Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all my wonderful blog friends. I wish you all a very warm and happy new year, full of joy, smiles and stitching.

I will be back in 2013 to fill you all in on the holidays and stitching. :)

Merry Christmas + Catching Up

I wish you all the merriest of Christmases surrounded by friends, family and fun. I had hoped to come back to my little blog space earlier but as you can imagine, life just does not slow down no matter how much I think it might. It has been mostly fun and I cannot believe tomorrow is Christmas Day. It's finally here!

In case anyone was curious, I did not end up going to SantaCon the weekend before last. The weather here was terrible...40's and rainy. Ugh...terrible weather to be traipsing all about San Francisco dressed up in a cheap red felt Santa costume. So I bailed and am kind of relieved I did. Instead, I hung out with my stitching group at a friend's house, eating yummy food and drinking red wine in the warmth and comfort of a glorious home while stitching my little heart out and chitchatting. I had an amazing time and even made progress on my Pumpkins. So much so that I finally finished it yesterday afternoon. About time!!

I think it came out really cute. Stitched as directed on 32 count Antique Ivory Belfast. But wow, was it a lot of stitching!

So IHSW was stitching on Pumpkins at stitch group on Saturday. Sunday was a blur of dim sum, coffee plans and socialness in the city that by the time I got home, all I could do was lie down and stare at the tv. Being so social is tiring! I'm exhausted. :)

But I did take a snap of my TUSAL...here with my Christmas tree snowglobe.

All the threads at the top are from Pumpkins with some frogging I had to do. Thankfully it wasn't much. I am so happy that Daffycat is continuing TUSAL next year. I can only hope I am better about posting on time. I just love seeing the colors change in my jar and it's validation that I did manage to stitch even if it's not as much as I would have liked. I did realize this year that I don't have as many Christmas decorations as Halloween ones so my goal next year is to stitch Christmas smalls in between BAPs so I can put out a few more stitchy things. Looks slim pickings this year since I have no tree so hence, my ornies are packed away.
Since I finished Pumpkins, I pulled Jane Pattison out of my wips basket and slapped her on the stitching stand. I hope to stitch faster this year. I didn't take a photo since it's just more green border but that pine border sure is fun to stitch at Christmastime!

I was a lucky girl last week as I won Melanie's giveaway and she sent me some Christmas goodies!

How fabulous! A BBD stocking pattern, cute little ort container and a snowman bead. Love it all...especially the card. Thank Melanie. I love it all!

And to those who sent me cards, thank you so much! It has really lifted my spirits to receive cards and be able to post them on my door and look upon them from my stitching nest.

Merry Christmas to everyone. Thank you for your visits and friendship over the years. I am forever grateful to this blogging community for its kindness and support. Much love and hugs.

In Denial...

How can it be Christmas in two weeks?!

Really? I swear it's still September. How can it be December already?

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. Lots of social time since I realized that if I dawdle too much at home, I have too much time to think, can't concentrate on my projects (stitching/home) and then waste too much time on the computer and realize there is no one I want to even date online. Ugh! Luckily, I met this really fun girl and so I've been introduced to her friends and have been just having a blast in the city. It has been so much fun! Although, I do have to say...I am whooped and some days, I just want to crawl under my desk at work to take a nap. I am that tired.

I do have to admit that I am not really into the holiday spirit this year. I don't feel low...I just feel too busy to take in the holidays and am a little sad I am familyless this year since my folks are still traveling and I just couldn't bring myself to pay the high fare to visit my sister. So I anticipate the last two weeks of the year being quiet and maybe, just maybe, I can catch up on some stitching and home projects. I managed to drag out my Christmas decorations and realized that I don't have that many stitched Christmas items so I think I may need to remedy that this coming year. No tree this year...so the stitched ornies will stay packed up until next year.

Since social time is high and stitching time is low, I am still working on Pumpkins...if you can imagine that. I am still determined to finish it before I start stitching Christmas. I signed up for IHSW this weekend but am not sure I will succeed in the progress department. If I go to stitch group; maybe. If I go to SantaCon; probably not!

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. I'll be back before Christmas for sure!

Until next time...