NYE, Holiday's End

Happy New Year! Our New Year's Eve included a trip to the beach.  I like to take a sunset photo on the last day of the year.  Grant and I wandered up and down the boardwalk above the beach, with lots of other socially-distancing and masked walkers, skaters, bicycle riders, and dog-walkers.  There were lots and lots of surfers, far out from the low tide, stretching from Surfers Point to the Pier.

Someone had made sculptures on the concrete breakwater.  There were more on the sand up and down the beach. 

We got a sunset selfie while waiting for the light show. I took many many photos but felt the quintessential shot with the surfer who walked into the frame was the best :)

Our NYE was a quiet one at home--we watched a couple of episodes of The Crown, listened to fireworks going off all over the neighborhood at midnight, and were more than ready to say goodbye to this tumultuous year, tucking away the good highlights for remembrance!  

I spent New Year's Day taking down the seasonal decor, with help from Grant.  It seemed to take all day to get it packed up, even though I had put out fewer items this year!  The living room looks dark without the lighted tree.  

Jingle Kitty and vintage Mouse and brush tree went back in the box with Santa and the cross-stitched gifts.

A trip to JoAnn's today for some fusible web was necessary to move on with the Greenpiece project, having made notes of all the steps left for the center applique and borders. While at JoAnn's I remembered I had not shown the finish of a little embroidery kit I had purchased there some time ago for a few bucks.  

It was a good project to work on between telemed patients in December.  As you can see, it came with the embroidery floss and, curiously, a very sharp and long needle, which I soon switched out for a tapestry needle after stabbing myself a few times.  

I added a few more snowflakes than the pattern called for :).  I needed to use needle-nose pliers by the time the finishing 3 strand cross-stitches were added, as the wooden piece of course was not flexible enough to allow me to grasp the needle and pull easily with my fingers.  I dug into my husband's tool chest for a pair, but vowed to buy"cute" ones for my own use.  I found some at JoAnn's today, a small pair in the jewelry fixings aisle, half off with my coupon :)

The ornament went to my sister as a Christmas gift.  It was beyond my calculating skills, but I really wondered how many stitches that 28x28 stitch piece actually took.  The outside holes have two stitches in each hole, but the inner holes have four stitches in each.  That is a lot of pushes of the needle!  I also have this simpler wooden ornament to stitch, which I had bought with the deer one: 

So cute!  One more day off before returning to work.  I plan to spend it sewing on Greenpiece applique.