Fly Away...

The bottom ladybug was my first attempt, and I used check purls for the spots. I keep the first of every goldwork piece I make "for the archives". After the first one, I used tiny 32mm sequins and check purls to attach them. 

Those two are already listed in my Etsy shop HERE and HERE, and are ready to fly to new homes. (I created a separate listing for each brooch.)

Each Ladybug Brooch measures approximately 1-1/4" long by 1" wide by 1/4" thick. As they are smaller, I decided to use a pair of tiny magnets for wearing them. One magnet is adhered under the cork backing, and the other on the outside back.

Now that they're completed and listed in my shop, I'll be setting up my next project. This one has a deadline as it's a wedding gift for my great-nephew and his bride to be. They're getting married this month, so I'll be stitching this one start to finish.

After I finish the wedding gift, I'll be making the last four frogs to go to the Final Four giveaway winners. My plan is for all of them to be completed and mailed by the end of this month. 

I'm at work today, so the stitching will begin tomorrow. My best intentions are always to stitch in the evening when I get back home, but that hasn't worked out lately, so I won't make promises I can't keep. 

Oh, and I'm so happy that the day was uneventful yesterday. Where we live, it seemed to get darker for a while in the afternoon, but the birds never got quiet. I think they were so happy with the clear blue skies and 60º temperatures that they just couldn't help themselves. I kept working on my goldwork pieces and hoped for the best. Mind you, I'm certainly not complaining! Uneventful is good. See you tomorrow!

Home Again...

D. Morgan "Home Again" Cross Stitch (Leisure Arts)

He's safely back home and all is right in my world again. I tried (unsuccessfully) to capture a good photo of this piece, which hangs in our back hall.  It's a perfect piece to place where we see it during each of our comings and goings.

The verse reads: "I hear your footsteps down the hall. You are home again...and safe. All the burdens of the day are softened, and all the night noises are music to my ears."

I guess I wrote about this back in 2015. I didn't get a very good photo of it then, either. You can see that post HERE.

I took this photograph of the girls to send to Handsome while he was in Florida. I also shared it to my facebook page. My stepsister saw it and commented that she saw the "heart" on the gravel between the girls and said, "I see a heart from Tag between Bella and Carly". Once she said that, I noticed it, too. She said she also saw his shape lying in the snow behind them.

Needless to say, it made me smile (with a tear in my eye). I like the thought that he left a little love note for us when we were taking this picture. The heart is where he usually would have sat during our photo sessions of the trio.

I'll be at work today until four, so Handsome will spend the day here with the ladies. My plan is to finish my first ladybug when I get home. Sherry was right in her comment about my post yesterday. Of course, they have little antennae, so I'll figure out a way to add them to mine at the end. We'll see what I can come up with, and I'll be sure to share when the first one is done!

See you tomorrow!

I Couldn't Wait...

I spent much of yesterday baking, as Handsome comes home today. I wanted to have some tasty treats for him to enjoy once he gets settled back in. However, I did have time later in the day to sit down to stitch. I couldn't concentrate on my mockingbird, though. I had this on my mind!

I drew out a little ladybug and proceeded to set up the project in my hoop. I'm not sure how I feel about the black chipping for the spots. I either have small black seed beads (like the eyes), or really large black beads for larger pieces (like the frogs). I think I need to find a bead that's a #8, rather than the #11s for the eyes. I'll complete her this afternoon and then see about getting what I need to do the other two.

What do you think? Do you like my execution for this idea so far? I'm not planning to stitch legs. I think she'll just be "tucked in" for the little brooch. I'm still deciding whether or not I'll do this little antennae. I don't recall seeing them on the read ones. Decisions. Decisions. More results soon...