Saluting the Rooster

The week got away from me last week, and somehow, though I had everything to hand, I didn't get to this cute little rooster until Monday of this week.
When I did finally pull everything together in one spot, this took me maybe an hour to stitch up.

In the interest of full disclosure, the yellow/gold color I used here isn't the one they specified. It's 783 instead of 782, because that's what was in my box of floss. I know I have the required color, somewhere. Most likely involved in another project. I just wasn't going to go out and hunt it down, wasting valuable creative time, when you won't really know the difference. If I hadn't had one very close to it, I might have felt differently, but I was lucky, so I just forged ahead with what I had.

Now, a word about needles. See on the right side of the rooster, where my stitching is all wonky? That was me, trying to make do with a tapestry needle. Tapestry needles are not sharp, they have a smooth rounded point because they are meant for use with needlepoint and cross-stitch fabrics, which have a loose, open weave. But to do this sort of stitching, you need a pointy end just to get through the layer of batting. When that length of thread ran out, I reached into a pouch full of needles that I had handy (less than a foot away, if you must know) and searched out a sharp embroidery needle to finish the rest of it. See how smooth that line is along the left side? That's what using the right tools does for you. Lesson learned.

Decided after I'd stitched it that I wasn't very likely to wear it if I made it into a pin, being not terribly much into wearing pins on a regular basis.

Frame is from the dollar store, which I only know now because the stickers were still attached to it when I pulled it from the frame stash. I think it gives it a decidedly "oval office" feel, don't you?