Finishes and Florida

Hello everyone! Gosh, it is already January 9th and this is only my first post of the new year... I am just in awe watching many of you work on your 15-day challenge projects--you're not making it any easier to achieve my goal of "stitching from stash" this year, that's for sure. I wanted to share with you some of my final Christmas ornaments from 2010 that I sent to friends across the country...

This Prairie Schooler from the "Santas & Snowmen" chart made it's way to Myra in North Carolina. Myra liked it so much she decided to purchase the chart and stitch the other designs for herself:

This quartet of snowmen found a new home with Cindy in New York. This is a freebie which you can find right here. I'm sorry, but I don't know the designer--if anyone can help me out, I'd appreciate it (Edited on 1/10/11: thanks to Gabi from Germany who shared the designer's name with me! This design can be found on Les Chroniques de Frimousse.)


My sister in New York is now the proud owner of this little Brittercup kitty ornament. I stitched it in memory of her dear black cat, Cinders. She has always been very appreciative of my hand-stitched ornaments and I love making them for her:


I actually stitched two of these Prairie Schooler snowflakes (from PS Book No. 23: "A Prairie Year II.") One traveled across the state of Pennsylvania to my dear friend Mary and the other made its way all the way to California to a new blogging friend Julianne. I like this one so much, I'm planning on stitching it a third time just for myself:

And Shari in Indiana was such a good girl this Christmas, that she received this Told In A Garden angel ornament. With her son serving in the military, I thought it would hold special meaning for her. This is a free design which I've added to my "Favorite Freebies" list in my sidebar along with the snowmen design pictured above:
I really loved stitching and surprising a few of my friends with these and hope to send out even more surprise ornaments next Christmas for additional blogging buddies...I think I'm going to secretly stitch ornaments all year and hide them away until December rolls around!

Are any of you familiar with this book? Well, last Tuesday, when I flew down to Florida to visit my parents, my day could easily have rivaled Alexander's "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." I am not a great flyer--flying only once a year doesn't make it any more comfortable for me. But to calm my nerves, I took along a small project to stitch while waiting for the plane. I pulled out the fabric and the threads and the scissors (airplane approved) and my needle and--oh no, my pattern was not there! Ugh--I had left it at home beside my stitching chair. The stitching withdrawal symptoms began immediately...


Once on the plane I was delighted to find myself seated across the aisle from a girl who sneezed non-stop for the 2½ hour plane ride. I kid you not--the entire trip. I've never seen anything like it! Her mother, seated next to me, filled up an entire large white plastic bag with her used tissues. Can you say "ewww?!!"

After we landed, my son and I immediately went to the car rental counter to pay for our reserved car. I gave them my license and credit card, signed the paperwork, and away we walked to pick up the car. Well, when we got to the car pickup location, they had no record of me ever having rented the car! What? I just signed the papers five minutes earlier! For 30 minutes, we stood waiting and waiting while several employees walked back and forth trying to solve the problem. "Are you sure it wasn't rented under a different name?" "Are you positive it was this car rental company you used?" Sigh...finally, they figured out the problem and offered to upgrade the car. We told them it wasn't necessary, but they insisted. Now, an upgrade to some people would have been exciting; to the two of us who know nothing about cars...well, it was meaningless. They told us to pick a car and my son simply pointed to the first car he saw.

Well, let's just say this car, classified as a "sports" sedan had a lot more power than this middle-aged mini-van driver is used to! You know what's coming, right? Flashing lights appeared in my rear-view mirror--the Florida State Police had decided to set up a speed trap for all of us unsuspecting tourists. $134 later I pulled back onto the highway and continued my drive to my parents' condo with tear-streaked cheeks. It wasn't just the ticket, I was just so tired, and the entire day had been less than ideal. (Well, to be honest, I also thought about how much stash I could have bought with that ticket money!).

After we arrived in Daytona Beach, unpacked the car, and rode the elevator to the 14th floor, I spied my parents waiting outside their front door. Mom immediately sensed that it had been a long, hard day and when she wrapped her loving arms around me suddenly everything was right with the world. There is nothing like a hug from mom to erase all your worries is there?

The weather wasn't sunny and warm like I had hoped for, but we did get one nice day. Oh, and I brought home a "lovely" souvenir from my trip; Saturday morning I woke up with a cold--yes, I had caught Miss Sneezy's cold from the plane trip down--my first cold in three years. Sigh...



Thank you all for visiting me today--I really loved reading your comments about my Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow finish last time. Isn't it wonderful how we all support each other in this little stitching world? I appreciate each and every one of you more than you know... And remember to stop by next week for my annual birthday / blogoverary giveaway post! Bye now...