Christmas Countdown Cheer

Greetings friends - I'm so happy you are visiting with me during the holiday season! Today, I am back with more creative Christmas inspiration - I am sharing more of my recent creations for the Poppie Cotton Christmas Countdown Challenge (in case you missed my first post, here is a link). A few details: Poppie Cotton created a very fun word prompt list beginning on December 1st - each day, you can use the word as a prompt to create something and post an image(s), tagging them for a chance to win prizes - you can participate as little or as often as you like. You can visit their Instagram page post for all the details...and visit their website for a downloadable list, a coloring page and Santa templates! I have been participating on most days and have enjoyed my time creating holiday projects - it is helping me get in the Christmas spirit, while I am still under the weather and bogged down with work catch-up. 

Here are five more days of Christmas Countdown creativity....

Day 8 - Snowman

I *had to* post "Flurry Friends," one of my favorite original winter cross stitch designs. You can find the pattern (which has the larger focal design and two bonus single snowman designs) in both paper format and digital format in my Etsy shop. 

Day 10 - Candy Cane

I created these sweet ornaments...fabric birdies each holding their own candy cane, using fabric from the Goose Creek Gardens collection - they make me happy!! I have had quite a few requests, so may write a pattern for creating these sweet birds...

Day 11 - Christmas Tree

I couldn't decide between two of my creative projects - so I will share both. First is my classic cross stitch design "Just Add Tinsel"...a wrapped present needlebook, star pinkeep, and scissor fob ~ along with a unique stitched tree, completely made of linen (with stitched sides, bottom and interior, as well) to hold them! This classic design with complete finishing instructions is available in my Etsy Shop in both paper format and digital format.

My second share for the prompt Christmas tree - a couple needlebooks I created using the Farmhouse Favorites fabric collections, hand-dyed trims from Lady Dot Creates, mini buttons and star pins. These were made playing around in my studio without a pattern or a plan...🎄

Day 13 - Christmas Chicken

I'm not really a "chicken person" but wanted to challenge myself, so I made this cheerful Christmas chicken mini quilt, using the Betsy's Sewing Kit collection along with hand-dyed trims from Lady Dot Creates (her chenille and rick rack were perfection for this project). Again, this was created playing around in my studio without a pattern or a plan...🐓🧣🎄

Day 14 - Neighbor Gift

One of my favorite gifts I created for a neighbor is a oven mitt set with wooden spoons and a dish towel. These oven mitts were made from the Daisy Mae collection and were paired with a large wooden spoon, two tasting spoons and a flour sack towel...all tied with a ribbon….

I hope these creative ideas will get you in the holiday mood and provide some inspiration and Christmas cheer! I have more posts up my sleeve for the coming days leading up to Christmas, so look for those on my social media pages...

For now, it is back to work - I am feeling quite overwhelmed with client orders after my time away in New Zealand and recovering from a terrible case of the flu (I am much better, but yes, I still have a nasty cough!)...so I am busy from morning until night in the studio. Today, I made some updates to my website - I am so proud of my new website that I built (completely from scratch, by myself) this year - if you haven't visited, please take a look! I also had a pile of paperwork and computer work to get done this afternoon - the list is never-ending right now. I'll be back again soon to share some of the projects that have been on my work table...

Thank you for spending a little time with me - I hope you are finding some joy this holiday season!