Christmas Needlepoint Part I

This weekend I gave the first installment of Christmas needlepoint gifts. You may remember that I like to stitch ornaments for my children and they each now have a nice assortment to call their own.  This weekend I gave what I had stitched to my oldest daughter.  She lives in California and we came here for the Thanksgiving holiday.  She lives in an apartment and the ornaments I've made for her over the years already cover the small tree that fits in her living space.

What to do?

Instead of an ornament, I made something a bit more practical that could be used year-round: drink holders.  Or, more precisely, a coaster for her and and a decorative dog dish.

The coaster (for the daughter)

The water dish (for the dog, just to be clear)

Her dog, Piper, was my inspiration for the gifts.  Piper is a chow/Australian cattle dog/ Golden Retriever blend who's just lovely. Her posture as she watches all the goings on was the inspiration for selecting the design of the coaster.  Of course, her reddish fur had to be represented!  And, the stitched decoration for the bottom of a water dish was too cute to pass up.

Both gifts passed the test.  They were used right away and without incident.  Hooray!  Here's to the start of gift giving.