Again, the photo stinks – nighttime pics just do not work out for me, even though I took it under the Daylight lamp. I used the suggested fibers on 35 ct linen from Vikki Clayton, but I did the wording in red instead of the called-for blue because I was having trouble reading the chart. Old age, go figure …
This is a shamefully bad photo, but it’ll have to suffice for now. Stitched with the called-for fibers (although I did the wording in black because I misread the chart, LOL).
Here’s my version of Tanya’s wee Valentine design. I’ve made lots of little changes because it’s going to be my gift to Niek for our 6th wedding anniversary. I’m so glad Tanya’s a designer who welcomes the personalizations that people make to her designs! 
I was mentioning to her in an email how funny it is that whenever I’m stuck for the perfect gift, her designs just jump out at me.
I’ve stitched this using Vikki Clayton’s silks: Bear Brown, BeGrimed, Gandy Tango, Indigo Ocean, Milligrubs; and Snow Creme by The Thread Gatherer. The linen is 30 count Parchment by Weeks Dye Works. Just as a note, this stitches like a 32 ct rather than a 30 count. Lovely stuff. I bought the linen from Mary Kathryn some time ago when she was having a sale.
For Easter this year, I’ve made the three younger kids bunnies from a free pattern by Wee Wonderfuls. The bunnies are very easy to make (I made three in one afternoon!) and can be embellished in any number of ways – they’re far from “just” an Easter toy. Best of all, Rowen and Arden have been playing with theirs all morning!
This bunny literally is a cottontail! I’d originally planned to make these to sell in my etsy shop, but the cottonball is more fragile than it looks and I worried that the bunnies wouldn’t make it through the post in goo shape. So this little fella will spend Easter with us – and we’re glad of it! He’s been grunged up a bit with some walnut stain. Stuffed with wool rovings. Wooden button eyes. All in all, pretty darn cute.
I’ve taken part of an old crochet pattern and adapted it to make this scissor for Max’s birthday. Stitched in Colonial Teal (HDF Silk) on Vikki Clayton’s 35 ct Cream and hand stitched closed. Filled with lentils and dabbed with essential lavender oil. The cording is also Colonial Teal silk. The backside says, “Happy 11th birthday, Max!” The scissors are part of the gift.
I’ve stitched Annemiek’s March Prim floss tag (from her year-long group) for Max’s birthday. It still needs to be finish-finished this week. I’ve stitched it on 35 ct Cream HDF linen using HDF silks Haystacks 3451, Spinach Delight, and Examplar Wood Louse (the red is a bit from my orts pile). The satin-stitched heart is my change – it’s graphed for 1801 or something, but I knew Max wouldn’t be into that kind of prim detail so I added a heart. I used a French knot for the eye, hoping it would show up better than a black cross stitch there. I also only used 2 of his initials on the back rather than MMP.
3 April: Edited to add
Here’s the finish-finish. I’m not 100% satisfied – I tried to machine stitch it, but it came out lumpy and I wound up going over it all with a blind stitch to make it a bit smoother. I’ll finish these entirely by hand in the future.
Here’s my version of French Bunnies, from the Sampler Girl’s Third Companion booklet. The booklet didn’t have a model available and of course that meant I had to stitch it first. LOL. Actually, I only bought the PDF of the booklet last night, and immediately set about stitching this using the HDF linen and silks I’d also received yesterday. This is stitched on 35 ct Bunny Brown using Fagales Chocolate (lighter brown), Cocoa Bean (dark brown), Haystacks (gold), Spinach Delight (dark green), Fish Pepperika (red). I like the old-fashioned, aged look of it – although perhaps the Haystacks doesn’t show up enough against the Bunny Brown.
3 April: Edited to add
Here is the finish-finish as a mini pillow with a gorgeous Moda fabric.
Finally finished this little gem up. It should’ve only taken a few days, but as the saying goes, “Life got in the way.” I subbed out the aida supplied in the kit for 32 ct Seaside Melody Lugana from Silkweaver and I didn’t use the supplied beads for the lions’ eyes (French knots looked better, I thought, after seeing the giraffes’ eyes). The kit has enough to stitch the design a second time, and there were also lots of extra beads. If I were to buy kits at some point in the future, theirs are generously supplied and the charts are crystal clear.
I bought two of these kits (from this series) when Cameron was born, but I’ve stitched this with the intent of hanging it (and the other one, when I do it) in Arden’s room. (Hearing other cross stitched gifts I made for Cameron as “those things you made for him” somehow dampened my enthusiasm about stitching gifts for Rich’s kids. LOL.)
This will soon become a needlebook/stitcher’s pocket for Max’s 11th birthday. I’d planned to do all four seasons and make a project roll for him, but as cheery and bright as Helga’s designs are, they are just not my taste and I really had a hard time just finishing this – and made some changes to disguise the change in purpose (from project roll to needlebook). LOL. It is Max’s taste, though, and I’m quite sure he’ll really like it.
3 April: Edited to add
This collage shows a bit how the project turned out. The inside has a wool felt page for needles and there’s a sturdy pocket to hold patterns or supplies.
