Gift Exchange

Our cross stitch group, Shared Crosses had a Christmas exchange and the requirements were that it contain at least one stitched gift and be mailed by December 1st.  I missed the deadline by a few days though.

I sent to Becky and this is what I sent her:

 

I received my gifts from Sue V and this is what she sent to me:

Sue V was extremely generous.  Her stitched gift is the sleigh which is now hanging on my tree.  I've also started the Reindeer card in the center of the picture.

Happy Dance - Poinsettia

This is Poinsettia, a Counted Cross Stitch Picture Kit from Design Works. 

It's stitched with the provided materials -- that's white Aida.  I did change one of the colors from 817 to 349 since the 817 stood out way too much.  I also followed the back stitching on the picture instead of on the chart since they were different.

A frame was included, but the picture doesn't quite fit so I plan to make it into an ornament and use the frame for something else.

I started this on December 7th and finished it on December 14th.

Kyleigh's Christmas Program

Tonight was Kyleigh's Christmas Program at church.  All of the Kindergarten and First Grade classes participated.

Kyleigh was a narrator for the final scenes (in the stable).  She did a really good job, standing still and enunciating so that you could hear what she said clearly.

This picture was taken before the program:

And this picture was taken at the program while she's speaking:

 

After the program which took place at 5:00, we went to dinner at Claim Jumper and then to see the Christmas lights in the Eagle Ridge neighborhood in Brea.  We won't be doing that on a Saturday night again, because it was way too crowded, but we did enjoy it.  And we discovered, happily, that all five of us can fit relatively comfortably in our car, even with the car seat.

Singing Jingle Bells

We went to Barnes and Noble today to find a book on hamsters for Kyleigh.  While we were there, there was a group singing Christmas carols in the Children's section.  Kyleigh put some change in their pot so they asked her what song she'd like them to sing.  She chose Jingle Bells and they asked her to join them. 

Girl Scout Event at Irvine Park

Kyleigh is a Daisy Girl Scout this year and her service unit put on an event at Irvine Park which her troop participated in.  The girls and their families got to ride the Irvine Park train to the Santa stop where they got to visit with Santa Claus and then rode the train back to the main stop where they had pizza for dinner.

Janice sent me several pictures of the evening;

First, Kyleigh with friends.

 And finally with Santa:

 

Happy Dance - Cheer Santa

This is Christmas Cheer Santa, a Jim Shore design from Mill Hill. 

It's a kit and is stitched with the provided materials, except that the tree was supposed to have some crystal beads in it (see WIWO - 12/01/2014 post), but I thought they stood out too much so I replaced them with green floss.

I enjoyed stitching this project so much that I went and bought the rest of the series.

WIWO - 12/1/2014

After I finished Give Thanks, I started Christmas Cheer Santa from Mill Hill.. I'm enjoying this one because it's so bright and colorful.

I decided to bead this one as I went along and I don't really like the crystal beads in the middle of the tree, so I will probably remove them and replace them with green cross stitches.