Productivity with Cross-stitching and Yeah, it is spring.

Wow, I went for over a year without posting in this blog and now I have a second blog post in less then a week. Good things happen when you try to avoid FACEBOOK. LOL!

I am really making some great progress on the "Old Friends" piece. I am really loving this bear and she will look even better when she has all the outline stitching completed on her.

I really love the accidental lavender shade in the Aida cloth. It really seems to make those floss colors shine.

In addition to working on this "Old Friends" piece, I also found all my supplies to another unfinished cross-stitch that is actually very close to being completed. I started working on a SAL (Stitch - a- long) that was designed by Sylvia Kuhnert out in Germany and whom provided the design project freely for anyone who was interested. Sylvia's Kreuzstichliebe is the website and she has a new SAL that she has started for this spring. Be sure to check it out. The one I am working on was for the full year of 2010. Each month she presented a new part of the design and she called the project "My Little Heart."  It was a year long calender. Each picture in the grid represents a theme for each new month. I was doing quite well staying on top of it until the bursitis situation developed in my shoulder.

Here is an image of where I am at in this project. I have made a few little personal tweaks of my own, changing colors at times and adding outlines for each picture. I have also adjusted a few changes to the border.

 

The months start left to right with January. I added the September scarecrow yesterday and played with the slight additions to the border.  It is hard to see in the scan of the image but I have added gold metallic thread in the border. In person it really adds that simple touch of regal bling to the piece. I am still trying to decide what I will do with the finished piece. Framing will always be lovely but I am considering turning it into a small quilted wall hanging. 

Spring has really been roaring through Ohio this week. We spent part of our Sunday ducking down in the basement from Tornado warnings and endured three different hail storms. The hail was about the size of hazelnuts. It was insane. The area where all the backyards meet became instantly flooded as did a large corner of the yard across the street from us. By Tuesday all the water was gone and our temps were crazily in the mid 80's. We actually had to turn our AC on for a while by Wednesday evening. Rain came back through last night and cooled things down to be more reasonable today. We even have sun shine again. One of the things I really look forward to every single spring is the blooming of my magnolia tree. I LOVE that tree! Joe has threatened to cut that tree down nearly every year too because of where it resides so close to the driveway and has to be dodged when turning the cars around in the driveway when trying to get out on the road. I did not plant that tree in that spot. Joe's mother planted that tree there. In the years after she planted it, that tree would never bloom for her but in the spring we lost her to cancer.... that tree went into full bloom. As long as we live here, it will never be cut down unless it dies on its own accord. I managed to go out the other day while it was still so warm and take quite a few photos of the tree in full flowering. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do. :)