Wednesday 4 January 2012

Last Years Christmas Stitching

Happy New Year! I hope it's a good one for everyone. Sadly last year did not end well for Mr. L. and myself. His mother died on December 8th and the funeral was held on the 28th, not the best Christmas for us. Anyway onwards and upwards as they say and here I am starting my return to blogging with my Christmas stitching from last year. I didn't get as much done as I had hoped to do, something which I'm going to rectify this year. Back in the summer, or what passed for it, I stitched LHN's 2011 Ornament of the Month - Deck the Halls using 36ct Edinburgh linen in Sand and the recommended Crescent Colour and DMC threads.


This next deign is a Christmas card from Derwentwater Designs that I stitched twice for friends. The kit comes with 16ct Aida but I swapped that for 32ct white Jobelan and stitched it using the recommended Anchor threads.



Another Derwentwater Christmas card, this one I gave to my parents. Again I swapped the Aida for 32ct white Jobelan and used Anchor threads. I did start another one for my MIL but it never got finished. I'll finish it off at some point and will frame it for us to display in her memory.



I have decided to join in with Needlecraft Havens own TUSAL, showing photos of my ORT jar on the last day of every month. Here's my empty Yankee Candle jar ready for filling.



Yesterday I made the decision to change my thread storage system. I was using three - Loran folder, bobbins and DMC Gold Concept stitch bows. However, the latter was taking up a lot of space and the stitch bows were proving not to be very practical, so I'm going back to bobbins. Mr. L. bless him, has decided to help me by winding my threads back onto the bobbins and made a start last night. I now have to get organised and round up all my threads from various projects into one place to make it easier to sort them all onto bobbins. Hopefully once all this is done it will encourage me to put them back in the storage boxes instead of leaving them in bags everywhere. Time will tell!

Nicola

17 comments:

Siobhán said...

Nicola, my sympathy to you and your DH and family on your MIL's death. I'm so sorry--I know how hard it is to suffer a loss at this time of year. Big hugs to you.

Beautiful stitching--it's so good to see you back to blogging!

Happy new year!

Kathy A. said...

My sympathies to you and your family on the loss of your MIL. It is a hard time of year for such a loss.
It is nice to see you back blogging again. I love your Christmas stitches - especially that chubby little bird.

Erica said...

Nicola, I am so sorry for the loss of your father-in-law.
It is wonderful to see you back to blogging though!
I love your cards, especially the robin, my favorite.
Hope we all have a berrter 2012!

Chris said...

Dear Nicola,
So sorry for your family's loss.

Your holiday stitching is lovely.

Carol said...

I'm so very sad to hear about the loss of your mother-in-law, Nicola.

Your stitching is lovely as always--and so nice to see you posting again :)

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2012.

Rowyn said...

Sorry to hear of the loss of your MIL.

Love your stitching, the robin is beautiful. I think it is a lovely idea to finish your MIL Christmas card as a memorial piece.

Happy new year.

Julie said...

Beautiful stitching Nicola.
I hope 2012 is a good year for you. What a lovely DH ou have to help with the winding process.

Gabi said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss and my deepest sympathy to you and your family.

Love your stitching. Great finishes.

Wishing you a Happy New Year

Lesleyanne said...

I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your MIL. My condolences to your family. Your stitching is gorgeous. Welcome back to blogging, look forward to seeing your stitching.

Sally said...

So sorry about your MIL Nicola. My thoughts are with you and your DH.

Lovely stitching. It's good to see you back stitching and blogging.

I've always used bobbins and don't think I could use anything else.

Nicola said...

What a lovely husband you have to wind your thread. I don't think I would trust mine anywhere near my precious threads.

I heart goes out to you and Mr L. We lost my Aunt before Christmas to cancer and we also had the funeral hanging over the family until the 30th.

I am so glad that you stopped by my blog as I wouldn't have found yours. Looking toward to following your stitching journey xxx

Clare said...

Yipee she's back! Great to see you blogging again. Did you get battered by all this windy stormy weather? Love the stitching, don't think I'd seen any of it!

Happy 2012, we could both do with a good 'un!

Lisa said...

Sorry to hear about the loss of your MIL, hugs to you and your family.
Congratulations on your lovely christmassy finishes.

Brigitte said...

Nicola, it's great to see you back to blogging. But so sad to read about your and your husband's loss. My sympathies are with you.

Your Christmas stitching is lovely, and I particualrly love the little bird. A great design.

Cheryl said...

Sorry to hear about your loss.
Lovely to see you blogging again x

Unknown said...

Your blog is very beautiful and your jobs are fantastic
Pat

butterfly said...

So sorry for your loss over Christmas, I also loss my Dad on the 27th of December.

But I now have to move forward.
Love your Christmas stitching.

You became a new follower on my blog so i thought i would come over and say hello.

Very nice Blog.