A New Year's finish and a start

 I spent this afternoon stitching and watching movies.  I finished this ornament while watching Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in The Adventures of Robin Hood.  The movie is a lot of fun but the costumes are horrible, the styles are not as bad as the colors and fabrics.  The bright, brash technicolor highlights the use of colors that could only be achieved using modern chemical dyes (or digital retouching of the original print) and the lavish use of lame makes every scene sparkle.   The ornament is Angels Sent by Susan Greening Davis from the 2010 Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornament Issue.  I used the suggested Gentle Art color on a greenish linen and had to cut out darker sections for the lettering.

I also decided to participate in the 15 starts in 15 days challenge.  I am not making any commitments to finishing these projects in 2011 but I plan to have fun getting them out and starting them.  The first one is the Ann Marsh Sewing Roll Kit but Joanne Harvey for The Exemplarery.  I have had my kit for 4 or 5 years and I have just never gotten started.  I started it today and completed all of the basting, which you can't see, and started the tent stitch outlines of the lower part of the outside of the needle roll.  I was able to watch American Dreamz and most of Funny Lady while I worked on it.

Backstitch

I completed another portion of my sampler last night. It is composed of bands and motifs in backstitch. I am continuing to use Crescent Colors cottons and to experiment with different ways of using each stitch. I enjoyed including blackwork flowers and frogs in addition to the traditional backstitched dividing bands. This sampler is inspired by Sharon B's Stitch Along Group. There are a lot of things to do with a simple back stitch. The next block will include whipped and laced variations, including Pekinese stitch variations. There are also a lot of pulled thread variations on back stitch. I might use them in a different block.

I also completed my first UFO for the year. One of the Lizzie Kate Christmas Flip Its. It represents a small amount of progress in the UFO stitching challenge on the Legacy Board. It is also my first finish of 2009. I hope to finish the whole set this year and be able to hang them on my feather tree at Christmas time.

I have been knitting, watching movies, and reading much more than I have been stitching. I really enjoyed Red Doors about a dysfunctional Chinese American family and I also had fun watching Around the World in 80 Days. The costumes and dance scenes were a lot of fun to watch and it was fun to try and pick out all of the cameo appearances by famous actors and actresses. It is really an extravaganza and was nominated for and won a number of Academy Awards.