It's almost Easter, but I'm stitching Christmas

I have been moving along on my ornaments for the grands. I have one of them done completely, and the others are at least sketches.

I started with the easy one! Meri will get a Santa Claus. I selected a chart that included a sleigh because I loved the picture Barb posted of Meri in a sled that Bill made for the kids when Becca was a baby. You can't see it in this picture, but the fabric has little gold sparkle in it.

I have the Lego symbol for Xander started, but there is a sea of red in that and I am working slowly.

The little girl Karate Kid and the archer are taking shape, at least on paper. I found some free clip art that looks enough like what I want that I can take it from there. I am not an artist, but I am finding these adaptations to be workable. Bryce is proving to the be hardest. I have made baseball oriented ornaments for a number of years and frankly, I am tired of baseball. I have done his swim team emblem, his dog, and a little gentleman dressed in colonial garb holding a parrot (his mother hasn't forgiven me for that one yet - when he saw it he decided he needed a parrot!). His big interests are baseball, lacrosse, his dog, and his newest ... girls.

One of my guilds (Loudoun Sampler Guild) is working on a year-long project. Our talented members are designing a band sampler and presenting it to us one band each month during 2013. As usual, I am behind. I have almost completed the January band and when I am through, I will post a picture of it. Betsy Morgan designed the first band -- actually, she designed two bands and we had to choose one to stitch. It was a hard decision. I finally went with the more traditional version with a house, horse and tree. The other choice was a large bird house complete with birds perched on it and a bird flying through the air. Donna LaBranche designed the second band - a pretty piece of bargello with an almost quote from Claude Monet 'color is my obsession, joy and torment'. I didn't make it to the March meeting, so I have to wait to see who designed what for March.

Rick continues to do well. Well enough that the family is heading to be beach for Spring Break. The dogs are  also getting to make a trip for the break ... they are coming here. It will be a full house next week when the LI family heads down.