I know… this is the second time this week that I’ve mentioned the C word. But that’s just how I roll. As soon as Christmas is over, I’m thinking about what I’ll be making for the next one.

I’ve got an excel file on my computer that contains all the people for which I make things for birthdays and Christmas. I’ve filled in some ideas, and over the course of the year, I’ll pick them off, one by one.

Up first is Dave’s mom.

Just before I got side-tracked by the Krista socks, I’d cast on for this pair. Dave’s Mom is not the best for following washing instructions, so indestructible Kroy Socks are perfect for her. She also has small feet (even smaller than mine!) so they whip up super quick! The colour of this one is “Dad’s Jacquard” and it’s an interesting mix of pink and red, with bands of green, yellow, grey and white. They certainly stand out!

Of course, I’ve got to get Krista’s pair out of the way before I get back to these. But I expect that will happen by the weekend!

Hey kids! I found a new place to buy reasonably priced yarn and I wanted to share with you all. It’s called Hobbii! It’s located in Denmark, but they offer free shipping over a certain amount.

And I know, I know… I literally said at the start of the month that I would knit from stash and not buy anything new, because I do not need any yarn.

But I didn’t actually place the order for the yarn….

I NEEDED these unicorn scissors. Like absolutely needed them!!!! And wasn’t about to pay shipping for just a pair of silly scissors. So, some yarn popped in my cart so I could get FREE shipping.

First was some of their Dolce sock yarn. It’s a gradient yarn with speckles. Technically, you can never have enough sock so I don’t really feel bad about ordering it.

Next up is some fun self-striping sparkle worsted, and some plain solids. These will become colourwork hats for my nieces for Christmas this year.

And because I still needed a few dollars in stuff to get that free shipping, so this Raggi came along for the ride. It’s a Worsted weight sock yarn and I’m happy to have found another source of yarn to make Dad thick socks.

With my dragonfly done, it was time for another tiny needle project.

Back when we moved in, Dee (a fabulous cross-stitcher as I’m sure you are aware), sent me a little housewarming gift.

She’d made this sampler not long before. I’d admired it, an noted it would be nice to make something like it to mark the purchase of our first house. She kindly offered to send me the pattern. It’s been tucked away since then, just waiting for me to have time to start it.

I’ve committed myself to dedicating Saturday and Sunday evening for cross-stitching:

As a result, I’ve completed the house. Since our house is white, I got some light blue aida (16 count) for it. It looks more grey here but is really is blue, I promise.

Hopefully by the next time you see it, it will have some landscaping!

I don’t know about where you are, but it’s been down right bone chilling here. I mean it’s January, and this is Canada, so it’s not like it’s a surprise. But I don’t have to like it. Especially when the furnace decides to shut off on its own in the middle of the night, and you wake up to a house that’s barely above freezing. (We got the problem sorted, but boy, that was not a nice morning!)

To take my mind off the cold, I’ve been binge watching Gardeners World on Amazon Prime Video, and I’ve been sewing flowers.

An afternoon saw me complete the eight dizzy daisies needed for my gnome quilt. It’s hard to worry about winter when you’re surrounded by flowers!!!

Now these are tucked away with the star blocks I made earlier

The next step is to build the border around the panel. It involves some quilt math, so I’m saving it for a day when I have nothing else going on so I can really focus and do it right!

The Stay at Home Round Robin has started up again, and I’m so happy. I had such fun with this last year. I made a gorgeous quilt, which we donated to raise money for the local hospital.

The first step is to make a centre block.

This year, I’m cheating a little and using a panel for my centre block

I may trim it up a bit, depending on what the first prompt is. I’ll find that out tomorrow.

Here are the fabrics I’ve picked out to go with it.

It’s going to be a challenge, because that’s not much to choose from. But I think it’s going to be fun!

I may not post an update every week, as last year, I learned it’s sometimes fun to combine two prompts… but I will do them all, and there will be a finished quilt at the end of it! More to come…

I have some wonderful news….

Neighbour Krista does not need surgery for her broken foot. She saw the specialist early in the week and was told no surgery, and she got switched to a walking boot!

And while it is wonderful, she no longer has a need for the giant sock I made to cover the cast. (She literally found out the day after I finished!)

Still… I realized I’ve never made her any socks, so I frogged the giant one, and started a normal sized pair.

There’s no rush for them, but I’m aiming to have them off the needles by next weekend. Just because.

Can you tell…

.… which cats don’t like to get their pawsies-wasies wet???

Our weather has been up and down lately. When it’s really cold, everything is frozen and these two won’t even go outside. But as soon as it gets above freezing, the catio is mudhole, and they just hang out on the garden cart.

As soon as spring comes, the catio green space is getting a revamp. I’ll have to be sure to include some areas that stay high and dry!

Back at the end of the year, I signed up for a little challenge. Along with cross-stitching, drawing and painting was a HUGE part of my youth. It’s really where all my craftiness started. Up until I started knitting in my 20s, I was most likely to be found with a pencil and a sketchbook. You’ve seen a little of my artistic talents here, but it’s something I’d like to bring back into my life on a more regular basis.

So, when a facebook friend posted about the 30-Day Sketchbook Challenge, I though it would be an ideal way to polish up my rather rusty skills, without having to commit masses of time to it each day. It’s much like Inktober (for those of you who participate) – you get a prompt each day, and you can interpret it any way you wish, spending as much or as little time on it as you want.

I set myself some simple rules. I’d be working in pencil only, and spending no more than 15-minutes on each sketch. I want to get back into the habit of drawing, but I don’t want it to become a chore. It’s not about being a da Vinci – these are just quick practice sketches. Like warming up before a marathon.

We are 13 days in, and so far, I’m enjoying it.

I’ve had to get creative with a few. As I’m sketching in only pencil – “Pink” was a challenge. But I figured it would be obvious that Rupert’s little beans are pink. And I didn’t have any feathers, or cake in the house, so I had to use internet photos for those. And trying to get a few pebbles from the frozen ground… harder than you think!

I’m looking forward to finishing out the month – then finding way to bring a little artwork into my daily routine afterwards.

The other day, I went back to those naughty unicorn blocks and finished up the other five.

With everything prepped and ready to go, it didn’t take long. Since I’d messed up on the cutting, I only had enough for six blocks total. I needed more blocks to go with them . I came up with some fun rainbow fabric that had a very similar colour scheme.

I got everything cut and prepped, and of course couldn’t resist putting just one together.

The other five will wait for another session. Before I packed up for the day, I thought I should get Burton’s opinion…

He immediately pointed out that those “unicorns” have wings… therefore they are pegacorns!

Last week I showed you my little dragonfly. All I had left to do was the outline. I used to dread doing the outlining. I’m not sure why. I think it’s because I have a very short attention span. By the time I’d get to the outline stage, I was already bored with the project!

For this one, I decided to start with the frame outline, because it was simpler.

And it went pretty well. The outline of the dragonfly took a little more time…

But that wasn’t too bad. And it really does make a difference to the final project. In cross stitch, outlining is rarely a step you can skip!

And now it’s framed and ready to join its butterfly mate on Mom’s bathroom wall!

And I’ve got some blue aida cloth on order, so I can start my next tiny needle project!

P.S. … after a little digging, I discovered that it was me (not Mom) who started this project. Way back in 2009!!!!