The stockings were hung....

 The stockings were hung (minus one) by the chimneys with care.

 Did you know you could knit with fabric strips?  You can.

I'm not even worrying about St. Nick yet.  There's more decorating to do.

The Season's begun

Tree trimming

 In progress.

 And finished.  Someone (mwho we won't mention by name) thinks we have a few too many ornaments.  I don't think so. " The more the merrier" , I say. 

 Abby even wrapped some of our gifts.  It's nice to have them under the tree early.

When the girls are home for Thanksgiving, we start decorating the day after.  It helps to have all hands on deck.  (We have a lot of ornaments to unwrap).  And it's nice to enjoy the holiday for the whole month of December.  With the decorating done, I can concentrate on other things.

Have you started....or finished your decorating?

I still have a few small things to do.

Stockings and more stockings

I've been busy with Christmas Stockings.  I am finally done with every one's needlepoint stocking but mine.  They've only been 28 years in the making (give or take as there were long periods where I never worked on them).  I'm glad to have them done in time for Christmas this year.  There was a little snafu in that the finisher put the wrong braid on my husbands and had to redo it.  I took it out of the bag carefully and the braid immediately ripped off.  Seems she was in a big hurry and didn't stitch it down tightly or very close together.  I'm still debating whether or not to fix it myself or take it back to the shop for them to have her redo it.  I'm not very happy with it.

The two knitted socks are blocked and the ends woven in.  I still need to attach the twisted braid that I made at the top of both socks.  They were a Dale of Norway pattern.  I like them but can't recommend the pattern.  The directions and graph don't work at all.  When making decreases it was a free-for-all as to the actual stitches working in pattern (not at all).  So glad to be "almost finished with them".

 I was very happy with the bullion stitches, french knots and crewel stitches I used in the hair and the pom-poms on the elves' hats.  When I started this group of 6 Melissa Shirley hand painted pet it-point canvases 28 years ago, the style was flat continental type needlepoint.  Now stitchers are adding great dimensional stitches.  I made mine the same as the first stocking I did 28 years ago, with just a bit of 3 dimensional stitches on them.  I wanted them all to match.

Let's hope I'm around next year to see my stocking (number 6) hung with the others on the mantel.  That's assuming of course, that I get mine done.  I think I'll start as soon as this year's presents are wrapped.

P.S.  Please excuse the poor quality of lighting in the photos.  It's dark and snowing and there's thunder.  I could not get a better photo.  Maybe I'll try again in ....OH SAY, March.  Winter has definitely arrived here.

Wheewww...on to other random things.

The weddings over.  It was fun having the girls all together.

Their bridesmaids necklaces were darling.

The garden is overflowing with tomatoes of all shapes, and kinds. 

So or course we made bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches. 

I made sloppy joes for the family party on Saturday.

And made up one of the pair of socks.  I've got a start on Christmas gifts.

and speaking of Christmas....

The petite point sock from "you know where" is finished.  It's off to the finishers today with B's sock that I finished last year.!

Hallelujah!...I'm singing the whole aria, not just the chorus.

My Nemesis

This is my nemesis.  I hate stitching on canvas.  My apologies to you needle pointers out there, but it bores me.  

"So why do you do it?", you ask (pretend that you asked).

Well, it all started 28 years ago when my neighbor, who had a little girl the same age as mine, started a needlepoint stocking for her daughter.  I thought it was a great idea and stitched the first stocking.  I had opened Pandora's box.  Soon I got pregnant and stitched one for the baby I was carrying.  And then the owner of the neighborhood needlepoint store in San Francisco decided to close and those beautiful hand painted canvases were put on sale.  

I panicked.  What if I couldn't find the same hand painted canvases ever again (can you tell this was before Internet sales)?   I was sure that we wanted to have at least one more child; and then there were my husband and I.  Wouldn't those stockings be perfect hanging from the mantel with our names on them at Christmas?  So, naturally I bought THREE stockings on close-out; one for the future baby and two for my husband and I.

Well,  we had not one but two more daughters and of course they each needed a needlepoint stocking and I had only bought one.  The problem was,  I was too busy raising children to do much stitchings.  When Rachel was 20 she finally got hers.  Two years later, Abby was feeling justifiably slighted.  I took her to pick out a canvas like her sisters and they special ordered it...but it didn't come and didn't come and meanwhile, I started and finished my husband's stocking.  I was tired of feeling guilty for purchasing and not stitching those stockings long ago, so I bit the bullet and finished his.  Abby's order (which turned out had not been ordered after all) finally came six months later and by then I was TIRED OF NEEDLEPOINT. So I set the stocking aside.

I am determined this to finish Abby's stocking before Christmas even it if it kills me (death by boredom I suspect).  A finished stocking for me?  Don't hold your breath or place any bets on that happening in the near future.

OK, back to the stitching.  This post was really just an excuse to put it off working on the stocking for a little longer.