New stitches

Shepherd's Bush.   "Busy bees stitching tray"-  such a fast fun stitch.  I love these trays and have done a couple of them.  I usually put a piece of Weeks Wool under the piece to add a pop of color since the stitched piece, doesn't actually fill the space, but decided to try without the wool.  I'm unsure and still may put a piece of wool under the design, but either way I think it turned out so cute.  The tray is from Doodlin' Around Designs and has a bee skep on each end.  Too cute!  The next design is "Measure Twice" from Needlework Press.  The chart comes with the spool and the linen band.  I decided since the numbers were in black the spool should also be black so in my brilliance I choose the most humid day with intermittent rain to spray paint my items...Needless to say, not the best job ever, however, with the spools it wasn't a big deal since most of the spool is covered.  Anyway, in the directions, you are told if you follow the chart only, the end result will not be an actual yard, but just under a yard.  Since I wanted it to be accurate, I decided to take the time to use a tape measure and make sure each inch marking was correct.  It does take a little longer, but worth the effort.  Other than that this is easy to stitch and easy to finish.  I did want to put a backing on the tape, but after trying to back it will ribbon I didn't like how thick it looked on the spool so I never backed it.  Still like it though and then the 3rd piece is "Stitch in Time"  also by Needlework Press.  When I saw this in Nashville I thought, at first, it was for a working clock, and was disappointed that it wasn't.  In the back of my mind I always thought I would do it as a working clock, but as soon as I saw Tracy Doverspikes I could put it off no longer.  Actually Tracy stitched the hands, but she painted the silver clock black and it changes the piece drastically to me.  (We carry the clock base in the shop) So I choose to paint this along with the spools...finish is questionable at best but still as my mother always said, "You can't see it on a trotting horse," so if you see this in the shop on display, please trot by so you don't notice the imperfect paint job.  While the chart calls for black and gray, I didn't have the correct GA grey nearby and so I just used a grey I had near me (you know I hate to get up) and stitched away.  It's a one night stitch....love that.  But when I got to the flower I just couldn't stitch it in grey and black so I chose Baked Apple and Black for the flower and Moss for the stem.  Also putting this together wasn't that hard.  I got the clock works at Michaels.  They had a small set of hands which weren't fancy and the set you see here.  The problem is, of course, I likes the fancy hands but they were way too long.  I solved that by cutting down the hands so they fit.  I did have to fiddle a bit to get the hands secure but it wasn't that big a deal either.  I love my working clock!  Too cute.  And I got a new tool to do it, a circle cutter that cuts paper, fabric and mat board....winner!