WIP updates and mail

I'm starting to get very close to the finish on Starlight Sampler. I worked on it this weekend, and got a lot done, but I needed a break, so I picked up Cinnamon Bear, Pam Kellogg's 2001 Ornament for JCS. I think I started it last fall, but not totally sure.  This is my progress so far:

 

The bear and kitten are pretty straight-forward, with rich shading. The blanket . . . is another story. It's about 5 shades of red/coral, and at least 3 shades of white. I'm plugging away at it, though. This is one of my favorite JCS ornaments, not sure why I have never stitched it, but I love it.

My progress on Starlight Sampler:

 

Almost done. The oak treas are harder to stitch than the pine trees on the other side of the cabin, and I don't like how close the leaf colors are, but this is a beautiful design. I hear people talk about prim designs and samplers with disdain (Left-brain among them), but I enjoy designs like this--easy to source materials, not overly-complex, proof that you don't have spend a lot of money to get a nice effect, and it's a nice vacation for me from the more complicated stuff.

This came in the mail on Monday. I have been "subscribing" to these calendars for a few years, but they usually disappoint me. But this year's, while not the greatest one ever, was pretty good.

 



And they've changed the way they do itYou have the calendar itself, which is OK, but they took the charts out of the calendar and put them as a booklet, maybe the size of a British magazine. What an amazing idea! Why didn't they do this sooner? Much easier to store and carry, and it doesn't muck up the pages of the calendar!

 

And the designs are OK this year. I like all the designs on this page, except the one on the bottom left, and there are more that I like that I am choosing not to photograph--I don't want to mess with copyright. The Christmas book looks good this year, as well, so we'll see if I get any of these projects done.