Advent Calendar Blog Hop - Day 14

Hello Everyone and welcome to day 14 of the  Advent Calendar blog hop organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. A fun blog hop where we share some festive stitching and comment on a theme chosen by Jo.  Click here to view the calendar so far and to link with all the participants. 

I stitched this little design last year but never completly finished it into anything useful.  I love the bright festive colours of the pattern and the cute reindeer with his warm scarf.  The pattern is just a small part of The Christmas Sampler by Durene Jones.

The pattern just about fit  on the lid of an empty wooden box, so I covered the whole thing with red Christmasy fabric from stash, added a dash of white chalk paint and for about the first time in my life (but not the last) used a glue gun to adhere the white polka dot lining.  Now filled with goodies to be gifted.

Each year I usually make some Xmas ornaments, and this time I made  stars with a splattering of coloured sequins.

Jo has asked us to comment on  Christmas trees so  I rescued our poor old faithful specimen  from the dim and dusty storeroom once again to endure his yearly makeover.  Our tree is really old, I can only ever remember having had one other tree so ours must be over 30 years old.  A bit fragile now, with stiff and brittle branches shedding needles with every movement and a wobbly trunk and uneven pose.

It is always decorated with a combination of red, gold or white ornaments and topped with a pretty gold angel. The once bright and shining baubles don´t shine  much now as most of them are as old as the tree and very few glass decorations have survived the years.

 However each year there are always one or two new additions, the latest being a cheeky modern angel who wishes to replace the golden one.  My favourite cherished ornament is one given to me many years ago by a young student of mine. He would be so surprised to know how much I loved the tiny gift and that it has always been treasured.

I still have the tree skirt, lights and some tinsel to add.  Above you can see the little cherished ornament and below the latest addition.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas.

Sheryl