Advent days, stitching pleasures

Victoria Sampler's "Fleece Navidad"

As the December days darken towards the winter solstice, and as our Advent preparations lead us towards the great festival of Christmas, I'm still stitching here.   My camera is currently out of commission, but I decided I'd post anyway, using some previous photos that you might not have seen before.  

Victoria Sampler's Fleece Navidad is one I stitched several years ago - it's now hanging on the wall of friends who have a flock of sheep.  I love the design, and there's still enough thread left for me to stitch one for myself too :)  

This Nativity sampler was the first cross-stitch piece that I worked on linen, 32 count if I recall correctly.  The design was from one of the Spirit of Christmas books - I still hadn't discovered the wealth of samplers, both historical reproductions and modern interpretations,  available (in those pre-internet days LOL), but I still like the sampler itself, although I might have had it framed a little differently.  

  

Lights of Advent - JCS

Every year I still love to stitch ornaments for some special people - this small ornament (about 3 1/2 inches square) is for a church friend and features an Advent wreath, one of the ways that this "time of quiet waiting"  helps us to focus on the spiritual truths of the Advent and Christmas seasons.  

When the camera is operational again, I'll take photos of more ornaments, including one that I've stitched for my Sampler Guild exchange this year - working on small pieces like these is also a great way to learn new techniques, practice different stitches, and try out finishing methods (always my greatest challenge!).

"L.T" - Twigg Miniatures

"Sarah Twigg" - Twigg Miniatures

As far as future stitching plans, I'm participating in  Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year group.  Nicola, a stitcher from Cornwall who does some beautiful work and has a lovely blog   (http://stitchingbyacornishseashore.blogspot.ca/)invited people to help her celebrate her 50th birthday by stitching any of the samplers from the Scarlet Letter company. I've had the Twigg Miniatures in my stash for quite some time now, so I was able to answer Yes to the invitation in the early days of the challenge, and we're amazed that the group has grown to over 125 now.  The above photos from the Scarlet Letter website are the pieces I'm doing - they're very small but as one of them is done entirely "over 1", it should keep me out of trouble ;)   I'll try to add a link to the separate group in my sidebar shortly, but till then, here's the address -  http://scarletletteryear.blogspot.ca/

Best wishes for a blessed Advent and a happy Christmas - until the next time .....