More Golden

I got quite a bit more done on this this week. Even started the golden area at the bottom of the left arch and started stitching the other arch. I feel like I'm making more progress now than I was earlier in the year on this.

Lady Coming Along

The flag is beginning to look like a flag to me. I've found a target date to get this done and framed. The Blue Star Moms are participating in a troop rally in April at the local football stadium. We'll start selling tickets there. So, it's got to be done! I'm still feeling pretty good about how this is coming along.

Huswif Stitched

This week I finished the actual stitching on the huswif. I started putting beads on it today and will be doing extra work on it this week so it's done as soon as possible. I'm finding the bead placement instructions problematic, but after everything else, I'm not surprised. Oh, and I get to add two more bands between places in there. They weren't in the original part and only show up with the beading. I'll get this done, I swear.

Sprattering Along

This week, I finished the starfle row - I think it looks cute - and started the sprats heads below it. I'll get those done this week, along with the Jessicas that go between them. At least, start the Jessicas. The sprats heads are out of really slick Edmar stuff that I've never used before, so they're hard to keep tension on.

Swimming Along

This piece is hard because it's interstitial - it only gets worked on when I'm away waiting for someone or I'm completely stuck from something else. Anyway, I managed to get some work on it last week, starting the seahorse as I waited for various doctors' appointments for my kids. I'll get it done eventually. I have to say, though, this Strand wool really needs to be kept straight. It's naturally curly.

Pigged Out

The pig's done. I'm beginning to think I'm in a group of round robin stitchers whose taste is completely different from mine. This is such a different experience from what I had with the French one. Anyway, it's getting mailed out today, only a week past the due date... and I have three others in my possession to do. I'll catch up one day, really! This also makes finish five of my project challenge.

A Bit Redder

I got more red on the Midi this week, and I'm kind of confused by Martina's choice to use two reds on this. They both look to be essentially the same color to me. Both are in the red area I've completed. Can you tell the difference? One is from Thread Gatherer and the other is from Gloriana. I'm sure she has a reason. I feel like I'm going to finish this part soon, unlike how I felt for so long with part two. Since this picture, I've even put some pictures on the other arch too!

Flag Fever

Still working on the flag part and have a whole bunch to go on the piece. I really need to have it done by the end of January because the charity raffle's going to start in April with a great big rally for the troops. I need to have it framed and ready to show by then. Now to get it done ... at least I like working on it.

Nearly There

Since taking this picture, I've completed all the bands for the piece. Now I just have to attach the beads and finish it. Unfortunately for me, the design makes me angry whenever I work on it because of the problems with the designer's unprofessional behavior. I definitely will order no more things from Carol Tinson. Looks like, instead of this being a keeper piece for me, I'm going to give it away because I can't stand looking at it for long.

Starfles Started

I'm more than half done with this band and will finish it this week. The patterned stitches are completed, and the starfles aren't hard. Even though they're done in a pretty square fashion, they look kind of diamond shaped. Not very hard to do, either.

Oink!

This is the calendar round robin I'm on now. It's pigs. Since this picture was taken, I've gotten the bottom half of the March pig done. Luckily, that's the only one I have to do. I don't know where these people are finding the calendar designs. I just know mine is so different ... oh well. This one's on Aida, too. I believe I've become a fabric snob. Linen and evenweave are just so much easier for me to work on and they have so much a softer hand. Working on Aida feels rough and stiff to me. Oh well... not too long on this one.

Winding the Paths

I worked with the dark metallic color and the bleu sage this week. I don't think you can avoid metallic thread getting kinky. It just seems to always want to curl up on itself at some point. Adding the metallic, though, made the darker bands stand out more. The bleu sage is the outer edge of the paths. I think I'm pushing it along. Didn't get much stitching done this week - the pictures coming. I had lots of appointments that required hours of driving and then no stitching time in between. No such appointments this week; perhaps I can catch up again.

Crossing on Tuscany

Well, I got almost all of the cross stitches done this week. Since this picture was taken, I've finished all the cross stitches and almost all the Rhodes stitches. You'll see those next week. The colors are nice, and I like the way it's turning out so far. Since all the colors are variegated on this, though, I'm getting tired of doing every stitch individually. It goes more slowly.

Starting at an Angle

The line below the upper border of this band is in green. It looks like that will be the only bit of green, along with its mirror image, in this band. I'm using the Egyptian Lapis for everything but the flowers, where I'm using the Needle Necessities floss. It's coming along some - maybe not quickly, but I'll get this done.

A Quarter Done!

Yay! I finished the first corner of the four! I like the way it looks, and am somewhat surprised it only took me a couple of months. Now on to corners two, three and four. Two has a nice start on it already, luckily for me.

A Touch of Red

Got some more colors onto this, including red. The red's for fuchsias. It's still coming along quite quickly. In the main, what's left on the first arch is a bunch of gold at the bottom. I'll be starting it this week.

Flag Started

This week, I started the flag. Means I'm making quite a bit of progress. My idea on the way I'm tackling this is that I'll establish a more or less horizontal line and work either up or down from it. I haven't decided which. The line will be the lower edge of her arm. For some reason, this seems to have been going a bit more quickly than it had been to me. I'll take that - makes me feel better about completing it!

Red Squares

I finished off the diamond row with Algerian eyes in the middle. They came out pretty well, and now I'm in the process of doing the red square satin stitches on the penultimate row. Once I'm done with the stitching, there are beads to add and then I'll need to put it together, like I did the purse. I think it's coming along pretty well.

A Quick Finish

Well, this is another one of the sealife round robins. It's Janien from Brazil's. I did the seahorse on the left today. Needed something quick and this fit the bill AND got a bit of responsibility out of the way. I'll be mailing it out on Monday. This makes number four of the twenty-five project challenge. And if you want to know where the pattern came from, it's from Mains & Merveilles Point de Croix #61 and the thread is Gentiane from L'atelier du pic vert. I like the color.

Shells... and More Shells

I got enough of the border shells done this week to start the second row on this piece's next pass on the rotation. It's something called starfles. Don't ask, cause I don't know. The shells take a lot of floss but go rather quickly. I still like their colors a lot.

My Garden Grows

I managed to do more work on this this week - there's more of the midnight blue color and more bleu sage. Looks like I'll be working with metallics for the coming week. For some reason, when I do, I feel like I'm making more progress than working with some of the silk colors. It must be some kind of psych thing with the sparkles.

Officially Behind

As I knew would happen, I fell officially behind on Tuscany on Wednesday. I am not very far behind, however. Since taking this picture, I've gotten all the outer border done and most of the inner area done. It's mainly specialty stitches to complete part one. I haven't even looked at what I need to do for part two yet, but I will probably be able to start it next week. I still really like the color of the fabric with the colors of the floss, although some people would say the two light colors blend in too much.

Round Robin Complete

Last night, I finally finished my part of this round robin. It took a lot longer than I thought it should, but it's done. Now I have four others in queue to do! I'll be able to get them started now that this one's done. It's getting sent to India today. This also counts as my third project of my 25 project challenge, which is a good thing.

Bordering on Four

I finished off the top border of Band four. It turned out pretty well, I think. Since this picture on Friday, I've started the twining part of the band. I've decided to use the Egyptian Lapis blue as the main color, with some of the leaves in green and the flowers in the same color as the border.

Not As Far As I Thought

I really did believe I'd finish this round robin last week. It's a LOT of stitching, though, and I didn't get it done. So this week, I started doing two lengths of floss between everything else I'm doing, which has worked out to about 3-4 lengths every day. I'm MUCH closer now and hope to finish it by Friday. The letters on top of the dog house are nearly finished. If it's not done by Friday, I'll just work on it until it's finished. To me, this was a bit much stitching for a round robin.

So Close!

I am SO close to being done with the first corner! I'll be working on it today, and I'm sure I'll finish it. To me, that's great progress. As you can see, I've already started the second corner too, so maybe I'll be able to do more on it also. I really like all the blues in these corners. They're going to pop out of the piece, especially with beads on.

Midi Making Progress

I am so pleased with the amount of progress on part three I'm making. I've got most of the cross stitches and half stitches done on the first arch already. I'll definitely not be spending ten months on this part, thankfully!

Lady Folds

I've been getting a lot of the folds of this particular part of the skirt done. I'll probably start adding some of the flag soon. It's coming along fairly quickly for me, and I'm pleased with my progress.

Another Band Started

I started and am almost done with the band I started this week. All I have to do is add three eyelet stitches. I'll be doing that today and then starting the next band. I've got maybe two or three bands to go and then add the beads before making it up into the huswif. It'll get there. This is probably the next non-round robin piece I'll get done.

First Band Done

I need to remind myself to count twice, stitch once. I think I pulled out the stitches on this band at least thrice to get them to line up right. In the end, it looks really good. My husband, of course, says it reminds him of string art. I'll work the border down a bit more before starting the second row. Definitely will be getting to it again this week, and hopefully I'll remember to take my own advice!

Wandering Sage

This week I did a lot of outlining with Bleu Sage floss. It made it look like a lot of progress. I'm still getting there on this. It's beginning to feel like part two of my Midi Mystery, which just went on and on and on, but turned out fabulous in the end when it was done. I just hope it doesn't take the ten months or so that part took with the midi.

Tuscany Gold

I added the first of the metallics on Tuscany this week. It is a multicolored one, with bits of red and green in it and brings out the red of the columns well. I managed to do more since this picture, in fact I think I've stitched on everything this week (something I haven't done since going to France) and feel a sense of accomplishment about it! I'll be behind on this, though, after Wednesday. On the other hand, I won't be far behind.

Seahorse Progress

I haven't had much time for the poor little seahorse since I got back, but he has had some work done for him. The kelp strands are longer now and there's more background done. Perhaps soon I'll even get to working on the seahorse itself.

Band Three Done

As you can see, I finished band three this week and started on band four. Band four's huge, and I haven't quite decided on what threads to use where, but I'll get there. Since taking this picture, I finished the upper border of band four, which you'll see in its next picture. Since getting back, I've really increased the pace of my stitching. Now to see if I can keep it up!

Yet Another Round Robin

This is an open aida round robin (I didn't know it was aida until I had already signed up.) that is international. I didn't get to start this until I got home from France because it was sent to the States instead. What I have to do is the area from what is already done to the upper blue line. Since this picture was taken, I've made quite a bit of progress and expect to be done by the end of the week. I then send it on to India, where I sent my planet piece, which is part of this round robin.

Another Band Done

I got another band done on this this week. And ... my husband brought me home the last installment of the mystery, how to make the huswif. Of course, it went to France AFTER I left. It was mailed after I left. Luckily he was still there and got it for me. I'm very disappointed with the customer service of Carol Tinson and will not order anything from Heirloom Embroideries again. She really needs to treat her business as a business instead of something to be pushed off until she feels like it. This is almost done and then I will not bother with her again!

Cobblefield Road - First Row

I started on the first row of Cobblefield Road this week. It went pretty quickly, but it takes up a LOT of thread. That's why I stopped - I'd gone through more lengths of thread than usual for a rotation. I'll be back to this this week, I hope. It's coming along and I like the colors, though I think I wouldn't have used wool for the top diagonal on the squares.

Still Doesn't Look Like a Lady

Well, it still doesn't look like a lady, even if it's part of her skirt, but at least the progress is visible. The kit I'm working this from had very very long cuts of floss, so I just fold them in half and do a whole length at a time. This means I'm actually doing more stitches per length on this than I am on my other projects, which leads to more progress. It's been pretty easy to do so far, at least. Maybe when I get to the flag it'll be harder.

Victorian Garden

I've gotten a bit more done on this since the picture was taken. The silver is added, and I did quite a bit of bleu sage on the right side swirl. Still making progress, though it seems slooow. I think that's because parts two and three are just plain a lot of stitching. The rest don't seem to be too much until you get to the houses. I'll have time to do more stitching now, though.

A New Start - Tuscany Town Mandala

One great thing about finishing stuff is you can start something else! This is my latest start - Tuscany Town Mandala from Chatelaine. I'm using Picture This Plus's Carnival linen as the fabric and all silks, to the point I ordered Vikki Clayton silks to substitute for the DMC colors. It's going to a very good friend of mine - he bought the pattern - and I'll be trying to get it done in a reasonable time frame. So far, I really like the color on the fabric.

Fish is Finished

I finished my fish for Sue's round robin piece on Saturday and mailed it out yesterday. The pattern is from a French magazine I picked up at the grocery store when I was there. The initials were me playing around with font styles. It came out all right, but there were a LOT of quarter crosses on this and that's the absolute worst to do on Aida... but it's done now. I hope she likes it.

Getting Closer

I'm feeling really good about the possibility of finishing this whole quarter this month. I can really see how close it is to completion and I like it. Now to get some time to stitch! Actually, I probably will be getting a lot of time to stitch starting on Saturday when everyone is where they're supposed to be and I've got things caught up.

Part 3 Started

Yup, I finally started Part 3. Since there were a lot of half stitches instead of whole, I felt like there was a lot of progress when I worked on it. I'm definitely not going to take as long on this as I did on Part 2. Now I have to decide on whether I want to purchase the pattern for Midi 3...

Gardening on the Square

I'm back in the USA now - got back on Wednesday. Was home less than a day before leaving again and still am jet lagged, so I'm not really doing a lot of stitching yet. Anyway, here's the progress on the Victorian Garden mystery. It's slow going, but I love looking at all the colors. This one I'll keep for me when it's done.

Thank you all for your encouragement and comments on the pictures from France. I'll be using them soon to design some needlework, I believe. I'll be going back to Europe next year and will try to do the same thing!

Here, Fishy, Fishy

It doesn't look much like a fish in this picture, but it IS becoming one. I'm hoping to have it done by Monday so I can pop it into the mail. I think I'll be able to do it. Got more than half done after working on it this morning.

Bayeux Cathedral

As I said in a previous post, my husband took pictures of the cathedral from several angles. Here are a few of them.

Last time we were here, the cathedral had pews. I'm not sure if they're permanently removed or were just taken out for the medieval mass Sunday morning. I like the look of it better without them.

Lady of the Flag

I still have only two colors on this, but I can see already that I'd better really like these two colors. They're the main ones of the skirt. I probably won't get anything done this week, but at least it's started. For me, that's a good thing.