All Things Christmas

So Christmas 2019 has come and gone, but I still consider this little space between Christmas and New Years the Christmas season. When you think about it, things aren't back to normal yet. There's still a holiday feel, at least to me. I kept up my stitching during the month of December, only stitching on Christmas-themed projects! I didn't even plan this. It just fell into place.

After I put away "Believe" by Dimensions for the time being, I had a new start! This is "Grandpa's Pick-up" by Little House Needleworks.

Yes, I was really motivated and got a lot done! I'm stitching this on a 30 count linen, but I'm not sure what the color is. I had signed up to get these charts as they were released and I opted for the linen to be included.

More Christmas stitching followed!

This is "Holiday Cheer" by Sugar Stitches. This is also a series called the 2019 Christmas Club and it can be found HERE on Etsy. Two of them have been released as of this post and they're both very sweet. I'm stitching it on the called-for 32 count Gingerbread fabric from Picture This Plus, which I found at 123Stitch. I'm using the Lugana instead of linen. I also am trying something new in the form of a little stretcher frame that I had in my stash. It's simply a wooden frame that you tack your fabric to. So far so good!

I made a couple of cute little zip bags to use as gift card holders for my nieces.

These are made with lace zippers which are decorative as well as functional. The tutorial for these bags can be found at Jean Truelove's YouTube channel HERE. I had a little trouble with these thick seams. It seems that both of my sewing machines are wimps when it comes to sewing through a lot of layers of fabric. They did turn out pretty nice though. If you like the look of these lace zippers, please keep reading. There's going to be a giveaway!

Our neighborhood had its annual Night Of Lights, in which we put luminary bags out at the curbs and decorate our homes. Then we invite everyone to drive through and donate to the charities which were chosen for the year.

Our 1967 Ford truck (complete with Christmas tree) continues to be a hit during this event. This photo was taken right when cars started to come through. The sheriff's department estimates that 5,000 cars drove into our subdivision on this one night! We collected an amazing amount of money and 100% of it went to the recipients.

My Christmas cactus has been a mystery to me since I got it two years ago. However, this year it showed me that it is indeed a Christmas cactus!

I think I was in a baking kind of mood this holiday season. I baked four different kinds of cookies I was sure the guests at our Christmas celebration at my sister's house would enjoy.

Holiday Spritz, Fruitcake Cookies, Chocolate Krinkles, and Coconut Cranberry Cookies filled the bill.

I'm going to do a giveaway for six of the lace zippers! I will choose six different colors of these 12 inch zippers. If you'd like to be entered in the giveaway, please let me know in your comments. Also, please make sure that there is a way that I can contact you if you win. I will choose ONE winner on Friday, January 10th at 12:00 noon EST and then announce the winner here in a blog post. I will ship anywhere.

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas. Now we're heading to a New Year and I hope that yours is a good one. Keep enjoying the season and get some stitching and crafting in!