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Mary Corbet

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I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch (remember the '80s?). Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on...read more

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Merry Christmas & Some Puzzling Christmas Cheer!

 

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I hope this note finds you enjoying a happy, joyful, and peaceful Christmas!

This year, I thought I would do something a little different, and share a little Puzzling Christmas cheer with you.

Merry Christmas, 2019

Remember the Eye-Spy from Thanksgiving? Well, I drummed up a Christmas version, but it’s got a slightly different twist. Plus, I’ve shared a puzzle version for those of you who like jigsaws.

Eye Spy through the Needle's Eye, Christmas, 2019

You can click on the photo above for a larger version.

No rhyme this time! Instead, you have to come up with the numbers. How many snowflakes (visible as snowflakes) can you count in the image above? Can find the correct number? It might be a little more challenging than you’d think!

A few other counted items to look for:

  • How many sheep?
  • How many scissors?
  • How many pins (red? green? gold? and white?)
  • How many trees can you find?
  • How many Marys?
  • How many rings for thread?
  • Not to be too macabre, but there’s something on the brink of disaster. Do you see what it is?
  • How many threads (skeins, spools, and twists)?
  • How many deer, rein and otherwise?

I’ll share the numbers on Friday, but feel free to weigh in with your guesses below, and we’ll see who comes close!

A Christmas Jigsaw

And if you like to work jigsaw puzzles, here’s an online jigsaw version of my Christmas, 2019 Eye Spy through the Needle’s Eye picture.

You can adjust the number of pieces you want to use and customize the puzzle different ways – just take a look at the checkerboard menu in the center when the page opens. (Here’s a handy hint: you can close that ad at the bottom of the page, and it will be much easier to view the puzzle.)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day here in Kansas is usually filled with quite a bit of family visiting. Christmas dinner is at my sister’s house, where cheer is abundant!

This photo – taken by my brother – is from our snowstorm about a week and a half ago. In true Kansas fashion, though, it’s supposed to be 65 degrees today. No white Christmas here!

Merry Christmas from my house to yours, 2019

Merry Christmas, my friends!

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(56) Comments

  1. 1 sheep; 10 Scissors; Pina 2 green, 3 gold; 2 trees; 0 Marys; 3 rings for thread; 21 skeins & spools and twists of thread; 2 deer

    4
  2. 54 Snowlflakes – 2 Sheep – 8 Scissors – Pins = 13 (5 Red, 3 Green, 3 Gold, 2 White) –
    3 Trees – 3 Mary’s – 2 Rings for thread – Disaster is possibly the red thread on the partridge is becoming tangled. – 22 Thread – 2 “deer”

    5
  3. Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas Mary! Thank you so much for this fun game, and for making a jigsaw version too 🙂 One of our family traditions is to start a jigsaw puzzle on Christmas day, and we all work on it throughout the holidays. My guesses (no doubt wildly inaccurate though they may be!) are: 40 snowflakes; 2 sheep; 8 scissors; 10 pins (4 red; 2 green; 3 gold, 1 white); 3 trees; 1 Mary; 2 thread rings; hmm – the chocolate Snowman looks like it’s going to be pierced by your black laying tool?!; 21 threads and 2 deer!

    8
  4. 45 Snowflakes
    3 Sheep
    9 Scissors
    Pins – 5 Red, 3 Green, 4 Gold & 2 White
    5 Trees
    2 Mary
    2 Rings for thread
    Snowman is about to be stabbed
    21 various Threads
    2 Deer

    10
  5. Thank you Mary, for this fun puzzle! It’s harder than it looks–good thing I didn’t know how to enable rotation when I began! Finding this online puzzle site is a Christmas present in itself! 🙂

    14
  6. Loved the puzzle and then the applause…..thank you Had a very hard time counting all the snowflakes, sheep, etc. Never got a good count.

    Merry Christmas to you and your family and a Happy New Year

    17
  7. Thanks, Mary! I did the jigsaw version and thoroughly enjoyed it. Here’s my best count:
    Snowflakes: 43
    Sheep: 2
    Scissors: 8
    Red pins: 5
    Green pins: 3
    Gold pins: 4
    White pins: 2
    Trees: 1
    Marys: 3 (one statue and the word ‘Mary’ twice)
    Rings: 4
    Skeins: 13 and 3 big hanks
    Spools: 4
    Twists: 1
    Deer: 2

    Is it the miniature tapestry deer being attacked by a stiletto that’s on the brink of disaster?

    18
  8. 41 snowflakes
    84 trees
    1 sheep
    8 scissors
    5 red pins, 2 green, 3 gold, and 2 White
    1 Mary
    9 rings of thread
    0 disaster (must be in the eye of the beholder)
    21 threads
    1 deer

    Merry Christmas Mary, from Alaska!

    19
  9. Fun little game
    sheep ~ 1 scissors ~ 8 pins ~ 9 trees 5 Marys ~ 2
    rings for thread ~ 3 brink of disaster ~ didn’t see any
    thread ~ 21 deer ~ 2

    Have a wonderful day ~ Merry Christmas to you and your family
    Sharon

    20
  10. I used the lovely picture of your house and made a puzzle with it, on that same site. Just for myself, not to share. It makes a beautiful and challenging puzzle. I hope you don’t mind. Thank you.

    21
  11. Merry Christmas Mary & thank you for another Eye Spy event! The jigsaw puzzle was a riot. Yours was a first for me & a clever way to share your stitchery tableau. As to your items: 46 snowflakes (2 are stacked?), 3 sheep, 8 scissors, 4 red, 3 green, 3 gold & 2 white pins, 2 trees, 2 Marys, 4 thread rings (5 if you count the thread ewe), 21 threads, 2 deer. It seems like maybe part of the table/background is cut out under the card in the lower right corner? Perhaps someone younger with sharper eyesight will submit a more accurate count!

    22
  12. Merry Christmas, Mary! We spent last Wednesday night in Salina, KS and were surprised by all the snow on the ground. There was some in Nebraska, hardly any in Iowa, then lots here in Green Bay, though it has been consistently above freezing. Are you close to Salina? That’s our typical stopping point if we are going through Lincoln to visit the International Quilt Study Center, like we did this trip.

    23
  13. 43 snowflakes
    1 sheep
    8 sissors
    12 pins total, 3 red, 3 green, 4 gold 2 white
    1 Trees
    3 Marys, 2 Statue and 1 name
    9 Rings for threads
    something ?
    25 threads, spools, skiens ( not sure if the strand that has like “star leaves branches is a thread, but counted it as such”
    2 deer

    .

    25
  14. Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for the New Year! I enjoyed this post so much! I didn’t do the counting, but when I read disaster I thought of a candle near a snowflake and found one, so I’m wondering if that was right. I did the jigsaw – so much fun! Enjoy reading all the posts on your blog – always fun or informative or both!

    26
  15. This was great fun. I found,

    45 snowflakes
    3 sheep
    8 scissors
    14 pins (4 gold, 2 white, 5 red, 3 green)
    4 trees
    2 Marys
    3 rings for thread
    Disaster – the laying tool/stiletto (not keen enough to see for sure) about to impale the poor snowman?
    20 thread twists/skeins/spools
    2 deer

    27
  16. Thank you Mary. I am terrible at these I Spy pics. Found 1 Mary, 3 sheep, 3 trees, 2 deer, 22 threads, about 36 snowflakes – may have counted sine more than once! But fun to look at. Wishing you and yours a blessed day.

    Mary in Texas

    28
  17. Dear Mary,
    Thank you for this challenge.
    Here is what I came up with:
    44 snowflakes
    3 sheep
    10 pins total (4- red, 2- green, 2- gold, 2- white)
    5 trees
    2 Mary’s
    9 rings for threads
    The snowman is in danger of being broken
    24 threads. (16- skeins, 4- spools, 4- twists)
    1 deer, 1 raindeer, and otherwise (2- partridges, 2- turtle doves, 1- French hen, 4- calling birds, 1- geese, 1- swan, 2- cows)

    Thanks again and Merry Christmas,

    Nancy

    29
  18. It’s Boxing Day here in Australia, and with the Christmas celebrations and feasting over…. let out a notch on the belt and relax with a puzzle!
    Here goes –
    41 snowflakes
    2 sheep
    8 scissors
    Pins 4 red/ 3 green/ 4 gold/ 2 white
    3 Marys
    5 thread rings
    21 threads
    2 deer
    And a snowman in danger of being impaled on a laying tool?

    This has been fun, even though my counting brain cells are probably still being regenerated after all that Christmas cheer!….

    30
  19. Fun puzzles. You are always thinking of us (LOL). Thank you for a lovely buildup for Christmas. The giveaways were fantastic. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebration.

    31
  20. 45 snowflakes
    3 sheep
    8 scissors
    14 pins
    3 trees
    3 Marys
    2 rings for thread
    21 threads
    2 deer
    I think the disaster is that you might run out of chocolate!

    Your house in the snow is gorgeous!

    32
  21. forgot the other part….sheep…2, scissors….8, pins…17, trees…3, Mary’s….2, rings for threads…4, threads…20, deer…..3, & I have no idea what is on the brink of disaster unless it’s me if I don’t go to bed & get some sleep

    34
  22. Sheep; 5. Scissors; 8. Pins; 11. Trees; 2. Mary’s; 1. Thread Rings; 3. Bink of Disaster; cant find. Threads; 26. Deer; 2.

    My guesses.
    Julie

    35
  23. 3 sheep, 3 Marys, 8 scissors, 5 red pins, 3 green pins, 4 gold pins, 2 white pins, 3 trees, 2 thread rings, 21 threads, 2 deer, snowman about to be impaled by a laying tool, between 32 and 35 snowflakes

    36
  24. Merry Christmas to you and your lovely family, Mary! Thank you for the puzzle! The artful composition and your skillful eye does lend itself to many fun and useful results. So glad you’re around!

    37
  25. Mary, you have such a darling house! And it is Christmas perfection in the snow! Thank you for your beautiful blog and all your lovely work. I learn so much from you. God bless and Merry Christmas!

    39
  26. The poor snowman is about to be speared by a laying tool.
    I see 45 snowflakes.
    3 sheep,
    8 pairs of scissors,
    5 red pins, 3 green, 4 gold and 2 white plus 3 other pins in dark colours
    6 trees (including 2 pear trees with partridges, there’s also a sweet wrapper bauble which could be a tree)
    3 Marys, 1 kneeling and 2 written
    2 rings
    2 deer
    21 threads

    40
  27. Sheep 3, Red Pins 5, white 3, green 4, gold 2, trees 4, scissors 9, Mary’s 1, rings 2, threads 23, deers 3, and if the snowflakes count I have 42.

    41
  28. My guesses: Snowflakes -42; Sheep- 1; Scissors- 8; Pins- 12/4 red, 3 green, 3 gold, 2 white; Trees- 6; Marys- 1; Rings for thread- 3; On the brink- open bead holder; Threads- 20, 13 Skeins, 4 spools, 3 twists; Deer- 1 What a wonderful collection! Merry Christmas!

    42
  29. I hope you had a Merry Christmas ,Mary. The picture of your brother’s beautiful house almost makes me wish for a white Christmas. But growing up in San Diego my bones say NO!. Cheers to the lady with the best blog anywhere!

    44
    1. Thanks, Elizabeth! Oops, sorry for the confusion – just to clarify, that’s my house, but my brother, who is a photographer, took the picture. I can never get snow to turn out in a photo, and it just so happens that, the day before it snowed, I got the decorations up. He was out wandering around in our first well-accumulating snowfall, so he stopped and snapped a photo. Pretty good timing!

      I hope you had a Merry Christmas as well! Mine was beautiful!

  30. How many snowflakes (visible as snowflakes) 32
    How many sheep? 3
    How many scissors? 7
    How many pins (red? green? gold? and white?) 13
    How many trees can you find? 2
    How many Marys? 1
    How many rings for thread? 2
    Something on the brink of disaster. ?
    How many threads (skeins, spools, and twists)? 20
    How many deer, rein and otherwise? 1
    Joyeux Noël !!

    45
  31. I found 40 snowflakes, 2 sheep, 2 red pins, 2 green, 3 gold, & 2 white. 2 trees, 1 Mary, 3 rings for thread, 21 treads, & 2 deer. I couldn’t spot the brink of disaster.

    46
  32. I must say Brink of Disaster got me. The only thing I see is that the Snowman is about to be stabbed by the laying tool.
    Marys=1
    Deer=2
    Scissors=8
    Snowflakes=46
    Sheep=3
    Snowman=1
    Laying tool/awls=9
    White pins=2
    Green pins=3
    Red pins=5
    yellow pins=3
    Thread spools, skeins and twists=19
    Trees=3
    Thread wax=6
    Thread Rings/holders=5

    48
  33. I enjoy looking at your I spy photo but am not patient enough to try to count everything up. I do LOVE the jigsaw puzzle though – very enjoyable and I thank you.

    49
  34. Sheep – 3
    Scissors – 8
    Pins – red 4, green 3, gold 1, white 2
    Trees 3
    Marys – 1
    Rings for thread – 2
    Something on the brink of disaster – ??????????
    Skeins, spools, twists – 21
    Deer – 2

    50
  35. 45 snowflakes, 3 sheep, 24 pins, 8 scissors, 3 reindeer, 5 trees, 2 Mary’s, 5 rings plus 6 punched holes for thread, 24 threads.
    Thanks Mary, such fun

    51
  36. I found 45 snowflakes
    8 scissors
    24 pins
    1 Mary
    2 thread rings
    I could not find anything on the brink of disaster – unless it is the chocolates about to be eaten, but I think that is a reach!
    26 threads
    1 deer
    Thank you! that was fun and Merry Christmas to you and your family. It must have taken you a while to get this collage together – what a fun idea!

    52
  37. 3 Sheep
    8 scissors
    Pins: Red 5, Green 2, Gold 3, White 2
    Trees 3
    Mary’s 1
    Rings for Thread 2
    Something on the brink of disaster. I can’t see it
    Threads (skeins, spools, and twists): 21
    Deer, rein and otherwise: 2

    53
  38. love your “I Spy” and puzzles…..really fun and so cool to do on the computer with your rhymes and pics! Thanks so much! And I love reading your blog posts even though i only do needlepoint and not embroidery. Thanks for the uplifting and inspirational joy in your writing and sharing!

    55
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