Category Archives: Christmas

Secret – or not so secret – Santa

Posted in Christmas, work by

This was totally a success. My recipient is eating a pack of noodles as I type and is so happy 🙂 with both the joke and the gift.

I received this from Sarah P – love the poppies. It’s a DMC kit & I will swap out the aida for linen. #BK546

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My boss is a bit of a jovial round sort of fellow. Hard to buy for, as if he wants it he’ll just pick it up. Equally wary at gift giving time is T, our head of Marketing. Usually she gets crayons and colouring books (regift alert!). But this year F’s very happy with his gift! While T’s is a variation on the theme…

Jpeg

and I just got a $50 Bendon Lingere gift card from a supplier. Clearly I didn’t work hard enough to p*ss them off this year! Or maybe I did? I’ll never know.

Officially

Posted in Christmas, work by

Capture

I’m 22% nice. That seems awful low!

http://socialsanta.co to check yourself out (you have to have a Twitter logon).

Proper post later on today if I get a (shareable) Secret Santa present. My person will be exasperated – I brought them a plant pot, pottery Sage tag, sage seeds and a gardening notebook (their new hobby) but I only had two boxes at home. One was about 5mm too small, and the other was far too big. I didn’t have much packaging material to make sure it doesn’t get broken, so I improvised.

She’ll also have 20 odd packs of chicken flavoured Two Minute Noodles. As one person said, completely non PC, she’s Asian, she might appreciate them more than the actual gift.

 

 

Still got the blahs

Posted in Christmas, family by

Altho Si took us walking today. We started to explore the Manukau Coastal walkway, doing a bit from Mangere village to Wakaraka Cemetery.

The weather held off and it was a good way to blow out some cobwebs.

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Love that the Pohutukawa is finally flowering. It’s also known as the New Zealand Christmas tree and grows around most of the shoreline.

Si is busy ignoring his first present 😦 I might just spend gift #2 on myself escaping!

WIP Wednesday

Posted in Christmas, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by

No stitching progress today. Yes, I’m sad about that too. The reality is that my wrist hurts so much that I am seriously considering the physio. Mouse opperation is ouch!!!

But planning for next year. Signed up now to the 2015 Smalls SAL (click the button on the sidebar) and Measi’s organising a WIPocalypse again (http://measi.net/measiblog/wipocalypse_main/2015_wipocalypse-basic-info-sign-up-page/) This is a huge effort so much appreciated. I brought stash while in Sydney – more Nora Corbett, quelle surprise – two pieces for Carol (my MIL) and the Party Cakes for Louise.

I also plan to complete at least two of the NC reindeer (they almost qualify as a small, given the size of my WIPs), Stargazer, and complete another chunk of Tapestry Cat. My smalls will most probably be Christmas ornaments; I’ll use the monthly check in to get some presents underway and finished! Bonus.

A Personal 12 Days of Christmas – NaBloPoMo twenty five

Posted in Christmas, family, NaBloPoMo by

I feel quite safe posting this – not sure Si actually remembers that I blog, let alone the address! So this should still be a surprise.

I read a while ago about the 12 Days Project. It’s been around for a while, but I am clearly a bit slow <grin> This year I will attempt to complete this for Si. The trick will be convincing him that I don’t want anything in return. And getting little Mr M to keep a secret! I’m starting on the 13th, which I KNOW is not the right way around, but I just want to start 🙂

On the x day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

  1. A Batman tree ornament (press the button, it even makes the sounds!)
  2. Two movie tickets (for him and his bestie, as I don’t actually like going to the movies)
  3. Letters from the boys
  4. 4 in 1 photo frame with the boys each holding a word & L in the last space
  5. $5 lotto scratchie
  6. I’m thinking a 6 pack of Coke?
  7. Picnic with 7 food items
  8. NO FREAKING IDEA
  9. Packs of his fav chewing gum
  10. Might be lame but a $10 scratchie?
  11. Playlist with 11 of our favourite songs
  12. 12 memories – a calendar

The idea isn’t to spend up large, but to make the other person feel loved. What do you think of this? Commercial or cheesy or choice?

Friday Finish – NaBloMoPo seven

Posted in Christmas, Journal, NaBloPoMo, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler by

One of my favourite new friends, Anne, collates a whole heap of stitching finishing techniques on her blog Feather Stitching. I find it a great resource for trying something new (not my forte at all) but also the basics. Some of the links are dead – they are mostly to other people’s blogs so have patience http://focusonfinishing.wordpress.com/tutorial-links/ another link I like is here: http://stacybinnj.wordpress.com/basic-no-glue-ornament-finishing-tutorial/

This is an exchange piece from Claire (yes, same Claire) that I received last Christmas. It’s a Teresa Wentzler freebie, designed to introduce some of the colours & speciality stitches that are involved in her larger Father Winter sampler. You can download the freebie pdf here: http://www.twdesignworks.com/Free/fworn.html Just remember to respect the designer’s copyrights and not make this piece for sale and so on.

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Stitching

Posted in Christmas, embroidery, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler by

2014 saw the start of a big creativity phase. So far, I’ve…

  • started and completed Teresa Wentzler’s Stretch (her dragon logo) and a little Christmas ornament is ready to finish as a hanging ornament. 

Stretch
  • I also added some beads to Misty, one of the TW Rocking Horses. I think she’s ready to frame now.
    detail from Misty


  • attended an embroidery class with Zeb, a new friend (who I’m sure will get me in lots of trouble and laughs in years to come). I’m fairly confident with about ten stitches now.

My StitchSmith owl. Yet to be completed. Cause I’m lazy.

  • started and completed Nora Corbett’s Santa’s Sleigh AND AM TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH IT, so much so that I have acquired six of her reindeer patterns.  
    The Sleigh, nearly completed (some beading was still to be done at this point)

  • started Nora Corbett’s Arezzo, setting the bar high in making this my first colour conversion (hate the dress colour and the lilac roses, and have made the leaves darker) and my first “over 1”, meaning over the one thread not the usual two. Squintville, here I come. Not sure if this is truly an NC or a Mirabilia design, but it’s pretty and delicate.

Nora Corbett’s Arezzo

I’ve also stitched quite a few Christmas ornaments (starting early, but there is a lot of downtime while you’re waiting at league training and for reports to run) and made a cushion cover from a Pintrest image. Check out my NYC envelope cushion!Â