Category: Christmas

Birthday Start and It’s a Big One!
Christmas · Country Cottage Needleworks · cross stitch · Frogs · WIPGO 2026

Birthday Start and It’s a Big One!

My Time Stitching3 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! I hope that you are well and that your New Year is going smoothly and that your weather is good. It has snowed every day in the month of January and February seems to be doing a repeat. It is snowing today but the temps are a little better than they have been. I am sick of winter and looking forward to Spring, which seems so far away. But, enough of all of that. On to the stitching.

I had a birthday about 10 days ago and celebrated by starting a new project. It’s a big project, not a big birthday, LOL. A project that has been in my stash for just about 11 years! In April of 2015, I received this wonderful package in the mail that contained my long-awaited Chatelaine kit.

Everything I needed to start the Fairy Flower Garden Chatelaine except for the DMC threads. Soon after receiving it, I had a surgery, recovery and hubby and I were always on the go. When I finally sat down to get this project started, the pattern was so tiny that it could not be read. And I think I was a bit intimidated, too. I had purchased the PDF, but the thought of enlarging sections and printing them out just wasn’t what I was ready for. So, it just sat in a project bag all of these years. Near the end of 2025 I decided that I would be starting this project on my Birthday in January 2026. Hubby gave me an iPad last year, that I found out I could use for cross stitch. A few months ago, I purchased an App called Knit Companion because I heard that it would also work with cross stitch patterns. Hubby loaded my pattern in and pieced the pages together for me. I would have never been able to do it, so I am so thankful for my personal IT guy 😉 For my Birthday, he gave me a Pen for my iPad so I could mark off my cross stitch easier than using my finger. So on my Birthday I hunkered down for some serious Chatelaine stitching.

This was going to take some getting used to for sure. But it went well. Slowly, with having to mark off on the iPad, but I really enjoyed stitching on this project. It didn’t hurt that all of the stitching I did, was with silk threads and few metallics. I worked on it for about a week and here is where I am with it.

I look forward to getting back to this project in between my WIPGO projects this year. I am stitching on 28ct Lugana in Antique White and I didn’t mind stitching on 28ct at all.

Speaking of WIPGO, I finished both of my January WIPGO numbers! Woo Hoo! The first number was 2 and that was my Big City Christmas which I had already been working on. So I worked on it until the 10th and got it to this point.

Just one more shop left to do on this one. But I switched to my next WIPGO call, #7, which is Mistletoad from Lizzie Kate.

This was a fun, quick project that I enjoyed working on. This pattern has been in my stash for many years along with the frame. Hopefully I will sit down one day soon and try to frame it myself.

First finish of 2026. And the first square on my WIPGO board taken care of.

I picked up Big City Christmas again and worked on it until I finished it.

It looks so good! I love it! I had already purchased a special frame for this and was so excited to pull it out and get an idea of how it would look.

Oh I was so disappointed that this frame didn’t fit the project. I was told when I ordered it that it would be for 16ct aida. The fabric was even cut at this shop. So I messaged them and they said it was for 14ct aida…Even if it was for 14ct aida, I should have the same amount of margin all the way around the design. Not all of the extra space on each end. So…the frame is being reordered and it will take 4-6 weeks. I gave the measurements of my finished piece, so hopefully it will be right when it does come in. It is a beautiful hand painted frame and it was the reason I decided to purchase the patterns. At least I still have lots of time before the holidays come around again. Anyway, the pattern is Big City Christmas from Country Cottage Needleworks (7 patterns) and it is stitched on 16ct Aida Swamp Monster from Laura’s Fabrics.

So that is what I have been up to. Lots of stitching, learning how to use my iPad with my cross stitch and now another year older. The next WIPGO numbers have been called and one is for a Nora Corbett letter. My fabric order came in for those last week and it is not going to work. More about that next time. Let me know what you have been up to.

Happy Stitching,

ginny

Playing WIPGO In 2026
Christmas · WIPGO 2026

Playing WIPGO In 2026

My Time Stitching6 Comments

Hello blogging friends! Two posts in one week, I know! I am off to a great start. So, as you can tell from my title, I will be participating in WIPGO for the first time in 2026. If you don’t know what WIPGO is, it is basically a bingo where you put items on a board that you want to accomplish in the year. You can use it for Cross Stitch, knitting, quilting, places you want to go, things you want to do. The possibilities are endless. I will be using mine for Cross Stitch. If you want to find out in more detail what it is all about, you can visit Jessie Marie Does Stuff on Facebook, Instagram or her You Tube channel. She is the one that created it and will be calling the numbers each month.

I will be using a board created by Nichol Spohr. During her Vlogmas videos this month, she talked about doing a Christmas WIPGO. I thought that was an awesome idea since I have been stitching on 2 Christmas projects for this last year and currently. And every time I saw a Christmas pattern in my stash or that someone else was doing, I would say “Oh I should do that for Christmas!” and knowing there was no way I was going to get any of them finished for this year. But I could for next year! And if you have been following me, you know that the 30+ year old Nativity project is still not finished. So I downloaded the board from Nichol’s You Tube channel and proceeded to pick and choose which projects I wanted to do this year. You can download it from her channel or her website shown on the photo of the board above. I had no problem filling up the 25 spaces, adding the Nativity several times and also adding a project to my free space.

Jesse Marie Does Stuff chooses the numbers every month on the 25th of the month and on December 25th she chose the numbers 2 and 7 for January 2026. The number 2 was perfect! Big City Christmas!! Which is what I am currently working on. But I had an issue with the number 7. It is the Letter Q from Nora Corbett. I plan on stitching the letters N Q E L this year, making the Q into an O to spell Noel. I only just ordered fabric for these letters about a week or so ago, so I will not be able to work on that one. So I made some adjustments to my board.

I swapped number 7 with number 4. Hopefully by the time any of the numbers with Nora letters are called in the future, I will have my fabric. So, for now, this is my final WIPGO board for 2026 . Only 2 projects are WIP’s. All of the others will be new starts and hopefully most will be finished before Christmas next year. Since I am a stitch whatever I want, whenever I want kind of gal, and I don’t count stitches, EVER, I did not put any restrictions on my projects. I just need to work on them in the month that they are called. That can be for a day, 3 days, a week, or until I am ready to do something else. Jessie Marie says you can make WIPGO your own and that is what I am doing. Look forward to seeing lots of Christmas stitching this year, as well as other WIP’s and knitting and crocheting and whatever else I get up to in 2026. I am really looking forward to trying WIPGO out and seeing how much Christmas stitching I can get done.

What are your plans for 2026? I’d love to hear about them.

Happy Stitching!

ginny

I’m Back and Still Stitching
Christmas · Country Cottage Needleworks · cross stitch · Fairies · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Mystery Stitch A Long · Project Bags

I’m Back and Still Stitching

My Time Stitching10 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! I have missed you so much! I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to make a post this past year, and for so many reasons, it didn’t happen. So almost a whole year has gone by. Can you believe it is almost 2026? Wow! I hope that you are having a wonderful holiday season. This last year has been a rough one for me and I will be happy to say goodbye to 2025. In January 2025 I injured my elbow and was unable to do any knitting for about 14 weeks. That was tough. I was able to cross stitch, slowly and a little different, but thankfully I was able to get stitching in. I am back to knitting, but for much shorter periods than I was able to do before my injury. When I start to feel an ache in my elbow, I know that it is time to stop. I am just grateful I am able to knit again. I have a lot of stash that needs to be made into things 😉 So with my elbow and some other things that happened in 2025, I am ready to move into 2026 and I am hoping it will be a much better year. I have not come up with a word for 2026 yet, but I am sure I will in the next few days.

So let’s get into the stitching. I have stitched on several things this last year and even had a few finishes. For now I will show you the last project I stitched and finished and what I am stitching on now.

On July 1, I started the Magic Advent SAL from The Little Stitcher Designs. I had purchased it in February and knew that I wanted to start it for my Christmas in July project.

The fabric I chose is 18ct Aida Grey with White Petit Points. I also changed some of the DMC colors: I used B5200 instead of 3865 and I replaced the rust color (I think 919) with DMC 321 for a more Red color.

I loved stitching on this piece. Watching each block come to life was so beautiful. When I was not stitching on this one, I stored the pattern pieces and threads in this beautiful project bag from Wildberrystitching. You can find her on Etsy and Instagram.

By July 25, I was all caught up with this SAL. I loved how this piece was looking and adding 2 blocks a month in between other projects was perfect.

I finished this beautiful piece on December 5 and put it in for framing on December 6. I just love it so much! So, so beautiful! On December 20th I picked it up from the framer. Just in time to display in my home for the holidays.

Isn’t it just so sweet? I am so happy that I took the time to stitch this Advent. Now it will hang in my home for years to come and I will look forward to seeing it every year. This pattern is available in The Little Stitcher Shop on Etsy if you would like to stitch it up.

So what am I working on now? I decided to start Big City Christmas from Country Cottage Needleworks. I’ve had these 7 patterns in my stash for a couple of years and even purchased a special frame to put it in.

I am stitching this one on 16ct Aida Swamp Monster from Laura’s Fabrics. I am opting for DMC floss except for Hickory Sticks-just because I had it on hand.

The shops are looking so lovely on this fabric! it looks like a cold winter day. It is perfect.

Here is where I am with this one. Just 3 more houses to do on the right side of the tree. I have decided to do WIPGO this year, and I have put Big City Christmas on the board once and it was the first number called for January 2026. More about how I am doing WIPGO in my next post. But I will continue working on this into January, making it my primary focus project until finished so that I can display it next year.

So that is my recent stitching. I am planning on doing much better with my blogging this year. I have missed it so much and will be making it a priority. I look forward to catching up with you and seeing what you have been up to and what your plans for 2026 are. Leave me a comment and tell me what you are stitching on.

Happy Stitching!

Ginny

Christmas · Craft projects

My DIY Centerpiece

My Time Stitching6 Comments

Hello blogging friends. Do you make your own Christmas decorations? I have made little things and of course my cross stitch ornaments. I have made quilted tree skirts and glitter ornaments. But this last Christmas I decided to try to make a centerpiece for my coffee table.

Have you seen the video’s from Olivia’s Romantic Home? Specifically her Dollar Tree DIY _____. Well, I stumbled across her Dollar Tree DIY centerpiece and absolutely fell in love! I think this was near the beginning of November. So I headed off to a Dollar Tree to pick up those little Dollar Tree Christmas trees and whatever else I needed. Of course, I procrastinated and didn’t start crafting it until about a week before Christmas.

craft time
Not a bad start

I had never made anything like this before. It was a little overwhelming at first. I was afraid of really making a mess. I really need to get over that. So I told myself “if I make a mess, I can start over”. The bows were quite the challenge, but I guess they turned out ok. The video says to use decorative mesh for the little roll up pieces that are stuck in the branches, but my mesh was too wide. I tried cutting it in half, but that just made a mess. So hubby went out to Walmart and purchased some rolls of tulle. I think they worked ok. They were full of glitter, so glitter was everywhere.

Dollar Tree DIY centerpiece

So this is how my centerpiece turned out. Not too bad for a first attempt.

I decided to go with a Red, White and silver color theme for my Christmas decorating this last Christmas. I ended up not decorating much and only put up our small tree. So next year I really want to go all out Red, White and Silver. Now to figure out how I am going to pack this centerpiece away without messing it up. I am pretty happy with it how it turned out. I may just try my hand at more Olivia’s decorations.