We've Been Busy....

The north easter' and the threat of snow might have slowed us down a bit, but Sara and I were busy stitching and finishing.  Amd with the Catherine Theron class this weekend, we had deadlines to meet.  First you see my version of Stacy Nash's "Whittaker", part of the Animal Cracker Series.  I love this series as I've mentioned before,  however my vision of Whittaker was a tad different than Stacy's.  I thought he would be fabulous not only as the small 3 1/2" high snowman, but as a larger model that I could display during the month of January (our snow display month) as well.  I didn't include the little pin keep the original is holding, but I still might add that.  And at the time of finishing I didn't even think about the pocket on the back for scissors and yet he could have one that would hold dressmakers shears.  But for now he's done and because it's so cold I decided to give him a knit cap (or a sock made into a cap).  I used beads for his eyes, teeth and buttons, and Weeks Dye Works for his scarf.  I purchased  orange polymer clay and made his nose,  and am thrilled with the finish.  I actually wanted to put ear muffs on him instead of the cap, but as it turns out the cap was a better look.  Thrilled to have another Animal Cracker done since she's come out with a lot more...I just can't keep the pace with this series.  Oh, I stitched him on 18 ct. linen over 2 threads and used Weeks Dye Works perle cotton for stitching.  

Then last night I finished the Short Stack Pin Cushion by Hands on Design,
Oh Say Can You Sea".  I stitched it in a couple of days after returning home from Nashville and loved the stitch.  Easy to do, fun to stitch, and quick.  I did use beads where Cathy had used white stitches for bubbles, but that was the only change I made.  Cathy also gives great finishing directions on her web site so take a look if you need to.  And then I added the new mini pin set from Jabco done for this piece.   

I adore the ornaments in Cuore e Batticuore.  There are 6 total, all of which are shown stitched on 35 ct. linen, however, as my initial intent was to stitch the girl bunny and the boy bunny in the car on the way to Nashville I decided to do them as standups on 18 ct. white linen.  The colors are DMC and I used the pearl cottons.  The girl bunny was done first, however, we had a little accident with my B-12 liquid and she had to be spot cleaned (you have to know I was not pleased).  Anyway, she will be done tonight when I get home, but he managed to stay away from the B-12 so he got finished into this stand up which is approx. 8.5" tall and about 6" wide.  On the chart the large carrot he is holding is stitched, but you know I love to embellish and I couldn't do a lot of embellishment so since I already had the orange polymer clay for Whittaker, I decided to make a carrot for this guy for him to hold.  The carrots in his basket are just cross stitched on the pattern but I then did satin stitch over that to give them puffiness.  Then I added grass in the basket by doing turkey work in green.  He was a fun stitch to do and if you have never worked on 18 ct. over 2 with pearl cotton, on my it works up fast and you don't even need magnification.  Fun times!

And now Sara's finishing....this is Glastonbury Gardens by Lauer Sauer.  We have taken it to Nashville in 2017 and 2018 to finish.  Sara has finished hers, and I'm right back where I was before Nashville.  But Sara did a fabulous job with hers.  The first picture is the front outside cover,

This is the back cover....that is a pocket for storing your stitching treasures...

And this is the inside.  The original design called for a ribbon which is artfully placed around the piece for closing, but Sara struggled to get this part done to her liking so we both decided a button closure was appropriate.  I'm so proud of Sara, she has finished about 3 of her class projects in the last 3 months.  It feels so nice to get something finished that has just been sitting in a pile for several years.  

Since I've had quite a few finishes in the last week I'm itching to start a new project...however, before I do I'm going to try to finish Jim Shore's Yellow Chick.  Too cute for words.  But then look out....I'll be racing to start something new.  I've looked at Death by Cross stitch but since I'm 70 I'm not sure I'll live long enough.  Have a great weekend and get those needles moving.  There is so much stitching to be done.