I'm finally able to show one of the Christmas gifts that I made.  It was delivered yesterday and I think it was appreciated!

My friend, Kathy, has two sweet little schnauzers and this is a table runner with some character interpretations of her schnauzers.  (The schnauzer pattern came from Fat Cat Patterns.)  Kathy has one black schnauzer and one gray schnauzer.  Here's the whole table runner.  It ended up being about 16" x 46"....... pretty long. 

A close up of the two pups.......

Lola......

Dutch.......

A bone for a treat.......

This is my third attempt at stippling and I'm finally getting the hang of it.  My biggest problem has been with the tension and getting a decent stitch on the top as well as the bottom.  I just kept experimenting with sample sandwiches until I found success (somewhat).  Your upper tension needs to be VERY tight.  I had mine set almost as high as it would go, high enough that it was even a little tough to pull the thread out of the machine to clip threads when you finished an area.  Hope this helps you with your efforts.

And finally, here are a few gifts that I received for Christmas....... the sewing and quilt related gifts, that is.  The vintage lusterwear bear is going to become a pin cushion..... that's why he's shown with sewing items.

 I love them all!!!!!  (Thank you!)