A new project

When I saw this chart I knew I just had to get it (and tell Judy about it since it reminded me of her Oscar).   I have a dog-loving friend who puts up two Christmas trees, a large one and a small one, and the large one is entirely dog-related ornaments.  So I’ll be finishing this as part of her gift Christmas gift this year.

The area stitched in white do not all show up real well in the chart – for instance it says Bone and the in the lower right “for the Hungry Dog” although you really only notice the word hungry.  And the dog’s body fades into the background as well as the thing with red lines on it — that is actually a very large bone with the two rounded knobs on top and bottom which disappear completely, with a ribbon wrapped around it.  When I ordered the chart I wasn’t sure exactly what that was with the ribbon on it.  So, you know me, I had to make some changes because I’m not stitching things that fade away into the background.  So in this instance – because I didn’t want to change the white, I picked a fabric color that it would show up on well and would be fun to stitch on.

So I went looking in my fabric stash and pulled out this piece from To Dye For Fabrics called Marsh Fern.  It’s such a pretty shade of green.  It’s 18 count so with be closed to 5.5″ square; it has a couple more rows than it is wide so not a true square.  I’m also using a mix of the called-for DMC and some similar color substitutions I made since I didn’t have some of the colors. I an’t wait to get more of that cute face stitched in.

So this is the start of my “Christmas in July” or well – Christmas in June and July stitching. Which means I’ll mostly be stitching on Christmas gifts (like this project); my July Stitch Camp project is the other Santa and sleigh/reindeers that I’ll be mounting on a large wooden snowflake which needs to be started in July and finished in July (I already have the other one I need stitched); and I think I have one other little ornament on my gifting list and that will get all the gifts taken care of.  Plus, I’m planning to work on the New Years Eve Sampler Judy and I started  last Christmas.  Here’s the last photo I took of it – after I restarted on different fabric. Can’t remember if I have more stitched than this or not so it will be a surprise when I pull it out.

I think that’s just a bit over 1/4 of it done.   I’d love to be able to have it completed by this Christmas.