Well, I can’t say that I didn’t start early enough on this year’s Christmas presents, because I’ve just begun a Little House Needleworks chart called “Gingerbread Cookie, which was their 2012 Ornament #10. This is for another one of my sisters who never fails to remind me that I always used to bake gingerbread men for her holiday visits to our mother’s house. I think she will find this design an amusing addition to her collection.
Author: sympatheticthreads
Christmas Bells
I underestimated the amount of time it would take me to complete all of the hanging ornaments I’d planned for my family this year, and so ran out of time to finish that one little project that I had planned for myself prior to Christmas! Thus I find myself still working on the “Christmas Bells” chart from The Sampler Girl.
I decided to use up an 18-count Aida scrap and some variegated DMC floss instead of what was called for in the chart, and intend to make this up into a decorative mini-pillow, with the exact finishing to be decided later. I have an idea to add some red buttons as accents to the corners, and maybe even use this piece to experiment on with aging the fabric, but we’ll see.
This is one of the few pieces I’ve ever worked where each individual stitch must be fully completed before moving on to the next, which makes it a little more challenging than some of my past projects, but I do love how the color subtly changes as the words progress across the fabric.
Two nutcrackers
This year I also stitched little nutcracker pillow ornaments as gifts for both of my sisters.
These are from a Prairie Schooler Nutcracker Santa mini-card design from 1996. The first is on 28-count Evenweave in Mushroom, the second is on 18-count Aida in Oatmeal, both in DMC floss as charted, although I added a border and changed the chart’s feet and belt slightly on the second version. On both I substituted a red seed bead for the one stitch required to represent a holly berry. 
Prairie Schooler was for many years my favorite cross stitch designer, and although I’ve stitched plenty of their samplers and annual Santa cards in the past, this is the first time I’ve made up any nutcrackers.
Gifts for my great-nieces
Finished all three ornaments for my great-nieces on Monday night and took them to the post office on Tuesday morning. I was only one day behind schedule, so I am feeling pretty pleased with myself.
The kids already get tons of great toys and gifts from their family at holiday time, so this year I decided to do something handmade and personalized for their Christmas tree instead. In that sense, these are really more like gifts for their parents, I suppose! These were a lot of fun to stitch, and even though there were a few moments when I was afraid my hands would give out before I could get them done in time, it all worked out just fine.
Each ornament is a Lizzie Kate Monthly Stamp Flip-It design and was stitched in 18-count Aida Oatmeal using DMC floss as indicated in each chart. I substituted my own buttons for the ones indicated, and changed the names of the months to the childrens’ names by playing around in MacStitch. The designs were finished as little stuffed hanging pillows, with cotton print backs and cloth ribbon from my fabric stash.
For the kids
This year I decided to stitch personalized Christmas tree ornaments for my great-nieces. I chose a few cute Lizzie Kate Christmas Club Flip-Its designs from 2006 and had a lot of fun charting out the girls’ names using MacStitch. Here’s a WIP picture of the first design mid-name in my hoop. I am actually working on the third one right now and hope to finish it tonight so that I can assemble all three of them this weekend and (fingers crossed) mail them next week.
Second thoughts
It’s difficult to know whether or not a handcrafted gift will be appreciated. One recipient might treasure an item specifically because it was handmade for them, while another might reject the most beautiful piece of handiwork regardless of the hours of effort involved in its creation solely because it doesn’t come from a store.
Currently I’m debating whether or not a project that I have planned is worth that effort. Although I chose the pattern, style and colors carefully with the recipient’s tastes in mind, suddenly I’m not certain that such a painstakingly handcrafted item would have any value in someone else’s eyes. I guess all I can do is hope that they will understand a gift of the heart.
Woof & Meow finished
Here are Lizzie Kate’s “Woof” and “Meow” finished as Christmas ornaments. I tried several different finishing techniques before deciding on this one. Sometimes simple is best! I hope my niece and soon-to-be nephew-in-law will like them as much as I enjoyed stitching them. Both stitched on 28-count evenweave in Mushroom from Michael’s Crafts, using DMC floss as charted.
A friend is a gift
I’ve stitched this little Prairie Schooler mini-card so many times as a gift to give away that I decided maybe I’d like one for myself. I tried it out on some 28-count linen bought on sale at Michael’s Crafts. I also picked up a pair of clip-on magnifiers there that let me see intricate details and still have my hands free for needlework. These work very well, but what a sight I look with then attached to my strongest reading glasses!
Sympathetic Threads 