Starfish garland, II

I started this week stitching a challenge from Anna at http://www.stitchbitch.blogspot.com It was so satisfying to complete a project in 1 1/2 days.  I'll reveal it in October after the challenge is completed.

Here is midway progress on my starfish canvas:

I was using leftover silk 'n ivory from the shop's stash and you can see what happened in this next photograph.

Yes, that is definitely a different dyelot of shrinking violet.  Sigh!  I've convinced myself to leave it because when the starfish are hanging on the garland, the color difference won't be so obvious.

One stitching tip I want to pass on about stitching with metallic ribbons and braids while the canvas is on a frame.  I constantly run my fingers over the back of the stitches to catch any instances of the fibers knotting on the back.  It doesn't show on the front and I hate constantly flipping my frame to look.  I "let my fingers do the walking".  

I've been thinking more about this idea and have carried it further to include doing dog bone shapes (or dog shapes) for a dog-related garland and fish shapes (or cat shapes) for a cat-related garland.  In fact, that may be what I do for Vero Beach's annual Festival of Trees.  I think I can entice some of my employees to stitch one or two each to assist in the process (she says in a calculating tone).  More about this later.