BBD: A Different Colorway

This is my start on Blackbird Design's "Waiting for the Harvest."  I am stitching it with Threadworx cotton floss on 32ct. white Belfast linen. These colors speak autumn to me.

Souvenir de France--My Version

This is my version of BBD's "Souvenir de France."

One of my dreams is to visit France someday. Right now, the closest I get is via one of Cara Black's mysteries. This piece incorporates BBD's Eiffel Tower design as well as motifs from Dover Publications Anne Orr charted design books.

From bottom left, going clockwise around:

a crown to represent past royalty; a lily; a heart for romance; a little bird; grapes on the vine; a butterfly for happiness; a stylized marguerite (daisy); decorative scroll work to evoke the magnificence of historic architecture; and "liberte" to acknowledge the transition to the republic.

Petites Lettres Rouges--My Version

I found this Blackbird Designs blog contest two days before the deadline, which was not enough time for me to enter. I've just finished my version of the "Petites Lettres Rouges," in shades of DMC reds on tea-colored
28 ct. linen.

I wanted a lot of birds in it, so I left out many of the numbers as well as the date. I put in two swallows from "Ann Orr's Charted Designs (Dover Pub.), a crane of my own design, a stork from "Scandinavian Charted Designs from the Lindberg Press" (Dover Pub.), and a chick from "Ann Orr's Charted Designs" (Dover Pub.).

I place my name on it. Although I've stitched many samplers, this is the first one to have my full name. I haven't decided whether I'll make this into a pillow or frame it. It will depend upon finding a suitable frame.

My printer did not print the symbols clearly, so I might have made mistakes in the coloring of the borders.