Fabulous Freebie & SAL=Awesome

Another finish! This one is a freebie by Tanya Marie Anderson aka The Sampler Girl. She designed two freebies related to the Presidential election (one for each side). Many lovely folks are stitching up both but I am partisan enough to just do the one. It is stitched on 14 ct opalescent Aida in Raindrop Flair from Enchanted Fabrics. I used some variegated colors from DMC and added a bit to Tanya's design in order to use up more of my fabric. I repeated her star in a field of blue on the left and whipped up some stripes on the opposite side. The day I finished stitching it I happened upon a Polo by Ralph Lauren canvas hobo bag on clearance and decided it would make a perfect home for this piece. The zipper pull and side of the bag are both adorned with small American flag type designs. This will be my main pocketbook until the end of the election at least.

I fell in love with Tanya's designs originally for her series related to Jane Austen. Even before I had ordered any of the patterns I joined a wonderful yahoo group related to the Jane Austen stitching. This week we started a SAL (StitchAlong) featuring her Mansfield Park design. I am loving working on this piece. It is just so wonderfully pretty and fun to do. I am also working finally with some Vicki Clayton Hand Dyed silk fibers. These.Are.AWESOME. Here is my progress after the first week:

In Memory of Goldie...

Despite my valiant efforts, Goldie the fish passed away a couple of weeks ago. Who knows how old he really was but he was in our family for five days. My husband said it was an amazing run for a fish won at a street festival. I was still sad because I was determined that with diligent care I would be able to give the little guy a longer life. I hate to see anything die, yep I'm one of those people shooing spiders out the door. So here is my daughter right after her triumphant ball bouncing victory. She is holding aloft her prize and first pet ever, the aforementioned Goldie. I should have left an offering at the shrine to Saint Rosalia that she is standing in front of. Maybe she could have talked to Saint Francis or something. (Pay no attention to the date on the photo BTW, my camera was all wonky!)

I have recently completed two pieces. One is a Dimensions Daydreams kit called "Patchwork Teddy". It was really fun to do. You get all the normal stuff in the kit PLUS supplies to "finish" it. My major triumph with this project was doing pretty gosh darn well on my French knots. I found a video tutorial that I was able to play, pause, play, and pause until I got them just right. I am going to send this piece to my Grandmother in Las Vegas, I think. Pictures below are the stitched portion and the final assembled look.

I also completed the stitching on my Mets Logo. I had thought I was completed some time ago and proudly removed it from my scroll frame. Then I looked at it and thought, "Meh, maybe I should add some backstitching". Back on to the frame it went and I ended up backstitching almost every possible edge imaginable. I am really glad I did, even my husband who doesn't notice stuff like that said it looked a lot better. I am going to attempt to frame it myself, keep your fingers crossed.

Hey! Watch Your Back! There is a little Angel Running after you!