Year in Review, 2012

It's hard to believe that 2012 is almost over.  Time to do another year in review.  I thought this year I'd go back to showing large pics of the projects I finished this year.  Hope you enjoy.

Sarah Elizabeth Brooke by the Scarlett House

Mary Roe by the Scarlett House

(sorry about the color)

Wild Garden by Blackbird Designs (top pillow)

Jane Pattison by Shakespeare's Peddler

Ann Rayner by Threads Through Time (bad color again)

Never Let You Go by Heartstring Samplery

Ann Pennsylvania Peacock by Little by Little

And They Sinned by Examplars from the Heart

(bottom portion shown)

Dames Boarding School by Examplars from the Heart

Jane Philpott by Shakespeare's Peddler

And All Was for an Appil by Scarlet Letter

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I wish everyone a happy, healthy, safe New Year.

(Mia on her Christmas present.)

Christmas Eve

I am taking a quick pause from festivities to post a quick blog.  I seem a bit scattered right now, even with my stitching.  I ended up starting two different projects this past week.  The first

Rebecca Cullin by the Scarlet Letter

40ct Pecan Butter (Lakeside)

AVAS

This is such a pretty piece!  The second

Adam and Eve by the Scarlett House

fibers and fabric called for

And here is what the Adam and Eve looks like, from Tanya's blog.

Pretty, right?

We are celebrating Christmas with our kids now.  The father type and I had to drive up to Boston to get the boy child Thursday, and Friday we came home.  We took a bit of time to wander Newbury Street with the boy child while we were there.  Stopped at one of the 3 cupcake places for cupcakes, Georgetown Cupcakes.

And wandered into bookshops

And just enjoyed the lights.

The girl child came home Sunday, so we are all together again.  We even went to see The Hobbit today.  Yay!

And right now we are making Christmas cookies, another tradition in the family.

I am going back to enjoy the celebrating.  Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone who celebrates has a wonderful, magical, special Christmas.

Tradition

First off, here is AAWFAA all finished.

And All Was For an Appil by the Scarlet Letter

40ct R&R linen (can't remember what)

DMC fibers

As anyone will tell you who has stitched this piece, those letters were a right pain.

There is so much sadness in my heart for what happened in Newtown.  It made it all the more special when we were given an unexpected gift Sunday of a chance to revel in the company of one of our kids and to enjoy one of our time honored Christmas traditions together.  The girl child unexpectedly came home for the day so that we could go get our Christmas tree.  And here we had thought the two empty nesters would have to fend for themselves, and settle for a pre-cut tree at the local charity tree stand.  But no, our girl child came home!  And off we went!

Here's the tree we picked.  That's the father type on the ground there.  lol!  

The girl child was trying to take pictures of the little "flowers" or beginnings of pine cones on the tree.

We all took turns carrying the tree, but the girl child took the lion's share.  Treating the old folks right.  :D

At the baling shed.  Competing iPhones.  

Father type cutting off the stump.  Want to see our collection of stumps through the years?

Another tradition in our family.  (The girl child laid all the stumps out for display.) It became the tradition for the kids to decorate the stump from the bottom of the tree each year.  The girl child usually did the honors, until she wasn't home for the tree getting when the boy child took over.  When they were tiny, I just wrote the date.  lol!  They usually live on the mantel piece in a big pile.

The first one on the top left is from 1984.  It was the first tree stump from our first tree in the first home we owned.  The tree was taken from the top of the bushes of our house, the house we live in now.  We were (and are) friends with the lovely family who lived in our house back then.

And here is the tree all decorated.

The girl child is a perfectionist -- she made sure each ornament was in its right place to make a beautiful tree.

It was a wonderful day, ending with a  late take out dinner and then the girl child leaving for the train late in the evening.  The boy child was kept informed via text message and pictures.  

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  Have a wonderful week.

Make sure to give your kids extra hugs and tell them how much you love them.

Framing, TUSAL, and getting there

First off, the getting there.

Just a bit of grass, some rocks, and the words to go.  Of course, the words are the hardest part.  Oh well.   Did you notice the cat?  I tried to color her to look like Mia.

You can see her better in my TUSAL picture for this month.

Haven't got the head quite right, but it's close.  It's also the last TUSAL of the year.  Unbelievable!

I picked up a framed piece this past Friday as well.  It's Jane Pattison.

Here's a frame detail.

Mia has been enjoying boxes recently.  Both in and on.

Little does she know she's sitting on top of her Christmas present.  :D

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Coloring book

Several of you mentioned how the process of filling in the colors on AAWFAA is much like coloring in a coloring book.  And it certainly feels that way when you look at what has been done.

But if you look at what has to be filled in, you'll see there's more than one color to be done in most spaces.  Still the results are just as satisfying as when one was little and colored carefully inside the lines.

I just love the reds and pinks!  I wasn't happy with the snake's colors, so I substituted a light green for one of the colors.  I always feel a snake needs some green.  :D

I received a prize in the mail from Gabi of Lady of the Floss.  It's this lovely chart with the leftover threads from the project.

It's a perfect way for me to commemorate all of our trips to the tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree.  Thanks so much, Gabi!

Mia discovered a warm place to sleep yesterday -- under my winter coat and the father type's sweaters.

She was quite content to be all snuggled up warm and cosy.

The boy child has registration for his spring semester classes today.  I hope it goes well and he gets in all the classes he wants.  Fingers crossed!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Feels so good

First off, I'm so excited to be taking part in Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year.  If you look on the sidebar, you'll see a link to the blog where you can find all the details.  It's the perfect thing for me since I love Scarlet Letter, so of course I joined in right away.

And a funny coincidence, since I'm already working on a Scarlet Letter piece!

The fill in is slow going, but I'm enjoying seeing all the various motifs come to life.

Don't you love the parrot and the snail?

There was another reason I might not have gotten as much stitching done as I would have liked.  Thanksgiving!  It was so wonderful to have both my kids back home again.  And I think Mia was happy about it as well.

Although it was hard to tell at times.  She would do things like get as close to the girl child as possible, but also hiss at her.  Such a mixed up kitty!

And of course, there was the cooking.  The girl child took part in the makings this year.  She was in charge of the pecan pie.

We ate of course.

And we played our old favorite game of Apples to Apples.  We even watched a movie on my laptop.

We also managed the next day to see Wreck It Ralph.  In 3D.  Note the father type in his 3D glasses after seeing the movie.

Mia managed to sneak in a bit of a coffee high as well -- she loves coffee!  (And no, she only got to lick the cup.)

We went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants too.

We even managed to fit in a yummy breakfast at a new IHop.  And yes, the kids managed to see their friends and hang out with them as well.

It's been a great Thanksgiving.  I think we all appreciate being together more now that we are apart so much.  We're all looking forward to Christmas break already.  It's a bit sad today -- everyone has to leave to go back to college and work soon.  But I'm so grateful for the time we had together this Thanksgiving.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I'm posting a day early today.  Hope everyone who celebrated enjoyed their Thanksgiving as well.  Have a great week!