Monday, January 6, 2014

The First Stitch of 2014 and Some Great Gifts

Design - "Chill Out"
Chart - "Tiny Tidings IX"
Designers - Lizzie Kate
Fabric - 32 count natural linen
Fibers - WDW & DMC - 2 strands over 2 threads
Started - 1 January 2014
Completed - 4 January 2014 

Considering all the snow and the extremely cold temperatures much of the US has endured the past few days, I thought it the perfect time to stitch "Chill Out". It was 26F Sunday morning - cold but nowhere near the Arctic conditions present in the midwest and along east coast.  

I was the recipient of some wonderful gifts over the holidays.
Let me show you...

This might be the 'powiest' watering can ever!
Does my sister have me all figured out or what?

A couple of elves left me mementos of my summer in the U.K.
Brown sauce - I'm now a fan - love it on scrambled eggs.
And a UK Pillar Box bank for my spare change.

I have a couple of interesting books to read on a rainy day. The guide on the right is one of three published some years ago now.  They make wonderful gifts for grade school aged children as way to introduce them to the natural world. The books are out of print, but easy to find on the internet.  

I've never kept a record of my bird finds.  It might be interesting to do this year and track my observations and the number of different birds.

This cute sheep ornament will hold a special place in my heart for a couple of reasons. First off it is by the designer Linnea who I love (see the calendar below). But more importantly, "Baah Humbug" was my paternal grandfather's patented response to greetings of "Merry Christmas!" Not that he was a Scrooge per-say ,he just thought that we got a bit carried away celebrating the holiday.  He was the type of person who would have been perfectly content with a fresh orange in his stocking, a wreath on the door, and a nice meal with all the family in attendance.  

Here's my Linnea calendar for 2014.  It is mini-poster sized so I use a child's easel to display it.

Maggee, keeper of the Stitching Devotee blog, took pity on my Cardinal Envy and sent this pretty red bird my way.

I started collecting these bird tiles from Terra Madre a few years ago.  This year I was given a Flicker.

Pretty life-like, isn't it? 

My mushroom ornament collection grew apace this year too.

And look at the lovely ornament Chris of Tot Hill Farm Stitches gave me! 
It reminds me of dogwood blossoms - one of my spring time favorites.

Thanks to everyone - I am truly blessed! 

13 comments:

Vickie said...

What fabulous gifts Beth!
What a let down with the Packers huh?

Tea said...

Your Christmas gifts are very pretty. Iespecially love the cardinal. Chill Out is adorable.

Melissa said...

Nice first finish of the year and what a lot of lovely gifts! Lucky you!

Giovanna said...

Congrats on your first 2014 finish - very cute! And wonderful gifts - I think my son has the same Pillar Box bank :-)

Andrea said...

Beautiful gifts. Congratulations on your first finish of 2014.

Margaret said...

Very appropriate finish indeed! Love all the gifts too. Fantastic!

Ranae said...

Congrats on the first stitch finish of the year
Very cute and very cold, lol
Happy 2014!!

carol fun said...

what wonderful additions to your holiday decor! I do love that LK Snowman - he is adorable!

Barb said...

You got lots of treasures. It looks like people know you well.

Pam in IL said...

"Chill Out" is so adorable. It's been really bad here as I'm sure you've seen on the news. I can never figure out why the news reports make it seem like we've never had winter weather before.

You got some great gifts!

Michele said...

I hope you have a most wonderful 2014 collecting too. May nature never be too far away and smiles always be on your lips.

Chris said...

Sweet snowman Beth!
Some lovely holiday gifts too. I love the mushrooms.

Melanie said...

Lovely, lovely gifts. :)
Glad you got to try the brown sauce. I get it from time to time - very yummy. Just don't eat a lot of stuff that I can use it with, you know?