Bee, Myself and I in May

I wasn't sure I would continue with the Bee, Myself & I project I'd designated earlier in this year. That was to be bead embroidered medallions for an eventual wall hanging. That may yet come to pass but for the time being has fallen to the bottom of the pile. Instead, for my own pleasure, I have been working on two separate needlepoint canvases. The first is this 40 year old project I unearthed last month.

You may recall that I had reservations about the choice of stitches I used for the background. There didn't seem to be enough wool to complete the canvas either. So I've been taking out those backgrounds stitches.

I'd forgotten about that Chinese character in the upper left corner. That may actually get stitched in this time (with cotton floss). I've also put in a a shadowing of tent stitches around the horses with a single strand of the wool I have left. I've had a thought about how to handle the background this time around but time will tell whether that works out or not.

The other canvas I've been stitching for my own delight is this Pumpkin Head:

This is a hand painted canvas. In theory that's supposed to make it easier to see where to put the colors of the design. The shading in Jack's head is so close I keep second-guessing myself about my color placements. I couldn't bear to have the background behind the bats stark white. Right now I'm not entirely sold on the pale gold I've chosen. I'm hoping once the whole design is stitched it will look better. I'd have used a pale purple but I think that's going to go around the image as an overall background.

Bee, Myself & I was instituted by Carla over at Granny Maud's Girl. For those of us who find ourselves making things for others most of the time this is a way to make sure we do something for our own pleasure!