Two for Back to School

I managed to finish two ornaments this month. One was a UFO from three years ago and the other was a new ornie from a three year old magazine. I needed a break from the red and green ornies of the past four months. I'm trying to stitch them in groups of four.

This weekend, I stitched this lovely Norwegian Ornament by Scandinavian Stitches from the 2004 JCS Ornament issue. I resumed cross stitching when my DD was two and this was one of my purchases then. Sad to say it, but this is the first ornie stitched although I really love several designs from this issue. I used DMC because the only flower thread in my possession is in a kit. Though it is not my usual style, I'm fond of it anyway and it was a fun stitch. I think it would be fun to do in shades of blue or maybe as a beaded ornament. I may try a blue version one day, or perhaps some other color variation.

I started Snowberries by Just Nan three years ago, but put it to the side for some unknown reason. I had just a teensy bit of stitching remaining (including frogging one slightly misplaced special stitch) and all of the beading. The scan does not show the sparklies too well--the crystal beads vanish--but oh my goodness there were a lot of beads to add. I stitched this on an uneven linen so it looks more rectangular than square and I used Mill Hill beads rather than SJ beads because I had MH beads in my stash.

This is my last group of ornaments from my maternity/medical leave. I haven't picked out ornaments for next month's SAL, but it may include a TW freebie UFO. Selecting an ornament, or two, for the SAL is as much fun for me as the stitching.

With these two finishes, I have stitched 14 ornaments in 2007. That's wonderful considering I did not stitch a single ornie in 2006. I hope to complete 2 ornaments each month for the rest of the year. Of course, I still need to finish them into usable ornies.