CQ Horse done - for now.

I was working right up to the end yesterday, and still didn't have a chance to fix the blue tinted bits on the horse, but my pillow was ready for last night's meeting! Ta-da!

There were four others who finished and of course they were wonderful and had so many great ideas I want to redo all sorts of things. I will probably add a few things when I pick apart the closing seam to fix the horse (which won't be until I have taken care of some of the things I have put off while rushing to finish this). The lower left corner, around the poppy, is not much embellished so I want to add to that, and a few other spots need something.

This is my favourite bit. It was fun to work all the swirls. DD the younger picked this out from my TAST collection - you can see my original sampler of the stitch in this older post.

Again at DD's request I did some buttonhole pinwheels because she liked the TAST sample.
I really enjoyed the feel of holding the fabrics to do the embroidery work. Each kind of needlework seems to have its own joy. With stumpwork it is figuring out how to get from 2-D to 3-D and have it look good. The cross-stitch work I've been doing lately has been nice because it seems to work up quickly, so you get gratifying results soon. But holding the various layers and weights of fabric yesterday felt wonderful. I guess that is why I've taken up weaving, I love the feel of fabric.

The photo below shows one of the requirements of the challenge - a spider. According to our president, it is good luck to have one on your CQ. I searched for a spider charm, though not too hard, and couldn't find anything so it is just a small black bead with thread legs. One of our prizes was a spider charm, so next time I'll be ready.

Also last night was our silent auction to raise finds for the chapter. I have added some spectacular threads to my stash, at an excellent price. I'm looking forward to thinking of something to make with them all! I also have the leftovers to use for children's programs, although I think the charts and books will be donated to the public library. I haven't looked through things yet, but I'm sure if nobody in a large group of ladies wants to pay 25 cents for a stack of patterns, they can't be that good.

On the weaving front, I'm off to class tonight to learn how to sley the reed for double weaving. Once that is done, I'm sure I'll have a baby blanket in no time.