Merry Christmas

I'd like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas

and a Happy and Healthy New Year

PS Check my Yahoo Group (link in sidebar) for a small Christmas Present

OK, so I lied...

... its not like I meant to. When I said that was it, no more ornaments this year, I really meant it, but then Paulette had to go and post this beauty on her blog, and I couldn't resist it (I know, I'm weak). I just love the mediaeval illuminated manuscript look of this one. It should have some text and another flower on the vine at the bottom, but due to a slight misjudgement regarding the size of my scrap of raw linen I had to miss those off!

I also recieved my ornament from Dusty in the Stitch & Stash ornament exchange. Dusty stitched me an exquisite Hardanger tree and bookmark. Thanks Dusty, they are beautiful

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well it is in our house anyway. Here is a small small part of my display of stitched ornaments. I've recieved so many wonderful ornaments in exchanges that this year for the first time I've had to hang some from the banister rail too! The rectangular one, with Christmas 2008 on it, was the prize I won in Sally's blogoversary draw. Isn't it just gorgeous? Sally also sent me a little pink angel bear for my tree, and some yummy Thornton's too but you'd need an XRay camera to see a picture of that ;D.

Last night was the Christmas Workshop at the florists in the village. First we made a topiary tree, which you could then decorate as you chose, I decided on cones, orange slices and cinnamon sticks and wrapped the base in hessian. Unfortunately the hessian decided to wick up every last drop of water in the shop and let it all go again onto my trousers in the car on the way home, but you can't have everything.

After that we each made one of these table arrangements. I'd just bought a set of charger plates, exactly like the ones we used, that afternoon, so this goes perfectly.

Ornaments part 2...

Some of the ornaments I made for exchanges have reached their destination, so I can now show them here. The first one is "Rudy" by Glory Bee from the 2007 JCS Ornament Edition, and was stitched for Dusty in the Stitch and Stash exchange. Notice how I cunningly altered it to read 2008 ;D

The second one is "Nordic Hearts" by Scandinavian Stitches, from the 2002 Ornie Edition, stitched for Deb (no blog) in the TGOSM exchange.

Next we have a Hello Kitty ornament taken from the horrendous chart I mentioned on here a few months back. No prizes for guessing it is for Naomi.

And, of course, I couldn't make Naomi an ornament without making Eloise one as well. This one is a free design from http://www.the-chart-shop.com/ . It is called Christmas Cat. Bet they sat up all night thinking of that one! I altered the colours a bit from the original, which was in more pastel shades.

And that is officially it for this year. I am not making any more ornaments...

unless...

Look what the Postman brought!

A couple of weeks ago I was thrilled to win a draw on Sharon(Daffycat)'s blog for a penguin floss tag (I love penguins). Well the parcel just arrived, and wow! A plethora of penguins! More penguins, in fact, than you can shake a stick at. Not only the lovely little floss tag (the pattern for that is on Sharon's blog by the way), but also a whole pack of coloured gaolor's rings, some penguin gift tags, a piece of penguin print cotton, an adorable penguin tin, and a penguin Christmas tree ornament.

I love penguins!

Just look!

I'm going to make myself a Christmas Stocking out of the fabric (it doesn't show too well in the picture but the print has lovely glittery snow effect patches). All the rest of the family have stockings that I've made for them, now its my turn! Did I happen to mention that I love penguins?
Thankyou Sharon, I'm overwhelmed.

Ornaments, ornaments, ornaments

I seem to have been stitching a lot of ornaments lately, anyone would think it was nearly Christmas or something! I can't show them all, as some are for exchanges and still en route, but here are a couple I can show. The octagonal one is for Clare's Ornament Tree. The design is by With My Needle and comes from an old (2002) JCS Ornament Issue.

The little 3D stable is for my friend. The design is a free one I found on this blog. The other two sides have the three Wise men and an angel on them.

Finally this beautiful Hardanger ornament is one I recieved in an exchange from Barbara (no blog that I'm aware of).

OK, off to watch the footy now!

Naomi's Birthday and I've been Tagged!

Yes, my baby girl is twelve today. Doesn't seem like 5 minutes! Here she is all dressed up for her party - she had 4 friends over for a movie marthon sleepover yesterday night. I don't know about her, but I'm exhausted!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart

I was tagged a few days ago by Mylene. Here are the rules:-

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post.

5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Well, it has taken me days to come up with six things about me that are even remotely interesting but here goes:

1. I've had a wide range of jobs, including working in a police forensic science lab, pharmaceutical analysis, and teaching chemistry in schools.

2. And now I design needlework....go figure!

3. I have a thing about shoes. Who am I kidding, I LOVE shoes, they call to me and I am powerless to resist them. Look at this one. I can hear it now, whispering inside my head. "You're not in Kansas now, Dorothy"! And boots. Don't get me started on boots...

4. I'm a bit of a sci fi geek. I can name all the actors who've played The Doctor, I can tell you which ship made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs, and I like Picard better than Kirk. Make it so.

5. I love Shakespeare

6. And penguins. The feathery sort, not the sort covered in silver paper.

I'm not going to tag anyone specific with this, because I've already seen it on a lot of the blogs I visit, so if you are reading this and you fancy having a go. Tag! You're it!

Oh, and for the people who fancied sharing the hot chocolate in the previous post, you need to make your way to the Harbor Light tearooms in Boscastle.