Welcome to Cranberry Samplings

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Some Stitching and Some Food.

I hope that you all had a great Christmas! After being pretty busy the last couple of weeks, it was a pleasure to have a quite day. We had a nice breakfast, opened the gifts and had a relaxing dinner later in the day. I got in a lot of stitching in the last 2 days. What a pleasure. On Christmas Eve we went to Cheryl's for the evening. The food was wonderful. I was a bad blogger and took no pictures, except for the 2 things that I brought.
I know that the picture isn't very good but the popcorn was delicious and really addictive. I am obsessed with this stuff. You pop 3 bags of low butter popcorn (pop secret homestyle is good), melt a 12 oz. bag of white chocolate chips and mix together and add a 5 oz bag of craisins. So good and I don't usually like white chocolate. Joanne served my Thursday night stitching group this and we just ate and chatted. No real stitching was done.
I made these little Santa hats. How cute are they? Saw them on " The Chew" and had to make them. They are just brownies (cut with a round cutter), strawberries and whipped cream. Kinda festive.
I am currently working on A Good Marriage by LK. It's for a dear friend and her husband who have a big anniversary coming up.They have a wonderful relationship and I believe that they live these rules everyday.
I will be putting that piece aside for a few days so that I can start the February cottage. I am not sure about the colors. The pinks are really bright. We will see how they look. Thanks for stopping by and leaving the best comments. They mean so much. Until next time.....Happy Stitching! Deborah

Saturday, December 24, 2011

From My House to Yours

I wish everyone a blessed and joyful Christmas. Until next time...Happy Stitching! Deborah

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Doing the Big Happy Dance!

I hadn't planned on getting the seasonal sampler framed before Christmas but I just had too! I am so happy with this piece. The sampler turned out beautifully and I love the frame.
You can click on any of the photos for a larger view. With the frame this piece ends up being about 32" long. Sorry about all the pics. I just couldn't get it in one good pic. I joined Vonna's SAL of the CCN Cottages.
I am using 36 ct. vintage meadow rue linen and the suggested fibers. I will be doing the whole year on this piece of fabric. So far, so good. Today Cheryl and I did our Christmas cookie marathon.
Here is a sampling of our bounty. We made wedding cookies, frosted sugar cookies, coconut thumbprints, the chocolate crinkles appear not to have made the picture, butterscotch oatmeal cookies and chocolate walnut fudge. YUMMY! I have kept you all long enough, so until next time.....Happy Stitching! Deborah

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas is Almost Here!

It was a busy week here but some of the business involved stitching. First up is Warm Winter Woolens by LHN I used 32 ct exampler linen and the suggested fibers. I framed it today. I have had the candle screen in my stash for years. It was good to put it to use. I also finished January Word Play by WTN. I love these designs. I used 36 ct mystery f
fabric and the called for fibers. Hopefully it will be put together before January. I had a small luncheon with a couple of my stitchy friends. This is the table setting and the small flower arrangements that I gave to them.
I picked up Winter Alphabet from the framers last week. I had the frame made into a pop it in and out frame. It came out pretty good.
Here is a closeup of the frame.
This has been the weirdest time that i have ever had trying to post. What the heck is with blogger? Before I close, I want to wish Nataly and Ellen a very Happy Hanukkah. Thanks for visiting and leaving the greatest comments. Until next time (hopefullyI will be back before Christmas)....Happy Stitching! Deborah

Monday, December 12, 2011

Wonderful Time of the Year!

It was a busy week here but i did get some stitching in. I hope to finish Four Seasons Band Sampler this year. It's in the home stretch. I just need to finish the bottom of it. I need to add stars and snow flakes to the winter portion and do the personalization above the numbers. This is a beautiful sampler that the Just Cross Stitch magazine did in 4 parts. It is about 27" long and about 7" wide. Below is the whole thing layed out. Sorry about the wrinkles. I don't like to iron the pieces until they are finished. You can click on any of the pics for a larger view.

Last Thursday night, my evening stitching group went out to dinner for our Christmas celebration. We had some really wonderful Italian food. After dinner we went back to Jeanne's home for the dessert and the gift portion of the evening. We draw names and Mary ( her blog is yetanotherxcrazyblog ) drew my name. This beautiful flower frog is what I got. How great is that! Green is one of my favorite colors. She made the pin cushion that is in side. She used 2 different seasonal fabrics. Below is a better picture of the pin cushion. Isn't it great when your friends feed your addictions?!

As if that beautiful frog wasn't enough, she also gave me this beautiful scarf. It is wide and very long. The picture does it no justice. The colors are gorgeous and there is some gold shiny threads running through it. She thought that it would look good with one of my coats but I can envision it on my table as a table runner. Thanks, Mary! I just love my gifts.
What would a party be without the food. Joanne went and got 2 different kinds of cupcakes from our favorite cupcake bakery. Jeanne made the cookies. It was all so delicious.
Jeanne's home was decorated beautifully and I just loved her Christmas village. This is only part of the village. So gorgeous. This week is going to busy. I am having some stitchy friends over for lunch and stitching this week. Going to both of my stitching groups and Saturday night I am having friends over for dinner and gift exchange. It's going to busy and so much fun. I hope that your holiday season is full of fun, friends and family, great food and gatherings. Thanks for visiting and leaving the best comments. I love them. Until next time..... Happy Stitching! Deborah

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Winter, So Far Only in My Stitching

We have had the weirdest weather! It has been in the 60's and low 70's for weeks. It's getting close to Christmas and I want cold and maybe some snow. So far, the closest to snow and cold is stitching it. I finished LK Winter Alphabet over the week end. I am going to have an in and out frame made in case I do the others. I do love the fall one.
I also did DT's January. I used a scrap of 32 ct. pearl gray and I used the called for NPI's. I do love me some silks.
On Saturday, I drove up to New Hampshire to Yankee Cross Stitch to take a class from Donna of By the Bay fame. She is a lovely person and we had a great time. We made this cute tree. It is made out of wool, a dowel and wire. Darn easy to put together. The only thing I would change is the really bright green floral tape we used to rap the truck of the tree. I am going to get some darker green tape and go over the bright green. Then I will love the little tree. I must say that the base is really nice. Red and has a nice design in the medal. You can click on any of the pictures for a larger view.
I have collected some Santa's over the years and I thought that I would share one of my collection at the end of each post this month. What I noticed, while taking their pics is that they are all woodsy kinda of Santa's. This one I got in Canada a number of years ago when Cheryl and I brought her Mother back home.
This is my small tree in the kitchen. I bought it at the Christmas Tree Shop for around 10 bucks. A great buy. I have my cross stitch ornies on it. I really need to do more. Hopefully for next season. Wow! I need to thank everyone for the wonderful comments on my last post. They mean a lot to me. Until next time....Happy Stitching! Deborah