First Post of 2025....and We've Got Snow!!!! 784-788

  Greetings my friends!!! I hope those who may have been in the path of Winter Storm Cora are keeping warm with a cuppa your favorite warm beverage and a needle in your hand. For anyone affected by the LA fires, I pray you are safe! It's hard to know what else to say when you see the devastation and loss. But many across the country are holding you in their prayers!!!

So, here is a photo of my backyard this morning. For my regular followers, you know I love snow and was happy to get it twice this past week. It looks so pretty...and yes, I don't HAVE to go out in it, so I can enjoy at my leisure. 

I have some Christmas gifts, received and given, I want to share now that they have been received. I am so blessed to have such generous and kind stitchy friends. Some I have never met in person, but we share a passion for our needlework that binds us together in a way non-stitchers don't always understand.

These were my birthday and Christmas gifts from Robin in VA. Such a kind hearted lady!

These were from a few of my blogging friends. From L to R....Believe from Vickie N, Joy from Sue H. and the black bear from Marilyn F. Such lovely and thoughtful gifts. 

This was from an exchange I participated in. My partner was Rebecca B and she gifted me this lovely pin pillow along with some beautiful pins that she custom made for me. You can find her pins on IG under myrecycledrelatives_stitches.

My exchange gift to Rebecca was Merry Stitches from Samplerbird Stitchery:

I call this a "tacky" Christmas sewing box.

These are the ornaments I made for my four older grandchildren. They were Chantelle's mystery Christmas box. We got 5 charts from different designers and five wooden pieces to finish them on. I did 4 0f the 5, as you can see. They were from l to r as follows: Peaceful Snowman by Annie Beez, Frosty Bulb by Teresa Kogut, A Home for the Holiday by Hands on Design and Snow Kissed Mittens by Robin Pickens. I did switch some of the finishes boards around. 

Something I've been working on in the car but forgot to post is Amy Mitten's Advent Calendar. I was able to buy this from the estate sale of a fellow blogger after she passed. I think of her every time I work on it. It's stitched on 25 ct. Dublin linen with a red yarn. There will be 24 mittens in all.... six so far complete. These are large 5 1/2 X 

3 3/4. 

Another ongoing project, but much tinier than the mittens is Mrs. Claus's Cookbook by Living on a Rainbow. I showed the cover in my last blog post. Here is the first recipe page...isn't it the cutest?

Now on to my 2025 starts.....I decided to do a Blessing Sampler and chose Winter Is Past by Blackbird Designs. I am not usually a "blue" person, but I really loved the colorway of this one. I'm stitching on 36 count PTP Wren with the called for WDW colors. It's like working with a worn pair of blue jeans!!!

The other new start is Outnumber the Shamrocks by Stitchy Prose. I found this at Nashville Market last year and thought it would be a perfect 50th anniversary sampler, especially since we went to Ireland as our gift to each other. The original is very bright colors, so I have muted them down and am stitching on 36 ct. Parchment by Fiber on a Whim. I'm also doing it in silks...mostly Belle Soie with one Gloriana and one Vikki Clayton. I will be stitching the verse as shown up top, but adding our personal info at the bottom. 

I'm going to close with a series of photos with our Jax!!! I made him the same placemat for Santa that I made my older grands. It is by JBW Designs. you put it out on Christmas Eve with cookies, milk and a note for Santa, as well as a carrot for the reindeer. 

Here is our little "dear" eating what was left of the carrot on Christmas morning!!! Sadly they were not with us, but at their other grandparents. However, they drove to visit us the day after Christmas for 3 days!!!

I'd say that just about covers everything!!! My daughter's family leaves Wednesday for a "heritage" visit to  Sierra Leone. It will be the first time James and Esther have gone back to Africa  since they got here in December 2017. They are very excited and can't wait to eat their native foods. My hubby is going with them! I can't say I'm not a bit apprehensive about this, but know it will be a once in a lifetime experience for them. I plan to drive to OCMD, while they're gone, to help out at Salty Yarns. Camp Wannastitch is a Mid-Atlantic EGA sponsored retreat held in OCMD every Martin Luther King weekend. There can be as many as 175 ladies that come and they all like to come and shop at Salty Yarns. So, I've been going now for quite a few years to help out cutting fabric. It's always  a lot of fun!

As always....thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi