Needlepoint: Christmas in July

Good afternoon-

The thing that I have never understood about needlepoint, is the timing of projects.  Every July, I dutifully sit outside, soaking up the rare New England sunny days and stitching Santa mini-stockings and other assorted Christmas ornaments.  Then, every December-March, I huddle by the fireplace, freezing with 40" of snow outside and stitching flip flops, summer belts and cute summer clutches.  If you are an experienced stitcher, you know that the September/October finishing deadlines for Christmas have a tendency to sneak up quickly!  Thus, I am happy to report that this 4th of July holiday weekend, I have managed to finish 2 of my 9 projects on my 'Christmas List'.  Last year, I had great fun with the Kathly Schenkel Christmas stockings, but this year, I've decided to go in a slightly different direction- using the Denise DeRusha postcard designs for family and friends from across the country.

***Editorial Note: This decision was prompted by my wonderful mother, Kari, who traded me all the postcards for all of my ACOD ornaments that I had purchased for 2011 ornaments.  I had good intentions at the time, but there was just too much shading and too many details to do them justice!  I much prefer simple canvases, that can be spiced up with great fibers and fun stitches!

Here is a sneak peek of the first finished projects:

Denise DeRusha, Delaware Postcard stitched with Trepizond silk and Silk/Ivory fibers.

Denise Derusha, Maryland postcard stitched with Trebizond silk and Silk/Ivory fibers

The plan for finishing these is in progress.  I'm debating between a simple pillow with braiding around the edge,  large ornament with a flat back or a traditional frame.  The design area is about 4"x4", so the size is quite versatile for finishing.

Now that I have finished MD, then I will move on to a few days of stitching my 'Jingle' pillow canvas with stitch guide from Ruth Schmuff.  

It was a 2010 mystery canvas class from her shop, that I hope to have finished by Christmas 2012!!  It is a beautiful project, but I really struggled with some of the counting/compensation stitching, so I had to start over and take some 'artistic liberties'!  Here is a picture of the adapted background, partially finished.

Regardless of the stitching changes, this will make a fun pillow for the holidays!

So the posts today focused on stitching, but after this long holiday weekend of lots of good food and good wine, tomorrow will start bright and early with some walking/jogging around the neighborhood and back to counting Weight Watchers points!  We head to Las Vegas in 7 weeks, and I'm hoping to be ~15lbs lighter and feeling healthy (and lucky!!).

Happy Independence Day, Happy Stitching and Healthy Eating!