A weekend of finishes

I was actually able to finish off a couple of projects this weekend. It feels nice to cross things off my Work-in-Progress list. The first one is a birth record for my niece. I can't really say I love the stars and the outlining but it's a cute project and it wasn't too hard to stitch up. Here's the final piece:



The other project I finished isn't actually a final finish. I got an idea to stitch up one of the Chinese Zodiac characters for each member of my family (extended members too). That's 22 projects (including one for myself). I got this idea when I saw an unfinished wooden picture frame at Michael's and I started to think about what I could put in there and how I would paint it. (I've been thinking about doing bookmarks for everyone as a Christmas gift but I don't think everyone likes to read as much as I do.) When I saw the frame I knew instantly that these Chinese zodiac characters would be just about the right size and maybe everyone will think they're as cute as I do. If I get them all done, they'll be my Christmas gifts for next year.

So I hurried up and stitched on of these and now I have to go back to the store to make sure the aperture is big enough. I'm going to add the year and the person's name to the design as well. This first one is for my dad. He's the Year of the Rabbit. Although I think I should have changed the colors to a yellow scheme instead. Maybe I'll redo it, or heaven forbid, unpick the pink and start over. I'm thinking about putting a description of the year on a sticker on the back of the frame. Here's what the first one looks like.