Christmas Eve Update on Needlework Projects

Oh, the plans! I had so many plans for handmade, embroidered Christmas gifts! But sometimes, not all plans come together! This is a quick little note to readers, to tell you what I did and did not accomplish and to offer a couple paltry excuses for a few things that honestly would have been accomplished!

First, for embroidered towels that I wanted to give as basket liners: I finished one. ONE! Not the original planned six. Not even three. Just ONE. If you’ve been following my latest embroidery projects, you’ll recall this embroidered flour sack towel. It’s the only one I finished! I still plan to finish the berry and greenery towel – but more on that in a bit.

I planned on embroidering all my Christmas cards by hand. I succeeded in completing ten cards, which isn’t that bad, considering that I don’t really send out a lot of cards each year. The bad thing is that I haven’t mailed any yet, and it’s Christmas Eve. And I won’t mail them today. But more on that later, too!

I planned to embroider a set of cloth napkins for my sister. I managed the design – a little scroll for one corner of each napkin. Nothing at all fancy, just an “accent.” I didn’t do any of them! But I’m still giving her the cloth napkins for Chrismtas!

I planned on finishing my Breath of Spring tote bag to give to my mother. I’ve gotten halfway through sewing the bag together – I got to the halfway point on Monday afternoon! But I haven’t gone back to finish it yet, and I won’t until after Christmas. So Mom is getting a rain check, plus a few little “fun” things I bought for her.

I even planned – way back in the distant past – to embroider a tie for my dad. I saw a tutorial for that online somewhere, and I bookmarked it, intending to go back to it and glean some ideas. Just a small motif. Nothing too fancy. Something suitable to him. But… I never even got around to looking at ties! No worries. My dad’s a history buff (he’s a history teacher – at the ripe old age of 78, he’s still going!), so I got him a gorgeous book that I know he will like a lot. And a war movie! Nothing hand made there, eh?

So, here I stagnate, with projects unfinished. Monday was a banner day, though! Not only did I get the tote bag halfway finished, but I cut out tons of Christmas cookies with my nieces and nephews, and decorated half of them. We also got a lot of decorating and cleaning up done at my sister’s house while she and the hub were out shopping. Granted, the kids did most of that work! But it was a banner day, from early morning, until about 8:00 pm.

At 8:00 pm, I looked at the clock, simultaneous with the thought that “something was wrong.” “Something is not right, something is quite wrong…” Like Miss Clavel in Madeline. And indeed, something was wrong. I was taken quite sick Monday night. Tuesday was a wash. This morning, I went to the doctor in hopes of revival before tomorrow, but alas! It looks like I’ll be the odd woman out tomorrow! Ugh. But you know, in the scheme of things, I have nothing to complain about. I’m simply sick. There are so many people in the world who are really seriously ill, and what a hardship that must be this time of year! So I shall count my blessings, instead of sheep…

On that very bright note, I wish you a happy Christmas Eve! I do have a little post for tomorrow planned, but I’ll be taking a break from “serious” (am I ever really serious?) writing until the weekend!

You have my best wishes for a very happy Christmas!