Needlepoint Wall Hangings

It feels like it took me a whole year to complete this 12x16 needlepoint kit...

...only to find out that I'm still not done with it, because despite stretching it out by misting it with water and tacking it to a bulletin board, it still does not fill the frame.  So, I need to complete 5 or 6 more rows at the top.

This is "Old Mill Cottage" designed by Violet Schwenig for Dimensions.  It was definitely the most ambitious and complicated needlepoint project I've worked on yet.  There are legends for the legends, so especially near the end while working on the finishing touches like French knots, there was a bit of deciphering I had to do.

Ironically, I completed this 5x7 needlepoint kit in a week...

This is "Butterflies Galore" by Design Works.

Despite just getting new glasses, I'm still struggling to see details.  I think every butterfly had at least two stitches that I missed, so I had to go back and tack in extra stitches.  I need to keep a bright light over the canvas while I'm stitching.  This was also the first kit that instructed me to use the half-cross stitch instead of the continental stitch, which I discovered makes it really hard to tuck in tails.  I ended up creating an occasional row of the continental stitch to make room for mistakes.

I appreciated the simplicity of this particular kit because the ink on the canvas matched the yarn colors, and enough yarn was provided to be creative.  I took some liberties with the smallest butterfly because it was supposed to be the exact same colors as the biggest butterfly and I wanted some variation.  That's why it looks like a kindergartner completed the smallest butterfly.