Jolly Holiday: Making Time for Stitching!

I can't believe where the last months have gone.
I keep turning around to see if they are really behind me. Truth: they are!

For me this holiday season so far has been all about food! Sweet food, which I find impossible to resist. I have my English grandmother's terrible sweet tooth, and this year I have Marcia and Ferris to thank for a huge box of my favorite candy, Judy A to thank for a delicious tin of home-made Christmas cookies, Dave and Clyde to thank for wonderful Baklava, and too many other goodies that I have all too happily devoured. And it isn't even over yet.

I am still (yes STILL) waiting for the last of the things I owe people to arrive, namely scissors and needles. I keep calling the distributor and asking and they keep telling me it will only be a couple of days more. A couple of days has morphed into 2 months. Hopefully it will all end early in the New Year.

If they had come now, I would have had to abandon the season and pack packages, so I guess there is always a bit of silver lining, in that I can enjoy the season and also have some time for stitching.
I am stitching early in the mornings, and again in the late afternoons, nice way to begin what will be a busy day, and nice way to end it too, and yesterday I am happy to write that I just finished a jeweled sewing case, a pretty one if I do say so. It was so satisfying to take the last stitch. In this case the last stitch was sewing on a pretty little pearl.

The holidays are such a fun time to stitch and this afternoon I started a Christmas design. Even though I won't finish it in time for Christmas, it is such fun to work on something season-appropriate. So what am I working on? A heart that is a Christmas Dress, all in red and green. I wanted to make it plaid, but even the smallest plaid is too bold for the small scale. Then happily I came across a stitch that looks a bit like a plaid but is more delicate. I am anxious to see if it works.

I always write on my website at this time of year: I know everybody is so busy, but it is both helpful and healthy to take a few deep breaths and take a few stitches. Kick back and pick up your needle and relax and lose yourself in a handful pretty threads and colors. I am absolutely convinced that stitching is a form of meditation. Relaxation is necessary even in the busiest of times.

Gay Ann