Sunday, October 11, 2009

Just Cross-Stitching



I picked up the Halloween and Christmas ornament issues of Just Cross Stitch magazine last week. My good friend, Beth, has a pattern in each issue! You can see her Halloween Manor from Fanci That on pg. 47 in the Halloween issue (very cute!). But the pattern I can't wait to stitch up is her "Glory to the Newborn King" angel pattern on page 17 of the Christmas ornaments issue! If you love the Saltbox Studio line of stamps as much as I do, then you may recognize this angel from last year's Christmas release. Just adorable! And how cool would it be to stitch a lovely ornament gift and make a matching hand stamped card to go with it?

Both of these issues are filled with some wonderful projects. Just $4.99 for the Halloween issue, and $6.99 for the larger Christmas issue. I would spend that much on just one pattern in a needle art shop, but these issues are filled with a TON of patterns I can't wait to try.

I like the fact that these patterns are small and relatively easy to stitch in a short amount of time. These are just the sort of patterns that I want to make as gifts for the holidays. I'm finishing up one more autumn stitching project this weekend, and then moving on to some of the projects from these magazines. I wonder how many I can make before December 25th?

Speaking of Christmas, my husband and I were talking about early holiday shoppers. Ed works in the retail business, and he told me how important it will be to buy early this year, as many stores have reduced their inventories to cut costs this season. He said that if you're waiting for drastic reductions in December, you may find some very picked over stores with very little merchandise on the floors. He said that it's a good idea to shop sales now rather than waiting for Black Friday or the bustling days of December. Just thought I'd pass this info on to all of you, too.

As you know, I'm cutting way back on the holiday spending this year. For this reason, I've begun my holiday shopping even earlier than normal. If I found a fabulous deal in September (like Longaberger photo frames for $7!), I stocked up. A big sale at Gooseberry Patch? I ordered early. I have a gift closet in my guest room that's storing my early bird specials. I'll be adding my hand-stitched creations to the closet, too! It makes common sense to be a little prepared.

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