Instead of “Eek, a mouse!” it is “Ooh! A mouse!” when Peg Forbell’s friends and family see what she has in her hand. That is because the mice she shows off are not the nibbling rodents that come with most country homes, but tiny whimsies made from material she has painstakingly cross stitched, stuffed, and sewn together.

Each 1½-inch tall mouse is embellished with accessories that make it obvious why one is the Gingerbread Angel Mouse, another is Bride Mouse, and still another is Reindeer Mouse. They are a labor of love Mrs Forbell takes on each holiday season, and become gifts for her grown daughter, April.

Mrs Forbell has been practicing the art of cross-stitch for over 50 years, a form of embroidery that requires patience, focus, and the ability to count accurately — not a challenge for a woman known for her accounting skills.

X-shaped stitches are sewn onto a fabric with an even vertical and horizontal weave, allowing the stitcher to count threads across and up and down, for even placement. Fabrics used are defined by the number of threads per inch (also known as the count), from 11 to 40. The higher the count number, the tinier the stitch. When completed, the hundreds or thousands of cross stitches form a picture.

Needlework has been a part of Mrs Forbell’s life since she was a young girl.

“My mother taught me to sew, knit, and crochet, and she did stamped cross stitch,” she said. Her own interest in cross stitch did not come about, though, until after she was married, “And that is 60 years ago,” Mrs Forbell pointed out.

She started with stamped cross stitch patterns, in which a design is stamped on the fabric, allowing the stitcher to simply sew on top of the design, but she is now skilled in counted cross stitch, following patterns in which threads must be manually counted in both directions.

Her cross stitch items have won many awards at the local level of the General Federation of Women’s Club, as well as some at the district and state level. In 2013, a cross-stitched sampler won Best in Show at the State level.

But come the holidays, Mrs Forbell sets her sights on the very tiny mouse creations.

The mice designs by cross stitch designer Just Nan captured the heart of her daughter a few years back, and she has become equally enamored.

“This is a cross-stitch designer I really like,” Mrs Forbell said. “She’s prolific, and comes out with different designs all of the time.”

The kit to create each mini mouse includes the 32-count fabric, a weighted bottom, loose batting for stuffing, and the teeny accessories that make each of the knick-knacks special. Every mouse has a curly metal tail sewn on, making it usable as a holiday ornament.

Using her own thread, and a very large magnifying glass, Ms Forbell then sets out to turn the flat fabric into a three-dimensional figure, a process that takes at least ten hours, start to finish.

Her first Just Nan mouse was a Christmas mouse, with a cross-stitched body in holiday colors, and carrying a banner (as many of this designer’s creations do) that read “Merry Christmas!” Another year was the “Mouse on a House,” in which the fancily stitched mouse, holding a house key, sat atop a miniature house. Cross stitched pictures of each of the four seasons decorated each wall.

Four triangular pieces of fabric made up sections of the roof, which could be brought up over the mouse and tied with a ribbon to close it in.

“That was a lot of fun,” Ms Forbell said.

A 2 x 2-inch pin cube, elaborately cross stitched, makes a stand for this year’s Gingerbread Angel Mouse. The Reindeer Mouse has no cube, but a miniscule pair of antlers sewn on and a red bead nose leave no doubt as to just which reindeer this mouse emulates.

“I made the Bride Mouse this year, just because…” Mrs Forbell said.

Like the other Just Nan mice she has made in previous years, these mice are destined for Pennsylvania, where they will join her daughter’s growing collection.

“It’s not like we don’t have enough real mice,” she laughed. But Just Nan mice are so much nicer.