Been busy getting things ready for Christmas.  The tree and decorations are up.  Cards are designed, printed and most of them are already in the mail.  Christmas shopping is done and wrapped.  Now to just sit back, relax and enjoy the season.

We had my niece and nephews over last weekend to make decorate Christmas cookies.   They enjoyed doing that so much last year that they asked to do it again this year.  Guess I'm going to have to do this every year with them! Was A LOT of fun!   And when they were done, we had a Pizza Party!

The stitching on the charity piece is done!  I have determined that I don't really care for either tenting or parking.   While the stitching process on tenting does go by much faster on tenting, I found that I didn't much care for the coverage with the darker colors.  And I was spending more time going back and undoing some stitches (cause I wasn't paying attention and started doing full x's mid-stream).  With parking, I didn't care for the mess that it makes on the back and the threads just kept getting in the way.  I was also having a very difficult time remembering what color each thread was and found myself constantly going back to the bobbins to match them up (even though I had the thread pulled up where the next stitch should be).    Now that I've had a chance to look at the piece a bit since I've stitched it (and from a distance), it's not too bad.   Just don't think I would remain sane for long if I had to tent a BAP with dark colors! LOL

I even found some time over the weekend to work a bit on my Dance of the Graces.  Didn't get nearly as much done as I had wanted.  But with all the doings and preparations for Christmas, I did get quite a bit done and am very pleased with my progress.   I should be able to get a lot more done between now and Christmas!  I'm aiming for at least a row finish!  Do you think I can do it?

This morning I got a very unexpected and BEAUTIFUL surprise!  I opened my email and found a gift from Miss Thistlebottom and the Fairy Team at HEAD (Heaven and Earth Designs).  Their kindness brought tears to my eyes!  They have gifted me a chart that I have been drooling over for quite some time.  And being an avid Santa collector, this chart was a MUST HAVE.   I'm so very excited to have this and am itching to get started on him!  I'm just not sure how I'm going to fit him into my stitching schedule with all the things I have planned for the coming year!  

Portrait of Father Xmas by Dean Morrissey



Isn't he just GORGEOUS!?!   Thank you to the TEAM at HEAD!