A Few Finishes to Share!

I sent several items to my faithful, fabulously flawless finisher Myra a while back but have been neglectful in showing some of them to you.  The ones you haven't seen yet were either destined to be gifts or I just didn't get around to photographing them.  Life sure does get in the way sometimes, doesn't it?  I will remedy this situation now   : )

I stitched this first design as a birthday gift for my dear friend Paula who lives in Portugal.  I am sharing a photograph of both the front & the back of this little cushion because I just love the fabric Myra used for the backing.  It compliments the design so well, don't you think?

 Designer:  Jardin Prive

Design:  Small Red

Fabric:  32 ct Antique White linen

Floss:  Overdyed

The following designs are all Christmas ornaments.  I really should have photographed both the front & back of each one since Myra likewise paired each design with the perfect complimenting fabric.  As I mentioned to someone in an email this morning, if only our foresight were as sharp as our hindsight   : )

Designer:  The Prairie Schooler

(2012 JCS Ornaments issue)

Design:  Partridge in a Pear Tree

Fabric:  Mystery linen

Floss:  DMC

Designer:  Little House Needleworks

Design:  It's Snow Cold

Fabric:  30 ct Tin Roof linen

Floss:  DMC

Designer:  Homespun Elegance

Design:  Jingle Jingle

Fabric:  30 ct Mink linen

Floss:  DMC, WDW, & GAST

Left

Designer:  Homespun Elegance

Design:  Joyous Heart

Fabric:  32 ct Sandstone linen

Floss:  DMC, CC, WDW, & GAST

Right

Designer:  Homespun Elegance

Design:  Festive Redbird

Fabric:  32 ct Sandstone linen

Floss:  DMC, CC, & WDW

Designer:  Homespun Elegance

Design:  All Is Calm

Fabric:  28 ct Amber linen

Floss:  DMC, CC, WDW, GAST

There is one other ornament which I cannot show you yet because it's a gift   : )

Myra finished this next project into a cube for me.  It is my first cube.  She did a marvelous job!

Designer:  Tralala

Design:  Duo Noel

Fabric:  32 ct Lambswool linen

Floss:  DMC

Although I love all the above finishes which Myra did for me, this final finish I am going to share with you is the "piece de resistance" as far as I am concerned   : )   I made mention of my Frosty project the other day in my August IHSW Report, Part II posting.  It wasn't until I stitched Frosty that I truly understood the meaning of the words "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."  After finishing Frosty, he met with disaster & I was afraid he would be lost forever.  I put him out of sight & tried not to think about him, but we had gone through so much together. I couldn't get him off my mind.  One day I decided to ask Myra if she thought she could salvage him for me.  She told me to send him her way & she would see if she could rescue him.  Her decision?  She could!  

I had no idea what Myra was going to do with Frosty.  I of course knew that whatever she did would be perfect, but not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine she would come up with a finish like this!

Designer:  With Thy Needle & Thread

Design:  January Word Play

Fabric:  36 ct Abecedarian linen

Floss:  GAST

If you have a good eye, you may have noticed that my design is different than what the designer intended   : )   I really don't care much for designs that are geared toward a certain month.  Why in the world would I want to put Frosty on display only in January???  He's too wonderful for just a one-month showing!  I therefore did a bit of redesigning ... removed the word January & replaced it with the word icicles.  This makes it perfect to have on display all winter! There are places where I had to move a stitch or two or three up or down or over a space or two or three to make my redesign look pleasing.  Thankfully it all worked out in the end.  All was, is, & will continue to be right with the world   : ) 

You can't actually tell what Myra did here, but this is not something where she just took the design, sewed a border around it, put a backing on it, stuffed it with fiberfill, & stitched up the opening.  Not Myra!  What you are looking at is actually a kind of pillow slip!  She made a small stuffed pillow, then made Frosty into a pillow slip which can be removed so that I can replace him with other Word Plays if the mood strikes me. Look at the cute mittens she embroidered on the back seam! 

If you traveled along with me on my Frosty stitching journey, you well know that the following Weird Al Yankovic lyrics from his song "One More Minute" clearly indicate my feelings about stitching another WTN&T Word Play design.

"I'd rather have my blood sucked out by leeches,

Shove an ice pick under a toenail or two.

I'd rather clean all the bathrooms

in Grand Central Station with my tongue..."

Than spend one more minute ever stitching another WTN&T Word Play design again!

My, but didn't Myra do a beautiful job ... not only on Frosty but on all her beautiful finishes???  Come on followers ... let's give her a big round of applause!

Thank you, my friend!  I so appreciate you!

Here is what the designer intended the January Word Play to look like.

I will never stitch this chart again (once was more than enough), so I am going to offer it to one of my followers.  If you would like a chance to win this chart, just leave a comment telling me so.  You have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Saturday, August 31, to tell me you'd like a chance to win the chart.  I will draw a name on Sunday, September 1.  

Well, I was just wondering what I would be doing after publishing this post when the phone rang.  It was the realtor calling to make an appointment for someone to come look at the house tomorrow morning.  Looks like I'll be doing some cleaning & straightening up today   : )