A snowman

A couple of hours, some determination, a pair of rather tired eyes and the roly poly snowman is completed. 

The kit came with a circular bottle green plastic frame so tomorrow I will lace him up and slot him in ready to add to the Christmas package travelling to Kazumi.   She placed an order for him but the other contents of the parcel will be a surprise:-)

Ornamental

The 2017 Christmas ornaments are done!   I was in such a hurry that one is already wrapped and ready for the post.   But here are the others.

And now I have started another.   My good friend Kazumi fell in love with this snowman kit which had Aida fabric and thread of unknown provenance.   I swapped out the fabric for a 36 count linen even weave and am now stitching.  Believe me each cross is a labour of love!

It has been a really busy two weeks back at work and I am once again in sleep deprivation mode.   However tomorrow I have the afternoon off for an appointment which should also be a good opportunity to sew the cover for my piano.   Recently we moved furniture around so that the DBEM doesn't face into direct sunlight which makes her vision even worse.  And the piano is therefore living against a different wall.   To keep the dark wood from changing colour in the bright sunlight I will be like my late Grandmother, suitably Victorian, and cover even the legs on my piano;-)

After an absence

No blogging for a week!  I've been helping the DBEM with her knitted sweaters.   She knits, I sew.  Believe me, stitching up knitted garments is not my favourite occupation but it is a job that needs to be done and currently I have no stitching project gripping my attention.  So voila!  All sixteen of them.

And with only 44 sleeps until Christmas I need to make a start on finishing this year's batch of stitched ornaments.   The current state is this...

So tonight is to be spent lacing ornaments to card and tomorrow will be cord, ribbon and titivating.  Two are complete, which leaves five to finish.   

And the lights go on again

The "not so little" Snoopy ornament is finished and the lights have gone on.  I had imagined they might look a great deal brighter, however the desired effect is there even if at a dimmer wattage.

I have decided to make this into a circular finish but in the meantime it has joined the pile of "yet to be constructed 2017 Christmas Ornaments".   All is well - there is still six weeks till they will be needed.

This one just needs a fall of snow

Hat on and scarf tied but this snowman needs a good snowfall of DMC 712 to fill out his fat body.  Guess what I will be doing tonight?

The DBEM has said no excursions this weekend, so just the usual chores for me.   But tonight's reward is two hours of the Morse prequel on TV.   Lucky me.

He only needs a moustache

A sunflower Santa??   Even in the Southern Hemisphere such a Santa is unknown and the chart for this came from the North where sunflowers would never be blooming at Christmas!

However he is rather cute and will possibly be even more so when his white mini tassel=moustache is added.   But that is later on.   Tonight I start on a stitched mistletoe.

Another Santa

Another Santa but this one came accompanied by unfriendly gremlins.   As a consequence there has been weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.   I have unpicked, restitched, unpicked again and restitched again.   One error I have decided to leave but "the hat faux pas" will have to come out.   Before I do so, here's a sufficiently poor snapshot in which you may not be able to see the errors:-)

And Spring has definitely sprung here.   We have bluebells

and we have sweet peas

and we have a tui in the kowhai trees.

Another finish

Heartfelt Harry I think this one is called.   A very happy fat snowman to be made into a ornament to decorate the tree for an Antipodean summer Christmas!   Rather strange,  but he is so cute and a fun fellow don't you think?

Another finito

Yesterday my friend Kathy led me into temptation.  We met for coffee and I nobly refrained from cake but when we went next door to the Hard To Find bookshop it was a different story.   Recently the local paper ran a story of this bookshop and the landlord who is cancelling the lease to sell the building.  Along with several thousand other devoted customers, Kathy and I are feeling bereft. Armed with our lists we entered.   Books in front of us, above us and all around us.   How long do you think we spent lost in the stacks?  Too long!

Whether they will take this cute old man with them, I don't know but an eager customer will buy his piles of Clive Cussler.

Once home I finished off this red NOEL ornament.   My favourite red floss and a very simple chart but the effect is just what I wanted.   I left the outer border off in an effort to make this a more "tree friendly" size.   All good I think.

Next up is a friendly snowman.

Finito

The Christmas Cat Tree is finished.   This I rather like so see more of these, but maybe not this year.
Stash provided the little beads for the candles and now this will rest in the pile to be constructed closer to C Day.

Thank you for all the good wishes for the DBEM.  She tells me she feels much better than yesterday:-)
I'm wondering if charity shops would sell stitched Christmas ornaments.   Unlike the DBEM I will not be knitting sweaters for toddlers when I retire but I would be happy to stitch small items like ornaments, book markers etc.  Any suggestions?