In a finishing sort of mood

Last night I finished stitching my adaptation of the Friendship Sampler [designer unknown, due to my sloppy downloading and printing]. Since I had Barbara's blogaversary gift awaiting a finish [photos to be shown once the piece is in its new home] and I wanted to finish the Sampler in the same way, I spent this morning assembling and trimming two pin pillows filled with ground walnut shells and lined with muslin. The pin pillow is pictured above a swatch of the backing fabric. Clicking on the photo will enlarge it enough so that you can see all the specialty stitches I used to make this a real sampler: the border is made up of brick stitches, tent stitches and a square Rhodes stitch and I incorporated lazy daisy, long stitches, Queen stitches and eyelet stitches into the body of the piece. I had a grand time making the piece my own. And while in a finishing mood, I went on to finish this little patriotic ornament from Prairie Schooler. I used some hand-dyed chenille from RR Reproductions as trim for both pin pillows and some hand-twisted white cord for the ornament. For the ornament, I used some beads leftover from a Kreinik kit to make the hanger and added this cute little silver USA charm that has been kicking around in my bead box for years. Once I have posted this entry, I'll return to measuring, cutting and padding the boards for five Town Square ornaments that have been languishing in the finishing basket.