Generous Friends...... and More

Our festive season was very quiet this year, partly due to my recuperation but also because DH caught some kind of lergy and wasn't feeling too great. I knew he was ill when I cooked him a lovely meal, gave it to him and he just sat there, with his head in his hands, looking at it....... not the usual approach at all. He eventually ate it but it took him about an hour to get through it, Bless him. He's now feeling (and eating) much better but has been to the GP, due to still coughing and having a sinus infection, and has some antibiotics to take. So far, thank goodness, I've managed to avoid it....... probably due to the no kissing ban I put in place as soon as his sniffles started. LOL

Santa, in the guise of a postman, came to visit several times on the run up to the 25th and brought several packages from kind and generous friends, so I had a lovely time opening them all on the day. I have to share, as they are all lovely. :0)

Remember the Santa in the previous post that Julie sent? Well she had also been very busy with her knitting needles because inside Santa was this fab stocking and inside that were some extra surprises:


I do love handmade gifts, appreciating the time and skill used to make them, and this one was a very festive gift indeed. The stocking was hung from the wrought ironwork piece that stands on the hearth in our living room (the piece you get a glimpse of when I take pics of hanging ornies) and it will be coming out every year from now on. Thank you again Julie. :0)

The surprise package that came from Sew & So was courtesy of Barb and she knows my tastes so well:

I have had my eye on the blackwork Angel chart for a while and Barb very generously included not only the threads to stitch her but also the lovely and seriously cute Cherubs hanger to display the piece on, once completed. I didn't know you could get that hanger so it was a double surprise. Oddly enough, I've been fancying starting another larger blackwork piece for a while but just couldn't settle on which one to do......... now I have. LOL Thank you again Barb. :0)

To continue in the Angel theme, here is the fab gift I received from Karen:


Sorry about the poor pic - the light here has been bad and my digicam just can't do close ups. This was another goodie I'd had my beady eye on for some time.... and kept on resisting temptation, because the money was needed elsewhere, so you can guess how delighted I was on opening the wrapping. *big beaming smile* And guess which project I will "christen" it on? Yep, on Barb's blackwork Angel piece, of course. LOL Thank you again Karen. :0)

The delights just kept on coming too. Remember the Mary Queen of Scots sampler chart I received in a trade a few months back? Well guess what I got from Helen that go with it perfectly?

I really like a lot of Mary Hickmott's work, especially the Tudor age range of cross stitch and blackwork pieces she's produced, and this one is no exception. I have plans to eventually stitch this and the sampler and display both together, so that'll keep me nicely occupied for some time. LOL Thank you again Helen. :0)

Last, but not least, of the gifts from Forum/Blogger friends was received from Clare and it had a selection of goodies inside:

The lavender and lilac pot pourri smells gorgeous and I plan on sharing it between my Craft Room and bedroom. The fabric is perfect for my favourite type of designs (a fairy, snowman or Angel) and the thread is an absolutely gorgeous colour. I shall enjoy choosing just the right projects for these. Thank you again Clare. :0)

I felt very spoiled after opening them. Thank you to each of you for your kindness, thoughtfulness and generosity - I consider myself truly Blessed to call you all my friends. :0)

Another parcel was from my long term PenPal Maggie (no blog):

Aren't those rose petal soaps just so pretty? Far too pretty to use, so I've decided to have them on a shelf in my Craft Room (when it's completed) to look at, until I can bear to use them. Look at the trendy jewellery too. I don't know how Maggie did it, as she didn't know about it, but they go perfectly with a blouse I bought at the last M,B&S event I went to, which is another floaty sleeved top in a rich brown, with black hints - not a Jordash one but in a similar style.... but no shisha mirrors in sight this time. LOL

DH will be giving me money, as I asked for, as I'm still saving towards the Shamballah Healing Course, based at the local Alternative Healing Clinic I go to, that I want to do in the Spring. DS gave me the latest Tudor series DVD, to go with the full series of Rome DVD's that were shared between my birthday and Christmas. Christmas will be extended for us this year too, as we have yet to exchange gifts with my DSis, the in-laws and my aunt, uncle and cousin. Due to my recuperation, the lergy and the weather we had to postpone the planned trips to see them all - gutted, as I was looking forward to see them. Hopefully the weather will let-up before too much longer and we can go visit soon. :0)

As we were indoors for much of the holidays it meant a reasonable amount of stitching got done. The focus piece was Mother Earth, as I wanted to have a reasonable amount done, ready for the first posting date (January 3rd) over at the 2010 Weekly SAL Blog. It worked well...... though I doubt there'll be quite so much progress to show in successive weeks, as 1 over 1 stitching just doesn't grow very fast. I shall post a pic of ME another time though, as the updates haven't yet been posted on the SAL Blog.

Oh, and remember how I said that I wasn't going to sign up for too much in the new year because I didn't want to pressure myself too much? Eeeeerrrrmmmmm........ weeeelllllll......... that resolution kinda didn't last too long. Honestly I just couldn't help it. I mosied on over to Stitcher's Showcase yesterday and spotted that Elisa was organising a SAL for the lovely piece A Bouquet for Cheryl. Just one look at that design and an image of some gorgeous silk threads I had from eBay's thredfairy - just absolutely perfect for it - popped into my mind. That was it........ I found I'd posted a request to join the SAL and Blog before I'd had chance to draw breath again, let alone think it through. So it looks like I may just have to work out some kind of rota to make sure everything gets fitted in, doesn't it? LOL

The plan to catch up with the Christmas ornie SAL almost worked: I got up to November, as far as stitching went, but only managed to finish a couple of them. Hopefully the finishing mood will take hold soon and then I shall share pics of them.

As for other things....... DH, once he felt a tad better, got on with the flooring in my Craft Room and has half of it laid so far. Today he cut the board that fits up to the door jamb and did the edge sealing on that (all edges are having watered down PVA glue daubed on them, in case I spill anything in there - he's a belt and braces type of man). The final half should go pretty quickly now.

We have had a couple of trips out. One of them was to a DIY store where we bought a light fitting for the CR and discovered they'd sold out of the computer table I wanted, so we had an unexpected drive over to the Doncaster branch to pick up the last one in the whole of this area. No time to call in at my DSis's though, as DS had to be back for a Panto rehearsal. I was really glad to get the table though, as I haven't seen another one that I like half as much....... needless to say, both DH and I were shattered afterwards. I fell asleep in my armchair for two solid hours after that and slept solid when I went to bed that night! I may be nicely healed now but the stamina is slow to improve, so I very easily get tired at the moment - very frustrating. I go to see Jan, my Herbalist, tomorrow (Monday) so I shall discuss that, and the "tropical moments" I am now having, with her and see what delightful concoction she comes up with to sort me out this time around. :0)

DH is off back to work tomorrow (Monday) so I shall be able to go back to my regular routine and start having a catch up with all your blogs then - though with all the snow we've had it does get bitterly cold in here, so it may well end up taking a while as I'm limiting the amount of time I spend here. Thankfully that will greatly improve once the Craft Room has been commissioned - there's a BIG radiator in there, so it stays nice and warm. :0)

Thank you for all the festive greetings and I hope that you also had an enjoyable festive season and that this New Year brings much Peace, happiness and prosperity to one and all. :0)