April SAL

This is the little piece I completed for Stitching Lotus's April SAL. It's "Apple Orchard," the second in the Blackbird Designs Garden Club series, stitched over 2 on 32-count WDW Confederate Grey with charted GAST colors. It's about 4" x 4". As I did with the first in the series, my March SAL, I simplified this design somewhat, replacing a flower to the right of the bird with the little diamond motif and some additional foliage spilling out of the apple basket with the other little diamond. The cluttered look of many Blackbird Designs pieces really appeals to me at first, but I find as I work that I want to edit them slightly. (What? Me? Declutter?)

I framed "April Is the Cruellest Month," a 2016 SAL, and had it hanging on my office door this past month. Now that the craziness--if not actual cruelty--of that month is over, my exam- and final paper-grading week begins, then I can look forward to the flexibility of summer: reading and writing and house-and-garden projects. Extensive personal experience tells me that by July, I'll be itching to get back to the craziness . . .