Tree: December 2011

I recently lent one of my charts to my friend, Lynn, in Canada and as a thank you she surprised me with this lovely tree of gifts. A smiling snowman notepad, a snowman magnet, and the prettiest snowflake fabric in the most wonderful blue color. Thank you so much, Lynn--it was not necessary at all; I was happy to share my chart with you. But, I truly appreciate your kind gifts...


My first Christmas gift arrived all the way from England... Just look at what my friend, June, made for me! The prettiest pink and brown heart-shaped sampler I've ever seen. And look, there is a little cat at the girl's feet...Just adorable, June--you couldn't have made a better choice for me. Your work is so special and perfect and I will treasure it always. Thank you for thinking of me and for the pretty blue thread as well! I can't wait to find the perfect project for it...

I'm so sorry these posts of mine are so exhaustingly long--thank you to any one who has reached this final paragraph! Perhaps in 2012 I'll start learning to write shorter posts and post more often. We'll see... Enjoy your week and, as always, thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments. I so appreciate each and every one! Bye for now...