My Birthday Start

I started stitching the kit I got for my birthday - Alhambra Garden.  So far, it's a few stitches in black, but the main colors are all greens and blues.

Stock Show, Uruguayan Version

A big annual event in Uruguay is the Prado, a stock show and carnival combination of sorts.  We went in September, when it takes place, and I'm just now putting the pictures up.  This first one is of a prizewinning bull.  He looked really intimidating in person.  What was more intimidating?  He was the head of a line of six of them ... all just as big.

They were doing riding trials in the ring, and though she wasn't the most obedient horse, she was certainly the prettiest.

What's a stock show without farm equipment?  Neither John Deere nor Caterpillar were represented.  Most of the brands were Chinese, with a couple of German ones thrown in.

 Lunch!  This is the way they roast pig and lamb down here.  It smells wonderful.

Evidently Belle and her sisters of Bluebell fame have moved to Uruguay.  Lots of lovely animals, but very few breeds.  The dairy cows were most diverse, with about eight breeds.  More pictures to come.

Started a Second Part

Here's the beginning of the second part of When Stars Collide by Tam of Tam's Creations.  My colors are a rather odd choice, but I wanted to use this peach fabric.

Still Seeing Stars

Back to the See the Stars.  It's been quite a while, but it's still looking good.

Still on the First

All these bits and it's -still- just the first part.  At least I like the colors.

Another Round Robin - Beading

The theme of this round robin is "Basically Beaded" and she sent it to me already partially done.  I was the first person to work on it, and she asked that it -only- have beads.  My work is below.  

Kathy's English Garden Blocks

This is my first block set to work on for the English Garden round robin, and it's Kathy's.  She picked to put silkies on her blocks, and padded them underneath.  This was a real challenge for me, as I never, ever use silkies.  The rest of the block was really restful, which helped a lot.  My work is in the picture below.  I hope she likes it.

More on Colonia

If you look closely in this photo, you can see a sunbathing doll.  This is an example of one of the houses in the old area of Colonia.

 I just loved the pattern of this door.

 We fed this dog our leftover scraps after lunch.  It was obviously injured and had been resting near the restaurant.  It came over and found us to thank us after it finished the scraps several minutes later.

Eastern redbud blossoms.

 And a couple of maps of the city in tile.

Filling In

This week was spent filling in some holes and getting the petals more done.  They're coming along, if very slowly.

Another Birthday Present

Timothy gave me this lovely leatherbound book for my birthday.  It feels great and I love it.  Thank you!

Center Steps

I have one more step to go on the center - putting on the beads.  Once I'm done with that, I get to play with a new pattern.

Over Halfway

I believe I am now officially over halfway done with the embroidery on this.  One whole and two partial rectangles to go.

Helpful Hints

My Uruguayo friends know my Spanish is, to put it kindly, deficient.  Sussy gave me this children's book to help my vocabulary, and it's working.  Thank you Sussy!

Exchange from Lorrie

 This is the cute little purse tin I got from Lorrie.  I love the colors, and it's such an original concept, too.  It even came stuffed full of embellishment goodies.  Thank you Lorrie!

Thank You Gillie!

Gillie saw my whine here on not being able to get cotton fabrics.  She sneakily sent me a whole bunch!  Aren't they beautiful?  I'll use them all in upcoming projects.  I'm overwhelmed.  Thank you Gillian!

Tin from Elizabeth

 Isn't it cute?  I got this tin in exchange from Elizabeth.  She included a bunch of lace motifs in it, too!  Thank you, Elizabeth!

Candji's Asian Block

Although I completed this toward the beginning of the month, i've not gotten to post it until now.  Here it is before I worked on it.

And this is after me.  I mainly worked on the upper right.  I made some more bead flowers and put them on up top, and cut out a motif from some fabric I got via mail from the States.  Some rickshaw wheels for the narrow area, and a nice mother of pearl button.  I hope she likes it.

Wintry Trip to Colonia

 Back in August, we went to Colonia del Sacramento, the oldest settlement in Uruguay.  It was built by the Portuguese originally, and Montevideo was built by the Spanish in response.  The Spanish eventually overran it.  It was a cold and windy day, but at least the sun was shining.

The area has several tiled murals in unexpected places.  Almost all of them are religious in nature.

Here is a gate to the original fort.

And this is another tile.

 People live in the area, and these put up some cute carved old men.

The lighthouse.

I really like this tile design and want to design a piece of needlework similar to it.

And another view of the lighthouse.  More pictures ina later post.

Still Coming Down

I'm about halfway through the huge number of queen stitches that need to be done on the left and am completely done with the big top center motif.  Slowly, it's getting there.

Cornered

Every sampler starts somewhere, and there's a whole lot left to go on this one.  On the other hand, I've got the first corner done.

Revistas

When I was on my shopping spree the other week, I stopped in at the newsstand in Plaza Independencia and picked up some magazines.  They're old publications, but unused.  It's very hard to get new stitching magazines in Uruguay, with the exception of knitting ones.

Thank You!

I had told the temari ladies that I wanted to learn to knit properly a few weeks ago.  They've made it their mission to teach me!  Here's the first step.  Ana gave me some lovely wol and circular knitting needles.  Now to learn...

My Other Exchange Tin

 This tin started out holding tea.  I put a piece of cross stitch bordered by some fabric on it, then embellished with thread and beads.  The inside has marbled paper again.  I hope she likes it.