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.