Busy week

Hello Everyone!

It's very busy times for me over here in Sweden right now:) On Sunday I'm having my annual Xmas get-together for friends and family so I'm spending my days with Xmas baking, Xmas decorating and lots of household chores in order for everything to be ready for Sunday.

Sadly that means that I have had very little time for stitching in the last week or so, and I miss it. I have made a promise to myself though, that next week I'm going to spend lots of time stitching and resting before it is time to start preparing all the festive foods for Xmas.
I have managed to do a little bit of stitching and crafting though. Firstly I have put up my Swedish Santa on my livingroom wall.

I just used some thick felt as a backing but it turned out fine I think. It feels great to finally be able to enjoy this picture:)

Then I finished a Xmas stocking I made for my sister:) We exchanged stockings this year and when I saw this chart in Cross Stitcher...

...it seemed perfect for a stocking. And this is what it looked like finished!

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and I hope it will look great at my sister's:))

I have also made some Xmas crochet potholders...

...as Xmas gifts, although I haven't finished off the loose threads yet...!As you may know by now, GOD JUL means Merry Xmas in Swedish:)

Hopefully I can be back with some more stitching progress next week!

Annie

Gingerbread House Sampler update:)

Hello Everyone!

Thank you for all the lovely comments lately -  <3 they really make my heart swell <3 !

I had another really good session with the GBH Sampler yesterday evening! I swear for once my needle was flying lol:)

So this means I have almost completed the 'merry christmas' phrase and stitched the 5 Xmas trees at the bottom:) In the original chart all the 5 Xmas trees were pink, but I decided to stitch the middle one in green - I think that makes the picture more balanced. And I really wanted to stitch a green Xmas tree too!
I hope to put in another hour or so on this one tonight too:)

Hope you've all found time for stitching this weekend!

Annie

A quiet time with Xmas stitching...

Hello Everyone!

This weekend I am resting and doing a lot of stitching. I have several Xmas gift projects still on the go that needs attention and I have a feeling I will be stitching like crazy in the next few weeks to get them done! Sadly I cannot show you any of those yet, but I have put in another hour or so this week on Gingerbread House sampler...

 
...which means a couple of more letters and a Christmas tree:) I'm planning to spend another hour on this one tonight - it is really addictive:)

Today I decided to stitch me an A from the Winter ABC designed by Fiona Baker in Cross Stitch Crazy issue 209.

Isn't it sweet? I really liked this ABC when I saw it; partly because of the winter theme and partly because it had hardly any backstitch:) Yay! I'm normally quite a slow stitcher, but this little chart came together really quickly so I'm hoping to do a few more letters:) And it was really fun to stitch too!

 

Whilst stitching and watching skiing on the telly, one of my furbabies lay sleeping next to me on the sofa...doesn't he look comfy??

 

I have a feeling he enjoyed the quiet time I spent stitching just as much as I did:)

Hugs,

Annie

Gingerbread House Sampler

Hello everyone!

Yesterday I got out my Gingerbread House Sampler from Cross Stitch Crazy to add a few stitches. I haven't had time for this one for a while, but I suddenly felt like bringing it out for a bit...

This is where I started last night...

 ...and after an hour of adding some more pink and brown I stopped here:

I really feel like stitching the whole phrase of merry christmas next...or maybe some more Christmas trees at the bottom... or another reindeer to the right...:)

I'm hoping to add another hour to this one tonight - no matter how busy I am at this time of the year I really feel like I must find some - or just a little - time for some 'just-for-fun-stitching'!

Happy stitching!

Annie

A Xmas finish!

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick post to show you my latest finish:)

This time it is my new Xmas Iphone case:

I love these cases that you can stitch on, and I did my first one this spring:) However, I felt it was time to have a case with a Xmas theme. Most of the Xmas tree is designed by Lesley Teare, but I had to make some changes to it to fit the case. Otherwise it is all my own design:)

I have used quite a lot of metallics to add some bling to the case...

...and the red letters say Merry Xmas in Swedish:)

This particular case can also be stitched on the sides which actually was a bit tricky.

However, it was well worth the effort, and overall I am very pleased with my new Xmas case:)

Hope you all find some time for stitching this weekend!

Annie

My Little X-stitch Nook goes Xmas!

Hello Everyone!

Thank you soo much for your lovely comments on my previous post:=) They really warmed my heart...and made me carry on my happy dance for a bit longer lol! It really is a wonderful feeling when you have managed a finish, and the longer you have been working on it, the better it feels, doesn't it??

Anyway, now that we have reached the month of November, I decided to decorate My Little X-stitch Nook for Xmas:) I am a huge fan of Xmas - as you may have noticed already - and of course my cross stitch blog should reflect that:) I have added some special Xmas designs to the header that mean a great deal to me!

The first design to the left...

...you already know about:) My UFO that I have finished after a decade of hanging around...:)

The second design...

 

...was stitched by my mum and given to me as a Christmas present a couple of years ago. She made one for herself first, and when she noticed that I really loved the design - I adore old-fashioned Santas - she secretly stitched it again for me! Since I really don't like to stitch something over and over again, I really appreciate that mum made the effort to make me another one of the same design. And as a cross stitcher myself - and it was mum that taught me to stitch as a child - I know how many hours go into a project like this one..!

 

The third design...

 

 

...comes from a set of Xmas designs that my dad bought for me soon after I moved home to Sweden. This is one of the first designs I finished after I picked up cross stitching again here in Sweden, and I really, really like the design:) Initially it was a framed in a red frame but last Xmas my youngest furbaby got hold of the picture and destroyed the frame so this Xmas I have put it in a white frame. High above the reach of any doggy teeth... 

 

The forth and final cross stitch picture is the most precious one to me.

 

My mum stitched this a long time ago, and I remember it displayed on the wall every Xmas when I was a child. It really embodied 'Christmas feeling' to me as a child. When I was a teenager, I really wanted to have a copy of this work myself, so mum kindly let me have the chart and I started to stitch it. However, a lot of things happened in my life, and in my parents' life, and somewhere along the way my stitching and the chart went missing and have never been found again. My parents divorced and I moved to England...

Over a decade later I returned home to Sweden and at my first Christmas at home I saw this picture at my mum's again and it filled me with wonderful Xmas feelings and lovely memories of childhood Christmases! Once again I was filled with love for this design and my lovely mum noticed this. So then she did something amazing! She used this stitched design (stitched on 11-count aida) as an actual chart and copied the motive onto 14-count aida so that the next picture ended up a bit smaller. Then she gave me the original stitched piece and kept the new one for helself! When I think of the lenghts she went to to give me this lovely picture...to say that I treasure this picture is an understatement!
It is just a VERY VERY special cross stitch picture and symbolizes true Christmas spirit to me!

Love,

Annie