Ornamental Start

This is a really small ornament pattern from Follow the Leader. I got it free in something I had sent away for. Just started and changed colors, of course. The floss is Needle Necessities and the fabric is one I dyed this summer. Shouldn't take me very long to make, and it will probably be my last ornament on the Christmas blitz. Time to get back to other commitments!

Water Stitch on the Home

I used the water stitch in two colors of Soie Cristale for the latest completely filled area. I'd hoped it would give more diagonal movement than it did. There seems to be a stronger vertical line than I thought there would be. It doesn't look bad, it just doesn't look like I'd hoped. There are only four more areas to fill, though, and I've started one of them. It's woven Milanese stitch on the diagonal done with two strands of Splendor and one of Gloriana silken perle. I think it's giving the effect I want - random flowers and less ripe grain in a field. I should either have this area done or close to done by the end of the week.

Star Filled Dazzle

Two whole sets of stars done now! It's really almost done. The smaller stars were harder to do than the larger ones, but they both came out well. I've found I really need to use my laying tool on this to get all the long stitches to lay smoothly. It's good practice.

Catlike Progress

I thought I'd have this done this week, but as you can see, it's not. Since I can't mail it out until after Christmas due to the group's rules, I decided to get more work done on some other stuff instead. This isn't as bad as the chickens, but it's still not something I'm absolutely enthused about. At least it's mostly full stitches and somewhat blocky, so it's not like I'm changing colors every other stitch.

Latest Crazy Quilt Ornament - Done

This is the piece I was disappointed with last week. I just kept embellishing and it ended up looking okay. Not spectacular, but nothing to be ashamed of, either. The front is a lot more laden than the back, but then - it should be. There's a pucker in the seam where I put it together on the lower left - I'll be fixing that before I put it on the tree. The lesson I learned was not to judge things too harshly before they're done. Now to apply it! This also counts as the nineteenth project on my twenty-five project challenge, since I did it completely from my stash.

Received in Exchange

I am SO lucky! These two ornaments are ones I got in exchanges this week. The cardinal is from CyberStitchers and came in the mail on Friday. The triangle trees were from my face to face chapter, Pocono Mountain, and I won it on Monday. Both are proudly on my tree now, and will be there for years to come. Thank you!

Pink Petals

The area is filling up nicely; there are not very many areas that are unfilled that aren't either specialty stitches or beads. I think I'll get this area done by the end of the month. Even if I am very far behind, it's coming along at a pace acceptable to me. I wish the pink stood out more and was perhaps a bit more variegated.