Beginning to Fill the Egg

You have to look at the enlarged picture to see most of this week's stitching, since it's mainly half stitches. They're quicker to do than full stitches, and take up less floss, so I get more progress. Four of these eggs, all the way around, and stripes with cross and specialty stitches tying them together. This one is definitely going with me to Kosovo, so I'll still make progress there. When I stitch.

Another Big Flower

This week, I got a big part of the band done - one of the two large side flowers. I even managed to start a second. All that's left of this band after these flowers is the trellis sides and bottom and then the straight line across the bottom upside down from the top one.

See Some Stars Yet?

I completed part two of See the Star, and now have new colors on it. I think my color choices are coming together pretty well. The next part doesn't come out until the beginning of the month.

My First February Finish

About time, after nine finishes last month. I finished Rita's round robin block and sent it on earlier this week. This top picture is the naked block as she sent it to me. Her theme was summer.

Here it is after I worked on it. What is summer without the sun? That's why I added the sun at the top in goldwork. Couching down all that metal took several hours. I kind of ran out of steam after that.

Here's a close up of the sun.

And here is one of the two seams I did, along with the other motif. It's a little rock garden.

And my last seam, inspired by Joe T. Garcia's in Fort Worth. The place is a wonderful summer place, and its outdoor patio is always covered in lights of many colors. To me, the place -is- summer.

Squaring the Circle

I'm working on the next to last round of stitching now. As you can see, it's going to become a square. At least the red doesn't look like measles now. My goal is to finish this before I go on my trip in less than four weeks.

Belated Christmas Present

Strange things sometimes happen when mailing via APO. Truly, my Christmas present from my best friend was mailed before the tenth of December. I picked it up from the post office today - it had been sitting somewhere forgotten for months! Isn't this great?

These are little watchmakers' storage cylinders and their own metal box! The box got slightly dented in the looooong transit, but isn't it neat? He separated out all kinds of small stone beads and watch parts so I can use it immediately to embellish things. I love it! I've never seen anything like it, either.

Doing Some Dark Here Too

It seems dark colors were the theme of the week this week past. I added darks to this too. The middle building now has its black line on the roof and more dark brown on other buildings. Slowly it builds.

Adding Some Lowlights

This week I worked with one of the darker browns, adding the folds into the skirt. They were scattered across the area, so there are all these islands now across the bottom of my stitching.

Angling Along

I took this piece to my EGA meeting on Monday and got some extra done on it. The double cross stitches are all worked in the same color of Watercolours, but since the instructions say to skip every other and fill in on the second pass, you get a kind of piebald effect to it. That's emphasized by the way the stitches are made - the top stitch changes by placement within the design. I'm not sure yet that I like it this way.

Frame Done-ish

I got the dark blue outline of the frame done this week - now I get to start working on the fun part. Corrected the mistake in the middle, too.

New Part Started

I finally began part four this week - and the beginning looks like a giant black egg outline so far. Hopefully that'll change soon. I'm just so happy to be starting a new part.

The Wheels on the Blackwork Go Clunck, Clunk, Clunk

Another bit of stuff done on band eight. It's a pretty complicated design and I have two more big flowers to add, along with vining. The four small wheels were pretty easy to put in, though I do think I made the wrong choice in using Elegance for this color - it's just too thick. On the other hand, it adds texture.

I'm getting to another stitching wall, though. Here it is nearly halfway through the month and I've not finished anything so far. Last month, I completed nine things! Next month and the month after are going to be slow finish-wise too, since I leave for overseas again in the middle of next month. I'll be doing other things than stitching and enjoying myself, though, so that should be good!

Second Star Started

I received the second part of See the Star last week and started in on it. More colors will show themselves in this part, from the instructions. You just can't see them yet. My husband says that I like making his photography challenging by picking tone on tone colors. I just think it looks good.

Encircling

This green line is the last of the real circles in this piece. After this, I'll be making it square. The measles have really toned down since I've added so much more green.

Up the Tower

Darker colors this week - blackish and brown. I also added a few stitches on part seven, since it was easier to count there than where I'd have to place them on part six. I still feel like I'm making real progress. It's fun to watch the town come together as I stitch.

Still Skirting the Issue

Lots of progress on the skirt this week; the big light part is all the way down to where it crosses the flagpole, meaning I'm almost at the bottom. I'll be finishing off another flag color this week and working on the skirt yet more.

Spring Mystery Part Two Done

The next part comes out tomorrow, and I'm still caught up. This is the second part of Tam's Spring Mystery all done. It looks like, since there are nine parts, there are going to be other sections around the middle. We'll see. I hope to stay caught up.

Boring-Looking Start

Camelot, the second of the dodecagon ornaments by Jim Wurth I've started, looks boring now with its gray canvas and gray outline. There's going to be a lot of pink in the middle soon, though. In the meantime, it's a start.

Head and Shoulders...

but no knees or toes yet. I've gotten Bibendum's head and shoulders done. The whole piece is now approximately halfway done. He's still a really easy stitch and a good companion.

Still Making the Frame

I got a bit more done on the frame bit and frogged some on the right side of the middle this week. Slooowly it's coming along, but I think it'll look really good when I start getting the specialty stitches in.

Part Three Done

Yay! Everything but the beads is done on part three. Now it's onto something new after a whole year on the parts two and three combined bit. I don't know where the time went. Anyway, another full round around this is next.

Second Go Round

I'm working on the second dark circle now; everything inside it is stitched. This is still really tiny, but it's moving along.

Last New Round Robin

This is the last of the three round robins I started this month. It's going to be a huswif. As you can see, the colors are slightly different than the other two, but I was in a very blue mood.

Second Tier Started

Got some real progress done this week, since I started the second tier of buildings on the first side. The bottom tier is almost done, and you can see real buildings now.

More of the Same

I'm still working on her, and her skirt's growing more. Had to do some frogging, but restitched part of it. She's coming along, and fairly quickly. It's just at a point where things don't change much - not a lot of major areas, just skirt.

Poirot Done

I finished the first of the dodecagon ornaments on the last day of January. I'm still shocked by how many finishes I've done so far this year. The design was a fun stitch and the instructions are very clear. I'll be finishing it up into an ornament. Since finishing this, I've started on my second ornament, which is very pink. It's called Camelot.

A Different Kind of Round Robin

These six blocks are for my "do your block" round robin. Instead of everyone working on the same block, each person works on an individual smaller block. I paper pieced these out of the same materials, but placed the fabrics differently in each. It will be interesting to see how they come out.

Armed and Frivolous

Bibendum has a whole arm now. He's coming along pretty easily, since it's been mainly filling in white areas already outlined.

It's Round Robin Time Again

My crazy quilting group, Crazy Quilting International, is starting a slew of new round robins this week. I'm in three. All three are any theme whatsoever, though I went blue on all three. This is my naked block for one of them. My plan is to make it into a simple envelope purse. I'll make a final decision when I get it back.

Almost Done

Lots more circles this week, and some more stripes. This picture was taken Saturday morning. I finished it late Saturday afternoon. Picture to follow, and it made my ninth finish in January. I'm shocked by how much I've gotten done.

Zentangle Part 1 Done

I got part one done in plenty of time and I still like the colors. It will look autumn-ish. Now to wait for the next bit.

Started Filling In

I added some more of the specialty stitches and the gold, then did a bit more on the edge this week. I really like the colors on this.

Still on Specialty Stitches

Parts three and four of the gardens have their specialty stitches started in this picture. Since it was taken last Friday, I've finished all the specialty stitches for part three. Yay! Now I can go on to part four. I think I've been working on parts two and three for nearly a year now.

Old is Back...

This is the last of my pre-Christmas rotation to be added back into the circle. It's Tiramisu and it's a correspondence course from EGA - one which I, of course, didn't finish on time. I'm on the eighth of twelve bands now. The middle of the eighth band is upside down. I accidentally had the picture upside down when I started stitching it, and well.... it doesn't look bad upside down.

Stripy Progress on Poirot

Since I started working on it daily, Poirot's progress has significantly increased. Odd correlation, that, yes? I hope to finish this by the end of the week, and I might actually make it. Still love the colors.

Rounding it out Again

The medium green scallops are toning down the measles some. Once I'm done with these, it'll be time to start another circle, I think. Round and round it goes...

Building from the Bottom Up

A bit more of two lighter colors this week and some red roof tiles. I like that I'm able to work with a variety of colors and different shapes now. After all four of those huge corners, I needed a change.

My Fourth Finish of the Year

Surprising myself, I've gotten a lot of things finished so far this year. I just hope it continues. This is Orna Willis' Midnight Garden, and I finished it just over a week ago. The main problem I had with it was the French knots. They tried to pull themselves out even after I was done with them. I like the look of it still and might stitch it again in another colorway in a couple of years.

Another Mysterie

This is the third German stitching group start of the month. It's by Tam of Tam's Creations and is in nine parts. This is the first, and once again I switched up the colors and used Vikki Clayton's fabric and floss. I'm really trying to stash stitch this year. I think the colors look pretty good. This one's going to be quicker than the other two because a part comes out every ten days.

Last of the Light Red

Managed to stitch on this and some of the other things twice this week. The light red of the flag is done, and more of the skirt. Like everything else, when I work on it, I can see progress. I think I'm just at the blah stage of the project. I'll get over it.