Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Christmas Panic

That's what my husband calls it when I start getting twitchy in June. You see, I've been stitching ornaments for my family plus ? for over twenty years...make that thirty years. Suffice it to say that when I look at the early ones I can see growth in my stitching skills. Not to mention my finishing skills, which are still not expert.

I also try to stitch a larger framed piece for my three sisters at least every other year. In the off years I just take one off my walls that each sister has admired. My mom gets a sampler every year. I stitched a Santa for my dad every year for 16 years and they cover the living room walls 365 days a year. He loved those Santas and used to come into my shop and peruse the Christmas charts trying to figure out which one I was going to stitch for him next.

Anyway, the ornament thing has become a tradition and I've been threatened with familial excommunication when I've mentioned that I might not get them done. So I try to get about half of them done in the weeks after Christmas when I'm still in the mood, but the pressure is off. So, you may ask, "how many ornaments do you stitch?". Well, just for family, I'm committed to stitch fifteen. (Fortunately for me, my family is not very prolific! lol) And by "committed" I mean I want to stitch them. After that I have eight friends that I stitch ornaments for every year. After that, the number varies between five and ten. So that makes 28-33 ornaments a year.

The point of telling you all this is that I have put "Shores of Hawk Run Hollow" down for a nap to stitch a birthday gift for a friend who reads my blog. Since I can't show you pics of that piece I've decided to share this years ornaments with you...a few at a time. Most of these are not yet finished. I usually do that in an assembly line manner when they are all stitched or when the mailing deadline gets close, whichever comes first. You guess which. (Excuse my grammar.)

Some of these are freebies I've collected over the years. Some you will recognize from charts and previous JCS ornament issues. Some will even be repeated in various color schemes, rarely do I repeat the design exactly. Sometimes there is a theme, mostly not.