Happy Christmas To All, And To All A Good Night!

An Ornie Finish!!!

YAY!   I have finished the cross-stitch ornie I am making for my friend Barbara in England.  She collects vintage Sindy dolls -- sort of a British Barbie -- so I added "Elf Sindy" to the cute little chart I received as a gift from The Sampler Girl (free with an order during the fab "Black Friday" sale).  I also changed the beautiful colors that were recommended to use some Christmassy colors I had on hand.  Time is of the essence this time of year!   I messed up the hair a little bit....but...it was 3 AM and I was too tired to frog again....so I just went with it.

Sorry for the blurry pix...my camera battery needed to be charged and I had to use my cell phone to grab the shots before I sent the ornie off to Merry Olde England.

 I actually started stitching another pattern for Barbara, but when I received this adorable little elf pattern, I just had to go with it!  I hope she likes it!  (I haven't given her the link to this blog yet, so the secret is safe!)  I have never finished an ornament before and this method wasn't too difficult but I can't say I did a professional job.  You definitely wouldn't want to pull the two pieces apart and look inside....lots and LOTS of glue.  (I LOVE Tacky Glue.  It's my best friend!)  It doesn't look too awful, but I hope it doesn't fall apart on its' way across the pond.  Sorry Baps!  I'll do better next time!!!

I found a really great website with awesome finishing tutorials:

http://focusonfinishing.blogspot.com/

I wanted to do Elf Sindy as a pillow ornament, but I have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine (I think it knows I'm afraid of it) and I just didn't have the time to chance it on this one.  But I definitely will try Anne's instructions when I have a little more time to set up the machine.  I have a few ornaments lined up to stitch for the Crazy January Challenge and I plan to "finish" them myself.  Ha ha, yet another goal for 2011 ~~~!!!

;O)

Needlework in Miniature

I have finished a couple of mini needlework items for my dollshouse (WIPs abound!)..... The inhabitants are thrilled and are preparing for the Holidays.  Shall we take a little tour?


 Oh, hello there!   It's sweet little Mattie... 

....and her cute little dog, Dickens! 



Wonder what's going on inside?

  Looks like fun!

Mmm,do I smell cookies baking???

I do!  Cook is making gingerbread cookies!   Hey, there's only two left....where'd they all go?!

Cook, did you "taste-test" the cookies while you were baking again ???! 

Hmmm, looks a little serious in this room...

Oh, they're only just anxiously politely waiting for the hosts to serve the wine....

Someone's left their beer on the piano, and Mr. Pinkerton-Spice is ready to have a taste!  Mrs. Pinkerton-Spice must have already gotten into the wine at home before she left because she is dressed for the wrong season!  Nice and rosy-toasty then are we, Mrs. P-S.?

Wonder what our hosts are up to....

Uh, oh, The Mister is getting an earful for forgetting to remove his hat immediately upon entering the house.....tsk, tsk.....Well, really, the poor fellow just came home after a long day and he made a straight bee-line for the Gluhwein, can you blame the poor chap???

I mean what's a fellow to do with a house full of family for a fortnight?!

Speaking of which.....the children are being awfully quiet....

Oh, aren't they perfect angels?  Roddy and Ruth are keeping Baby Eleanor company in her Nursery.   And they've only made a little bit of a  mess with the books on the floor...not too bad yet!  Be careful you don't ruin that lovely hand-made blankie kids....the nice lady who made it for you has sworn to never crochet anything that tiny and intricate again! 

But where is sweet little Elspeth?

Here she is!!!  The little doll (tee hee) is sitting quietly on the bed with the sweet tiny hand-embroidered sheet.  She's still quite cold from the buggy ride over and she's not moving until she gets the call for some Gingerbread Cookies!!!!

All this talk about cookies as made me hungry!  I'm headed to my own kitchen to make some of The Barefoot Contessa's Ultimate Ginger Cookies!  Click on the link below for the recipe!!! 

Happy Baking!!!

Barefoot Contessa Ultimate Ginger Cookie Recipe