HD - Wedding Sampler finished

I am so pleased to have finished this Sampler for my niece.  As usual, the picture doesn't really do it justice.  The fabric is not really quite so dark, and the date isn't really leaning uphill.  I found this chart quite frustrating to stitch.  The chart wasn't true to the picture that came with it, and I found it necessary to change the shape of the hearts and also the birds, to smooth out the square edges. The chart was Beautiful Birds Cross Stitch from Modern Cross Stitch Patterns.

Introducing Angela Roselea

 Angela is my Maltese Terrier puppy,  13 weeks old, who joined my family 9 days ago.  She is a gorgeous ball of fluff, weighing in at 2 kg (just over 4 lb).  She is a delight, and such a quick learner.

And more good news - my Christmas "Welcome' is home from the framer.  I am very happy with how it has come up, but not very happy with the quality of this pic.  The framed piece is not dull and lifeless like this pic - it is quite vibrant and sparkly.

I hope to be back early next week with a pic of my current project, which is almost finished now.  It is a wedding sampler for my niece Ciara. Not the type of design I would have chosen for a wedding sampler, but as it was chosen by the bride, I am hopeful she will like it.  Beautiful Wedding Birds. In all my years of cross stitching, this is the only project I have stitched which has taken four skeins of DMC 310.  Apart from the black, there are only two other colours on the design - red and white.  I replaced the charted DMC 666 with DMC 816 and 321 (randomly, separately and in combination).  I didn't like the shape of the hearts as charted (they were much squarer than the those in the pic) so I rounded them off, and also back-stitched them.  I'm stitching it on a hand-dyed grey Rustico Aida 18 count.