Belated Christmas Wishes

 I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas w/family and/or friends.  I finally got in the Christmas spirit kind of last min. this yr. but still had a great time w/my family.  Baked a lot and played some high-spirited table games that were tons of fun.   Didn't go overboard w/the presents this yr. and kept it more special by focusing on the true meaning of Christmas.

My good friend Wendy, (from across the ocean) and I have been doing a private Chr. Exchange for about 3 yr. now and this is what all she sent to me.  I LOVE my cute gingerbread box, Santa, ginger & heart ornies, tag and CHOCOLATES, but especially the 3 little cross-stitched prim Santa pin pillows she made for me.  Aren't they the cutest little pillows??  Tiny stitches, but I love each one of them!  Thanks again Wendy Lou!! hee hee, that is my nickname I came up w/for her!(hope she doesn't mind).

 We always hand-make something for one another and this yr. I was able to make her 3 totally different items, along w/several other little goodies that I forgot to take a pic of, but you can view them on her blog, the Quiet Room. 

The first one I made for her is a Bent Creek design that I had finished stitching earlier this yr. but wasn't sure what I wanted to do w/it.  I finally decided on a WOOLY border and added jingle bells for a more festive pillow! LOL  I think this is one of my favorite finishes I've done in quite awhile.

 This snowman bauble is from an old pattern I had, but I changed it up a bit and added a 'raggy' edge to it and a little sparkle w/the tinsel hanger.

 Then there was 'Chilly' - he is just a teeny little guy, but I thought he was just too cute ~ made his scarf out of wool and added a JABCO birdie button, plus a rusty pin to keep his scarf together.  ha

 Love his sweet little face.........I need to make some more of these.....I'm in love w/cute penguins too!!

 Got in lots of baking over the last couple of wks.  I love trying new recipes and my family loves being the guinea pigs~YAY!!. (except that now we all need to go on a major diet)!!(except for our youngest son who is super-skinny)!!!
 These home-made yeast rolls were made w/a Jiffy cake mix.  They were pretty good, but our oldest son went nuts over them. :))

 Then I got a hankering to make home-made cinnamon rolls(but not on the same day~Ha) and they turned out really good too.

 I only made half a batch, but there were quite a few.....

 Guess I got a little carried away w/the icing...........

 And one more new recipe........these are Pumpkin Cookies w/Brown Butter frosting.  Our oldest son and his fiance made the icing.  Of course they had fun getting it all over everything, including themselves. :))

Well, just a few more days until the New Yr. and I certainly hope that 2013 brings a lot of great things for everyone!

P.S. ETSY NEWS-  I just got in a big order of wool today and some last wk. and have some new patterns coming next wk., so be sure to stop by soon, as I'm busy trying to make up more kits and wool bundles this wk. and get them listed.  And as always, if there's any pattern that you need a 'kit' made for, just let me know.  I've done several special orders recently thru emails and convo's but I don't mind a bit.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stitching in the NEW YR!!

P.S.S. if anyone wants any of the recipes shown, just leave me a comment on here and it'll go straight to my email inbox first. 

Finally a finish!!

 Well, I finally finished this Buttermilk Basin Candle Mat today that I started awhile back.  I am so addicted to using 100% wools(got rid of all my woolfelt I had awhile back, altho' you can certainly use that instead) but I especially love the overdyed and textured wools.  I have one kit left in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested.  Comes complete w/everything except the thread.  Sometimes I do add in the threads, and sometimes not.  Just depends.

 Here is a close-up of the 'tree' - I just 'winged' it and stitched it free-hand.  I hope it looks ok.  I also just recently ordered a bunch more wool, wool applique patterns and a few of the latest cross stitch patterns that should be here in a few days.  I have a really cool idea for the wool I'll be listing in my Etsy shop, so I hope it gets here SOON!!!  I also have some really great news after the first of the yr. if everything works out, but you'll have to wait till then. tee hee

I'm still not much in the Christmas spirit of things this yr. like I normally am, but this yr. was anything but normal!! However, I did manage to go to a wonderful Christmas Dinner Theater at a local church w/my aunt last wk.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely~ the food was wonderful, the music was great and so were the 'actors'!  We esp. loved the waitors/waitresses ~they made up the teen group at that church and they were such sweet kids, filling up your glasses every few minutes and waiting on you hand and foot.  The money went towards their mission trip next summer.  What a wonderful group of kids!

And speaking of kids, our youngest son turned 19 this past Sun. and I cried the whole time I was making the icing!!  Does anyone else ever do that??  It just hit me all of a sudden that my 'baby' was 19 already!!!  Next spring he hopes to join the Marines!!  wahhhhhhhh!!! LOL

 

I just freehanded the icing on his cake(chocolate underneath) and 'winged' it again(I know, I'm NO artist, that's for sure~still need LOTS of practice!!) ~he chose orange, but it looks more 'peachy' in the pic.  Oh well, it was gone the next day and I only got one piece, I'm just sayin'. LOL

Thanks for your visit!!