Christmas Ornament Finish

This ornament - "Christmas Morning" from the 2012 JCS Christmas Ornament issue - is deceptively simple looking and yet, it kicked my butt not once, but twice. I started this ornament over a year ago and there was a major mistake in the border, which I started to tear out, but set aside. I picked it up this past Saturday and decided to try again. So I tore out most of the border and started stitching it again. But when I got to the bottom of the border, it didn't match up and there was another mistake in there somewhere. It took me forever to find it, but when I finally did, I thought, "There is no way I am tearing this border out again!" So I purposely made the same mistake on the bottom of the border that was messing up the top and all is well. I don't think anyone would notice it unless I point it out, so I went on to finish the rest of the ornament on Sunday.

Fast Finish

I think this is the fastest amount of time I have ever started and finished a single cross stitch project, especially one that's a bit larger than just an ornament or a Mill Hill kit. On Friday evening, January 29, I started "Alsatian Redwork Heart" from the February 2016 issue of Just Cross Stitch. I worked on it quite a bit over the weekend and just a little bit during the week, and then again the following weekend. By Super Bowl Sunday, I was very close to finishing it and was able to complete it on Thursday, February 11. While it's not framed yet, I never thought I would finish it before Valentine's Day and I have a red wooden frame waiting for it. This project was relatively frog-free for me and I liked the variegated DMC floss. Not having to change colors really made for some speedy stitching! Stitched on 28 count evenweave with DMC 115 variegated garnet floss.