Advent Calendar Blog Hop Day 16

Welcome and happy holidays! As ever, I'm glad to participate in Jo's Advent Blog Hop. My stitchy work this year:

This is a sampler of my own design, similar to one I made for Halloween. It's also the last project in the #stitch9challenge on Instagram, and I'm hopeful it will be complete by the end of the year. So far I've stitched some tiny cookies (a Brooke's Books design, slightly modified), the iconic Charlie Brown Christmas tree, and a pretty gift (from a Stitchy Box sampler). The snowman is made of buttons, and I've also sewn on several charms and buttons.

I have a cross stitch ornament planned for my mother, from the most recent Christmas Ornaments issue, but I've barely started that one. I did fully finish off two ornaments I stitched last year:

but otherwise, that's it for cross stitching this Christmas. I did a whole lot of it earlier in the year for the Stitch 9 Challenge, so I'm a bit cross-stitched out (shh! don't tell anyone!).

Jo's question this year is about our favorite Christmas film. "Film" precludes my two favorite specials -- A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original cartoon, of course), but that doesn't make it much easier to decide. Other participants have mentioned Elf (so funny and sweet!) and A Muppet Christmas Carol (the best version, in my opinion), so I'll go with The Bishop's Wife. My mom introduced that movie to me, I introduced it to my husband, and now we both watch it on Christmas Eve. It's a lovely story, and funny, and if you haven't seen it yet do try to this year.

Have a peaceful and merry Christmas, and a stitch-filled New Year!

The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson

I picked up a free copy of The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom, the first in a series of mysteries with a librarian protagonist. And I couldn't finish it -- the petty humiliations the author heaped on the librarian became tiresome, and the dialogue was a slog to get through. So I switched to Amy Meyerson's The Bookshop of Yesterdays, which was much better!

Miranda Brooks inherits a bookshop when her uncle dies, and becomes obsessed with learning the truth behind his estrangement from her family. Despite the disapproval of her mother, the skepticism of the store's manager, and her neglected boyfriend on the other side of the country, she follows the literary clues he left her, a fun narrative device. Much of the mystery hinged on a couple of people not telling Miranda the truth, which initially I found annoying but made sense by the end. Refreshingly, none of the characters were perfect -- although genuinely good people, they all made mistakes and acted selfishly at times, as real people would. This added a sense of seriousness and complexity to the narrative, making it a deeper, more satisfying read. I look forward to Meyerson's next book.

A Quilt for a Dear Friend's Baby

After many struggles, my friend had a baby boy this summer. I am thrilled for her and her family, and excited to make something for her son.

The fabric is "Curious Dream" by Angela Pingel for Windham Fabrics, an Alice in Wonderland-themed set that I absolutely adore, along with some of the grey fabric left over from the Minecraft quilt. The pattern is Diary of a Quilter's Easy Lone Star Crib Quilt, which true to the name was super easy. I am steadily improving my quilt basting, and this one has only a couple of tucks on the back 🙄. Using spray-on basting glue seems to be the best method for me. For the quilting I did a simple 3-inch grid, and I'm pleased with the results.

I loved the fabric so much I used some of the scraps to make a log cabin for myself:

For the binding, in an attempt to be frugal, I used some strips I had cut for the baby quilt but didn't use. I may redo it.