Major Elements are Done

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pretend there are no wrinkles, creases, or dirty spots in this picture.

(click to enlarge)

I have finished stitching all the major elements of Dogwood & Hummingbirds. I am quite excited about it too seeing as I started this project over 2 years ago. I still have 2 major things left to do before I can get it ready for framing. The background needs to be stitched in. It requires a color of Caron Waterlilies that I do not have. I've called a shop in Spokane this morning and ordered it. They are going to send it off to me tomorrow. There's a lot of background to stitch. It's all half stitches of one color, single strand. It will probably take some time.

The other thing is the backstitching-which puts in the outlines and whatnot. Backstitching is loathed by most cross stitchers. I, however, love it the most. It makes the picture come to life. In this case, it will add veins to the leaves, definition to the feathers in the wings, and finish the centers of the flowers. While I am waiting for my Waterlilies thread to come I am doing some of the backstitching that doesn't touch the background.

I had a good weekend. Especially on Sunday. I got to sit out on the deck in the sun for awhile. It's been so cold, I took advantage of the opportunity for a little warmth while I could. Winter draws closer each day. I read a novel while I was out there, and listened to the birds twittering and the gun shots banging. One of our neighbors has his own shooting range, and he clearly is practicing for hunting season. He must have had some friends over because there was definitely more than one gun being shot at a time. Ah, the joys of living the rural life.

Yesterday was dark, cold, and wet. It got so dark around 2:30 pm I actually had to turn the lights on in the house! I did do a bit of housework, but mostly I stitched hummingbird wings.

Today is another beautiful warm sunny day. So I puttered in the yard a bit-putting things away for winter. I put away the hummingbird feeder (no sense having it out all winter since the Hummers have all gone south), and I cleaned and filled the bird feeders. I also sat on the deck and soaked some sun.

For some reason I am absolutely dreading winter. We're hoping we don't get as much snow as we did last year. Sweet Hubby thinks we won't because our tractor is all fixed and running better than it ever has since we bought it. My nephew Shawn and his friend Don did all the repair work for us-for beer, and the chance to use it when needed. I'm so grateful to them for that because just paying for the parts was hard enough. Anyway, we're ready for snow if it comes. So SH figures it won't. Heh heh.

Have a great day.