I've been run over by a reindeer!

Does anyone else feel exhausted after the holidays? I feel like I have been run over by a reindeer! Christmas was wonderful at our house, I always love seeing the kids open their presents. This year the kids picked out presents for each other and their cousins. The girls were almost more excited to see how the cousins and their brother & sisters liked the presents they had picked for them. It's also really nice having the kids off school for two weeks and not having to rush off to school in the morning and worry about homework at night.

Above is my exchange received from Maria (all the way from Spain). It was a Prairie Schooler exchange from the HOE blog, out of PS #163 "Signs of Spring", I love it cause I can leave it out on display for a few more months with my spring decor. She also painted the Beatrix Potter inspired goose. It is a watercolor, and just amazing. She is so talented, I am always in awe of people who can stitch AND draw AND paint AND any other creative talent that's out there! My exchange that I stitched hasn't arrived yet so I can't show it off.

Here is what I am working on though, "Autumn in the Village", they have all four seasons and I think I may stitch the Christmas Village next. Lots of back-stitching, but I love the details and the colors.You know, I might actually finish something if I would just quit starting new projects (like this one!)

And last but not least a sweet little Christmas card (and super cute reindeer buttons) I received from Rachel of the Wandering Bunny blog.  Rachel if your reading this I couldn't find a way to email you directly, but THANK YOU for being so thoughtful! Rachel was my exchange partner for the Halloween exchange on the HOE group. I thought it was so nice of her to send me such an adorable card, and I can't wait to find just the right project to use the reindeer buttons for. I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday season, and is getting some much needed rest and relaxation afterwards!

I'm on the naughty list?!?

What do you mean i'm on the naughty list?!?

We tried to get some pictures today for our holiday cards. While my girls were angels as usual, it's impossible to convince a toddler to just hold still and look at the camera. So we've scheduled a portrait studio appointment for Tuesday cause there is only so many animal noises I can make...i'm just going to have to leave our holiday photos to a professional. I do love his expression in the above photo though, doesn't it just perfectly capture the surprise of being on the naughty list!  

And here is what's in my stitching basket for this month. I am debating whether "Winter Row" can be saved, I hand dyed the linen, but had put it away for a few years and now it has a brown spot above the lettering. I tried spot-treating it but then that washed out some of the color of the linen. I almost want to just throw it out and start over. 

And this is a Trilogy design, just a simple checkered snowman, really not much left to finish him up. 

I am kind of winging this one, the letters are from Lizzie Kate's "Winter Alphabet", but I just wanted to make a small ornament of it. Not sure if I am loving it yet, but I may as well finish it now.

And probably the closest one to being done, another Lizzie Kate. All I need to do on this one is add the buttons and stitch Mr. Cardinal's beak. Fingers crossed he finds his way onto my tree for this year and out of my WIP basket. 

Hope everyone is staying cozy and warm! I think the coldest it has gotten here so far is 37 degrees in the mornings, but still that is too cold for me! (I know i'm such a wimp about the cold! Good thing I live in Arizona)

Things done and undone....

In my ongoing effort to reduce the size of my WIP basket, I have started selecting a bunch of seasonal charts to try and finish each month. For November I did manage to finish Bent Creek's "Thankful Quaker", but put a pitiful number of stitches into "Uber Turkey". See the half finished feather on the right hand side? That was my progress, all of it. So Mr. Turkey will be put away for next November, and I am moving on to the "winter" section of my WIP basket. 

And this is the "done" part of my month, our foster dog Robin completed her convalescence in our home, and returned to the Humane Society to be adopted. Actually her recovery was pretty easy on our part, she had lost her hair due to malnutrition so we just had to feed her and give her lots of love. She did have a beautiful blonde coat, and a funny smile whenever she was happy or excited (you can see it in the photo above). I think she set the record for least amount of time actually spent back at the shelter, she was adopted within two hours of us dropping her off! Most of our foster dogs that we have returned have been adopted within a few days. It still makes me a bit sad when we have to give them back, but knowing we saved a life and that they can now find forever homes helps.