Believe it or not, this piece is over 20 years old. I started it for a young woman I was taking care of when I was working as an in-home nurse for special needs kids.  She loved, and still does, cats!!!  She has a few.  lol  One of the few kids I had that is still around. She is very special to me. I don't get to see her anymore since I moved, but we keep in touch via FB.  I don't know why I never got it finished, but I found it when I was going through a tub of old craft supplies. Didn't have the instructions so I had to finish it as best I could, but it's finally going to it's owner. Will have to wait until Monday to get to the post office so I doubt if she'll receive it by Christmas but at least she will finally have it.  I can't believe I ever did cross stitch that small before and it wasn't even stamped! I was a lot younger then though. lol

I have come to the realization that if I'm going to give hand crafted items for Christmas, I have to start in the spring, NOT 6 weeks before the big day!!  LOL  I did get the Mario done, all of the tea towels finished even with the extra reinforcement around the Aida, 2 cute little owls embroidered for two of the granddaughters, and have started a little rocket for their brother. My finger is so sore, I have a metal thimble that belonged to my granny, but I just can't get used to wearing one. I thought maybe one of the leather finger tips might be the solution, but for right now, I guess I'll just use a small band-aid.  This is the pattern for the rocket.

These are the owls, just simple embroidery back stitch, in their favorite (at the moment) colors.  Have to press and frame them yet. 

Some things I've been working on. I wanted to do a piece for my first great grand son, but it was too small . A friend on my cross stitch FB group gave me a suggestion on how to enlarge it.  It was a brain teaser for a beginner like me, but I finally got it done and have started on it.  Here is the enlarged pattern and what I have stitched so far.

 It hasn't been as difficult to stitch as I thought it would be. At first the thought of doing a piece that wasn't stamped onto the fabric scared me to death!  lol  Now I'm enjoying it as long as I don't try to watch tv and stitch at the same time!!  :)

This is also one I'm going to give as a present for Christmas. Just haven't decided who it's going to yet.   This one was stamped. 

Hope I get Mario finished by Christmas!  If not, he will get it for his birthday!  

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get to spend it with family. 

Had to take some time to finish other hobbies, making embroidered tea towels for Christmas presents, here are a few I'm working on. I have about 10 done now.  Some are cross stitched onto 14 ct Aida and then stitched onto the towels. I went over the stitching with transparent thread to reinforce the stitches.

And this is a piece I did to give as a present for our Seasoned Servants Christmas dinner at church. It's not quite finished in this photo, but I wrapped it before I realized I hadn't taken a picture of it finished. :(  May have to remedy that.

Finally got a full piece done. Been working on this one for a couple of weeks. Found it at a thrift store and there were NO directions as to the colors, so I just made it up as I went. It had some stains on it, looked like water stains do on a ceiling. I washed it with hot soapy water and a little bleach. They faded a little but you can still kind of see them. But it was a lot of fun. Will try to find a frame that will fit it.

I have it framed now, my daughter found a barn wood frame that fits it exactly!!

I've been busy making Christmas gifts for family so haven't done much bead work or any more TAST stitches. I'm embroidering designs on Aida cloth swatches and then sewing them on to the corners of tea towels. I zigzagged a couple on the machine but also just blanket stitched some and I'm not sure how they will hold up. So I want to buy some invisible thread and zigzag around them again. That way it won't cover up the blanket stitches. Here are some pictures of what I've done so far.  I also finished a penny rug to put on top of my grandfather's trunk.  The big single embroidery is just going to be a wall hanging.

The last two stitches, done with embellishments, (Delicas). Did the stitches a little different on the first and last blocks just to see how they would look.