Stitched a Raffle Prize

My husband belongs to a conservation group, High Desert Quail Forever. They work very hard to keep water in the desert to preserve the wildlife. And, apparently, my husband has taken notice of my stitching which resulted in his request for me to stitch a piece as a raffle item for this Saturday's banquet. I didn't think I would make it in time, but the piece was completed.

The pattern came from The California State Sampler that I found on eBay. I liked it because it had an awesome depiction of California: our capital building, a surfer, the Santa Barbara Mission as well as our State flag, bird, bear and flag. The Quail is the state bird, and my husband liked the picture and thought it would be cool for the banquet. 

Imagine my surprise when I opened the package and saw a hand-drawn pattern!! I couldn't believe it!! I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a pattern done by hand - everything has been computer imaged or drawn. 

I looked through all of the pages, and I finally saw that this was created in 1994! Again, what a find for me!!

The project was started Tuesday and I finished it today. The fabric I chose was 28-count Wichelt Jazlyn in Bone, and I used DMC flosses as directed. 

I will purchase a frame for it tomorrow and then mount the picture and give it to the HD Quail Forever group on Saturday for their raffle. Now, fingers crossed that others bid on it rather than just my hubby!

Post-Script: There was no actual bidding on each item. People bought their raffle tickets and then an item was lifted and a ticket drawn for it. I am happy to report that lucky number 306 won the quail (we had 305 - wow!), and the man who won it went on and on about how he was really glad he won this picture because it was the one item he wanted most from the raffle table. Yay!!!