Puppies!!! and a little stitching

Aren't they adorable?  Three boys born May 7th.  We call them Crosby, Stills and Nash -- here's hoping they can sing as well as their namesakes -- gggg.

Puppies always make me smile -- doesn't little Nash look like a guinea pig from the backside?  Too cute.

Anyway, I don't seem to be able to get much stitching done but here's what I've managed to squeeze in:

Homage to Japan by Remy Lawler (a SAL from the Sticklounge) is finished.  I plan to make it into a bell pull.

My pink Odds & Ends by Tams Creations is almost finished -- only one more part to go.  This has been lots of fun to stitch.  The original is all cross stitch but I decided to use it as a specialty stitch sampler of the different shapes.  Honestly, I'll be glad when it's finished -- it's becoming more difficult to think of different color and stitch combos -- my poor brain is getting tired.

I've stitched on some other things but don't have pics of them - duh! - so I guess I'll leave it at this.  Have a good day.

More starts ? ! ?

Yikes -- I must be totally nuts.  I have 3 more starts (with more to begin soon).  This first one is a class taught at my local EGA chapter.  It's a photo on canvas that will be embelished with embroidery.  The designer's name is Susan Goodman.  The first class involved the border stitching.  There are 2 layers for the border, the first is scotch stitch and the second is basketweave stitch.  I'm almost finished with the first layer.   I have until May 16th to complete the 2 borders.

I took a class from Susan Goodman a couple years ago at a seminar.  This piece is called The Red Window and it involved transfering other stuff to a printed canvas before embroidering over it:

 My garden has more flowers than the designer's, if memory serves me correctly, her garden was mostly greenery.  I thoroughly enjoyed stitching my Red Window garden.  This is a fun technique and I look forward the our second class on the Lily Pond.

My second new start is a lovely sampler by Lady Periphaeira called Star Sampler.  The original pattern calls for 2 colors but I decided to add a couple colors and some specialty stitches.  If you are interested, this is a SAL and you can still stitch along if you are so inclined.  We are up to part 3 so there is still plenty of time to join.

 

And the third and final start (as of today) is a patchwork heart I'm making for a friend.  I drew the heart on the fabric with one of those pens that has water-erasible ink in it, added some patches and started to stitch. 

The last stitchy pic is the Tam's Creations piece called Odds and Ends.  This SAL in on part 12 out of 13.  Hopefully, I can finish this part over the weekend, get the final piece and finish stitching this one next week.  Wellllll, that's the plan as of this minute. 

The next couple pics have nothing to do with stitching. Shasta is about a week away from delivering and I just had to take some pics of her belly. Tomorrow she goes to my friend's house (the expert puppy midwife) to have her pups. I'm going to miss her and cannot wait to see the babes. Shasta looks bigger to me than last time ...... she seems more restless / uncomfortable than the last pregnancy ..... the poor dear.

Later ......