Need your opinion....

Above is the picture of the golfing nutcracker on the pattern....

Below is the one I stitched....

My question is...does the one I stitched look Christmas-sy enough to be a Christmas ornament without the border around it? Be honest - I can take it! I'm going back and forth on whether or not the border adds anything or just makes it too busy!

Thanks for casting your ballot!

Why I've been missing....

So....I haven't posted much nor I have I updated my blog, and here's why! We had a family reunion in Wisconsin last weekend, and I'm still trying to get caught up. Between lost sleep, tons of e-mails and stuff, and trying to get back in the swing of things, I've just been BUSY!!!!

But after a quick stitching session this afternoon at the mall (my new weekly Sunday routine), I plan on posting two more things to my blog, as well as responding to some individual e-mails that I just haven't gotten to. Don't mean to be ignoring you....just frazzled! LOL

Yes, I am in that picture somewhere. I'm hiding under the umbrella (this is kind of like a "Where's Waldo" puzzle, isn't it). All you can really see is my face. My niece is in a black shirt, my sister is in a dark blue and white striped shirt, and between them are two women - one is me, and one is my other sister.

The group is (believe it or not) just the offspring of two sisters...my step-mom and her sister. There are seven of us in our family, and my aunt has three kids. Then there's the next generation! And we're actually missing a couple of people - my uncle didn't make it, nor did my Mike, my sister's hubby, and my one male cousin from that family. The neat thing was that even though Scott didn't make it, his wife and their three kids were there. We had a great time - most of my family is out here in California (except my brother, whose cottage we were at) and all of the cousins are in the midwest. So we don't get to see them very often!

Another little finish (literally!) and Frederick Update

Well, I finished my second hockey Santa - the first picture is the one I just finished (on 28 count over 1), and the second one is the comparison of the first one I finished (on 36 count over 2) and the small one. I put the ruler in the picture for comparison purposes.

And here is my latest progress on Frederick the Literate...I'm onto his legs and tail, so that's a good thing!!!

Thank you all for checking on my blog - I haven't been posting much on the groups - it just seems like there's been a lot going on lately and I end up debating between stitching and posting....and stitching wins!

Two New Starts

With the completion of my two Lizzie Kates, there was a sudden hole in my rotation - two of them actually!!! So I've started two new projects:

The first one will be a quickie - it's pretty obvious what it is. It's the iconic "Welcome to Vegas" sign. As much as it might not seem so obvious, I'm going to try to figure out how to make this into a Christmas ornament. My mother LOVES Vegas (I think it's hereditary) so I'm going to try to figure out a way to make this into something she can hang on her tree! I changed one thing - the words "To Fabulous" and "Nevada" (no, you're not blind - the "Nevada" won't get stitched until the bottom half of the sign is filled in) were supposed to be in a turquoise blue color. It was too light and didn't show up very well, so I decided to wing it!



The second project is looking very exciting so far - NOT! It's a Blue Ribbon Designs pattern, this one is for St. Patrick's Day. I decided to do all the boring gridwork first, so that I can just fill in the motifs and the letters later. The little tail in the top left hand corner is because there is another row of stitches further out to finish off the border (and then you fill it in with a specialty stitch) and I figured if I did that little diagonal line I might actually stand a chance of remembering the top left hand corner!

Thanks for checking out my blog! Coming soon will hopefully be finish number two on my hockey playing Santas! This time on 28 count over one.

Christmas ABC's

Well, this was my "bigger" finish for this week - Lizzie Kate's Christmas ABC's. My plan is to get this one and the ABC Lessons one both framed...the Lessons will hang on the wall 11 months out of the year, and then the Christmas ABC's will be there the other month! LOL It was so much fun to stitch this one.

My smaller finish was my first Prairie Schooler Santa - I say first, because I'll be stitching it a total of 5 times. This one is on 36 count over 18. It's too big for what I wanted to do with it - I wanted to make it into an ornament. And yes, I figured out how big it was, but somehow seeing it stitched it looks bigger! LOL So then I tried stitching it over one on the 36 count. I COULD do it, but it was going to irritate me too much....so I pulled out some 28 count and I'm doing that over 1. I think it will make it a more reasonable size for an ornament. We shall see!

Now I need to add a couple of projects into my home rotation - All that's in it right now is Frederick and Angel of Cross Stitch. This week Frederick is up - and then the next week I'm either going to start on a Blue Ribbon Designs St. Patrick's Day project OR Christmas ornaments OTHER than Hockey Santa. Hockey Santa(s) are my travel project!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Angel of Cross Stitch Update

Well, I've reached a landmark on Angel of Cross Stitch - the cross stitching is DONE!!!! Now, of course, here comes the backstitching. At least the backstitching is only a couple of colors - this one had so many confetti stitches and color changes I'm looking forward to one or two colors! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this one come alive!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Another Lizzie Kate Finish

I guess I've been on a roll finishing Lizzie Kate's! This time it was ABC Lessons - I'm really happy with how this one turned out. I think I'm going to frame it and keep it for my very own self! LOL

I think my Blue Ribbon Designs St. Patricks Day design is going to take its place in the rotation....probably...unless I change my mind before I'm ready to start on it! Who knows?

Thanks for checking out my blog!