Dense Area

The square I'm working on now is really densely stitched, so it's taking a while to get through.  On the other hand, it looks pretty good.

Spot the Missing Letter....

This is easy to make progress with.  I think I'll be able to do a section once a week, which will make it easy to get it done on time!

Waving Along

I am now officially over halfway done on the second rectangle!  Now I have to decide next time I work on it if I am going to start on the third or just continue with the second until it's done.

Done with the Crosses

Yay!  I've started the specialty stitches.  As promised, I finished the cross stitches last time and have now started doing the special stitches, starting at the top.  There are a -lot- of them, but they'll make the piece stand out even more.  Once I'm done with that, there's a scattering of beads to place, too.  It's well on its way to completion.  Maybe, since it was my New Year's start, I'll actually finish it in the year I started.

Winnings from Gone Stitching and Weeks Dye Works

It's here!  The very first time I listened to Gone Stitching's blogcast, back in March, I entered the competition.  And the next week, I won!  I was soooo surprised!  It took over three months to get here, but it's HUGE and wonderful!  They originally said it would be pearl cotton for use in needlepoint, but I got much more than that.  I didn't know that Weeks had so many products.  I'm so thrilled! 

So, here's an inventory, sort of: pearl cotton in sizes 3, 5 and 8; embroidery floss in two strand, three strand, and six strand colors; quilting thread (wow, something I never knew they had!); wool fabric, and a very nice twill - which isn't even on their product page.  It feels great.  Anyway, I love, love. love this and cannot thank Weeks Dye Works and Gone Stitching enough. 

I've already used some of the size 5 pearl in a temari, which I'll show pictures of later this week.  It is nice and shiny and lays flat very well.  I've also started stitching two different things with the two strand floss.  It is very like linen floss in feel and has a matte texture.  One is a Debbie Draper mystery sampler from Sticklounge, and the other is the Punto Antico biscornu we're working on in CyberStitchers.  Pictures will follow later in the week.  I'll be using more of these things as I go along and will be buying more pearl cotton for sure to use on temaris and in my needlepoint.

Thanks again Gone Stitching and Weeks!

Back to Naptime

I was finally able to return to this last week.  Yay!  I'm still on the first page, but I -will- get it done.

Beautiful Exchange!

Last week, Karin's temari from Sweden got here!  It's beautiful and was part of the Spring GITS from Talk Temari yahoogroup.  She made each flower one that's found in Sweden in spring and even gave me a little guide to them!  Isn't it pretty?  I'll treasure it always.

So Very Close

I'm still working on this, but it's -so-close to being done.  Next picture should be of it all done!

Gifts from Friends

Ana gave me these beautiful pearl cottons and a great magazine when we met.  I'm going to use them soon.

And Sussy gave me this great little paper floral arrangement.  It sits on my desk and the bright pink cheers me up during these dreary winter days.  Thank you both!

Lining Up

I'm getting things done on this, and it's a good thing - I need to finish by September 15th!  Although each area is bigger than a square for kaleidoscope mandala, it goes quicker - empty spaces.

First Meeting

Here are a couple of pictures of me and my fellow stitchers in Uruguay!  I met Ana and Sussy on the Puntocruz Yahoo group, a Spanish language worldwide cross stitch group with a lot of wonderful members.

We met and shared at the Don Pepperone and oohed and ahhed over patterns and projects for three hours!  We're planning on doing it again soon.

Counting Down

Only one more rectangle and a half to go.  I'm so happy I'm so close to getting this "prework" done.

A Bit of Roof

Did some roof this week and some of the upper floor building.  Other than that, not much to say.

One Last Celtic Block

This is Rebecca's block, the last for me to work on in the Celtic round robin.  As you can see, there're really not much space left.  She's making a book cover for her husband out of it, and so has requested no beads and a masculine feel.

This is how it looked once I was done with it.  I added two motifs and two seams.  One motif is the abstract tree below the cross, and the other is three spirals made by Andreas.  Even though she said no beads, they're not beads and the spirals look nice on there.  I hope she approves.  The two seams are also there, though they're not very visible.

All Dolled Up and Ready to Go

So here is the pillow all made up.  The recipient liked it a lot, and it was a really quick stitch!

More Lattice

'This week I added more black-ish, which makes up the mortar between bricks.  I also did some work on the back stitching in the earlier part.  I finished the blue flowers on the upper right and also the blue line there.  Also started the backstitching on the lower left. 

Lesson Learned

The instructions for the punto antico biscornu we're doing in CyberStitchers as a project call for size 8 pearl cotton.  Silly me, I decided color was more important than size.  So I tried my Watercolours, which breaks down into size 5 pearl.  As you can see from looking at this, it looks all clunky and odd. 

So... I'll be starting over.  Luckily for me, I won a great big stash of Weeks Dye Works threads and they came in this week.  I'll be using those!  And yes, I'll have a picture and explanation of my win later this week.  Stay tuned!

A Bit More Gold

When the picture(s) for this were taken last week, I was not done with my rotation's worth for the day.  So you get another picture this week.  I finished it up with some gold on the bottom right.

Plugging In

Working on the last bits of the mandala, yay.  Still got a lot to go, but it's definitely going to be done on time.  I have -all- the rest of the chart.  Now to get this done so I can catch up on the German Group Mystery, which I only have until the middle of September to complete.

Middling

I'm filling in the middle of this side now, all orange and blue.  It's at least going fairly quickly.

A Birthday Quickie

This was stitched for a friend for her birthday.  It was really quick and took me only a couple of days.  The pattern is by Kincavel Krosses.

Yarns and Beads

On Independence Day, we went shopping.  All the stores downtown are only open on weekdays and we had someone to show around so... shopping time.  These yarns are from Manos del Uruguay's outlet store.  I love the bright colors, and the price is great.  Day before yesterday, I saw the identical yarns in a retail shop here.  I'm glad I went to the outlet.

We also went to the bead shop.  I'll be using the hairstick pictured here as a laying tool.  Not sure what I'm going to do with all the beads...

An Actual Something Useful

Yup, I finished my graphic sampler from Marquoir (now Sticklounge) into a pillow.  It's actually a chihuahua bed now.  I had it ready to go and just finished it this past week.  It came out pretty cute.

World Cup Semi Final Last Tuesday

As you may or may not know, Uruguay was the only South American team to make it to the semi-finals.  Everyone thought it'd be Brazil or Argentina or both, but the little country caught in the middle came through.  These pictures were all taken during the game at the food court of Punta Carretas mall.  The whole city (and country, I'm sure) was shut down to watch the game.

There are TVs all around the food court, nice LCD ones, so everyone can see the action while they eat.

Cheerleaders walking around. Thankfully, they were vuvuzuela-less.

And even the McDonalds crew was not frying anything, but glued to the TV.  Uruguay lost, though it was very close at the end.  They did very well for such a small country.

Edging Along

Didn't really get any of the salamander done this week, but I did get a lot of the edges done.

Another Building Down

One more building done here... still slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

Lady and the Cat

Someone decided to critique my stitching as the picture was taken...

Some more brown done on this, and the ribbon got brought done some more.  Getting closer.

Coffee

On Monday, since we had the day off, a group of us went to Old Town to show a temporary person around.  While there, we stopped at McDonalds to warm up and get a drink.  So... this is how they serve mochachinos in McCafes in Uruguay.  Fancy!  It's still a McDonalds, but the cafe part is somewhat separated from the regular McDonalds and has better furniture. 

Lots of Work, Little to Show

Well, I did spend some time on this part this week.  It's a lot of teeny tiny stitches, so it doesn't look like a lot of progress.  I think it's more work done, though, and there are other places where there's not much for a lot of visible punch.

Waving Along

Three more stripes done on the second rectangle, so it's almost half done. 

From Blue to Color Blasted

This picture shows how I sent off my silk ribbon embroidery round robin block.  It was all blue, and I didn't specify any particular theme for it.

And here is how I got it back.  It's a carnival of color and gorgeous!  I was so surprised at how they made a blue block pop so much.  Thank you Arlene, Candji, Diane and Susan for doing such wonderful work on my block!  I love it.

Another project I'm going to have to concentrate more on!  Marquoir just finished this piece, so I have three months to get mine done.  Needless to say, the kaleidoscope has a higher priority, but this one's coming right after.  There are about five or six more parts left.  I can get it done.

Fiori Finished

Yay, it's done!  Another Christmas ornament to be stitched up.  Just in time too - Marquoir is starting another small project next Sunday.

Susan's Silk Ribbon Embroidery Block

I was the last person to work on Susan's SRE block.  This round robin went by -fast-.  Here is her block before my work.  There were a lot of odd areas that needed filling in.

So here is what I did!  I added butterflies on the pink and a spray of flowers on the blue at the bottom.  I also did some flower buttons on the purple on the right side.  There were a couple of seams I did too.  The most prominent is the one that uses Peking stitch across the trunk of the tree in the middle.  It was mailed to Susan last week.  I hope she likes it.