The Fruits of My Labor

It has been a positively wonderful long holiday weekend!  The weekend started with another trip to the Minnesota State Fair; my daughter and I had tickets to the Grandstand show on Thursday night.  The show included performances by Eden's Edge, The Eli Young Band, Little Big Town, and Rascal Flatts.  I was worried about the weather and thought maybe I was too old to sit (actually stand) through a four hour concert, but I must admit, I did enjoy it.  The weekend is now almost over and we are enjoying a quiet day at home.  Tomorrow, we all go back to work.

Yesterday, I completed a bit more finishing.  I'm starting to see my way to the bottom of the finishing basket. Here are my completed projects...

First up...a needlebook finish for my friend Judy.  The coordinating pincushion and fob were finished on my last finishing day.  I will be able to pass these on to Judy when I see her next weekend.

During the week  I stitched up these small designs (over two and over one); this was a kit that I had purchased from Jackie du Plessis.  Two small containers for storing buttons, beads, needles - whatever I wish!

And, a Christmas Ornament!  This was in my WIP pile for a long time; I stopped when I got to the over one stitching.  Over one doesn't scare me anymore though - ha!  The design is called Peace and Joy and it was a kit from The Drawn Thread.  Here's the front and back:

I really liked the finishing instructions that came with this design from The Drawn Thread.  The finished edge was done with a nun's stitch and rather than stuffing the ornament, it called for two pieces of skirtex cut to size.  The end result is a flat ornament that retains its shape.

And, last but not least, my favorite finish of all....a couple of hornbooks.  Believe it or not, I stitched both of these on Saturday.  The design is from Crown & Thistle and is called Friends Pins and Threads...it was their exclusive kit at the Dyeing to Stitch retreat in 2011.  I believe the patterns are now available to all.  Rather than using DMC, I used similar overdyed flosses.  I'm really happy with how they turned out!

I've been busy stitching away on another design from Ruth Ann Russell; you saw a little bit of it in an earlier post.  It's almost finished, so in a day or two I will share a final picture with you.

That's it from me today...just enjoying the holiday...I hope you are enjoying your day too.  Thanks for stopping by!