I bet you had forgotten that I was doing a PIF, but tonight I finished the last two of my PIF gifts. I decided that for my PIFs I was going to make everyone scissor fobs. Now, I will be honest and admit that two of the scissor fobs I made last year. However, since I only have three pairs of scissors that need fobs I figured there was no harm in sending a couple of the fobs I have made in the past off to new homes. After all, this is my PIF and I make the rules!

And as part of my rules, although I won’t be sending the fobs to their new homes until after the holidays, I am showing them now but not telling who gets which fob until they are received. That’s the mystery!

From left to right, we have “Ring O’ Roses Biscornu Fob” by Periphaeria Designs stitched over two on 36 count Khaki Edinburgh Linen, “Woodland Joy” by Something in Common stitched over one on 28 count Lambswool Joblean, “Sunbonnet Sue” from the Nov/Dec 1993 issue of Cross Stitch and Country Crafts stitched over one on 28 count Antique White Cashel Linen, “Pumpkin on Gingham” by the Sweetheart Tree (in the 2008 JCS Halloween Issue) stitched over two on 36 count Khaki Edinburgh Linen, and “No Frogging Allowed” by Stitchy Kitty stitched over one on 28 count Antique White Cashel Linen.

One thing I have learned while making these fobs is a good rule of thumb for cording length: When making your own cording, use three lengths of DMC that are 30″ long a piece because once they get all twisted up into the cord you will have (in my opinion) the perfect fob-length cord of about 10″.

Yep, tonight I finished “12 Drummers Drumming” for Veronica’s Margaret Sherry “12 Days of Christmas” round robin. I am going to try and take a picture of the whole thing tomorrow because it’s cute as hell… And damn BIG!

I hope that this won’t be my last 2008 happy dance, but it just might be. It depends if I decide to work on “Fairy Flora” or if I try and knock off a quick ornie or two before the end of the year. We’ll see…

I am about ready to write up my 2008 year in review, work on reorganizing my rotation, and think about my 2009 goals… but not quite. Christmas Winter Break has already started for the student in me, but the (approximate) ten days off for the University employee in me don’t start until next week and that is one of my projects for then.

Wow! It’s amazing what I can get done stitching-wise when my nose isn’t buried in American literature.

Instead I watched movies and stitched. I finally saw the Sex and the City movie, but must admit that I only got about a dozen stitches in before I finally gave up trying to stitch while watching it. It was just too much of a visual spectacle to be able to stitch while it was on. I would only consider myself a moderate Sex and the City fan, but I really enjoyed the movie. It was fun to watch.

When I finally did sit down I pulled out Veronica’s robin and worked on “12 Drummers Drumming.” Technically the mail date is tomorrow, but as you can see I still have backstitching to do so I probably won’t get it mailed off until Tuesday or Wednesday.

Luckily I am done with my class so I actually have some time to stitch in the evenings for a few weeks. Yea!

I thought I better start Veronica’s UFO RR square because even though I am stitching the twelfth day our mailing date is before the end of The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Anyway…

The “Twelve Days of Christmas” is a Margaret Sherry design and as such, my little drumming dog is stitching up pretty quickly. I am unsure if I like the 931 that is called for in his ears, but I guess since he is a musician a little blue hair isn’t all that unusual.

I have to say that it is kind of fun stitching this design during the Christmas season because I am really enjoying Margaret Sherry’s interpretation of the song.

I don’t want to steal Veronica’s thunder, but when I am finished with my square I will have to post a picture of the entire robin so everyone can enjoy Margaret’s version of The Twelve Days of Christmas.

But I have stitching to show today! I have a happy dance!

Originally I wasn’t going to show this yet, but the person that this is for knows that I am terrible about keeping secrets and she will be receiving it from me on Wednesday anyway.

Drum roll please…

Behold! I present the gift that I made for my little goddaughter, Megan Renee. This is a Lizzie*Kate design simply entitled “Baby Sampler.” This pattern has two versions of the baby sampler: One is long and contains the baby’s name and his/her birthdate and the other is square and just contains space for the name.

I was originally going to stitch the long one, but since I wanted to include the baby’s first and middle name and there was only room for the first name I had to get creative. (I just had to include the middle name! She is my namesake after all…) In the end I decided to do the square one, stitch it over one, and make it into a two-sided ornament. I substituted the word “baby” in the spot where the name was supposed to go and put Megan’s first and middle names and birthdate on the back. I then made it into a whipstitch ornament and added beads along the sides. I love the way it turned out and I know Dawn (and Megan) will too!