Exterminativity

Over the past few weeks, in the midst of wrapping up the sweater vest, I worked on the next set of Christmas Balls in the chapter of Religious motifs. As religious themes, none of these seem particularly Christmas-y to me -- and several seem downright Easter-y. But who's to say? I suppose if you live in a country where Easter is as likely to be as snowy as Christmas, a little blurring of the symbolism is allowed.

 

First up is a Crown, which I bedazzled to the nth degree. The beads around the brow section are silver, with all the rest red. The next ball is a Lily pattern across two panels. It doesn't show in the photo, but the lilies to the left and right of the visible one point down rather than up. It looks like I may have had a tension issue with this one -- I see a bit of a pucker on the right.

 

Next are a Butterfly and an Anchor. The butterfly's wing spots consisted of three white stitches. I couldn't decide which of them deserved beads -- so I did them all. This may cross the line from flashy to trashy, but there you go. The anchor was tough because of the long floats.

 

And finally, a Greek Cross on a red background (my personal favorite of this bunch) and a Crown & Heart design. I like the heart, although it rides low in the design and was hard to capture. The crown on the first pattern is preferable to this one, I think. This one looks like a Dalek. And everyone knows that hearts and Daleks don't really mix, much less Daleks and Christmas -- except when they do...