My first finishes for 2008

I'm finally getting around to unloading the camera from Christmas (after a phone call from my MIL last night asking me if I had downloaded the family Christmas photo yet). And I'm finally getting around to doing other things, like finishing up things that have been sitting around for a while. Like birth records I stitched for my nieces. (don't look at the dates). They're from The New Cross Stitch Sampler Book by Helen Phillips. I did a little of my own modifications with color changes and doing a more freeform border.

It's sad, because I had less than 20 stitches to go on Sierra's and I had to finish the border on Kenna's. I don't know why they were sitting around for so long - I finished them in 30 minutes on Saturday night. Usually, Kenna's favorite color is purple and I would have stitched hers in the shades of purple, but I stitched them by birthstone color, chosing the pink for Kenna (October) and the purple for her sister (June). I think they came out really cute and I have to mat and frame them up before I send them out. I was thinking matching pink and purple mats for each one, set in a white frame

I'm also FINALLY getting around to posting a progress picture for Kim on Princess and The Pea. This is what I stitched over New Years.

And this is what I stitched this weekend during the football playoffs. Once I got going, it stitched up REALLY quick.

I am loving the overdyed threads for the green (CC's Weeping Willow) and the pinks (CC's Cherry Tomato, Carrie Berry, and Ripe Melon), but I am not convinced of the necessity of using an overdyed for the dog (Toasted Marshmallow) or the brown (Little House Brown). In fact, I don't think I care much for the varigated brown in this pattern at all, but I'm not restitching it. If I did, I'd use a DMC brown instead.