April Smalls

There's been much more stitching than usual over the last month. It must be all those rainy, miserable days that did it! Who feels like doing anything except stitching on days like that? I managed to finish two smalls, another slightly larger piece and I got started on a new project. In addition, I did some final finishing on some pieces which was long overdue.

I'll show you my new start as well as the larger finished piece on my next post for WIPocalypse. One of my small finishes is for an exchange gift at the Prim Stitchers Society retreat in Columbus, Ohio which I will be attending later next week. I don't want to spoil the surprise so I'll show you that next month after retreat is finished.
My other small finish is for a friend's birthday. I haven't given it to her yet but she doesn't follow my blog so it's safe to post it. Here is J'Aime Les Boutons (I Love Buttons), designed by Danybrod.

As you can see, I added bone buttons along with some others from my collection as well as some lovely lace which I found in an antique shop last summer. This pillow is larger than it looks. I stuffed it with wood shavings and crushed walnut shell. I hope she likes it!

The remaining pillows are ones that you have probably already seen the stitched pieces on my blog over the past year and now I finally got around to finishing them up.

The next one is filled with dried lavender and it smells sooooo good!

This year Canada celebrates its 150th birthday. In celebration of this, Jeannette Douglas has released a series of Canadian Patriotic Snippets. 
There are 12 charts in the series and 2 are being released every other month throughout the year. I have the first  4 charts and hope to get started on them in the coming month. They can be stitched as individual pieces or as one in a framed piece. I'm looking forward to adding a few of these to my display bowls.
 Enjoy your weekend everyone!

My March Small

I'm running a little late with my post which seems to be the norm for me anymore. I had one small finish in mind which had to be completed by month's end.
When my granddaughter was here at Christmas she told me that she wanted me to stitch a hamster for her birthday in April. She had even Googled hamster patterns and found the one she wanted. Of course the one she wanted was only a picture of the chart and I had no idea if it was an illegal copy or not. I was able though to see the designer's name on the pic. 
After searching online I found out that the design was from a 1990 Just CrossStitch issue. I managed to snag a copy of the magazine on Ebay. Wouldn't you know it! The design was full of everything I dislike...... half stitches, quarter stitches, backstitching and the use of blended threads. I tackled it with gusto and managed to complete it in a little over a week's time. 
It's amazing what you will do for you kids and grandkids, lol! 
 Here is Hamster, designed by Cathy Livingston.

 

The original design also contained some long stitches which were meant to be blades of grass. I started to put them it and found they just detracted from the main design so I pulled them all out and left things as is. I'm going to get out the sewing machine next week and stitch this up as a doorknob pillow with a sweet little hanger.

I hope she likes it!!