Chose the next ornament for the Brides Tree SAL

I think I will end up doing two bird ornaments for this SAL, not just one.

I had planned on doing Monsterbubbles' "The First Day," from the 2009 JCS ornament issue. My reasoning is a bit corny, but, on the day after our engagement, we went to Ocean City to walk the boardwalk. Oh, let's be serious: I wanted to go to Salty Yarns, HTB wanted caramel popcorn and a TV to watch football. Once he had a little pit beef in him, he was more than content to sit on the bench outside the LNS and let me shop (and if I play my cards right, we'll repeat this scenario when we go camping next weekend :)). Anyway, when I bought the ornament issue there, I liked the idea of stitching that ornament to commemorate how we spent "the first day," eating, shopping, being lovesick goobers.

But I have always loved Kitty and Me's contribution to the 2000 issue, a pretty cardinal sitting amidst blackwork, er, greenwork, greenery. We get cardinals in our yard, and I dearly love them. Even the one who has a habit of flying right up to the window in the morning, hanging on the screen, and looking in at us. Looking at her head-on, she seems to be glaring, like we're somehow slacking because it's 830 on a Saturday morning, there's no food in the feeder, and we're not hustling to fill it. She looks us over, like, "Well . . . ? Quit laying around. Feed us. The blue jays are hungry." I guess she doesn't understand that, after a week spent working hard to pay for the food they eat, we need to sleep in? We tried ignoring her, but that doesn't work with wild birds. But we watch them quite a lot. And enjoy them; it's neat to see variation in color in the males, even in the same season, even eating the same food. Since it's an interest we share, I thought it was a good thing to have on our tree.

And so, because it was so hard to choose between the fun and funky, and the more meaningful, more beautiful, I just figured it wouldn't hurt to do both. To represent that, as a couple, we do have so many layers. At first, I thought I was braking some "rule," but, in this case, my sandbox, my rules.

I'll try to post some photos tomorrow night. Which has also been set aside as a finishing frenzy Friday. I'll be pretty busy this weekend, and I want some of these ornaments finished NOW. So, we'll plug in a movie and I'll go to town. If we're lucky, it's a Lord of the Rings marathon, and that could go all night! LOL.