Ariadne from Greece!: Advent Calendar

Showing posts with label Advent Calendar. Show all posts

Sunday, 22 December 2019

2019 Online Advent Calendar

Hi everyone!
I know you haven't seen me for some time here. It seems that even blogging has become difficult for me these days. Anyway...

Thanks to Jo of Serendipitous Stitching though I managed to make my last blog post for 2019.
And that's her Advent Calendar.
I am on December 22nd so here is my photo.

I had stitched this Christmas stocking for my son back in 1997. I managed to finish it for his third Christmas and I really like it so very much. There is so much detail in it. And beads too.

I had found the pattern in Cross Stitcher magazine issue of December 1996 and my mum did the finishing into a stocking when I finished it in time for Christmas 1997. So it was totally a labour of love from a mother and a grandmother to my little boy Miltos. I hope he will treasure it as a heirloom. And I hope you like it too.
For this Christmas I only stitched this little piece from Winter 2018 Craftpod kit. It's beautiful isn't it?

The red berries branch is from an older Craftpod kit too.
Jo also asked us to say in this blog post our favourite Christmas movie. If you read all the blog posts you will find lots of interesting movies to see for Christmas.
My favourite Christmas movie is a Finnish film called Joulutarina ( Christmas Story). It was sent to me as a DVD gift by my Finn friend Johanna and her family after we had visited Finland after Christmas 2006. You can find the movie with English subtitles on You tube and I personally show this movie to my pupils of the 6th grade every year and they love it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0772176/
The second movie I love to watch not only every Christmas but also through the year and I have watched really a hundred times is You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Rayan. In fact I am going to watch it today again as it is on our TV although I have it as a DVD as well when I want to watch it at other times. I especially like the scenes from New York at Christmas.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128853/

I recently saw another movie on Netflix and really liked it so I thought of suggesting that one too. It is Klaus and it is animated and very very witty. I am sure you will like that, too.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4729430/

I also thought of adding a few photos from this year's minimal Christmas decorations at our house.

This is our big table with some fir branches, lights and tealight candles.

My porcelain mushrooms, a wooden advent calendar winter scene, my nativity scene, and my crystal tealight candle holders.The blue cross stitched piece I made myself.

This is where the stocking stands.

Also you can see another Nativity scene, my son's first ornament a Santa on a bike, two little houses I got from Poland and two music boxes from my friend Juliana.

That's a tea light candle holder I got as a gift from a pupil this year and the reindeer is from Finland.

The wreaths I made last year. I had also made some blue ones that I sent out as gifts this year.

My pomegranate collection and the lights are from Finland too.

No Christmas tree this year.

But I admired this one at the city centre mall and loved it.Maybe next year!LOL!

If you have read so far then I have a gift for you. This is a Christmas kit I had received from my friend Marabeth many years ago but I know this is not something I am going to stitch so if you feel like stitching it please say so in your comment. I will pick someone on 31st December.

If you would like to visit all of Jo's Advent blog posts you can do so here.

Thank you Jo for the inspiration once again.

Have a great Christmas and New Year's Eve. Enjoy the holidays.

EDIT. I finally did a drawing and the kit was won by Purple Pixie Dust.

Tuesday, 13 December 2016

Advent Calendar Blog Hop 2016

Jo of Serendipitous Stitching organizes again this year an Advent Calendar Blog Hop and she was very nice to include me in it,too.
I am today, Tuesday the 13th, but that's not an unlucky day for me or for Greece!

So what I had to do was to show you a Christmas stitched piece as well as answer the following question.
"Decorations - do you have a favourite decoration you must have on display every year, maybe an heirloom, one the children made or something with a special story behind it?"
Ok. I haven't got many big Christmas stitched pieces. So here is the one I always put up at Christmas and put away the rest of the year.I had stitched this back in 2009 and it was a kit sent to me by my friend Cathy if I remember well.

As for the ornaments!Difficult!
What to show and what to leave out? I have a huge cupboard filled with Christmas decorations, vintage, handmade and new.All kinds.And I always put them up on my tree.
A couple of years ago I donated our tree to my school as it was rather big for our small flat.
Here is my tree and how it looked in December 2006.It was the time when I loved ballerina ornaments.And you can also see some vintage ones on it too.

Then in December 2007 I decorated it with all the ornaments I bought from our trip to Finland.

Last year we didn't decorate a tree but this year I decided I had to have a tree to put my ornaments up. So we bought a small natural fir tree.

and here it is all decorated with my cross stitched ornaments.

Some were sent to me by my dear friend in the States Marabeth who had found the kits at a thrift store and I managed to stitch them all.

Others were freebies from cross stitch magazines and I stitched them over the years.

I have also stitched some of my own.

I also added a couple of crocheted snowflakes, some are store bought and some were sent to me by another friend in the States Gara.But this one is a very special one I had bought from Prague in 2004.

This is the stocking I have stitched for my son years ago in 1997. So much detail, golden thread and beads. I had found the pattern in a cross stitch magazine.

The nativity set I put under the tree every year is one I bought the year I gave birth to my son and I always put it under the tree. It is ceramic and I really love it.

There is Virgin Mary, Baby Jesus, a shepherd, an angel, a sheep and a camel.

There are some other decorations I want to show you as well.

These two ornaments are my favourite ones.The first, Santa on the tricyscle, I had bought for my son's first Christmas. For some reason I don't know where it is any more. I think someone had stolen it years ago. The one next to it is a music box my friend Gia gave to me!

This is a bookish Christmas tree I tried to make for the #bookxams challenge of
So little sleeping and so much reading. Thecaroler at the bottom of the tree was sent to me by my dear Marabeth too and it belonged to her collection. She is with me now. The dish at the bottom was recently given to me by my primary school classmate Nelly. It is decoupaged. Nelly and I met after many many years. She is a volunteer at the children with special needs association for whom we performed last Sunday. The glass top on the tree is one of my brother's gifts.

I have a big collection of glass trees most of which were gifted to me by my brother and I love them but haven't put them up this year; not yet anyway!

That's how that collection started with my own trees.

And here are some more my brother has given me.

I also have this seven candle light I put up every year. I had bought it in Finland when we had travelled there back in 2006-07. I had admired those lamps in all house windows in Finland and wanted my own. Thank God my friend Johanna sent me little replacement lamps and I can have it lit all year long. Yes I do have it around the house all year long.

This is a blown glass ball ornament my friend Marabeth has also sent me from the States. It is made by the renowned glass artist Jeffrey P'an.

Finally an advent calendar wooden chest I bought this year at the Melissa orphanage bazaar and I really love it!

Well I hope I haven't tired you too much with all the things I have shown you!
Thank you Jo for the chance to take part in the blog hop.

Saturday, 3 January 2015

The Advent Calendar.

I love Advent Calendars and this year I was extremely lucky to receive one made by Anna of
in my closet and inmyc which was part of her Secret Santa egst gift to me.
Here you can see what was inside each and every one of those little tin boxes.Craft related of course!
Thank you Anna for this on-going 24 days of happiness!
Do you want to see what was inside?