Monday, January 14, 2013

A New Tradition :)

Every year for Christmas 
for as long as I can remember
someone buys a jigsaw puzzle for my Mom.
We all check with each other 
to make sure that someone has it covered.
It has to be difficult and at least 5000 pcs.

It's a given,

we all know it.

It's a tradition.

She always lets us know 
when she has it completed.

This year at Christmas I was thinking to myself,
that my favorite Christmas gifts
since I was a child 
were the ones that I could "make".
I'd start on Christmas day
and get right to work :)
And I thought that I would start my own tradition.
I was going to start a cross stitch project
on Dec 25th each year.
Imagine my delight when I rec'd THREE
new charts this year!
I hadn't mentioned my plans to anyone!!!
So this is the one I chose to start my new tradition.
It's called "Magic Garden Samler" by Shakespeare's Peddler.
I finished it last night
so it took me 18 evenings of stitching.
Actually a bit less because there were a few nights
that I didn't get to stitch.
I changed out the colors a bit.
I just couldn't stitch a pale purple watermelon,
or a pink snail or purple carrot.
I'm going to make this into a pillow for my living room sofa.

Do you have any crafty Christmas traditions?


16 comments:

  1. one of my traditions is I make a quilt for someone in the family each year and it's a suprise as to who it's for until they open the gift. I have been doing this for the last 3 years and every time the person is truly supprised and speachless. my first was my neice that was graduationg high school, then my inlaws and this past year it was another niece.

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  2. totally agree with on the color changes...ew
    as for crafty traditions........that started la couple of Christmases ago when I met these two crazy chicks on and apron swap. the rest, they say, is history.
    Now, I make an effort to make each of them a hand.crafted item....so it's new and it's crafty...wi win

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  3. No...but I think I need to start one :-)! I think I will start a tradition where Moon and I start a project together after Christmas and have it finished before the end of February. If I get started now maybe we can start the tradition this year :-)!

    Great idea :-)!

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  4. LOL I think those colours sound quite amusing, but when I look at the photograph of the project pattern, the purple watermelon just doesn't work for me - the other two do, though! I think it looks quite lovely with your colour changes!

    I don't really have any crafty traditions (other than making lots of my Christmas gifts) - I used to do crafts with my kids and with the daycare kids and Christmas was, of course, a big crafty deal, but everybody is grown up now *pfft*. When they start giving me grandchildren, though - Crafting Gramma will emerge from hibernation!!! ;)

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  5. oo love it! i do puzzle with my mom since i'm a teenager! i don't christmas craft tradition but my parents always bought me a new ornement each year, a little something they find in a trip so my christmas tree is a story book full of memories!
    have fun with your cross stitch

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  6. Beauitful! I really like your color changes, too! Doing a puzzle at Mom's was always a tradition for us, too. It was sort of sad this year, since Mom had a stroke in July and isn't able to work on puzzles anymore. : ( But it will always be a wonderful memory!!!

    Happy stitching on the next of the three charts. : )

    Tricia

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  7. What a great idea! I may have to start something like that myself. Love the new stitchery and can't wait to see it as a pillow. You inspire me!

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  8. My Christmas tradition is to fall asleep at 6pm LOL. For this reason I could never start a new stitch on Christmas day, but luckily for me my birthday is 31st December so I always treat myself to something new then :)

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  9. Like your Mum, my father always had a jigsaw for Christmas and he and I would spend Christmas eve finding the edge pieces and starting to put it together. I would chat away. We wouldn't finish it that evening so it would stay on the dining table until it was finished.

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  10. Such a great idea and your finished project is quite lovely.

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  11. Very beautiful stitchery. I love your sampler. What a nice tradition!

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  12. What a lovely idea - I think I might do the same! I have just rediscovered cross stitch and I am loving it!

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  13. it's so pretty! I can't believe you stitched it up so fast, did you sleep at all?? I don't like the idea of a purple watermelon either, but carrots can be purple. They used to be purple until they started cultivating orange ones in honour of the Dutch Royal Family - the House of Orange. Exciting fact there for you!

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  14. Hi, nice publication that reminded me much of tradition we had at home since age 9, doing puzzles, I remember when we did 25, 100, 500, 2000 ... in short, a single family cruise.
    For today's puzzle are saved because we have two girls at home who still use their mouth to explore, so we replaced the Scrubbles or monopoly.
    Happy new year!

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  15. Karen-
    Your beautiful blog is loaded in for my Grow Your Blog party - thank you for participating. I will look forward to your special party post on the 19th. I hope you make new friends for your lovely blog -- and that you can help support lots of bloggers who are just getting started.

    xo
    Vicki

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  16. This is a great christmas tradition. I make a few presents and also some cross stitch ornaments each year so I always have something to keep that I have made. It is so easy to make lots of things and give them away that often I can sew for months before I keep anything for my self. My dad gets me a craft book or two which I love.

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