Bouquet des Fleurs

Last September, my cousin gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.  Usually I stitch something immediately when I get news like this, but somehow it stayed on the back burner this time.  I'm happy that I finally finished a door hanger in honor of the new little one and especially happy that's it done before she grows up and goes to college!

I had picked out the design some time ago.  I wanted something feminine with an alphabet.  Once I saw "Bouquet des Fleurs" by Jardin Privé, it seemed like nothing else would do.  I was so pleased that I could purchase a PDF for this since those French patterns can be hard to come by in the U.S.    I modified the border to include all of the "baby facts".  It's stitched one-over-one on antique white Monaco fabric.  I used the suggested DMC colors with a few changes, notably the upper left orangey flowers and a slightly darker gray for the letters.  The bird was done in a random hand-dyed floss I had.  I was also determined to use finishing materials from my stash.  This sparkly batik seemed like the best choice from what I had.  There are a couple of layers of batting behind the stitched part only.  I like that look with the flatter border.  Probably doesn't show up that well in the photos.

Now we'll see how long it takes me to get it in the mail!