Serial Finish

Wow, posting about two needlepoint finishes in a row!  This is one of the XOctagon series I've subscribed to from Fireside Stitchery - the first one, in fact, and only one I've received.  All our mail has been being held in Istanbul since oh... the middle of December?  Occasionally, the embassy gets in a few bags, but Turkish Air claims there's no delivery deadline from the US post office, so they can take as long as they please to deliver it.  The problem is, they're not delivering it at all.  So this is the only one in the series I have.  I really like it, though, and will be making it up into a small ornament.   The instructions were great, and the materials were plentiful in the kit.

Now to get the mail moving, so I can have more things to work on!  And get in my Christmas exchanges.

Texas, My Texas

Texas is all stitched up!  I like the way it looks and will be checking to frame it here soon.  The design was a kit from The French Knot in Fort Worth.  I found the instructions to be very sparse, referencing book pages without saying the book they were referencing.  The threads were poorly labeled, too.  I ended up substituting my own threads in several places and doing my own stitch choices.  Also, there was not enough ribbon floss to complete the background on the Texas.  It's done, though, and I love it!

Mall Concert

We had dinner at the mall the Friday before Christmas, and a concert broke out!  They had the Moldovan Youth Orchestra and a choir doing parts of Handel.  Then, later, some guys dressed as Santas were playing carols on their horns around the food court.

Temari in Progress

I don't often have a temari in progress during regular photo time, but I did last week.  This will give you a little bit of an idea of stitching order on one.

A Simple Gift

This simple ball was made for my maid as a Christmas gift.  We gave her some other things, too, but this one is the only crafty bit not previously photographed.

It Got There!

 It took nearly a month, but this temari finally made it from Moldova to Cyprus.  It was delayed in the holiday mail, evidently.  This was made for the New Year GITS on TalkTemari, and Linda (the recipient) says she likes it, which is the important thing.  It's an S-12 with two interlocking three point renzoku designs.

Went Shopping

I went shopping the week between Christmas and New Year's and came home with this stuff!  Some of it will get into the Crazy January Challenge.