Happy New Year!

Frohe Weihnachten!

“O’Tannenbaum” Today let's take a moment to remember the German-Americans who first introduced our beautiful German Christmas tree to the U.S.A., and made it what later became a worldwide symbol of Christmas. When Americans celebrate Christmas; most are never made aware that the customs they use to celebrate are largely of German origin. In the very beginning the first Christmas trees seen in Amer...ica by other Americans were set up by German Hessian soldiers in 1776 during the American Revolution. The first record of the now traditional American custom of going out to cut down or buy a tree was established in 1821 when a Pennsylvania German family by the name of Hensel cut down a tree in Lancaster and brought it home to decorate. Little did these early German Settlers know that this very German tradition was to become a custom practiced by millions of American Christians of all ethnic backgrounds across the continent and of course later the world. The Saturday Evening Post once described Pennsylvania German homes where the trees were visible through the windows and the green boughs were laden with fruit and candles that sparkled into the night. It’s clear to see why other Americans would soon become mesmerized by the warmth and beauty of our German Christmas traditions. As the flow of German Immigration spread across the land, so did our beautiful Christmas tree along with our other German Christmas customs. The idea of having a community Christmas tree was first established in 1841 by Karl Minnegerode in Williamsburg, VA. He started a tradition that brings great pride to our community each year when the U.S. President lights the national Christmas tree. A German American by the name of Thomas Nast, also remembered in history as the father of the American Cartoon, created the first picture of Santa Claus. His image of Santa Claus became the symbol all Americans recognize to this day. Christmas wouldn’t look very much like Christmas as we know it without the influence of the German-speaking immigrants. Some other Germanic contributions are the wreath, ornaments, the tradition of gift giving, stollen, cookies, gingerbread houses, Christmas markets, advent calendars, Christmas Choirs, and of course some of the greatest music ever written, for example, Silent Night the most cherished Christmas hymn in the world.

Frohe Weihnachten!

What did he leave in your shoes this morning?  Chocolate or coal?

Irene's Round Robin

 

I stitched two of the squares on this piece.  Irene stitched the borders and square out lines as well as the center square and the bottom left square.  I did the squares to the left and right of the center. 

This piece is done on congress cloth, and was a quick and enjoyable stitch. 



More Sled Ornaments

I stitched and finished three more sled ornaments this past week.  They are great little projects to take along.  This particular set was actually a house, a barn and a church.  Since we don't live in the country, and these will eventually be gifts, I did two churches and skipped the barn.

November Progress, December Goals

Not too much progress this month.  Lots of other things needed to be done, and my stitching mojo was missing for awhile too.  December promises to be the same, a very busy time of year. 

November

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
work on Logan’s stocking 
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
 
In Progress
Strawberry #1
Oveture II 
4 person RR – mine finished
Or Nué finished

Future New starts

Snow in Love
Good Tidings
afghan pillow bear
afghan pillow moose
Crystal Violets
French Alphabet block sampler
Silent Night (CCN)
Around the World in 80 Days
Owen’s birth sampler
Peter’s Birth Sampler
Natalie’s Stocking
Owen’s stocking
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Halloween House #15
5 person RR - Suzanne's finished
12 Person RR – Robin’s finished
12 person RR  - Margie’s  finished
Sled ornament #2  - finished
Sled ornament #3 – finished
Sled ornament #4 – finished
Sled ornament #5 -  finished
Sled ornament #6 -  finished
Sled ornament #7 -  finished
Sled ornament #8 -   finished
Sled ornament #9  finished

December

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
work on Logan’s stocking 
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler

In Progress

Strawberry #1
Oveture II 

Future New starts

Snow in Love
Good Tidings
afghan pillow bear
afghan pillow moose
Crystal Violets
French Alphabet block sampler
Silent Night (CCN)
Around the World in 80 Days
Owen’s birth sampler
Peter’s Birth Sampler
Natalie’s Stocking
Owen’s stocking
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Halloween House #15
4 person RR – Irene’s
4 person RR – Chris’
Diva’s RR – Coral’s
6 person RR - mine

 

 

 

5 Ornaments Stitched

I was a Hermit this past weekend and stitched most of these ornaments, and finished all of them.  

International Hermit and Stitch Weekend

I plan to stitch this weekend!

Margie's Round Robin

 Today I stitched Margie's Round Robin piece.  Her project is 12 different owls in a Star Treck theme.  Each one is cuter than the other! 

Robyn'w Round Robin....

I stitched Robyn's Round Robin piece today.  I have stitched this entire piece for myself before, so it was like an old familiar friend.

Suzanne's Round Robin finished

I just finished Suzanne's Round Robin piece and put it in the mail (just a few days late, sorry!).

There are 5 of us in the Diva's Round Robin Group and we have a pass every two months, you think I would get this little thing done in that time, but I kept putting it off, thinking I had time, and before I knew it, I was late! 

Suzanne has chosen these small flower charts by Serendipity Designs.  Not sure what she will do with the finished piece, but the are very pretty!

An New Technique

I finished this three wise men ornament the other day.  Mary McGuire (who works at Welcome Stitchery) taught this technique at our last EGA meeting.  It is called an Or Nué.  You lay gold thread on congress cloth and then do vertical stitches over the gold threads to make your design.  It was a quick finish, and I am hope to do more with this technique.  Mary explained how to use a counted cross stitch design to do this, and I think many of the members went home to look for charts to convert!

The Start of Another Round Robin.....

Here is my piece of a new round robin that I am doing with 3 stitchers from the Needlepoint Guild.  It is an older Imaginatings chart called Four Season, by Diane Arthurs (not Diane Williams of Little House Needleworks as I had previously typed - I got the two Dianes mixed up!).  This little bit took me forever....yes forever to stitch.  Why?  because I had to rip out that little house at least 5 times.......

Don't quite know when I will get the next piece for this round robin.  We were going to have the first pass early October, but Irene had to go out of town to take care of a family member that is ill, so we postponed it until November, but now Marguerite is in the hospital so we may postpone it for a bit again.  It's okay, I am ready for

November Ort Report (aka TUSAL)

Here is my report for this month's Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long.  As you can see, there aren't as many orts as usual.  There are two reasons for this.  I was away from my regular stitching nest for a few weekends and I don't remember where those orts went....and I didn't get in as much stitching time this past month due to a bad cold and playing with the grandchildren.  Hopefully, there will be more orts next month.!

October Prgress, November Goals

Well, October wasn't one of my better months stitching wise.....I ended up with a bad cold right in the middle of the month and wasn't able to stitch for over a week!  Next month will be better!

I did manage to complete Natalie's Birth Sampler, which was the last of the 19 Crazy January starts that still needed to be finished!  And I put in a few hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas! 

October

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  worked on it
work on Logan’s stocking 
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler

In Progress

Strawberry #1
Oveture II 

Crazy January starts

Natalie’s Birth Sampler finished

Future New starts

Snow in Love
Good Tidings
afghan pillow bear
afghan pillow moose
Crystal Violets
French Alphabet block sampler
Silent Night (CCN)
Around the World in 80 Days
Owen’s birth sampler
Peter’s Birth Sampler
Natalie’s Stocking
Owen’s stocking
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Halloween House #15
Fall Mail Art finished
4 person RR – mine worked on it
5 person RR - Suzanne's
12 person RR - Kim's finished
Spooky Stitches finished
Or Nu worked on it

November

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
work on Logan’s stocking 
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler

In Progress

Strawberry #1
Oveture II 
4 person RR – mine
Or Nu

Future New starts

Snow in Love
Good Tidings
afghan pillow bear
afghan pillow moose
Crystal Violets
French Alphabet block sampler
Silent Night (CCN)
Around the World in 80 Days
Owen’s birth sampler
Peter’s Birth Sampler
Natalie’s Stocking
Owen’s stocking
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Halloween House #15
5 person RR - Suzanne's

 

 

Mail Art Sent

 I just received word that the Mail Art piece that I sent has been received!  It arrived in Germany without a single speck of dirt or dust, in pristine condition.

I am a bit annoyed with myself.  I had intended a different finish for the envelope which would have centered the motifs better but I was in a bit of a hurry when I was doing the construction and I 'forgot' what I originally intended.  It was too late to re do it, so.....it went off in the mail a bit lopsided.....

edited to add:  the motifs are from It's Autumn, and older chart by Sue Hillis!