A cardinal finish and a nearly finished

Okay – I apologize that these photos aren’t great but…. I hopped out the door before the sun set (okay I can’t call it sun because it has NOT been “sunny” all day)  – before early darkness occurred (I hate it being dark so early) and it was 30 degrees out, snow and a bit of mist was falling, the table outside was dry tho so I snapped a few photos hoping to get a good shot in non-artificial light.  I was not real successful but I didn’t waste a lot of time outside.  I worked from home today, and was lazy and stayed in my pjs and bathrobe and wooly socks so didn’t waste a lot of time in the 30 degree yuck outside. Better fully finished pictures will follow at some time. 🙂

I love this cardinal so much and it was fun to stitch.     After I finished it I picked up my New Years Sampler that Judy and I started last Christmas.   I was adding in a tent stitch (one-half of a full cross stitch) to make those areas pop a bit more.  Not everywhere – but in areas I wanted to show up more.   I need to do a final comparison of chart to stitch to make sure I’m not missing anything and I want to add a tent stitch to the top of Santa’s staff – that starburst-like thing and it will be DONE!!    I enjoyed this stitch so very much.   I’m going to wait until after all the black friday mailing and holiday mailing chaos is done before I order a frame for this and a couple other finishes.  And I likely will leave this one up all year – couldn’t bear to put it away in a closet for most of the year.