Sept 30/12

The wedding present for my brother and his wife has finally been picked up from the framing shop and given to them! They were married August 11/12 so I figure that I have done well to get it to them in the same year as it was unusually too hot to stitch this summer which threw off my expected finish date of mid-July. I was overwhelmed when the shop clerk unwrapped the piece for my approval before I paid. Having only a small sample piece of the frame and matte makes it hard to really see what the piece will look like when it is framed but the long and agonizing session of choosing the mattes and frame were well worth it.

The happy couple

 Close up view.

 

 Wreath of Roses

Dimensions

While that piece was away at the framer, I focused on stitching up some ornaments for the upcoming Christmas season.

 Peace on Earth

Debbie Booth of My Big Toe Designs

Just Cross Stitch July /Aug 2011

I have included the original picture so that you can see how I modified it because I made a fabric cutting boo-boo.

 Frosty Kiss

Patti Connor of SamSarah Design Studio

Just CrossStitch July/Aug 2011

I love the Frosty series of ornaments that have come out over the years and have stitched most them at least once. Instead of using the suggested threads for the random snowflakes, I used one of my DMC Pearlescent Effects E3747. They do not show well in the photos, but the stitches do catch the light.

 Santa in a Box

Susan Myers of Acorn House Designs

Just CrossStitch Nov/Dec 2010

Flipping through my pile of magazines looking for possible ornament designs, I came across these panels for the Santa in a Box. The snowman is outlined with a smyrna stitch and the tree is outlined with a rice stitch. The rice stitch was a new one to me!

In other news, there is a loaf of apple bread baking up in my breadmaker and I am about to fry up a mess of tomatoes and peppers from both my garden and the garden of my best friend to put on a pasta. The apples came from a wild growing apple tree down the road from me as I was too late to get the apples from my own trees. Now, what to do with all the carrots I harvested today?