Gifts/Friends/Christmas

Well a few days to go before the man in the red suit arrives and I just can;t find any time to sit down and stitch. I still have a few gifts to wrap and I need to start planning and buying the last bits and pieces for Christmas dinner. I always find Christmas day so hectic. We get up early open our gifts, grab some breakfast then visit my brother and his family and then its off too my Mum and Dads. More coffee, tea and gift exchanging then it;s back home to start preparing dinner. We sit down to dinner early afternoon, stuff ourselves silly, have a little rest and then there is a mountain of clearing up to do. Next we spend a few hours playing family games, more tea, coffee and snacks and you are just ready to sit down and relax and then you realise it;s bedtime. The day has come and gone in a flash. I much prefer Boxing Day as it is a totally chill out day. No one ever visits so we spend the day in our pyjamas watching tv, playing games, listening to music, stitching, reading , just whatever we enjoy. Not much cooking either as we have always found in years past that so much is eaten on Christmas day , you don;t really want lots of food the next day so we always just have a buffet. Roll on Sunday..lol.

I always get the most enjoyment from pieces that I stitch and give-away for exchanges, gifts, etc but while in my finishing mode recently I decided to keep these two for myself to hang in my home this year. Dear Santa I stitched many, many years ago but never got round to doing anything with it and the buttons have also been in my stash for a while and I had no idea how I would ever use them. Isn;t it cute..lol. Snow is a Shepherds bush piece that I stitched right at the beginning of the year. When I came across this fabric in my stash I just knew it would make a great pillow. Who would have believed that as I get near to the end of the year I would actually be happy with some of my finishes..lol.

There has been so many delays in the mail with the snow this December that I didn;t expect any of the gifts I sent out to arrive. Suprisingly this week a few have got through. A little scissor gift, chocolate santas and a stitched pillow for Michelle (http://stitchcraftplace.blogspot.com/) and a JOY ornament, candy cane chart and chocolate scottish snowman for Siobhan (http://bluehenhollow.blogspot.com/). Two sweet ladies that I am blessed to call my friend.

After a long day shopping in Glasgow yesterday I got a lovely suprise when I arrived home and found my exchange box from Cath. Once again she has spoiled me too pieces. Look at all these gorgeous gifts. Oh no I;ve just realised that I haven;t included my beautiful snowman that Cath sent. As I hung it up in my living-room right away I forgot to include it in the photos.

I will just treasure that beaded scissor keeper. This is only the second one I have owned. My friend Elaine sent me one a few years ago but last year it broke and I really miss it. Cath just puts so much thought into these exchanges, she knows what a sheep and snowman nut I am. I just couldn;t stop laughing at Shaun the Sheep, the kids want to steal it but they;ve been told hands off and what about my Stitch pal monkey, isn't it adorable and he is purple!! I have an area in my hall-way where I sit my stitching box and baskets so my darling little stitchy pal will sit there. The Oh Joy stitched ornament is one that I had on my list to stitch myself. I love the thread Cath has used to stitch it and she has even finished the back with some tartan fabric. It;s now hanging on my tree. Thank you so much for everything Cath.

I;ve been so spoiled this week as I also received this lovely card and pin cushion kit from Michelle. I had recently been admiring these pincushions on line and was wishing that I had one. Thank you so much Michelle. I can;t wait to try it.


Another wonderful surprise that arrived in my mail this week was these gorgeous goodies from Staci. I have oohed and aahhed all year at all the beautiful creations she makes and I am so touched to receive these gifts. The heart is so pretty and is now hanging on my tree. Thank you so much Staci you are a dear friend.

As this will be my last post before Christmas I hope the Christmas season fills your home with joy, your heart with love and your life with laughter. Merry Christmas Everyone. Love & Hugs!

Snowmen Alert!

This post is for all you Snowmen lovers out there. I just know I can;t be the only one with this little addiction. These are some of my favourites from my collection. I only get to bring them out at Christmas as I don;t have the room to display them all year round. I started collecting them ten years ago , some I have bought myself , others were gifts from friends and family. I;m still on the look-out for this years addition. Enjoy!

On the stitching front I have been up to my eyes in glue and invisible thread since mid November. I;ve lost count of the amount of finishes I;ve attempted to do. Some I;m happy with some I;m not but I do need the practice and I am feeling a little more confident now about trying to do some more. Hopefully in the next few days I will get the chance to pick up my needle again and see if I can remember how to stitch. I need to get my December SAL chart done and I;m determined to stitch at least one Ornie from this years Just Cross-stitch Ornie mag.

Hope everyone is having a good week. Hugs.

Snow, Snow, Snowman!

Nothing much to blog about today. Our morning has been spent building Buzz (two year old Leon picked the name) the Snowman. I;m still not doing any stitching, any free time I am working on making up Ornies. I need them finished soon as I have soooooo many more Christmas designs I want to stitch.

I know that some of you ladies in the States will have their tree and decorations displayed by now, please post pictures on your blogs as I love to see them,especially any Snowman collectors. I can;t wait to display mine. If I had a bigger home I would display them all year long. My Mum always adds to my collection every year but last year I think she forgot that my space is limited. I have no idea where this guy is going to go. I also haven;t a name for him yet so I welcome any suggestions.

Hope everyone has a good week. Will try and get back soon. Hugs!

Happy Thanks-giving!

HAPPY THANKS-GIVING!

To all my friends who are celebrating thanks-giving today I want to wish you and your family a wonderful day.

Love & Hugs

Lainey x

Stash/Stitching & Friends!

Sorry I have been M.I.A for a while life has been busy and I just haven;t had time to get online as much as I would have liked.
I hope everyone has been stitching, patchworking and knitting as I am looking forward to catching up on all the new projects and wips. As some of you know I have been clearing and sorting out my stash recently. Even though I;m blushing furiously I thought I would post a few pictures of my little collection, minus six boxes of magazines, a crate of fabric and two boxes of finishes...lol. Now I must ask am I in the minority or majority off untidy stash collectors? Please post some stash pictures on your blogs, even those that I will be green with envy with who have not just a neat pile but a stash room to die for.

As my followers know I don;t really enjoy finishing but when I came across my huge pile of stitched pieces just sitting there in boxes I knew I had to get my butt in gear and do something. So the past few weeks there hasn;t been a lot of stitching but I have managed to finish off one cube and seven ornaments...woooo hooooo!!! The cube finish you will see later but I can;t show the ornies as the recipients all read my blog, well I think they do...lol.

The one piece I have been stitching on is my November SAL. I got to choose this month and I decided on this cute Santa by Heart in Hand. The chart was given to me by my friend Corinna. Sadly she doesn;t blog anymore but I know she still reads them. Thank you dear Corinna for passing forward this darling Santa. I have so enjoyed stitching him and once he is finished I too will pass on the chart. If anyone would like to have the chart leave a comment on this post. All I ask is that once you have stitched him please pass the chart on to someone else.

A few weeks ago myself and DH had the most wonderful week-end when Erna (http://scotlandandstitching.blogspot.com/) and her DH Ron who were on holiday from Holland came to visit us. Thanks to blogging Er and I got to know each other and have now become wonderful friends. We have been emailing and recently started chatting on messenger. It was so lovely to be able to actually meet her and Ron in person. I;m sorry I didn;t take more photos of our meet up but we were just all enjoying ourselves too much. Er and Ron arrived at our home in the morning and we had coffee and cake and exchanged some gifts we had for each other. Er also brought some gifts for my lovely neighbour who is Dutch himself. Sadly I couldn;t take Er and Ron to visit as he is very ill but him and his wife were very touched by their gift. Never one to miss an opportunity to visit my favourite place to eat we took Er and Ron to the Cornhill House Hotel for lunch. The weather was very kind to us and it was a lovely drive to the Hotel. Everyone really enjoyed the meal and my tablet ice-cream and caramel sauce was just too die for. My DH said he should bring me here more often as when that sweet is placed in front of me it;s the only time I shut-up...lol. After lunch we visited the local heritage village of New Lanark. We had a walk around a craft fair that was on and Er decided to buy a lovely hand-made Scottish themed card to take back to her Mum. As she went to pay for the card I turned around and she was talking away to this women in Dutch. It was too funny she came all the way to Scotland buys a card and the lady who serves her is Dutch...lol. Sadly not long after we returned home Erna and Ron had to leave to drive to their holiday cottage. On speaking to Er she said they had a wonderful weeks holiday here in Scotland and Ian and myself can;t wait until they can come back for another visit. They are both such lovely people that we are now delighted to call our friends.

Elaine & Er

Beautiful gifts from Holland minus the biscuits that were all eaten...lol. The pictures underneath are from the gorgeous stitchy book that Erna brought me. I thought you might like to see inside.

The Cornhill House Hotel where we had lunch.

A few images off New Lanark

Hamish Haggis

Our Scottish gifts to Ron & Erna, Whisky, Shortbread & stitchy stuff.

Well once again blogger has been a nightmare to create this post. I still can;t upload more than one photograph at a time and have had to resort to the old edition. It is such a pain. I hope everyone has had a great week-end and maybe it won;t be too long until I come back with some more thoughts and blethers from my wee hoose. Hugs!