Yeah, time really flies, I know. It has been a very very busy year here, but it is winding down nicely. Time is always my enemy. I think part of that is due to the nature of cross stitching. No matter how fast you stitch, most pieces end up taking 20 to 40 stitching hours (for the quilt squares I do so many of). 
Even a Christmas ornament can take 4 to 8 hours to stitch, back stitch, and finish.
Speaking of Christmas ornaments, one of the groups published pictures of the completed ornaments I sent them. Every year, they put out the call for ornaments to be stitched to benefit no-kill animal shelters. One of the members finishes them all into some of the cutest pillow-style ornaments around. These are then auctioned off and the funds donated. 
This year, I went with Carolyn Manning’s Lil Flakes and Precious Moments Minis. I wanted something that would sell at a good price to do as much good as possible. The pictures to the left are my stitched fronts and the backs are shown on the right side. Kinda neat, eh? There were 62 of these very unique ornaments created this year.
As I was working on these, one of the sweetest, kindest, most giving icons of the Cross Stitch world put out a cry for help. In September, Louisiana was hit by severe flooding. One elementary school had everything destroyed by the waters on just their second day of school. Children are always hit so hard by these losses. Pat Carson knows she can’t fix everything, but picked out this one group to help. She has done several auctions on her Facebook group. Then she thought about doing Christmas ornaments to help replace what these families lost. It doesn’t seem like much, but she has collected over 400 already, and sent them on to the school.
I packed up all of the ornaments I had here and sent them on. I will start fresh on new ones for the shop and the pet shelter project in January.
I did get time to do some personal stitching too. This 6×6 piece has already been presented to my mother-in-law. It’s not really a Christmas piece, but part of a series of winter scenes. I have two more to do for my husband’s aunts, and then I get to do some for us. This is actually the design for 2007, but I changed the year to reflect the year I gave it to them.
I also took the time to make an ornament just for us. Every year, I say I am going to do this one just for us and then I get too busy to ever get around to it. This time, I did it first. I love the way the little lady stands on her tiptoes. I did get others done for the family as well. But, like all stitchers, I never ever get enough done it seems. I did update the various galleries with the most recent finishes.
For me, it isn’t too early to begin thinking about next year. I got a bit lax on my charity stitching schedule and pitched in to help finish the squares for 2 quilts at the last moment. I always say it will be different next year, and it will be this time. I am going to be firm on the 3 days a week for my main charity. My husband and I will also be house hunting and hopefully moving late next summer.
So, now you know why there have been no new goodies for the shops! You should start seeing new items pretty quick as my queue is again reasonable AND I have days set aside to stitch again!!
Until the next time… from our house here in chilly Finland to yours wherever you are, may you have a warm and happy holiday season!
