(Available for purchase here at the Herrschner's site, and, of course, you can search for it on Amazon.) There are four designs inside, one for each season.
I started with the spring flower and immediately ran into an issue. I simply do not like stitching an abundance of yellow on white fabric. As an overall design, it would be okay, but I wanted the words in the design to stand out, so yellow on white wouldn't do. This led me to choose different colored fabrics for each design; pink for spring, blue for summer, tan for autumn and purple for winter. Again, I ran into an issue. The yellow looked worse on pink than it did on white, so I changed the pink fabric for green. Better, but still not good. (I know, I know, pictures to demonstrate how they looked would be so very illustrative right now. One of these days, I'll get my act together.) So I took my customization to a new level and switched out the yellow floss for purple. Yep, you heard me. Purple.
The flower looks blue here, but trust me, it's purple. I have flowers in my garden that are purple with orange centers, so I don't feel that my color choices are unrealistic.
A summer sailboat next, and except for the aforementioned fabric color choice, I stuck with the original blue and red floss.
Here's autumn with its tan fabric and gold and orange leaves. (I think this is my favorite of all of them.)
And finally, a winter snowman.
Also, somewhere within each design, you'll find my initials and the year, so I'll always know when it was created. Always sign your work, people!
These projects contained a LOT of quarter stitches, which are a pain, so I did all of the elements that required quarter stitches first, then did all the backstitch elements. Also, the winter snowman has French knots in the arms, which were also a pain because I hate French knots more than quarter stitches. But I can also say I thoroughly enjoyed doing these and I can honestly say they were easy because the majority of each project consisted of backstiching. Plus, they were just plain FUN!
I went with identical square frames for each project so as the seasons change, I can hang each one in turn in the same place on my wall. I plan the same seasonal switchout with my next project, Five Seasons of Quilts:
I'm starting with the Fall quilt in hopes that I'll finish it by fall. I'll try--seriously, I promise--to take pictures in progress so you'll see how it's going.
