A bit of everything

Finally! I am ready to post the work I’ve been doing lately! I’ve been stitching on lots of little things!

I finished my submission for the Ornies SAL. I chose A Star, A Star by The Sunflower Seed from the 2007 issue of Just Cross Stitch Ornaments.

I really like how it came out! I thought I had the perfect fabric to back it…turns out I didn’t. So I will wait till the stores have a good selection of Christmas fabrics and finish it up later this year.

Now, I showed my February ornament before, but it wasn’t *quite* done…it was missing the button. I did end up finding a good one and here it is, 100% finished!

This is the Holly Biscornu by Cherished Stitches from the 2008 issue of Just Cross Stitch ornaments. I used floss, linen, beads, and even a leftover scrap of cording from stash. It turned out really cute!

Next, linking up with Jo for the People’s Choice March: Freebies, I stitched up this tiny little heart (only 30×30!) which was offered for Valentine’s Day this year by Faby Reilly in her newsletter. (I am not sure how to find the chart if you don’t get her newsletter…check in her files on her Facebook page.) (Another note: I highly recommend checking out the bloggers who participated in People’s Choice this month-SO MANY AWESOME FREEBIE LINKS in their blog posts!!)

It seems like many stitchers liked this design and were stitching it up and showing it on Facebook in so many colorways! Inspired, I went a bit outside my comfort zone. At first I had picked several really muted rosy colors. I didn’t start stitching. I just couldn’t get into them. Then I thought, NO! I can’t do it! Since recently I got a great grab bag of Thread Gatherer silks that surprised me with their brightness, I will try them!

I used Poppies, Berry Spritz, , and Hummingsbirds & Hollyhocks. They are brighter even than this picture! The greens are by Gloriana, Granny Smith Green and Avonlea Green (which I must love because this is the 3rd time I’ve picked it for something.) Sorry they aren’t all prettily twisted up anymore!

When it was stitched, I realized it matched my own roses that are blooming right now, Arizona (which got a bit fried on a hot day here last week) and Cinco de Mayo (which doesn’t ever fry no matter what weather or neglect gets heaped upon it. Says a lot for rescuing roses from the $5 clearance cart at Lowes vs. the $25 nursery ones!)

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And finally, here’s a teaser which hopefully will be a finish in time for our Smalls SAL check in this Friday…I’m making a Just Nan mouse! Can you guess which one??? 🙂