Inside The Churchyard

The churchyard is pretty big.  It has a small house for the local priest and his wife and a large courtyard.  Evidently they keep a cat and a dog, too.

Adding More Shadow

The trees and shadows are filling in nicely.  The blotch at the bottom is very close to the bottom of the design, so I'm definitely nearing the end.

Second Blob Coming Up

The second blob is started.  I guess this means I'm really making progress.  It feels good to get closer to being done.

Easter Eggs

These eggs were for sale at the exhibition center where we paid to go to the monastery.  They were made in the village and are beautiful.  Completely hand beaded with a wooden core.  Together they were 160 lei (about $14). 

Orhei Vechi - Church Approach

This priest is walking out of the church with his wife, and the other pictures, along with this one, were taken on the approach to the church.  The day was clouding over.

More Sidewalk And Tree

It was nice to do more tree again.  I've got the windows on this set stitched, so it's time for a bit more variety.

One More Wine

One more wine round robin block passed through my hands.  Here's Carol's block, both before and after. 

On The Hill

 On the bottom right of this belltower is the entrance to the monk's caves.  It's rather inconspicuous.  The cross is just to the left of the belltower and overlooks the Raut valley.  And the last picture shows the distance between the old belltower structure and the new village church on the same hill.

Bricking In

Still going slowly on this.  I'm not willing to say it's halfway done yet.  Perhaps it's a third of the way.  On the other hand, progress is progress.

None Of Your

I admit it.  I'm a beeswax collector.  I have beeswax from every country I've visited.  This is the Moldovan edition (so far).  A beekeeper came to the embassy to sell her wares, and Andreas bought her out of beeswax for me.  Each of these is at least 150 grams, and they were all less than three dollars each.  They smell great, and I've started using the ladybug.  They do great for the thread too.

I'll be giving away the heart as a CyberStitchers prize.  The blog post on CyberStitchers.org regarding it will go up in the next few days.

High As The Sky

This is a panorama of the area from the hill where the monastery is.  Two more parasailing pictures, then the monastery on approach...

Alpha Beta...

I've started the next to last part, and the alphabet.  It's coming together quickly.

Starting the Square

The new area to work on is a small mandala square.  I had carried this with me last week and gotten a lot done.  All the upper part needs now is beading.

The Exhibition Center

This little unprepossessing building houses the archaeology exhibit and working area for the professionals.  It's one of the first USAID projects in Moldova, guided in by the first ambassador to the country.  The place isn't large, but it is functional and kept scrupulously clean.  The second picture is from the parking lot, and the third shows an apple tree in bloom.  All the fruit trees here are blooming now.  The streets are full of blossoms, and Chisinau is no longer gray.

Up To The Top Of The Part

Yay, finally I'm at the top of this part.  It's about two thirds of the height of the sampler.  I've accomplished something!

Pretty Blues

If you haven't checked out Orna Willis' Etsy shop, do so!  She has these cute little thread kits with a piece of canvas in them.  And they come inside these lovely metal boxes.  Now to figure out what to do with these goodies!

My First Framing Job

It's small, but I did it all.  It's framed.  This is the first time I went through the complete framing process on my own.  I think it came out pretty well.  This is one of my "Year of Finishing" projects.  Just a few more dozen to go.

Far Horizons

This top picture is of Orhei Vechi from the north rim of the Raut defile..  The one below is another angle from the same position.  All this area is a major archaeological site, having been settled for about 5,000 years. 

Facing

I've got some of the peacock's face done now, and will have the head completely done next time I work on this.  I've also gotten a bit more of the branch background done, too.

End In Sight

Those lonely little stitches at the bottom are within ten rows of the end.  The end is near!

Not Underdog

Just above the valley surrounding Orhei Vechi, we saw our first parasailing in Moldova yesterday.  He did pretty well and traveled a bit while we were watching.  It was a pretty day, even if the clouds were moving in.

Roofing

The town hall roof on the left has been getting its ironwork.  Other than that, I've been working on some of the bottom buildings, but none are yet done.

To Rule Or Not

I was rather upset when I received this block.  It's thrice the area a round robin block in the group it's in is supposed to be.  On top of that, the owner asked for a lot of encrusting and extra embellishment.  For a smaller than usual block, that's great.  For a monsterly huge block like this, that's pretty ridiculous.  On top of that, this block is so far out of my comfort zone taste-wise that I was flummoxed as to what to put on it.  My first thought was a My Little Pony.  Instead, I embellished the unicorn and added flowery stuff around it.  I hope the owner likes this block, but I'm thinking I'm going to withdraw from any other round robin theme she signs up to that I am already part of.  Is this fair of me?

Found My 647

I found my DMC 647 at Gemenii to continue on with the sidewalk.  Did a bit of sidewalk and some wall again.  Also did some green leaves.

Bring A Butterfly

Here is my first block of work for the Butterflies and Dragonflies round robin.  Cathy L's block came to me as shown on the left.  To me, the block looked very 1960's for some reason.  In that vein, I decided to do a pop art butterfly in wool on the lower right and to outline the barely visible butterflies on the fabric in the upper left.  You can see pictures of both embellishments below.

Finally Looking

I am finally seeing what I consider as some progress on this.  The roofs are shaped and the cottage is coming to life.  Looks like perhaps I can make this into my travel-on-plane piece, perhaps, in three weeks.

Sideways Again

I didn't realize the picture was rotated until I uploaded it, and I'm too lazy to redo this.  On the other hand, you can se some progress made on the bottom houses of the wall this way.

Grassy

I am finally starting the fifth part.  It's time to get this sampler done.