Much to my surprise, and my great delight, my daughter Nicola and her husband Ian gave me this wonderful sampler for Christmas. It is dated 1872 and has the initials EJK stitched at the bottom. They found this sampler in an antique shop in Rye, East Sussex a couple of months ago. Am I spoiled or what?
From my son Justin and his wife AnnMarie I received the above French stitching book by Isabelle Vautier and Catherine Arguela. There are some lovely charts inside and I look forward to stitching that pretty ABC, making some lace holders and the heart shaped needle book shown on the front cover.
The two pairs of scissors shown are two new pairs that were added to my collection and gifted by my friend Sylvie.
I will be showing more gifts later. A big thank you to all for my great gifts.
And here is the ornament that I stitched for Kirby - a delightful British robin. This was the 'stamp' from a mail art pattern called A Robin's Christmas by Lynne Nicoletti. It is worked on 40ct white Newcastle linen and I converted the threads from DMC to HDF silk threads. The holly berries and the robin's eye are teeny beads and I added tiny silver bells to the bottom of the ornament and made a hand-twisted cord for the hanger.
For 2012 I am aiming to stitch an ornament between each project so I do not have the last minute panic I had this year. I was still finishing this one on Christmas Eve!
Thank you for visiting
Take care
Lovely gifts you received Carol! Enjoy, and that sampler is amazing, isn't it? Love that little Robin!