Gifts...Secret Stitcher, Christmas and Birthday

This one is going to be full of pictures today and quite lengthy.  I wanted to share them here in their own post to honor the thoughtfulness of those who are so special to me.  I don't know about you but I love these kinds of posts!  Go grab a cuppa and settle in.

Lets go back to the guild Christmas party.  This is the box I was presented with from my Secret Stitcher, Pam S.  Let's have a look inside!

 This is what caught my eye first!  Just look at this darling ornament all stitched over 1!

 Then I turned it over and she'd stitched the reverse too!  I love the pink house.

She and I have a thing for pink dontcha know.

Here's the rest of the goodies that were inside!  Oh. My. Goodness.  I was just so blown away.  I love the scissors.  She said they were as close to Shelby color as she could find.  Yep, they are polka dotted.  Love it!  The thread set is really interesting too.  I've not stitched with that before.  I can't wait to find just the right project to try it out.  There was one more thing in there that's not in the picture but it was for my birthday.  I'll save that for later.

Again, thank you so much Pam!  You really made my Secret Stitcher year so much fun.  I truly enjoyed your thoughtfulness.

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Next up, Christmas with the peeps!  As you could tell from the haul picture yesterday, we really had a ball opening gifts together.  It was like Christmas when I was a kid, lots of giggles and squeals.  We had such a blast that night.

Anna Mae gave me this super cute stitched snowman cupcake ornament, a yummy smelling candle, a cute ORT tin, and note pad!  I even put the ice skate tag on the tree with the ornament.  It was just too cute not too!  Thank you so much, Anna Mae!

Christie gave us all this sweet freebie with some fabric and floss.  As well as this super cute snowman bucket with chocolates inside.  Needless to say there were more chocolates before the picture.  Yum!  Thank you so much, Christie!

 Evie stitched us all a version of this heart tree ornament.  I absolutely love it!

 

Here are the other things she gave us!  I love the cute reusable bag.  I wish you could smell the bees wax candle, the poinsettia holder is so pretty too, and yummy chocolate that actually survived the drive home without my eating it.  Thank you so much, Evie!

Marsha gave us a pretty design to stitch and a lovely vintage napkin ring!  I wish you could hold it.  It's so heavy.  The silver and crystal just sparkle!  I do love me some bling.  Thank you so much, Marsha!

Meem gave us a stitched teacup pincushion!  She said she found the antique teacup and saucer in Williamsburg after much hunting.  Thank you so much, Meem!

Linda gave us all a big red ball ornament with our initial on it and she gave me these blingy acorn ornaments too.  These looked so pretty on our tree!  Thank you so much, Linda for the gifts and for hosting us that evening.  We had such a great time!

Patti gave us these pretty Santa boxes filled with goodies.  I love the polka dot interior.  She gave us some wonderful hand lotion,  a nice smelling candle, and more chocolate!  Thank you so much, Patti!

Do you sense a theme here?  See why I love hanging out with these girls, we never run out of chocolate!  Patti told me this is a gift that keeps on giving.  The ornament she had intended to give me didn't arrive from the finisher in time so I'll get it later.  I suspect next week at the Stitchaway retreat.  Stay tuned for that!

 Design:  Merry (2012 Retreat Welcome Project)

Designer:  Teri Richards (Shepherd's Bush)

Fabric:  25 ct. White Lugana

Floss:  DMC

Started:  12/8/14

Finished:  12/16/14

Completed:  12/17/14

I almost forgot to share what I stitched for the peeps' presents.  I even stitched one for myself this time. I'm going to try to do that more often.  These were a motif taken from our 2012 Welcome Project at the Shepherd's Retreat.  I decided to stitch them on a larger count fabric so they wouldn't be too tiny.  I used DMC that came close to the colors I had left over.  I think they turned out really cute!

I also included a headband and some mints in the bag.  You'll have to pop over to Marsha's blog and read about the headbands.  She has a picture and a funny tale about us trying them on.  I still giggle when I think about it.  Yep, we really had a good time that night for sure!

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Now moving on to birthday stuff!  As you all know, I get pretty sentimental when anyone remembers my birthday.  It's just a thing with me.  The holidays are not the best time of the year for birthdays.  If you have one in the last two weeks of December or first week of January you know what I mean.

This was the other thing that was in my Secret Stitcher box from Pam.  It's so pretty in person. The lighting that day wasn't the best.  I love the cute little card too!  Thank you for remembering me, Pam!

Evie gave me this beautiful wine box with the lovely Eiffel tower bottle inside wrapped up in this super cute Dalmatian fabric!  I can foresee a project bag being made out of this.  Oh how cool!  Thank you for remembering me, Evie!

Linda stitched this precious sampler for me. To say I was blown away is an understatement.  This is just so so special to me.  I will always treasure this gift and I can't wait to have it framed.  I absolutely love it, girly!

Patti gave me this Republic of Tea holiday assortment.  She knows how much I enjoy my tea.  She also remembered Miss Shelby with a tin of her own treats.  I almost tried them until I read they were for dogs!  Good thing I did.  Shelby liked them!

Speaking of Miss nosy pants, here she is checking out the treats and the stuffed pup Patti gave me in addition to the tea.  That girl of mine makes me smile.  She's got to inspect everything.  Needless to say this pup when up on the buffet with the other one.  Way out of Shelby reach!  Now she stands and barks at them.  Funny girl!  Shelby and I thank you, Patti.

These gifts all came before my birthday but one came in the mail on the day, it was from Marsha.  She knows I love pink and I'm a gadget girl.  Aren't these the cutest?!  I enjoy seeing them in my tool box at the ready when I need them.  Thank you for remembering me, Marsha!

Well folks, I hope you enjoyed this post.  It was fun to share it with you.  I truly appreciate everyone's thoughtfulness and kindness.  I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends.  I hope all of you are doing well so far this new year.  I'll be back with my annual recap post.  I like to do that just to see what I got up to in the last year.

More later,

The Inspired Stitcher