Nostalgic Cross Stitch patterns

Christmases at home always make me feel nostalgic.  I remember Christmases spent building cubby houses, watching DVDs (or videos), building marble racing tracks (which my parents had way more fun doing than us kids) and reading new books.  I'm a big one for Christmas traditions, and as my sibblings and I got older I began to long for the gold ol' days - back when my brothers enjoyed the Christmas preparations as much as I did, and joined in, back when everything felt magical and special.  I guess everyone goes through that stage as they get older, hit their teenage years where the magic of Christmas doesn't feel quite real anymore.  It does come back though, and I still find Christmas a magical, fun, traditional time, although not quite in the same way I did when I was 7 or 8.

Christmas nostalgia reminds me of my childhood and the things I enjoyed as a child - the TV shows and the music and the movies and the books I loved.  Which is probably why my latest cross stitch patterns feature these things.

Firstly there is The Incredibles.  I was a teenager when this movie came out, but I loved it immensely and it is still my favourite Disney Pixar film.  I'm always sad that there was only one of them.

The Incredibles, now available on Etsy

Then there are The Rugrats.  Lil and Phil were always my favourites.  In fact, there are two versions of The Rugrats patterns.  Firstly there is Tommy and his Friends, ready for mischief and adventure:

Rugrats now available on Etsy

The second pattern features all of the Rugrats families.  Stitch the whole pattern, or for a quicker project, why not stitch an individual family?

Rugrats Families, now available on Etsy

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays, however you are spending them.

Happy stitching!

2016: A year of ups and downs

This morning we woke up to the sad news that Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) had passed away.  2016 has certainly been a rough year - Brexit, the Australian elections (with more backstabbing and "he said, she said" than usual, and a very volatile senate), the US election, more unexpected celebrity deaths than we can count.  My two cats died within five weeks of each other.  That was really rough.

The Awkward Yeti summed up the
year nicely in this cartoon
(c) Nick Seluk

Personally, 2016 has also been a year of good things - I moved to Brisbane to start work at a new school (which is going well).  Moving to Brisbane has meant I'm closer to two of my brothers and can catch up with them for board-game afternoons more regularly, as well as several old school friends. I was in England when the year started, catching up with old friends. I've been to the theatre several times - so much easier now I live in Brisbane!

This year I went purple, dressed up as Leia for my yongest brother's 21st,
played boardgames, and visited the UK

Fangirl Stitches did well in 2016: I exhibited at three different conventions and met some amazing fellow exhibitors, as well as lots of fellow geeky stitchers.  On that note, I also met Nathan Fillion and John Barrowman, as well as Piper and Leo from Charmed, Tonks and Seamus from Harry Potter, Osgood, Danny and Missy from Doctor Who, and Xena the Warrior Princess.  They signed my cross stitch pieces and all said nice things about them.

Markets and minions - House of Fandom Market Brisbane, Oz Comic Con Melbourne
Oz Comic Con Brisbane, and Supanova Brisbane

My signed cross stitch pieces

I originally sat down this morning to write a post about Carrie Fisher, and about how crappy this year has been from a world-wide stand-point.  But then I looked at my mum's fridge covered in family photos and I stopped to think about it.  I thought about my cousin's baby, born at 24 weeks who is at home now and meeting his adjusted milestones.  I thought about another cousin who gave birth on New Year's Day, and a third who gave birth yesterday (I have 24 first-cousins - it can get confusing).  I thought about my exchange-student brother from Japan whose wife gave birth earlier in the year. I thought about yet another cousin who graduated from High School this year.  I thought about close friends who got married in January, and in April (along with another cousin), and a friend who got engaged a couple of weeks ago. I thought about a cousin and a friend who both (independent of each other) successfully launched (and funded) their first card games on Kickstarter. I bet none of them would say that 2016 was a crappy year.

Every year will have its ups and downs.  Sure, 2016 had a lot of downs, but there were also a lot of highs personally, professionally, and even in the world at large.  2016 will be remembered for the good, as well as for the bad.  I'm going to concentrate on the good, and see the year out with a smile.

Ready to see in the New Year with a bang...
well, a cup of tea and comfy pj's anyway!

Happy Stitching.