More Mira RR

This one is the middle fairy from "Three for Tea". I thought the colors would compliment the fabric well and this was one of the fairies Missy Ann had on her "preferred" list. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Between now and Christmas I'll likely be stitching on gifts and ornaments. I'll post pics as I finish things. I gave my "Donner" to my mom for her birthday and she really like it, so I'll be starting "Dasher" very soon. I decided to do a quick Hardanger doily for my grandmother first. She always likes me to stitch her something for the holidays. I also like to do ornaments for people to send out with the Christmas cards. We'll have to see how many I finish this year. :)

Donner HD!

He is on 32ct Silvery Moon linen from Zwiegart. I subbed MH 00348 for the 10071 Magnifica beads, and a generic brand white seed bead for the 10069 Magnifica beads. I also subbed Emeral Swarowski crystals for the treasures in the antlers and used a generic brand red pebble bead for the treasures in the wreath, since they looked as though they were meant to be large berries or bunches of berries anyway. I also subbed the Waterlilies 204 with Dinky Dyes 57 which is a plum color for more berries in the wreath. It didn't seem to make sense to buy a whole skein of Waterlilies for about 30 stitches. Lastly I used just plain DMC blanc for the tail instead of the Whisper.

I think it looks pretty good even with all my substitutions. I added the name to the bottom with a random alphabet I had from an insert of Just Cross Stitch Magazine. My plan is to do each reindeer as they are released and give them to my mom who collects deer. She can then display them all at Chrismas time with her collection. She is going to get this one right after Thanksgiving for her birthday and I might get ambitious and try to finish Dasher for Christmas. These actually are pretty small and work up very quickly for a Mira on a small cut of fabric. (Fit easily on a 9 x 12 piece from my stash.)

Donner WIP

My mom collects deer and I thought that doing one of these for her each year would be a nice addition to whatever Christmas pressie I get for her. I decided to use Silvery Moon fabric mostly because I have a huge piece of it left over from Heritage Sampler, since I had to buy a whole yard and I know I 'll have enough to do all 8 Christmas Couriers on it. It is going really quickly, but I was sort of surprised by how much specialty stuff these little designs use - didn't have much in my stash already to complete it. I did buy the braids and a few of the magnifica beads, but I think I'll make substitutions for the treasures and the other beads. I think I'll also just use DMC B5200 for the tail instead of the recommended Whisper - I've heard it yellows anyway. I have already subbed some Dinky Dyes plum for the recommended Waterlilies thread for the berries in the wreath. I think that looks pretty good so far. :) It was only like 30 stitches anyway - so I'd hate to spend $6 on 30 stitches.

In other news, trick-or-treating was a real blast this year. This is the first time Katie really got into it and really seemed to understand CANDY! AT EVERY HOUSE! YIPPEE! Alex went to this year after waffling back and forth about whether he was too old or not. I figure as long as he is being polite and not obnoxious and staying out of trouble he can come trick-or-treating with us - for now - that opinon might change as he gets older still each year. Here is a pic of the kids before we left the house. Katie was a bunny and Alex a pirate.