First, the birth sampler I stitched for my great-niece Annabelle, now finished and framed. I added some hearts and Annabelle's birth details. I framed it myself in a white wooden frame purchased from a discount shop, and I had a custom mat made for it. Annabelle is 14 months old now, healthy and gorgeous, but she had a difficult start to life, spending her first 3 months in Neonatal Intensive Care, and having a number of major surgeries in that time.
Cicely Mary Barker's Apple Blossom Fairies (DMC)
And here is my progress to date on a growth chart for my great-nephew, 2 year old Angus. A family friend gave my niece the Semco 'Peter Rabbit Growth Chart' kit at her baby shower, and my niece intended to stitch it, but being a new mum who was working as a primary school teacher, and renovating a newly purchased home, she never got around to it. So, a couple of months ago she handed the chart over to me to stitch, which I was pleased to do for her. I was hoping to finish it for Christmas, but that is unlikely now. I will give it my best try, though. So far I have completed 2 of the 4 pages, with Peter Rabbit and Jemina Puddleduck stitched. I am about to start stitching the Flopsy Bunnies, and hope to finish that page in the coming week, before I head off on my cruise round New Zealand. That will leave just the top page featuring a squirrel, and I will then add Angus's name and birth and growth details. I have organised my sister (Angus's adoring Nanna) to make it up into a wall hanging when it;s finished. My sister has great sewing machine skills, which I totally lack.
I made a few changes to the Growth Chart stitching. It was charted to be stitched using half cross stitch for the characters on 14 count Aida. There were also largeish unstitched areas within the characters (eg all the white areas on Jemima, and the palest areas on Peter Rabbit.). To me it looked unfinished, and I just didn't like the effect at all. So I changed the half-cross to full cross, and stitched the 'unstitched' areas. This meant, of course, that I had to re-kit the design, as there wasn't nearly enough floss included in the kit to allow for these changes. The floss supplied wasn't identified by number, so I had to guess at the floss shades. I am quite happy with the colour so far.
I have so enjoyed being part of the Gifted Gorgeousness group this year, and look forward to checking on all the reports for November.