Tilton Crafts, Christmas, and Fablehaven!

My Mother got me an awesome stand from a thrift store a little while back. I believe it's supposed to be a 'smoking stand' of some variety, where you would put newspapers/magazines on the racks and cigarettes at the top. Now it's a sewing stand, and holds all the patterns and threads while I stitch!

The Winter Wonderland project is tucked in the magazine there at the bottom, and the circle at the top perfectly holds a little Christmas themed box that I stick all the threads for a project in.


On top of this, I found the most amazing site ever: Tilton Crafts. I love their RAK option (Random Act of Kindness) that lets a person buy a download/PDF pattern and have it sent to the email of another person as a gift! My Father made use of that option, and sent me two of the patterns on my wish list: Our Seasons and In Her Room by the artist Yuu. I've already begun work on the third in the sequence of the seasons!

Our Seasons by Yuu

My sister, Mother, and I are in a bit of a disagreement as to which season it portrays. Obviously the last one is Winter, the second one is Summer, but which one of the remaining two is Autumn, and which one is Spring?? The first one could be Autumn, with the chrysanthemums, but so could all the pink. But if Autumn is first, then the seasons are a little bit out of whack - Autumn, Summer, Spring, Winter?? I don't know. XD But they won't be all on the same fabric, anyway, so I'll enjoy them even if I don't know what season it's supposed to be. Dx

First three of In Her Room

Last four of In Her Room

In Her Room, also by artist Yuu, is all one piece, though I broke it apart in the pictures here. I loved the colours, and what I could see of it on the website, but they really do need to give closer shots on their website. I didn't even realise it was the sequence of the girl's life until I opened the PDF! It was that small! This'll be another that is one section at a time, and I'll probably leave the bath scene out of it, but the rest of this, and the seasons, I can't wait to get stitching on! Of course there are so many threads I'm short on, so there'll be another shopping trip in the near future for them, but until then, I'll be happily stitching well into the new year for a few years to come! XD

And another update on the Winter Woodland! I'm getting a lot of the snow done - so much white!!

A new feature of my cross stitch updates is the introduction of the book I'm currently reading! I finished the second book in the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull late Monday night, and started the third one - Rise of the Shadow Plague - Tuesday morning. It has been so long since I last read these books. There are a couple of points where I start to recall things, but it's basically like reading a brand new book. Luckily I've got all five to bust through as quickly as I please! XD They're very simple reads, but I enjoy them nonetheless. I'm not sure how much I should describe or not, so I'll leave it at that and remember to give a better description than the cringe-worthy snippet on the back when I'm finished reading it!

~x~