First finish

I've finished my first ornament of 2026 and as with other years it us stuffed with the previous year's orts.

Winter Witch was one of the Challenge Designs at Needlecraft Haven and initially I wasn't sure about it but now she's stitched I love her. 

I save my orts in a beautiful bon bon jar my late mother-in-law bought me many years ago. It's surprising how many there are in just one year.

I'm very pleased with how she turned out. She's hanging on our tree and will be soon packed away with all the others until later this year when the festivities begin again.

Today is the start of Dry January and I'll be taking part this year to raise a bit more for our Scouts' minibus appeal. I have been involved in Scouting all my life, my parents were when I was young and Dad all his life. This year marks my 40th year as an adult volunteer so I'm trying to raise £400 to help towards buying a new minibus.

It's only day one so no problem at all but I fid make a Mocktail Espresso Martini as it's New Year's Day. It was very nice.

This is the link to my Just Giving page, I'll be sharing my non-alcoholic drinks throughout the month which I hope will keep me going. 

This photo that I'm using for the appeal was taken in 1999 when my Dad received Scoutings' second highest award, The Silver Acorn. As you can see our son was a cub, my step-dad also a uniformed volunteer and my Mum was wearing her Medal if Merit for her service to Scouting. 

Back to stitching, I have a big project that I need to get on with but I need to sort out a few smaller projects too. 

Wishing you all busy needles in 2026.

 

Christmas stitching

We had our family Christmas on the 28th when our daughter and our son-in-law were here too. It's so nice to have all six of us together, it only happens about 3 times a year. We often see our son and his girlfriend who live nearby and we do visit  our daughter and hubby in Wales but getting all together makes Christmas very special. 

I love buying gifts for them all, a bit like doing a stocking as the presents are all little bits. They all get the same time of a gift but made to suit them. They all get a bottle of something, they all get toiletries and other things like books, chocolates and socks! We give them money as their main gift so they can buy what they need; our daughter and son-in-law bought their first house this year and our son and girlfriend are hoping to move into their first owned house in the New Year. 

I stitched a house for our daughter and hubby for their first Christmas tree. It was one of the Seasonal Challenges at Needlecraft Haven. I only did the house part of the design and added their door number to the front door and added a label to the gift.

I had started to stitch the house for our son and girlfriend, I wasn't going to stitched the birds but I have stitched the Christmas tree next to the house. However with them not moving it didn't feel right to stitch it so it's in my UFO box ready to be finished for Christmas 2026. 

That said I had less than a week to stitch something else which is doable but not at the busiest time of year and Hubby has a birthday too so less stitching time. I managed to do this very cute snowmen couple from Durene Jones, they were impressed that I'd done it so quickly when I explained about the house. 

I have already started my orts ornament which I'm hoping to finish before the New Year. I have quite a few plans in 2026, I'll post about them on New Year's Day.

Christmas thank you

Yesterday was Christmas for just me and Hubby although we did meet my step-dad at our social club for a Christmas drink. Our family Christmas is the 28th when our son, his girlfriend, our daughter and our son-in-law will all be here. 

There is nothing Hubby and I want so we had a £30 budget so we had gifts to open.... we bought each other socks, smellies and books .... that's why we've been together for 40 years. 

We had a lovely Christmas dinner enjoying a bottle of our favourite Welsh wine from White Castle and Maderia wine from Blandy's (we visit them when in Funchal on our Canary Island cruises - link to blog post). 

My lovely friends at Needlecraft Haven spoilt me again this year with super gifts: stitching, chocolates, hand creams, a bag and knitted socks. We may be just a few but I really treasure their friendship, they certainly keep my going in many ways especially my stitching mojo .... thank you Julie, Gill, Mary & Christine.

I've been friends with Brenda in Canada since the late 1990s meeting on World of Cross Stitching forum. My gift has yet to arrive with Brenda although I posted it the end of November. The Canadian post seems much quicker as I received this lovely stitchy kit .... thank you Brenda 

I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas Day, enjoy the continuing festivities.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all my stitchy friends a very Merry Christmas 🎄 

I have not been blogging much this year, I'm behind on my wine, food & travel blog too. It's easy to say I'll write and read more next year but often the idea doesn't actually happen.

This year I put up Miss-try again at church. I haven't had time to visit the festival this year but I think they've had lots of visitors.

December 1st was Christmas Exchange Opening Day with Needlecraft Haven. I sent to Christine and Gill sent to me. I stitched a snowman designed by Durene Jones, he was fun to do. Gill stitched a beautiful sampler and included some lovely threads and yummy chocolate santas.

We were away for the start of the month, a cruise from Spain to the Canary Islands. The tree had lots of Christmas decorations, as did the ports we visited. You can read about it here. 

I hope you all have a lovely time over the festive season with your loved ones .... Merry Christmas 🎄

It's advent time

December is here and the festivities begin. I love December 1st when it's time for advent.

Every year I buy our grown up children an advent calendar and previous years I have given them a tealight calendar for their homes. This year I bought everyone chocolate calendars and an advent candle to burn each day.

Previously I have bought Hubby beers and chocolates and wrapped them individually to make a homemade personal advent. As we get older we're being a little more health conscious so I bought him a super Lindt calendar and just two beers, one for his birthday and the other for a Christmas Eve.

Hubby bought me a super Boots No.7 Beauty calender. The items inside last me ages and are the perfect size for holidays, it's a great way to add to my beauty box. 

Our calendars sit under the tv ready for us to open a new window every day leading us closer to Christmas Day.

It was Needlecraft Haven Christmas Ornament Exchange opening day yesterday and I received a lovely gift and gifts but although my partner has received hers I don't think she's opened it yet so I'll post again soon. 

My monthly stitching has been changed, this is my new December one that I'm not sure if I've shared. I like the series but it does niggle that there's no capital letters, something I didn't notice until I'd done them all. 

Have fun as the festive season begins, happy decorating 

Mid November catch up

Well there isn't much to catch up really, I have been stitching but it's stitching I can not share at the moment. I actually have lots to get done and I feel time is running away. 

We had a lovely weekend in Wales with our daughter and son-in-law including a trip to the theatre to see Six the Musical. A cast of six actresses and four female live musicians it's a vast moving non-stop show over 90 minutes long. It must take months of practice and huge stamina to do this, we all enjoyed it and would go again.

We've also had a weekend with our friends who live near London. They are also wine enthusiasts and hosted a wine tasting, you can read about it on my other blog - Wine, food and travel with Clare. 

I made some cakes to take to the tasting: carrot cupcakes with walnut topping and sticky toffee cupcakes with mini gingerbreadmen. Everyone enjoyed them, it was nice to bake for a group as lately it's just been for family. 

I'll leave you with my November stitching which I finished a few years ago as a set of 12 but this is the first year it's been out in a frame. I had the frame made to match my other monthly stitching and I change both every month. 

Happy Halloween

 🎃👻🕸 Happy Halloween 🕸👻🎃

I don't have any new stitching to show, October has been a month th of stitching for Christmas. I have quite a bit of urgent stitching to do 8n November but we are also quite busy so I hope I can get it all done in time. 

I have decorated the house with my Halloween ornaments including a cushion our daughter stitched when she was young. 

It's lovely to hang my Halloween ornaments on my tree, many are from exchanges from my stitchy friends. I always see new designs but just never seem to have time, I think my 2026 plans will include making my need busy again. 

I'm not really a spooky fan but I do like the Halloween colours and cute side of ghosts and pumpkins. It's quite a shame when they are put away again, the next set of ornaments is winter but not until December as  officially November is the third month of autumn so my pumpkins and scarecrows will stay out a little longer.

I have new flowers since I took these photos. Hubby buys me flowers every week so our house always has fresh flowers throughout the year, most weeks a simple bunch then extra special ones for significant times. I'm a very lucky lady.

🎃👻🕸 Happy Halloween 🕸👻🎃