Thursday, December 13, 2012

A Finished Santa and the Garden

Thanks so much to all of you that made such nice comments about my SIL's Christmas decorating.  I know that she looked at the blog and really appreciated your comments. There are a few give-aways I want to mention.  Both Barbara at "To Stitch or Not to Stitch" and Terri at "Dixie Sampler" have great give-aways going on.  Speaking of winning, I won a wonderful little kit from Mary Ann at "Just Stitching".  Thank you so much Mary Ann!   I finished the PS Santa last night.  He  turned out great.  I will be putting him in one of my frames as soon as we get him stretched.  I am now experimenting with 40 count.  What do think about that count?  For those of you who have stitched on it, is it hard on your eyes?  I usually stitch on 32 count.  Maybe 36 count would be a good compromise.  I'd love to hear your opinions.  I'm just doing a small design to see how it feels.  I want to stitch Mary Gibson  but she will be very big on the 32 count.  We had a break in our ever present rain so I shot a few photos in the yard.  I hope you enjoy them .  I know you are all busy, I hope you find time this week-end to relax and enjoy the beauty of the season!

 PS Santa from  The Santa Collection III 1996.

Here is the kit from Mary Ann.


I love that little tree.  I think this kit is going to make a small ornament.

A view of the decorated house.  You see very few wreaths on windows out here.


There are also very few candles in windows.  I love that look.  Guess it's my Mid-West roots!

Doesn't this rose know it is December??



I love the look of the contorted filbert.  Those little green things are its flowers.(I think)

The flowers of the Garrya, an evergreen shrub.

I love the bark on our paperbark maple.

Mid winter fire-this is especially beautiful in the snow!

Welcome to the garden. St. Francis is watching over everything.  My Dad always had a St. Francis in his yard.  This is in his honor.

Wishing you an early Merry Christmas with my red and green pyracantha.
Have a great week-end!


17 comments:

  1. The PS Santa is too cute! Well done. I do stitch on 40-count every once in a while, it takes a bit for my eyes to adjust and requires good light (for me anyway) but once I get into the grove, there's no more frogging than what's 'normal' for me. I like your wreaths too.

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  2. Hey Barb!! I just started stitching on 40 count too. I like it. Of Course I wear cheater glasses. lol I have purchased a bunch of the 40 count, so now I will need to stitch of it. I love that PS Santa. Your garden is still colorful in the Cold temps!!! My roses are still blooming too.

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  3. Such a cute Santa, Barb! I really need to stitch that one myself... And I love 40 ct.--just began stitching on it this year as a way of making designs small enough to fit into my bowl :) I think I stitch faster with it as you only have to use one strand. I love the 40 ct. Newcastle so much!!

    Your home looks so festive and inviting :)

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  4. fourty count is harder on the eyes, well at least for me lol! however i love it, but then i also love 36, 35, 32 and 30 - R&R Reproductions for all the counts and week dye works for the high counts - everyone is different, tastes are different - this PS design is very nice and its great that despite the cold you still have some colour left in your garden - i have one plant in flower, the rest of my garden is green : {

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  5. oooo love that santa :) and love 40 count also .. I use one strand and always work in daylight if I can or with a very good day light lamp if not and not forgetting my wee glasses either ... enjoy have an experiment :)love mouse xxxx
    ps thanks for the tour too its lovely to see other folks homes :)

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  6. Your PS Santa turned out nice, love the sunflowers on it.
    Great pics of the garden.
    Marilyn

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  7. Lovely finish Barb! That kit is sweet too.
    Your house looks lovely. I love the wreath on the garden gate.
    I hope that you have a wonderful weekend.

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  8. I love your Santa! You can't go wrong with a PS Santa. :-)

    Your house looks beautiful all dressed up for Christmas.

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  9. Santa is looking fabulous ! Your home looks beautiful with the wreaths !

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  10. I love your Santa. And I would love to try to stitch on 40 ct. one day. Your house is so beautiful, I love all the greenier!!

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  11. hmmmm...my pyracantha have orange berries. i wish they were red. i wonder why there are so few wreaths on windows since you live in the land of evergreens?

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  12. It's always a delight to see your wonderful photos.

    Years (and years) ago, I first became of candles in the windows when in Virginia. I wonder if the trend spread east to the midwest.

    I've put them in my windows at Christmas time here in Ohio for years. However, it was always a pain finding extension cords and plugging them in each night and then unplugging them. This time, I treated myself to battery operated ones on a timer. I love them!! Every night they come on all by themselves. Only disadvantages are they are not as bright as the other candles plus the number of hours on the timer is preset at 8 hours. What I did was figure out what time I wanted them to go off, and counted back from there to figure out when they shoudl come on. Anyway, I like the candles so much that I may keep them in my windows all year long.

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  13. Great Santa! I do love the PS Santa designs!
    Lovely home and garden pics, too!

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  14. Love your Santa!

    I like 40ct its quite nice to work on!

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  15. Wonderful post here! Your paperbark tree is magnificent! Have never seen that before! Nor the Mid-Winter fire plant... too cool!! I usually have used 32-count linen, but tried 36-count last year. Some fabrics are harder to stitch on than others, but I am beginning to use it more. Sometimes I use one thread over two, for a softer look. Other times I do two over two, so it pops! Have fun trying 36-count! Oh, one thing more... I must stitch on it under good light! It is a big of a stretch for my eyes! Hugs!

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  16. I love your Santa! Great finish. We finally decorated this weekend and 6 of my big Santa figurines have been broken. Part of it is my husband's fault because he just threw them all in a box together, and part of it is my fault because I am so tired of Christmas stuff by the time we are packing stuff up that I usually take the stuff down and let him pack it. I definitely need to do more PS Santa stitching this year to compensate! Your house looks great. I love the candles in the window. We used to do that in Delaware but I haven't here. Love your St. Francis! I love St. Francis.

    I also love 40 ct! It does take a bit of getting used to but once you work on it for a bit, you'll see the holes no problem. The trick is to use a size 28 needle and, for me, a soft linen like a Zweigart based linen. I love that you only need one strand of thread on 40 ct--I think my stitching looks neater and it's nice to not have to fuss at how the stitches are laying on the fabric.

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