It's done!!! I finished the Stocking of Doom!!!

Many of you know that I've been working on what I've affectionately dubbed The Stocking of Doom for my new sister-in-law. It's not a secret that I'm not a fan of pink...or orange, but Anne is. She wanted a fairy in those colors and she wanted it to look more like her with a darker skin tone - more Native American.

I'm here to tell you that DMC doesn't give a lot of floss options when it comes to non-caucasian skin tone, so...I did the best I could. But in the meanwhile, hey DMC - how about more variety, please?

So this is my color palette, including the backing fabric. You can scroll down to see the progress and the finished stocking. I'd forgotten how fun it is to use seed beads and bugle beads on a project. I'll probably be doing that again in the relatively near future.

Now everyone in the family has his/her own stockings and all is right with my world. This is number 17. Whew!

Pirate Santa!

I've been trying not to be so one-sided lately - you know - only focused on writing. Of course, with the deadlines, that's been a little tough, but I'm trying. This is a craft project I've been working on since we went on vacation in July. Mostly, I work on it on car trips and Friday nights at Brynn's while watching Supernatural. But I finished it yesterday while visiting my dad! I still need to frame it, but here's my first finished cross stitch project of the year.

Scroll down to see all the pics. ;)











Yup - it's Pirate Santa - complete with candy cane peg leg and hook and a little pewter treasure map.