My husband took the 3 big kids on the school’s Dads Club Winter Camp this weekend. Where we live our overnight lows don’t often go below freezing and there is never snow so this was a big deal for the kids and gave me long evenings to stitch after the little kids were asleep. I “watched” ( because how can you stitch and watch something really) BOTH movies of Pride and Prejudice (the miniseries with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and the newer Keira Knightly one which I have not seen before and which I liked very much). But you didn’t come here to hear about that! You want to see my stitching!

I spent some time with my Lorna Bateman ribbonwork pincushion. Here’s how it’s coming.

I have done all the “easy” flowers. What remains are the ones that seem trickier and all the leaves.

I worked on Frosty Knot Garden and I am loving it:

I’m enjoying working with the variety of threads. That keeps the work interesting even when it’s repetitive.

Finally I finished La D Da’s Merry Christmas from JCS Ornaments 2009. I used the recommended silks (except the stars for which I just picked a yellow I had) on 40 ct Vintage Examplar from Lakeside Linens.

I had to frog the whole branch which was stitched last fall because it was off by one and I didn’t want to fudge it. Fortunately I discovered the problem before I put the berries on! It wasn’t so bad. I most enjoyed the lovely lovely berries which are done with Red Clay Gloriana and it was so beautiful to watch the colors shift while I stitched them. This piece will be my contribution to the January Ornies SAL as it is from the designated JCS magazine for this month. I am squeezing it in under the wire! Now I need to pick something for February!

I have a double dipping post for Jo’s SALs at Serendipitous Stitching this week. Some of my new starts this month, which are part of the New Starts in January for People’s Choice were also gifts, qualifying for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL.

This week I started Plum Street’s Birthday Tart, the chart was a Christmas present from my husband.

Really, everything I buy is a present from my husband if we’re honest, but this was one he bought himself and wrapped. Plus it is birthday themed so that’s gift-y too! I just have the pumpkin going so far. This design has such sweet colors in it though mine look darker than the model.

Now the next project was not a gift-it is just a new start: Victoria Sampler’s Learning Collection 5-2 to begin learning Hardanger. Just another night of stitching I think and then I will be ready to cut! I was very careful to line up my Kloster blocks so I think we’re all good there!

One more gift is something completely new. This is Lorna Bateman’s ribbon embroidered pin cushion which is a kit my mom gave me last year. I have done only a teeny amount of ribbon embroidery before but I LOVE this design and am determined to do a few new things this year to branch out beyond cross stitch. Because this is a complete kit with excellent instructions, I thought it was a good place to begin.

It’s going quicker than I expected and I am beginning not to be scared of it. 🙂