A two SAL post

I was going to wait and post at the end of the weekend so I could show all the fabulous stitching I did, but that's how I got out of the blogging habit last year - the end of the weekend became the end of the week, became next week, became Oh my gosh, it's December !!

Before I do my SAL check-in:

I have a finish!  Yes, me.  Yes, a finish.

 

This is Forever and Ever by Cottage Garden Samplings.  It's stitched on 40-count Tin Roof from Weeks Dye Works with the designer's DMC conversion.  I'm going to finish-finish it as a pillow.  The only change I made is that I used a red from the flower in the L - it was charted in yellow and it looked strange to me.

Actually, I could have introduced the first SAL and Forever and Ever would have fit right in.  I'm referring to .  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching and is a way to thank those generous folks that have gifted us with stitching goodness or to show things that we are making for gifts, or for whatever else we can shoehorn into the guidelines - Jo doesn't really have rules.  If you click on the Gifted Gorgeousness badge at the top there, it will take you to the sign-up page.  So I have Forever and Ever which is a gift and:

Magic Dreams. Boy. by Cute Patterns by Maria.  This is the birth announcement for my niece's little boy.  If you look hard, you can see his arm and just the start of the whale he's sleeping on - hence the magic dreams title.  I'm stitching it on 32-count Midnight Tryst from Fabrics by Stephanie with the called for DMCs.  This is the first time I've stitched one of Stephanie's fabrics and I really like it.  I'm also trying out one of the Sullivan ball-tipped needles.  I figured it was a gimmick but fear of missing out and all that, so I bought one.  I am pleasantly surprised by it.  It really does seem to help the stitches lay better and I haven't split a thread since I started using it - which is good because I have done some frogging on this piece.  I don't know if I find the holes any easier but it does seem to make stitching on a dark color easier.  

So those are my two gifted gorgeousness pieces.  The other SAL is .  IHSW gives you an official reason to sit and stitch on the third weekend of each month.  While most of us physically stitch alone on this weekend you know that you're not stitching alone.  IHSW is also happening on the same weekend that 24 Hours of Cross Stitch is happening so there are lots of people cross stitching, for various amounts of time, around the world this weekend.  Magic Dreams will be my focus piece and since Monday is a holiday for me, I will have lots of time for stitching.  I will also be working on Temperature Tree.

It has leaves!  It has too many leaves that are green, they should be in the blue range.  I think we'll be closer to normal January temperatures this coming week.

J is also on the list:

Those colors are soooo off, in person, you can hardly see the blue in the fabric.  Anyway, as I started stitching the wing, I was thinking "Fairy wings are supposed to be ethereal and sparkly, rather like dragonfly wings (or at least my fairy's wings are)" so I ripped out what I had and did it with one strand of floss over two and went back over the top leg of the stitch with blending filament.  Here's a closer picture of the wing:

 It's a pain to do this, but it's giving me the effect I want.  The open spaces are for beads (it's a Nora Corbett after all).

The last one, maybe, will be Time for Seasons from By the Bay Needlearts:

Slow, steady progress.  Part 3 has been released, so I am slipping further behind, but I am enjoying the time I am spending on this one.

Thank you for your comments on Garden Fair.  I thought I'd made up my mind to rip out the red and redo it with DMC 817, but every time I look at it I think, "Maybe I should stitch a larger area so I can see what it really looks like".  I think I've settled on doing that - I do reserve the right to change my mind again.

The weather is supposed to get bad this afternoon, so I did all my out of house running around last night after work, so no reason to go anywhere.  I have a few housekeeping things to take care of and then all I will have left to do is stitch.  Ahhhhh.