My friend's daughter is an avid gymnast (yes, we've watched The Gabby Douglas Story together), so for her birthday this past fall, I stitched her this sweet little gymnast. ------------------------------------------------->I found the pattern on this website (same one where I found the castle pattern I used in this project). The direct link for the pattern can be found here. I like trolling free patterns online every so often and saving ones I think are cute, even if I don't have a specific use for them yet.
The original pattern resulted in the image at left, but I rarely follow the prescribed colors of cross stitch patterns, preferring my own 'floss palette' (which is usually based on colors I already have on hand, lol, but personalization also comes into play). I selected the hair and skin tone colors from my floss collection, aligning them with Claire's coloring as best I could. I also decided to remove the shoes, since the girls at her gym compete barefoot (I've been to a meet!). For the leo, I used teal, which is (was?) C's favorite color. I free-stitched her name in the remaining white space to really personalize it and tucked it into a fun frame that I found at Wal-Mart.
It came together really nicely, and she definitely liked it.
And, I know for a fact that it's displayed in her bedroom upstairs, so there's the proof. ;)
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| The fabric isn't wrinkled - I always catch reflections in the frame glass! |