Two new Valentine finishes and an unwanted visitor

Happy Valentine's Day, my friends! Half-way through February already--how can that be? For a short month, it's already been a busy one here. I've been stitching away on a couple of sweet Valentine's pieces and just finished the second one  yesterday. I try to add at least one piece to my Valentine's collection each year and was very pleased to get two finished this year. Now, looking at these, you might think I'm a pink, lace, pastel type of girl... Nope--not in the least, but, for some reason, I do enjoy making these sweet little treasures when February rolls around each year. 

My first pretty-in-pink finish is by Erin Elizabeth Designs and is called "Valentine Tier." Just look at this adorable tiered tray! There is so much detail in this one and it took me longer to finish it than I expected (even though the final stitched piece only measures 3 inches by 4.25 inches)! It's stitched on 40 ct. burch Newcastle using the suggested DMC colors. But, I didn't always use the colors where they were suggested... For instance, I stitched a gray roof rather than the suggested brown.

"Valentine Tier" by Erin Elizabeth Designs

The main change I made was to the flower centers. I had the entire thing stitched with the suggested black flower centers, took a good look at it, and ripped them all out! They just looked too dark to me for a sweet Valentine's design. So, I replaced the black centers with the palest pink color. I also used Smyrna stitches for the birds' eyes, the doorknob, and the sprinkles on the cookie and on the whipped cream topping on the mug of cocoa. My final change was to add straight stitches for the birds' long skinny legs rather than the charted cross stitches. What do you think? It just makes me smile each time I walk by it!

I changed all of the flower centers to pale pink.

My second February finish is a wonderful freebie by The Drawn Thread called "All You Need is Love." You can find the chart right here along with a number of other great free designs! It's stitched on 32 ct. white Belfast linen, but I chose my own colors as I didn't have any of the suggested Gloriana Silks in my stash. I went with Dinky Dyes silks instead and used the following colors: Dandenong, Wild Cherry, and Raspberry Ripple (using the light pink for some of the hearts and the darker pink for others). And for the light green leaves, I used Needle Necessities 142 (the lighter portion of the thread only). 

"All You Need is Love" by The Drawn Thread

What I loved most about this piece were the specialty stitches; on this small design there are at least a dozen specialty stitches! Below is a close-up so you can see them a bit better. Rather than my usual corded edging, I chose to do a beaded edge with the palest pink beads. I find beaded edges to be so lovely, but, for me, they take so long to complete! My go-to tutorial can be found right here on "Snippets and Stash" blog. 

I love the specialty stitches!

Unfortunately, I've been so busy this month, I never did get any of my other Valentine's stitching out on display! Shame on me... All those hours of making little pink and red x's through the years and I left them sitting in the drawer. Oh, well--I'll be sure to get them out next February. At least I have these two new pieces to brighten up the day!

So many shades of pink...

I also stitched a card for a friend who is going through some health issues. This is called "Buttercup" by Nickyscreations and can be found in the April 2017 issue of Just Cross Stitch. I used 40 ct. platinum Newcastle with the suggested DMC thread (although I changed the birds' legs to DMC 420 and the centers of the flowers to DMC 832).  I sure hope it brings a little sunshine into my friend's day!

A cheerful card for a friend

So, I mentioned an "unwanted visitor" in the title of this post. I'll bet most of you can guess what it was, can't you? Yes, Mr. Covid reared his ugly head and visited my husband on February 2nd. He's quite sure he got it on the plane ride home from Florida at the end of January because he tested positive just five days later. Thankfully, it was a mild case and he only felt bad for a few days. And, even better--I avoided getting it! We slept in separate bedrooms, used different bathrooms, and pretty much stayed on opposite sides of the house during the daytime. This was the second time he had it--and I escaped contracting it both times. I'm sure I'll end up with it at some point, but so far, I've been very lucky! How about you? Have you had Covid yet?

 

My uncle playing Santa

 

My last remaining uncle by marriage (he was married to my dad's sister),  passed away last week at the incredible age of 101. What a life he led--definitely part of  "The Greatest Generation!" He survived the Battle of the Bulge during World War II (during which 90,000 Allied soldiers were killed) and was the last remaining WWII veteran in the southwestern New York county where he lived his entire life. I grew up in the same small town as all of my dad's siblings and their spouses and this particular uncle was the one tasked with playing Santa each Christmas Eve for my Grandparents' 21 grandchildren! Down the stairs he would come, sleigh bells jingling, with a big sack of gifts--one for each of us. Even in my late teens, I still looked forward to that annual tradition. My siblings and I still get a big laugh about the hilarious (somewhat scary, truth be told!) Santa costume he wore each year. So, here's to my uncle and all the other brave veterans out there! Thank you all for your service...

My youngest son and his girlfriend, otherwise known as the "world travelers" of our family are visiting Oman for ten days. Oman?! I had to look it up on a map to know exactly where it is. I knew it was in the Middle East and, of course, immediately went into "worried mother mode," but my son assured me it is one of the safest countries in that part of the world. He's been treating us to some breathtaking photos and I think you'll agree, the scenery is stunning. I'm sure I'll never travel there, or to many of the places they've visited over the past three years, but it sure is fun traveling vicariously through them! 

Just a few of the stunning photos my son has sent from Oman

And my little grandson did a bit of traveling of his own as well... he and his mom and dad went to Disney World for a few days. I thought he was a bit young to be going, but he did pretty well. He was scared of The Haunted Mansion and the interactive "It's Tough to be a Bug." But, he adored the roller coasters and the costumed characters. Here he is getting acquainted with Goofy at an Animal Kingdom breakfast (my daughter-in-law reported that it was the most expensive meal the three of them had ever had together!). Next time they go, we hope to go with them!

Mister B meets Goofy!

So, what has been keeping me so busy this month? I've been working on redecorating two bedrooms! And the large one (ours) involves removing wallpaper. Ugh! Never, ever am I going to put up wallpaper again! We hadn't done anything to update our bedroom in over 25 years so it was definitely past time. So far, we've removed the wallpaper border and some of the wallpaper below the chair rail. We also decided to purchase a king-size bed so we've been shuffling beds around as well as other furniture. The new mattress arrived and we love it! Right now, it's just placed on the floor as our new king-size bed frame hasn't arrived. Hopefully, soon! There have been a lot of trips to various stores, searching online, returning things that didn't work out, etc. But, it will be so nice to have things updated when we're all done. We're in no hurry--I haven't even picked out paint colors or linens yet. But, we'd like to have it mostly finished by the time spring rolls around. 

Hope each of you has a wonderful Valentine's Day! I'm hoping for some chocolate later on--hint, hint to my dear husband. Maybe I'll make a special dessert, too. Thanks for stopping by today--and a special thank you to those of you who take the time to leave a comment. I truly appreciate your support! Bye for now...

♥♥♥ Happy Valentine's Day ♥♥♥