A Hard Act to Follow

I decided this week that after stitching the Christmas Banner and getting it back from the finisher and then sharing it with all of you last week that none of my current stitching seems to quite measure up to such a grand project.  It has nothing to do with the canvases themselves or the stitch guides - they're great!  I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's just letting go of a project that was a daily presence for months on end. Do I have project separation issues? Could it be that I need a stitching psychiatrist?

I forgot to include a newly finished Halloween piece in the blog last week. Please meet the Kirk & Hamilton Frog's Breath bottle.

That bottle grew some big frog's feet while away at the finisher! Speaking of the finisher, visit Vikki at her website for information on her finishing. I look forward to adding more bottles to the collection in the future. Thanks go to Amy Bunger for another fun stitch guide!

I'm making steady progress on the & More Give Thanks canvas. Once the diagonal lines are established in each stripe, the hard work is over and the fill-in stitches don't require a lot of focused attention.

This is the March Aquamarine ornament in Kelly Clark's Heritage Series with a stitch guide by Gina Liuzzi. It works up very quickly. I've enjoyed working the diamonds and seeing how pretty plain old DMC cotton floss can be with the right stitches to show it off. 

I ordered this Christmas canvas from The Bristly Thistle and it arrived a few weeks ago. It is (will be) a hinged box design from Julia's Needleworks. At the moment I am just stitching the dark green background in perle cotton but I will be adding beads and other fun threads to the tree and gifts. I think I might give Sparkles a try and use it for the tree garland. Check out Julia's website gallery - particularly the Hinged Box section. She has some cute houses and trees that would be so much fun to stitch.

The first canvas of the From Russia with Love club from The Needle House arrived this week. Beautiful beads, threads, and stitches have been selected for the Emerald Egg ornament. I'm late to the party on this club but, thankfully, the club can be started at any time.

That's it on the stitching front this week. I'm sending out good thoughts and saying my prayers for all of my stitching friends and their families from the mid-Atlantic north into New England as the hurricane approaches. I watch the Weather Channel so much during these weather events that I feel the need to go to the store and buy batteries, water, and bread even though we have brilliant blue skies here in Georgia this morning!

Everyone stay safe and dry in the week ahead!