Saturday, December 21, 2013

A Little Finish, A Friend, and A Beautiful bird!

I really enjoyed the comments on my last post.  The ornaments that my DD made are at least 25 years old!  I also appreciated the advice you gave me on my last finish.  I did find the perfect frame so it will be framed.  It is not big so I do like the idea of putting it on a table. As many of you know, I am a bit of a finishing coward so framing was fine with me! I was waiting for some linen to arrive to begin my January Word Play, so I stitched this little Santa.  The design is from the JCS Ornament Magazine 2011.  It is a Sue Hillis Design called Lantern Santa.  I did it pretty much as charted but skipped the back stitching.  For some reason my stitches were crowded and I didn't think it would work to try to back stitch much of the design. I used some left over fabric from Caleb's Halloween design.


 Last week I spent a delightful afternoon with my good friend Joan.  She stamps the way many of us cross stitch.  She has a wonderful collection of stamps and paper which she generously shares with me.  She usually invites me for an afternoon of stamping before most holidays. We always have a great afternoon!

 Pictures of her vast collection of stamps!



 See the hearts! We have made Valentines for several years.  My family loves them!

Here are some of the beautiful cards she made for Christmas.
 
My good friend Joan helping me with the stamping.

 
 We woke up to a bit of snow on Friday morning and look what we saw at our feeder.  Beautiful!! According to our bird book it is a Varied Thrush.

My wish is that you are all having a wonderful week-end before Christmas and taking time to enjoy the wonders of this amazing time of year.


22 comments:

  1. Love your santa! That bird is beautiful! Wow that's a lot of stamps!

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  2. Love your Santa ornament ! Beautiful bird ! Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas !

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  3. I love your Santa ornament, Barb! Joan does have a lot of stamps and I love her stamp storage system. What a beautiful bird! Merry Christmas!!

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  4. What a nice Santa.
    The card-making looks fun, she sure has quite a collection of stamps!
    A very pretty bird, thanks for sharing.
    Merry Christmas to you and your family.
    Marilyn

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  5. What a gorgeous bird! And that Santa is delightful. I like the dark gray that he is stitched on. I need to stamp more, I miss it. Good for you and Joan for getting together to stamp. Fun!

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  6. What a beautiful bird, and a sweet little Santa.

    How fun that your friend lets you play with her stamping stash!

    Have a wonderful Christmas.

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  7. Love the little Santa finish and I think he looks just fine without any backstitch.
    It's always fun to craft with a friend. Joan is very talented and has made some lovely cards.
    So nice to watch the birds in the garden. The little thrush is so pretty.
    Happy Christmas and happy crafting in 2014.


    Margaret

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  8. You are a new to me blog, but one I am sure to visit again. You have some lovely finishes.

    Have a very Happy Christmas and I'll see you in 2014.

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  9. Your Santa looks great!

    The stamping sounds like so much fun. I bet I could get into stamping... so many cute stamps and ideas.

    I have never seen that type bird before, he is gorgeous!

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  10. I LOVE that Santa! Sounds like you and Joan had a great time visiting and stamping. I love stamping! That bird is gorgeous. We have had such bitter temperatures there are no birds out. -39 celcius this morning. I cried!!

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  11. I've always meant to stitch that Santa, too, Barb and after seeing your cute finish, I'm inspired even more!

    That sweet bird is a beauty--I've never seen one like that around here...

    Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

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  12. You stamping session sounds like lots of fun. I love your little Santa finish. Wow! That Thrush is gorgeous. Wonderful that you were able to get such a good picture of it. Merry Christmas!

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  13. i love stamping! have a wonderful xmas barb!

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  14. love the wee piece and oooooooo look at all those nice stamps ... glad you had some fun making some cards up :)
    hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year :) love mouse xxxxxx

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  15. Nice photos of Joan in her 'studio'. And I love the thrush photos- nice job, Mom!

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  16. I love the linen you chose for the Santa ornament! I think it looks great without the backstitching. All of those stamps look so pretty!

    Have a very Happy Christmas!

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  17. This little Santa is just darling. Why not leave him like that, without the backstitches. I think I'll have to leaf through my older JCS ornament issues again to find all these hidden treasures in there.
    Yoru friend has an amazing collection of stamps. It must be fun to spend an afternoon with all these stamps.
    I have never seen such a bird but there are a lot of birds in your part of the world that don't exist over here.

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  18. I love your Santa finish!! Merry Christmas!

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  19. Sweet Santa. You are a fast stitcher :) What beautiful cards. I think that the varied thrush is gorgeous. So nice to have a new visitor.

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  20. What a sweet little Santa! And a colorful little bird - beautiful! Merry Christmas to you and your family! :)

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  21. I love your little Santa finish!! Joan is like my best friend, an avid stamp and card maker. I try to collect stamps but nothing like Joan or my friend! It's so nice to receive the beautifully made cards isn't it?!

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