Stitching my Way to Happiness

The Way to Happiness is the name of a 5-week long Stitch-a-long project that was finished - oh, some time ago... but I finished it just yesterday. Here it is.

As one can plainly see, the only thing one has to do to be happy is to become a saint. That's all that is required. Sarcasm aside, I did enjoy stitching this piece - very easy flowing, pleasant, with enough details not to get boring, yet, at the same time, without excessive number of threads or frequent changes... In short - perfect SAL!
Usually I do not make changes to original patterns, but this time I felt daring (is that the word?). Originally, the house had empty windows and door, and it looked to me a bit fake, like a cardboard box with a drawing. Same could be said about the table cloth- originally the "cloth" area was empty. So, I changed it: filled in the door, put in windows, and - filled in the table cloth.

When working on the windows, I was watching Harry Potter movies - can you see the influence? :)
The cloth looks a bit "ruffled" after the modification.
The pattern was borrowed from a wonderful website www.jardinprive.com - it's a great source of free patterns, and this particular project is available in several languages.
On another note, one thing I did not enjoy in this process was taking pictures of the finished work - because of frustrations with my camera. The more I use it, the more I get lost in all the options. I think maybe I need to start looking for something less advanced, without quite as many buttons, just a machine that can focus and use flash.
Almost forgot- I wanted to show another finished project called "Blueberry Dessert" by a wonderful Russian designer Valeria Antonova of NeoCraft. I finished this kit about a month ago, and I still have two more kits to complete.

"Blueberry Dessert"

I love stitching. It's what I do best, it's what I'd rather do with most of my (free) time. If I could turn it into a full time work, I would do it in a heartbeat. This is why  I decided it was time to get my own webpage offering my stitching services to those interested. My husband, who, among many things, is a web designer, offered to help me with setting it up. I finally picked the template, chose the pictures, and now the only thing I have left is to write an About page. What could be easier? Ah, no... somehow whatever I think of writing does not seem... professional enough. "I am a wife, mother, and stitcher"? " I like cross stitch, how about you?" I don't know, everything just becomes a mess in my head and comes out... wrong.