Floral Heart Finish

I finished something, I finished something!  This week, I completed my floral heart from Marquoir.  It went quickly because it was only four small parts.  I think it came out pretty well, too.  I think I'm going to make it into an ornament.

Parts Finally Done

Yay, I finally finished all the squares of this series in my kaleidoscope mandala!  I need to catch up on a couple other things before I continue it, though.

Eggstravagant Exchange

In the temari egg exchange, I got this one from Jean last week.  It makes mine look so amateur!  Hers is gorgeous.  She gave me some hints to help for next time.  Thank you Jean, I'll treasure this.

Lacy Finish

I made this pillow for an exchange. It's been sent out, but it's going to Europe, so I'm sure it's in the backlog of mail from the volcano. Anyway, I finished this silk ribbon heart into a pillow with some huge lace I fould. I think it came out pretty well and I hope she likes it when she gets it.

More Shutter

More greens on the shutters done.  Not much else to say.

A Second Celtic Block

I got Cathy's Celtic block fairly late in the month and so had about a week to work on it to get it out in time.  No one's fault; it takes a lot of time to go from Australia to the States to Uruguay at the best of times.  Here is the block with its lovely knotwork as I received it.

And here is what I added to it.  To me, the block screamed for shamrocks, so I added some above the heart.  I also added some more Irish crochet flowers and did two seams.  One seam is a back to back fly stitch that looks like knotwork, and the other is a piece of gimp that I thought added well to the block.  I hope Cathy likes the additions.

Thank You Cathy!

I had made a comment here a few months ago that I had a hard time finding cottons, especially solids, here.  Cathy sent me some!  They're gorgeous, and she sent me some trim too.  It was such a wonderful random act of kindness, especially since she had to send it twice - the post office messed up my APO address and put it in the international mail originally.   But it all got here in great condition and I'll start using it immediately.

Thank you Cathy!

Still More Red

Little bits of brown, but the main color of the week was red again.  Still and all, it's getting closer to the end of the first page.

I got more petals done, yay!  I'm slowly working down the area to get it filled so I can start more properly page two.  I'm only three pages behind so far.... at least it's started.

Third Part Done

The third part of the heart is done, out of four.  Only one more to go and it's done.  I'll have a finish soon!  I feel like I've been getting so little done this year so far.

Framing It In

I've been framing in the big buildings on the second side this week.  There's more brickwork done on the middle building and the area surrounding the doors on the stable is stitched.  I also did some work on the building on top of the stable. 

Some Gold, Some Brown

The Lady got a bit more glitz this week with some gold braid and, of course, what would a week be without some brown added?  At least it's getting to the end.  The white sweep on the left is the last of her dress on that area.

Kaleiding Away

There were four solid squares and several periphery pieces here for the part I'm working on now.  I still haven't finished it, after over a week of working on it every day, but it is coming along.  Finishing soon.

Tentacling On

This week, I worked on the massive tentacles for the third jellyfish.  I should have that done the next time I work on it.

More Countryside

Some last pictures of the Tuacarembo/Valle Eden area.  All are very much countryside.

I have no idea what kind of bird it is, but it's surely pretty.

Wild turkeys!

Arlene's Silk Ribbon Block

I finished up Arlene's silk ribbon block and mailed it off last week.  Here's a picture of the block before my work.

And here it is after I finished.  I didn't go the floral route because there were already so many beautiful flowers on the block.  Instead, I did a branch full of leaves and some dragonflies.  I also added a chainlink border and a rickrack border embellised with ribbon and beads. 

A Pattern Emerges

The second rectangle's pattern is hard to establish with a thread length - the gaps between are just too big.  So, now that I've added three colors to it, you can see the wave emerging.  I'm almost done with the first basketweave rectangle, too.

Last Gaucho Festival Post

At least for this year, it is.  We've not decided if we're going next year yet.  This is a picture of one of the booths with stuff for sale.

This picture and the next are for Andreas' mother.  I know I wouldn't feel safe on these rides...

And a pet monk parakeet.  We get these in our back yard in the spring.

This is the lake in the middle of the festival grounds.  The main circuit goes all the way around it.  For some reason, it's called Washerwoman lake.

A back view of one of the permanent pavilions.

I thought the meal kits were kind of spiffy.

Another Biscornu for SAS

We've been told we're a bit short on biscornu for SAS 30 in June, so I've decided to make a third one.  I think the colors are a lot better on this one than the last.

Beer for my Horses

Two special pictures from the Gaucho Festival.  When we saw the tableau, we thought of the Toby Keith song...

And washed to make them look even more like the song...

More than Halfway

I am now officially past the halfway point on the cross stitches for this.  Yay!  It means I'm making progress, and I feel like I might be able to finish the whole thing by September.

Flowering Out

I've got all the green cross stitching done now, and it's on to the purple flowers.  Coming along, finally.

Lunch Time at the Gaucho Festival

Kids hanging out in period dress.  They look like they wear it daily.

Park your horse anywhere...

Entrance to one of the more permanent compounds in the festival area.

Cooking lunch on the parilla. 

Got knives?  We actually looked for some decent ones, but all of them are Chinese stamped steel with fancy hilts.  It seems that's all that is available here.

A different view of lunch.  Looks like pork.