A few stitching finishes

So, when I came out here, I thought I'd be here for one pretty busy week - I brought a little thread, a bit of fabric, and figured I'd have time to make one biscornu.  (and at that, I forgot to bring any stuffing so I couldn't completely finish it.  Here's both sides of it - pale blue and pink variegated floss, as wintery January theoretically moves into romantic February.

On consideration, I really should have taken the photos before I started stitching them together.  Organized as ever!

Once I'm back home, I'll stuff this and finish it up. I've decided to make a biscornu for every trip to DC I  make this year.

Fortunately for me, we made that trip out to a needlework shop, so I was able to pad my available supplies to keep me stitching through this past week.  I tried to take pictures of my new needlework stash, but they just didn't come out, so I'll just tell you... I picked out about 8 skeins of floss from various overdyed floss companies.  I wanted to see how I like them before I commit to any online purchases, and I just can't find them in WV anywhere nearby.    I got a couple of Weeks, some Crescent, and Threadworx.  I like them all... but I'm really enamored of the Threadworx floss!

I also got a bit of fabric - hard to choose, and on a budget, I wound up with some pink hand dyed 30ct linen, and have been using that to make a few ornament sized items - I wanted at least one Christmas ornament and one Valentine ornament done before the end of the month and got that done and more.

One of the stores I visited at had a $10.00 graph grab bag available, and I couldn't resist the surprise element so I got one.  There are three graphs I want to stitch, and about 4 I'm not so excited by - but I more than got my money's worth - and I think sometime soon, I'll make the ones I don't plan to do available as a giveaway here, along with some of my other graph stash that needs to be weeded out.  So stay tuned for that!

Meanwhile, here's the rest of my stitching this week:

I'm not quite finished with this Quaker heart for Valentines - I started filling the single squares with white to give it a bit more contrast and have to finish that.  This will be turned into an ornament for my February tree.

This next one is the freebie graph I created for Imbolc - a Brigid's cross I'll turn into an ornament to also hang on the tree - I changed the colors (yes, on my own design I alter the instructions!) to try one of the overdyed flosses I purchased.  I wasn't sure how I'd like it on pink, but once the backstitch was done, it had some nice depth to it.

Again, playing with my new floss, I did up a Celtic knot with heart shapes.. thinking it would be for valentines, but with the red/gold/green color scheme, it really is more Christmasy, isn't it?  I went around the edges with white, and that really brightened this up far more than it seems in the picture.

Finally, just for myself, and I'm not sure what it's for...Christmas, Valentine's Day, spring in general? Actually because of the coloring, it's likely to go toward my little collection of peacock items and will find its way on the tree in June (barring actually being packed up and moving then).  This is one of the Threadworx flosses and it is so bright and cheerful up against the pink linen. I think this was my favorite bit of stitchery this week.

Next week, I'll be getting back to my challenge items.. at least a little though most of the week is going to be taken up with getting my bearings and dealing with various little crises that have occurred while I'm away.

I'm looking forward to seeing my daughter and cat, and having access to my own kitchen supplies. But other than that, I'd really much rather fast forward a few months until being here just means I'm at home.