Winter Train

We are in deep winter here on the Great Plains and I am really enjoying my winter stitching. When I saw this design--Christmas Train by The Posy Collection--I was captivated! The image of a steam train rushing through a winter night is so evocative and this little kit captures it perfectly. I stitched it with most of the included DMC, but swapped out the red for GAST Buckeye Scarlet and the greens for GAST Otter Creek and Weeks Blue Spruce. I also used the new Zweigart 32 ct. Basalt Splash I showed in my last post (kit and fabric available at 123 Stitch). 

Since I wanted a winter design I could display for several months, I left off the wreath on the front of the train and the star and french knots on the tree. And about that tree: I got the subtle, piney look by using the mismatched method I described in this post. (I confess to never following the "cross each stitch as you go when using variegated threads" rule and I often mismatch the strands if I'm stitching something with a lot of texture like trees or fur.) I love this little design. I think I may frame it, which is not something I usually do for ornament-sized designs. 

Tiger Lily has had a lot of snow to watch lately. Her favorite window is in Mr. Wonderful's office upstairs overlooking the back yard where it's nice and quiet, but I did manage to get a shot of her looking out a downstairs front window. She doesn't do it often because she doesn't like cars, and snowplows are particularly scary! This is a moment of bravery!

BONUS CONTENT: Mr. Bun says, "Hi." He still visits every day unless the weather is especially bad. Shows up in the morning and goes home about dusk. We chat every morning when I come downstairs. This morning when I took his picture I told him he was about to be world-famous.