Roses

This is the second time I've used this pattern. It's quite versatile, and looks great in a variety of colours.

Roses DMC 648; leaves DMC 3781; border DMC 221

Ukrainian Stitchery

Having recently been exposed to traditional Ukrainian cross stitch, I had to try some for myself. I grabbed a pattern here and adapted it thus:

Red DMC 817; grey DMC 535; yellow DMC 728

Red DMC 817; grey DMC 401

Traditionally, this would be done in scarlet and black, but I used grey because I like the softer contrast.

Hoot

Chris saw me stitching this and exclaimed that owls are his "spirit animals," which is a funny thing for an atheist to say. Though I'm sure I've said things that are even weirder for an atheist to say myself, so no biggie. He's getting this in the mail, even though he's coming over tomorrow and lives in Toronto, because it's more interesting that way.

You can find the (free) pattern for this here.

My DMC colours, using the pattern's key:
□  362 + 420
/    420
X   801
--   3852
T   732

I really like this border. Simple and effective.

Birthday Cthulhu

Who's the cutest little horror from the deep?

Seriously, how cute is he?

I have no idea where I got this pattern. I only remember that it was on a blog offering a whole lot of adorable freebies. If anyone knows the origin, please let me know so I can link to the evil genius behind it.

Hallowe'en Cats

This may be the cutest thing I've ever stitched. As usual, scanning it doesn't do it justice.

The DMC colours I used:

Top left = 3781
Top right = 375
Middle left = 393
Ghost kitty = ears and tail in 400, and the body in some mystery pearly floss I found unlabelled in my floss box...
Bottom left = mystery unlabelled floss a shade away from 370
Bottom right = 433

Pattern here. It's free!

Baroque Angel

From a series of angel patterns by Mar Bek. I find their colour choices quite awful, and the shading and folds in the voluminous fabrics are very awkward, so I fiddle with them quite a bit. It's ultimately a matter of preference, I know, and I do naturally tend towards darker, earthier colours. I find this series to be overly saccharine, and simply have to tone it down.

I do recommend this pattern, though, because the results can be fantastic with the right choice of colours. This photo doesn't really show the black back-stitch outlining that I did in place of shading on her robe, but just take my word on it: it works much better this way.

This is from the pattern:

Exterminate!!

Daleks for Meg (from here).