Christmas in July

How's everyone doing? Staying cool, I hope? Whew--this heatwave is beyond anything I can remember in all of my 70 years and I'm so very thankful to have air conditioning... Just last evening, my husband said, "I can't imagine this summer without AC." I know it's not common in some parts of the U.S. and many countries internationally. Do you have it in your home? When I was growing up in upstate New York (south of Buffalo), we did not have whole house air conditioning. We had wall units in the kitchen and in my parents' bedroom, but that was it. I remember a few nights each summer just lying in bed unable to sleep due to the heat and humidity. But, that was only three or four nights each year... With today's summer heat, those long sleepless nights would be more like half the summer, I fear.

But, the good thing about the heat? It forces me to sit inside and stitch! Lucky, aren't we, to have this hobby of ours during seemingly endless hot summer days? I got a bit behind on my monthly ornament stitching due to all the time I've been spending with my grandsons this summer, but am finally caught up with my June and July ornaments. I think you'll recognize both of them as Prairie Schooler designs--always my favorite! My ornament for June comes from an old PS free chart which is unnamed so I'll just call it "Santa Paddling His Canoe." It is stitched on 40 ct. R&R Salt Marsh linen (which has a pale sage green hue) using the suggested DMC threads (except I Smyrna-stitched his eye using 3031). 

My ornament for June--an old freebie from Prairie Schooler.

I felt like this piece deserved a rustic finish, so it was back to my camp counselor days (yes, I was a counselor at a Camp Fire Girl day camp the summer I was 19)--time to create another twig frame. I've made this type of frame with two other PS pieces and am so pleased with how this one turned out. I simply went outside to our brush pile and found a relatively straight branch from a birch tree, cut it into pieces, and glued them on to the sticky-board mounted piece to form a rectangle. At the top, I glued on a branch of artificial evergreens, some dried berries, and a corded hanger. The back is covered with a piece of felt. Love how it turned out!

Love the way the greenish spots on the birch twigs pick up the color of the fabric.

Here are the three PS twig-framed Santas... My favorite is at the top, stitched "over one" on 28 ct. black Monaco, that I created way back in 2011. I just love this green-robed Santa with his bundle of tiny logs. You can read about the Santa on black in this post. And the one driving the truck full of Christmas trees can be viewed in this post. 

A trio of twig framed Prairie Schooler Santas--do you have a favorite?

For my July ornament, I chose to stitch the annual Prairie Schooler annual Santa from way back in 1998. He is stitched "over one" on 25 ct. mushroom Lugana using the suggested DMC threads. The only change I made was to omit the giraffe that was hanging from the ark--it looked (to me, anyway!), like he had a broken neck! What do you think--you can see the original chart here. 

Stitched "over one"--so tiny and cute!

I finished this as a simple pillow using green cording and a green and cream gingham bow. Nothing fancy--I like to let the stitching shine when it comes to these handsome PS annual Santas.

The 1998 Prairie Schooler annual Santa is my ornament for July

 

June and July 2025 ornaments

 

As I mentioned in my last post, my entire family met up for a week of celebrations at a rental house right on beautiful Deep Creek Lake in Maryland earlier this month. I don't think I've ever eaten so much cake in my life! My oldest grandson, Mister B, celebrated five years, my youngest son celebrated 37 years, and my husband had the biggest celebration of all as he turned the big 7-0! Yes, he's caught up with me--the older woman! I have him beat by six whole months. 

Mister B originally wanted a Batman themed party, but at the last minute he changed his mind and decided he wanted a Snoopy party. Quite the change for sure! So my oldest son scrambled and ordered some Snoopy/Peanuts gang decorations to decorate the rental house. 

Aww... can you believe Mister B is five years old already? He loved his Snoopy themed party and his excited smile says it all!

Upon hearing about the change to a Snoopy theme, I found a quick-to-stitch design of everyone's favorite cartoon pup online. I think it took me all of two days to stitch and finish it--probably my fastest fully finished item ever! Isn't it cute? I stitched it on 28 ct. dove gray Monaco with three DMC colors: black, white, and 498 for the red. On the back of the frame, I wrote that it was lovingly stitched by Nonna for his 5th birthday and that whenever he looked at it, I hoped he'd remember how much I love him... 

The sweet Snoopy finish that I gifted my grandson on his 5th birthday.

My youngest son didn't mind sharing the Snoopy decorations with Mister B and together they blew out their candles on some tasty cupcakes and a Boston Cream Pie (which is my youngest son's favorite dessert). 

My youngest son and oldest grandson celebrate their birthdays which are just one day apart. I wonder what they wished for?

Two days later, my husband turned 70. Unlike me, when I turned 70 in January, he was very excited and appreciative just to still be here on earth. I need to think more like him :)  I would have loved to bake him a cake, but being away and in a rental house, I decided to just order one from a local bakery. I wanted it to be biking and beer themed--two of his favorite hobbies. I sent the baker a photo of an inspiration cake and, although it wasn't exactly what I wanted, it tasted wonderful and that's what counts, right? It was a carrot cake with vanilla buttercream icing and I think we ate it for the next four nights. A little slice went a long way! 

I asked the baker to design a biking/beer themed carrot cake using various signs that I found online and emailed to her. She forgot to add the spokes on the wheels, but that was still one tasty cake! 

Before we left for our lake vacation, I secretly designed some candy wrappers for my husband's big day using baby photos of him and various birthday greetings. I printed them out using our home printer and then wrapped them around Hershey's Miniature candy bars. For his party, I scattered them around the table--they were a big hit!

The little Hershey Miniature candy bars all wrapped up for the party. Wasn't he a cute little baby?

And here we are--the two 70-year-olds, still smiling after all these years. I've known him for over 50 years now as we met when we were just 19. In fact we celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary just last week--getting very close to the big one! We both feel very blessed to have shared so many milestone moments together...

Celebrating my husband's 70th!

Since this post is already running long,  I'll share more on our family's lake vacation next time. Hope you'll pop in to visit again...

Giveaway time... In the meantime--since this is a "Christmas in July" post--how about a little Christmas-themed giveaway? I actually stitched this pretty sampler years ago (way before I began blogging and back when I was still stitching on Aida). I love it, although I've never framed it for some reason. I'm not crazy about the color of fabric I used, but it is still frame-worthy. I'll have to go down to my bins of thrifted frames in the basement and see if there isn't one that would work. 

My finish of "Christmas Sampler"--stitched nearly 20 years ago!

Anyway, I know I'll never stitch this one again, so who would like to win the chart? It's called "Christmas Sampler" and is from a 1994 edition of "Cross-Stitch Christmas" magazine. If you'd like to be entered in the drawing: 1)Please say so in your comment below, 2) Make sure you leave me your email address (if I don't already have it), and 3) Tell me the name of your favorite Christmas Carol and why you like it so much. Mine is "O Holy Night" which takes me right back to Christmas Eve services in my childhood church each and every time I hear it. Just love it! I'll announce the winner of the chart in my next post--good luck to all! (Please note, I will be folding this chart in thirds to fit in a legal-sized envelope in an effort to save on postage).  

I'm having a giveaway for this "Christmas Sampler" chart. Just follow the guidelines above if you'd like to be entered into the drawing. 

So, here we are--the end of July already. I want to thank all of you for your kind comments on my newest grandson's birth sampler in my last post and for weighing in on what I should do about joining the train cars or leaving them as they are. I'm still very undecided! Perhaps I should just flip a coin :) I truly appreciate your input and all of your sweet comments and emails. Hope August brings each of you lots of stitching and relaxing time. Stay cool out there! Bye for now...