And so a new year begins...

Happy January, my friends! How is everyone faring in this, the very first week of a newly minted year? I've seen that many of you are getting snow, but, here, it's just green grass and sunshine this week. Such a strange winter so far--we've received nothing more than a dusting of snow that quickly melted. I'm beginning to think our whole winter will be like this. 

I fully intended on one last post in 2021, but with my grandson and his parents here for two weeks, I just had no free time. I took the advice my own mom gave me when I was a busy young mother--sleep when the child sleeps. I went to bed early and at least laid down to rest when "Mister B" napped. I'm feeling all of my 67 years (well, I'll be 67 in 12 days!) and now fully understand why you have kids at a young age! Whew! But, oh we had fun! I am just amazed at the words he is learning to say every day--big words like pinecone, candle, tunnel, twinkle... I love just watching his little mind at work. We danced and sang and had the best time with him. Such a smiley, happy little soul!

Needless to say, no stitching was done at all during the visit--oh, how I missed it and it made me realize (even more) just how much of a stress reliever it is for me. Luckily, I do have some ornaments that I made for the youngsters in our family to share with you today...

Three ornaments for three dear little ones!

From left to right, I'll give you the details on each ornament seen above... The sweet rabbit in the Christmas stocking is a freebie called "Remy Rabbit" from Brooke's Books that you can find right here. It looks quite a bit different from the charted design as I left off the border and the number 18 (it is part of an Advent calendar so all of the designs have large numbers on them). I also changed a few of the colors and made it into an oval by adding various snowflakes. This is stitched on 40 ct. water green Newcastle which is fast becoming one of my favorite fabrics for ornament stitching.

"Remy Rabbit" freebie by Brooke's Books

Many of you will recognize this JBW Designs gingerbread boy ornament as it is one I've stitched at least five times before! This cutie is stitched on 32 ct. black Belfast linen with DMC threads. I did fill in the gingerbread boy with DMC 167 rather than just outline him as was charted. I also stitched the little baby's name rather than the words "Baby's First Christmas." I added red beads for the holly berries and a miniature white pompom to the tip of his cap. Such a cute ornament for a baby's first Christmas, don't you think?

The 6th JBW gingerbread ornament I've stitched!

And finally, my grandson's ornament this year is designed by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery and can be found in the 2017 Just Cross Stitch Ornament magazine. It's called "Snow Much Fun at the North Pole" and is stitched on 40 ct. water green Newcastle linen with DMC and Anchor threads. I changed the base to green and white and stitched my grandson's name (which is blurred for privacy) in the white band. I also added some different snowflakes than were charted. The little penguin  got a white mini pompom added to his hat, too.

A little penguin for my little grandson!

My grandson opened his ornament while sitting at the kitchen table with us before breakfast and as soon as he saw it, he pointed to the little tree sitting in the center and said "Tee, tee!" He wanted me to hang it up on the tiny tree--so cute! So that is where it stayed until he went home, taking the ornament with him for his family tree. 

"Mister B" knew right where he wanted to hang his new ornament!

 

I have additional stitched ornaments that I sent out as gifts in 2021, but I'll share those with you in the next post. I received many lovely Christmas packages from wonderful stitching friends--thank you all so much. Here are the photos of them (in no particular order)...

A beautiful "Cricket Collection" mitten from Stasi (stasibbee on Instagram)

A darling cardinal ornament and acrylic "Stitch Starter" and case from Robin (robin_in_virginia on Instagram)

A beautiful Joy-filled ornament and some Jelly Bellies from Georgia (georgiawireman on Instagram)

The sweetest ivory colored wool strawberry and some floss cards from Claire (blackberryhill1 on Instagram)

A darling blue and white sewing tray, cute Santa chart, and some candy from June

A sweet stocking ornament made from a vintage hexie quilt from Vickie (stitchingvickie on Instagram)

A trio of beautiful cards from three friends in Germany: Left to right is a TIAG angel from Gabi; a lovely blue wreath from Martina (martinas_allerleihobby on Instagram); and a pretty quilt star from Manuela (manuelas_flowergarden on Instagram)

A truly lovely piece of hand embroidery made by my new friend from the Czech Republic, Eva

A darling "With Thy Needle and Thread" ornament from Cindy (cindyderosa on Instagram)

A lovely French cross stitch magazine and some finishing supplies from Nathalie

A luscious skein of red silk thread and a Santa Claus waxer from Cindy (cindycstitches on Instagram)

I have been blessed to "meet" so many wonderful stitchers from all over the world! Thank you one and all for thinking of me at Christmas time... I will treasure your gifts and think of you whenever I look at them! I also want to thank those of you who sent Christmas cards--I loved hearing from each of you. As I've said many times in the past, stitching friends are the best!

It's fun to look back on the past year and remember what you've stitched, isn't it? So many memories and times and places are attached to each piece. On Instagram these were my most liked photos--that Pottery Barn cubby seems to rank pretty high! I'm about ready to change it up for January with some smiling snowmen so I'll share that with you in my next post. 

In 2021, my Pottery Barn cubby and Christmas ornaments were liked the most on my Instagram Top Nine!

Once again, I am leading a monthly ornament stitchalong (SAL) on Instagram! If you'd like to join in on the fun, just post your finished ornaments each month using the hashtag #12in22ornamentstitchalong. It's a great way to meet new stitchers and be inspired by their work. We have stitchers from all over the world participating--France, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Spain, The United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Italy, The Ukraine, Canada, the United States, and more! There is a wonderfully supportive stitching community on Instagram so if you want to join in and follow me, you can do so right here! There is no pressure to stitch all twelve ornaments--just do the best that you can. Even if you only stitch one ornament, it's better than having no new ones to add to your tree, right? Just imagine how happy your tree will be come December with some beautiful brand-new handstitched ornaments hanging on it!

Are you interested in stitching an ornament each month? If so, join in on the #12in22ornamentstitchalong on Instagram--the more the merrier!

 

Christmas, although still wonderful, wasn't my best as I came down with some sort of stomach flu or food poisoning the afternoon of Christmas Eve Day! UGH--DOUBLE UGH! I had to go right to bed very early that evening and couldn't even help my little grandson set out milk and cookies for Santa. And after spending most of the early hours of Christmas day sick to my stomach in the bathroom, I was in no shape to help cook our traditional big Christmas breakfast. So we postponed it a day and just opened gifts on Christmas morning which worked out fine. My little grandson, "Mister B," was a bit confused by everything, but he loved all the wrapping paper and boxes! Here is my favorite photo of me reading his new cat book to him--a gift from my middle son and his girlfriend. I'm back to normal now, but it took a few days to get my strength back and my stomach to calm down. On the plus side, I think that was the first Christmas ever that I didn't gain any weight!

I could sit and read to my sweet grandson all day! He absolutely loved his new cat book from his uncle!

 

New Year's Eve was quiet here--we all ended up watching the movie "The Proposal" (again!) in honor of sweet Betty White who passed away that day. I am still shocked that she didn't make it to 100, but what a wonderful life she had. I am always rather sad on New Year's Eve for some reason and really think about and miss my dear mom and dad that day.

Happiest moment of the year... It's been our tradition for many years to go around the dinner table and talk about our happiest moment (or one of them!) of the year that is just ending. What would you pick? Mine was something that happened on our first visit to my grandson's new home in Maryland in early October. When we arrived, he was napping, but as soon as he woke up his mom went up to get him. As she was carrying him down the stairs, he caught sight of me, gave a little squeal, and began kicking his legs madly. He reached out to me and practically jumped into my arms. I think that was when I realized that he truly knew who I was and knew I was someone special in his life. Just thinking about it now, makes me smile :) What would you say is one of your happiest moments of 2021? I'd love to hear about it!

So, that's it--my first post of 2022! I want to thank all of you who have followed me for the past 13 years! My blog will be entering it's 14th year later this month--can you believe it? Have any of you read along since the beginning in 2009? I think there might be a couple of you out there :) I also want to give a warm welcome to all of you new followers as well--so glad you are here. It warms my heart to know you find my little old blog interesting enough to visit. Wishing you every happiness in this new year! Bye for now...