Woodland Birdies Finished!

Just finished this chubby little quail!

Woodland Birdies, Victoria Sampler:

Now I need to try to catch up on the Advent Animals... I'm two behind!

Happy Stitching!

An Unexpected "Vacation"

So I was doing a little finishing Monday morning, and inexplicably threw out my back. Leaned over... leaned back... WHAM! I guess I'm getting old. Anyway, that totally shut down my week, since for the first couple of days I was hobbling around like a little old lady, couldn't lift anything, couldn't bend over. No housekeeping for me. Mr. Wonderful ordered me to stop trying to continue my domestic commando activities, and took over. He's been taking care of laundry, food, errands... he even took Tiger Lily to the vet last night after work (a double ear infection... like last winter... poor thing). I've been able to move around quite a bit more today and have even been (carefully) doing laundry, but for most of the week I've just been sitting and stitching. 

I picked up the Woodland Birdies again after a long break. I stitched the owl last year, and just finished the woodpecker. Now I'm on to the quail.

This is the ornament I was finishing when my back exploded.

This is Mr. Wonderful's 2014 ornament, from the 2014 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue. I found the trim in the upholstery section of a craft store in California years ago and dug it out of my finishing stash. The tiny holly garland is from Hobby Lobby, and I found it in their Christmas craft section a year or two ago. I don't like my ornaments to be fussy, so I usually don't add bows or tassels or anything like that. Sometimes I do, but not usually. And Mr. Wonderful's ornaments are always "bow-less," but I thought maybe a little garland would look nice on this one, to pull out the green of the tree and balance all the red. If I find something I like better when the Christmas crafts come out this year, I may change it, but for right now I like it.

We're on the mend around here... I'm getting around better and Tiger Lily is feeling better, too. We're just sitting around stitching and resting. We both have a good excuse! Hopefully I'll have that little quail done and ready to show off soon.

Birdies, Babies, and Baby Birdies

Remember all those Woodland Babies (Victoria Sampler) I stitched up last year? Well, there are two new leaflets, Woodland Birdies and Farmyard Babies. Here's my first finish from Woodland Birdies, the owl.

I seem to be addicted to Cathy Jean's birds and little critters. I've got three birds left to stitch in her Button Up Birdies series, two more Woodland Birdies, and three Farmyard Babies. The question is, can I get them stitched before she releases any more new ones? Every time I am almost caught up, new designs appear, and I remain... not caught up. But this is a good thing. Always something to look forward to, always something to busy the hands and quiet the mind.

Back to birds...