Recent finishes and framed pieces

I've been so busy on the computer at work that the last thing I want to do on the weekends is be on the computer. I took the time today to do the last two posts and this one. I'm playing catch-up today. :)

Here are two Shepherd's Bush pieces (or is it really 5??). I finished Easter Parade from a kit. I stitched the four Easter egg kits and got them framed as one. The inner mats complement each egg and one mat on top to tie it all together. If I ever find the first set of eggs I stitched, I'll make them into ornaments for a future Easter tree.

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A friend bought me this chart book of Blackbird's Down by the Sea. I loved this so I started it immediately. I switched the threads to a nice Caron Wildflowers I had on hand.

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Every year I try to do a piece celebrating the 4th of July on the 4th of July. This year, while watching the Coney Island hot dog eating contest on TV, I stitched Pine Mountain's Liberty. The kit came with a little red frame.

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I've had several cats over the years, but by far my favorite was a male tuxedo I named Shannon. He was a rescue (as they all have been), liked to fetch a fuzzy pink catnip ball, knead me, and slept with his head on my elbow. He only lived 4 years, but they were a great 4 years. Time passes. I'm in a craft store looking at the cross stitch kits and there, to my surprise, is a picture of Shannon! The design was on white fabric with half stitched black. There were six or seven cats in the picture, but in the black was Shannon. I always meant to stitch the whole thing, but one day this spring it occurred to me that if I only liked the tuxedo, then stitch only the tuxedo! So here he is:

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In Just CrossStitch October 2010 issue was a design I liked by Lisa Roswell of Primitive Sampler. It's called Halloween Revelry. Due to a boo boo of mine, I stitched it with the wrong side as the top. That didn't leave enough room to do the entire design. I punted and really like with what I did.

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In an issue of SANQ this year was a reproduction sampler by Lucie Beharel in France. I stitched this because I like the color orange and there's a repro category in the fair.

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