I'm dreaming ....

Photo by The Stitchery

... of cross-stitching this gorgeous Snowy Village Table Runner.
 
This week, I received a catalog from The Stitchery, a place where I have spent many dollars in years past.  I glanced through it while eating lunch and found it to be a place where I could still spend time and money, given the opportunity.

I completely fell in love with this table runner, which is a Stitchery Exclusive ... meaning it is not sold elsewhere.  (Incidentally, there is a tablecloth with a similar design -- the village motif is on all four sides.  But a table runner works better for our table.)  I showed the picture to my husband.  I will give Mr. T credit; he did not blanch at the price.  But he did mention he thought it would be a time-consuming project; I believe his comment was something along the line of "it would take you the rest of your life to finish that."

I know he's right, but still I find myself dreaming of a Snowy Village.

Another Rudy Day gets away

From a favorite vintage coffee advertisement.  I love the variety of cups hanging by ribbons from the Christmas tree!  The snowflake tablecloth is so pretty too.

Yes, this past Saturday was Rudolph Day for August.  And it completely got away.  I'm busy with planning and preparing for a visit from our faraway daughter and family, coming mid-September to stay three whole weeks.  And then there is just life in general.  Lots of time spent on preparing my Sunday School lessons for the next several weeks, garden to harvest from, weeds to pull (not keeping up with that!), cleaning to do, and on and on.  I'd love to bake some things for the freezer (to serve while our company is here) but the weather's been a bit too warm to do much baking.

Thus, on Rudy Day I did not do one single, solitary Christmasy thing.

One thing I have been working on sporadically this week is cutting out pieces for pieced Christmas placemats like this one:

They match the runner I made a couple of years ago.
 
Well, they sort of match.  I guess "coordinate" might be a better word.  The fabrics will vary for each of them -- I am hoping to make ten mats -- because I am just using up scraps.  I'm finding, though, that rather than using up all of my stash of scraps I am creating a good number of smaller scraps of Christmas fabrics.

Any ideas for using very small scraps of Christmas fabric will be welcome.  I'm thinking of using some for card making and gift tags.

Simple table topper from vintage fabric

This week I took a few minutes to narrow-hem the vintage red and green print remnant I showed earlier.  It came out the size of a small table runner, which means I will be able to use it in various places in the kitchen and dining area -- dining table, kitchen island, hutch, etc. 

The little bouquet is flowers from going-to-seed mustard greens in our garden.

Thought you might like to see the vintage doily as well.  This is a handmade doily from my mother's linen closet.  Someone had given her a set of two.  She passed them on to me some years ago.

I am pleased with how this quick little project turned out.  It looks great in my strawberry themed dining area, and will look nice later with Christmas decor as well.

A finished project

This runner has been on my "to finish" list for a couple of years now.  I am so pleased to have completed it.  My daughter loves chickadees, and I had wanted to make this for her birthday a couple of years ago.  When I bought the kit online, I mistakenly thought it was stamped cross stitch and embroidery.  I obviously didn't look too closely, for it was stamped embroidery, nearly all of it in satin stitch.

End motifs are like this

Entire runner -- I took this pic with the runner spread out on the floor.

I plan to give this to my daughter the next time I see her.  She can then put it away to have ready when the Christmas season arrives.  I'm not too worried about spoiling the surprise, as she seldom checks my Christmas blog, but even if she should happen to see it here, she will still be surprised by it, I guess.

One of the side motifs

It's a wonderful feeling to have finished this project at last!

Planning for Christmas in September

 Yes, I'm planning a mini Christmas in September while our daughter and her hubby and four little ones are visiting us out here.  It has been many years since we've celebrated Christmas with them, and we won't really be doing so now -- just a little mini-celebration. 

My plan is that those family members who'd like to take part will draw names, with a $1 per gift limit.  The local dollar stores will likely be our favored shopping sources.  Then we will wrap our gifts and, at some point during the visit, have a little Christmas party.  I'm thinking I will decorate very simply to suggest the Christmas season -- probably a Christmas table runner, perhaps a Christmas centerpiece (or just a mason jar full of evergreen sprigs), and a string  of lights.

I'll probably use this runner which I sewed in 2009; however ....

it's barely possible I'll have these placemats finished in time.

We will have a festive repast -- probably just something like appetizers, cookies, fudge and punch -- and exchange our small and simple gifts.  Sounds like fun to me!

Christmas in July table runner from Sew4Home!

(Photo by Sew4Home)

 Here is another fun Christmas in July project from Sew4Home and Moda fabrics -- a patchwork table runner trimmed with pom-poms!  Here is the link to this pretty project:  Patchwork Table Runner.

One year, I made simple Christmas table runners for each of my married children and gave them just after Thanksgiving.   That was many years ago but it is always fun for me to see one of those simple runners on my daughter's table during December. 

This patchwork one is way cuter, of course.  In fact, I just may have to make a few of these!