Letter to Santa

Dear AppleJack Santa,

I have been good, very, very good.   No switches or lumps of coal for me.  Since there are only a few shopping days left until Christmas, I wanted to make sure you have my stitching Christmas list.

1.  Sajou cart scissors
2. Gingher Tessa scissors
3. R & R, Lakeside or Crescent Colors overdyed fabric and trims
4. Silk Matra
5. Weekend by the Blackbird Girls
6. Needleprint's Feller Needlework Collection (book)
7. A class at Attic Needleworks
8. Word Play (With Thy Needle and Thread)--great stocking stuffers
9. Elizabeth Sheffield by Scarlett Letter
10. A gift card for the upcoming Nashville Needlework Market in February
11. Kelmscott Heart in Hand Needleminder and Mother of Pearl School of Fish (stocking stuffer)
12. Advent Calendar by The Primitive Hare and some of her thread keepers

There are a few more items on the list, but you get the general idea and I don't want to appear greedy.  If you need some help with the shopping, let me know, I am resourceful.  Thank you Applejack Santa!

Sampler Christmas Tree

Several years ago, at a Cheekwood EGA gathering, Martha was working on a sampler which was shaped like a Christmas tree.  Martha's sampler Christmas tree was awesome.  When I talked to Martha about the piece, she graciously shared the designer name, fibers, etc.  Since I love Christmas and samplers will always be my first love, I could hardly wait to start stitching.  The rest is the stitch history of my life.  I zipped through stitching the alphabet and then came the metallic fibers.  Gloom, despair and agony for me!  Since I do not like stitching with metallic fibers, the sampler Christmas tree went to the bottom of the heap and stayed there for years.  In a weak moment of guilt, while I was facing my stitch addiction, I made the decision to focus on unfinished projects.  I am still in the twelve steps of stitching recovery and will be for life.  Step four:  I will make an inventory of unfinished projects.  Yikes!  The twelve step program can be brutal, I don't think I like this program so much.  The piece came out of the bottom of the heap, I found new resolve, faced those metallic fibers and the piece was finally finished.  I gave the framer carte blanche in framing. 

Bad Hair Day

Some days Grandmother Bessie and I have been known to have bad hair days!

Have any of you ever had bad hair days?

Blue Christmas

Everyone has their favorite Christmas song or carol.  I have many favorites and to the chagrin of AppleJack, I have been known to sing in the car, sing with movies, and at church.  I sing loudly and badly and I make a joyful noise.  Since Elvis Presley, The King of Rock and Roll, lived at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, Blue Christmas is played often on radio stations during the Christmas season.  Blue Christmas became the number one hit three years after Elvis' death.  If there is any doubt about Elvis being The King, visit Graceland in Memphis on his birthday.

Well, this post is not about Elvis--it is about the color blue.  I love the color blue!  Blue and white quilts are beautiful and soothing.  Earlier this fall, Maggie Bonanomi released a book called Buttonwood Farm.  Blue is the dominant color Maggie uses in the projects.  At the International Quilt Market in Houston, Alma and Barb, the Blackbird Design girls, released a line of quilt fabric called Blueberry Crumb Cake.  Be still my heart, all the elements are in alignment--the right color, the right quilt design and the right fabric.  Whoo Hoo!!!!

Yesterday, the doorbell rang and who should appear at my door--Santa Claus.  Santa was wearing his brown uniform and driving a big brown truck, because the reindeer need their rest.  Santa, the UPS delivery man  had a package for me from Quilter's Station.  Inside this package was the Blueberry Crumb cake fabric.  With names like sky blue, robins egg blue, cake flour, falling stars and berry blue this fabric is going to be delightful to make into a quilt.

Grandmother Bessie would love these fabrics!

And maybe just maybe with some hard work and all the stars align, I will end up with a nice finished quilt like this Drunkards Path.

Noel and Silent Night

"Take Classes."  This advice was given to me from a friend.  Marge said, " if you want to learn and advance your skills, take classes.  You will always learn something."  Marge was right!  Hardanger was new to me.  Hardanger is very elegant and scary!  Cutting and removing those threads.  Then those picots!  My teacher would say, "even if you cut or remove the wrong thread, it can be fixed."  And I as made my way around the piece, I was holding my breath, praying everything would meet and match up! 

Noel was designed by Emie Bishop, Cross N Patch.

Silent Night, a small sampler ornament was designed for the Cheekwood Chapter of the Embroiders Guild by Beverly Hamer in 1994 for the Trees of Christmas exhibit.  Star stitch, four sided stitch, Herringbone, double stitch, crown stitch, crossed scotch cushion, eyelet, half Rhodes, whipped satin, mosaic, Smyrna cross, and Palestrina knots are some of the stitches used in this piece.  This was a good learning piece. 

Each year Cheekwood Botanical Gardens hosts the Trees of Christmas.  There is usually a theme for decorating the trees and local business and organizations are asked to decorate a tree.  Yes, I am biased, the EGA tree is always one of my favorites--all those hand made ornaments, hours of work, skilled hands working needle and thread.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a classic!  Through the years there have many actors who have played the role of Scrooge.  George C. Scott as Scrooge is one of my favorites. Alastair Sim is the favorite of many others.  I am not a fan of scary movies and the ghost of Christmas past sometimes scarred the willies out of me.  I was willing to close my eyes during the scary part because I knew the movie has such a happy ending, when Scrooge is running through the streets shouting "Merry Christmas."  

This Merry Christmas is a Goode Huswife design.

The second Merry Christmas was a freebie design which was printed in a newsletter from a needlework shop.

The third Merry Christmas is a Stacy Nash design.

A fourth and fifth Merry Christmas is waiting in my stash bag.  One is a Quaker Christmas Sampler by Carriage House and the other is Primitive Merry Christmas by Chartmakers.   Here is the rest of story why numbers four and five are still in my stash bag.  I love overdyed fabric and fibers.  I have done some serious shopping for just the right piece of overdyed fabric.  I have spent hours collecting black walnuts, saving coffee grounds and stirring over the dye pot to get just the right aged look.   I have a stash of walnut crystals.  Quaker Christmas was in progress when someone looked at the piece and said "you are stitching on the wrong side of the fabric."  Primitive Merry Christmas is one of those charts which migrates from place to place.  I find it, file it in a place I am sure I will remember where I have filed and then start the whole process over again.  Come on 'fess up, how many others have done this? 

The Holly and the Ivy

Holly, Ivy and other greenery such as Mistletoe were originally used in pre-Christian times to help celebrate the Winter Solstice Festival and ward off evil spirits and celebrate new growth.  In pagan times, Holly was thought to be a male plant and Ivy a female plant.  An old tradition from the Midlands of England says that whatever one brought into the house first over winter, tells you whether the man or woman of the house would rule that year!!!!



Our China Girl Holly's are full of berries! 

Gardeners have a saying about ivy:  the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps and the third year it leaps.  It has taken years for ivy to establish itself at Thistle Manor. 

Having an abundance of Holly and Ivy is a plus for Christmas, good for feeding the birds.

and good for adding greenery and festive touches.