Secret Santa & Christmas Ornament Exchanges

We're almost at the end of January and it's only 334 days till Christmas ~ just thought I'd get that over with and I promise not to mention it again ~ if I remember!

Our Tuesday Stitching Group have had a Secret Santa exchange for quite a few years now ~ 3 years ago we changed the format and rather than buying a gift for our partner we now each make our gifts.  So for Christmas 2013 I was to make something for Doreen ~ I was organised early and gathered a pattern and supplies however project # 1 and I didn't get on so I abandoned the idea.  A new project search was started and I found something that I thought would be perfect ~ I had a great time working on it and was quite pleased with myself.  Then disaster struck when I somehow managed to scorch it with the iron!!!!!!   I have been ironing since I was 10, ironing was my chore at home from that age and I have NEVER scorched anything (other than myself on a few occasions) in my entire ironing career ~I was completely devastated and disheartened and running out of time too.

Despite the setback I managed not to either fall out with or destroy project # 3 and was really quite pleased with how it turned out ~ and Doreen was delighted with it which is the most important thing.

Eliza's Pyn Pillow by With My Needle mounted on a hand painted and lined box.

This is the gorgeous gift I received from Carol.  I love it  ~ there are a number of reasons:
It's gorgeous
It's a heart ~ well 5 hearts if you count the individual ones
It's made from remnants of the fabric that the group used to make a quilt as a wedding gift for myself and the LM
It includes pieces of the fabric from my wedding dress ~ Carol had a sneaky word with my Sis2 at our wedding party and DH was involved at some stage too
Did I tell you it was a heart?  What's not to love?  Oh, and it as lights too!

I should remember to take my camera to our Christmas dinner next time and photograph all the gorgeous gifts that were exchanged.

I joined two ornament exchanges in 2013 ~ one on the Friendly Stitchers Yahoo Group and one on the Needlecraft Haven Yuku Group.

These are the gorgeous ornaments I received ~ on the left hand side from Mary in the FS Group and on the right hand side from Clare in the NH Group.  I really enjoy participating in these exchanges and now have quite a haul of beautifully stitched pieces from stitchers from around the world ~ I omitted to take a picture of my bowl displaying them all.

My ornament to Mary on the Friendly Stitchers Yahoo Group ~ Noel 2013, a free design from Mamilou Creations.
This was stitched on 35ct Barely Bronzed from Sparklies with DMC threads - I made one substitution as I didn't have one of the called for colours.  The bottom of the design had some wording which I omitted and added a strip of lacy trim in it's place.  For the back I used some lovely green spotty fabric from my stash and the hanger is made from a couple of ribbons, one stitched onto the other.

This is Christmas Morning by The Stitcherhood, a design from the 2012 Just Stitches Ornament Edition.  Stitched on 32ct fabric ~ colour unknown, I must get better at keeping my fabric with better detail.  Just two colours of DMC were used for this design which I stitched for Becs on the Needlecraft Haven Yuku Group.  I used a fabric which had a wreath design in red/green for the reverse with a hanger made from the same DMC used for the stitching.

I'm looking forward to this year's ornament exchanges already!

Kate