Busy busy busy

Still sticking to my list of 2013 goals, over the past week I've been working on the first of two wedding samplers.

This will be the center, and it is The Sweetheart Tree's "Snowflakes in the Pines" Teenie Tweenie.  I like it, but all that backstitching is kind of maddening!  I know it will look nice in the end, though.  I've substituted HDF silks for the DMC used in the pattern.  Above and below this center will be rows of specialty stitches - initially I thought I'd use triangular satin stitches like I did in the one I made for my brother-in-law and his wife, but I'm not liking the effect this time.  Maybe a layered stitch of some kind, with brown on the bottom, then green, and topped with white -- so it evokes looking down on a snow-covered forest?  Hmmm.  Then there is a verse above, the wedding information below, and bands of snowflakes at the very top and bottom.

I've also finished and mailed my Shepherd's Bush ornament for Hooked on Exchanging - hopefully I can share a pic of that soon!