SBQ and a little finish!

I might be setting a record here - another post in less than a week! :-)

Thanks to all the kind folks who posted comments about my Dragon Dreams Exchange. I'm glad Ruth liked what I sent. I've never given a stitched gift to another stitcher before and had a bad case of nerves that my stitching wouldn't be up to par - or that my finishing wouldn't be! I've stitched for a very long time, but I've only just recently starting finishing things in ways besides framing. It took me quite a while to get over the idea of preserving every piece forever.... While some of my work is handled with all the care of a good conservator, I've come to accept and be quite happy with the realization that every piece doesn't have to be that way. It's allowed me to get in there with glue with some fearlessness. (heaven help me now!)

This past weekend was a long weekend for Canada - a time to celebrate the Queen's birthday and get an extra day off work! I spent most of the weekend in the garden catching up on my pots and my veggie patch. If the darn onions would just die down already so I could pick them, then I could finish getting my veggies in. Ah well, soon....

I did get in some stitching time - mostly working on my two models. They're both coming along quite well and I hope I'll finish them soon. With a bit of luck the designers will think they're coming along well too! ;-)

I did squeeze in one little thing for myself though as this chart has been yodeling to me for the last 3 weeks and I couldn't ignore it any longer. Here it is:

Ink Circles May 2007 Freebie Celtic Knot

Stitched on 32-count Opalescent Lugana - Daffodil by Silkweaver
DMC: 550 (Dark Purple), 552 (Medium Purple) , 554 (Light Purple)

I have had the Lugana for a few years now and have been looking for just the right thing to stitch on it - it's such a pretty yellow IRL and sparkly too. This freebie seems perfect on it. I may just attempt a back piece for it and make my first biscornu out of it, but we'll see. I've had a real hankering to stitch something from Ink Circles as of late. My LNS doesn't carry their patterns (gasp!) but I've yet to bring myself to order Cirque des Cercles - it would end up shoving everything else I've got to the side! I may stitch the Bouquet for Cheryl freebie next if I can find a good fabric and fibre in the stash horde....

Time for another SBQ!

This SBQ was suggested Juls (http://afairyprincessdreams.blogspot.com/) and is:

If you could only stitch one more piece what would it be and why?

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Oh my is this a difficult question to answer. It would be so easy to say I couldn't possibly choose since there are so many I like, but somehow that feels like a bit of a cop-out to me.... So, what would I stitch? Well, I have to admit that I don't have a specific pattern in mind, but I would want to stitch a birth sampler for my youngest son, Bryce. I stitched this one for Cameron when I was pregnant with Bryce:

Note that I've blurred out the relevant details such as his full name and birthdate. I found this pattern in an old Cross-Stitch & Needlework (formerly Cross-Stitch & Country Crafts) and I loved it for its sentiment and elegance. So many birth samplers are so cutesy that they just don't appeal to me. I loved this one for its elegance. It's something that Cameron will hopefully want displayed in his own home some day.

I would love to do something similar for Bryce, but I don't want to stitch the same thing again - even if I did change the colours/linen/whatever it wouldn't be right to me somehow. He deserves his own special something, I just haven't found it yet.

So, in a very long-winded fashion, I guess my answer to the SBQ would be a birth sampler for my youngest son!

Time to get ready to head to school - it's time to help my Grade 1s with their reading!