Middle of the Midi

After this picture was taken, I completed part three, totally, except for the beads. Yay! The red roses had to be finished and there was a bunch of backstitching to do. But it's done. This means the thing is now well over halfway done. None of the three parts left is as big as any of the three completed. I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere on this. The roses I did this week that you can see in the picture are an algerian eye variation that took me a little bit to get the hang of, but I think they look good.

More Colors Done

I got a second color of blue and the blue variegated border done this week on the third corner. With each color done, I feel -so- much closer to completing the whole of part five. Still a lot of gold to put in, and the light colors, but it's getting there.

A Week of More Work

You can tell there's a lot more progress when I work something more often. This has really accelerated since I started working on it daily. Not only is the flag growing, so is her dress.

Chained to the Squiggles

Using another shreddy metallic, I put chain stitches in the top squiggles and then outlined more of them around the guitar. This week, I'll be filling them in too. I thought, with this being a small project, that it would go faster than it is. I think it's because I get no joy slogging through the instructions. I know one of you said that's the price of designing genius, but my response to that is - editors.

One Band Done

We didn't have our meeting this week due to bad weather, but I did get band one done anyway. I like the colors on it, and I think the variegated silk adds a nice touch to the carnations. The second band is all in cream and I'm about a quarter done with it already.

You Make My Day

Earlier this week, Pierrette gave me a Make My Day. I'm really really honored to get it. This blog was for my own benefit, after all, to show myself I was making progress when I felt I was mired in stitching doldrums. It seems others like seeing my progress too, and for that I thank all of you who take the time to read this.


The Rules:Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.

Now comes my dilemma. I don't read other peoples' blogs often. I do browse occasionally, but I know if I do it often, I get so distracted by that that I don't do anything else. It took me a while to come up with my ten blogs that I didn't think have been Dayed. I do read Sharon B's blog and I look at Pierrette's at least twice a month, but they get inundated with these things! So, for something different, here's a list of blogs I visit. Oh, and to share the love ... not all are stitching related.


Wind from the East - a Japanese blog about crazy quilting. She does wonderful work.

GSGuide.net - My other main hobby is playing an online game. I've been playing it for some twelve years now. This is a fellow-player's help guide and information archive for the game.

Blissful Creations - Bliss talks about life and cross stitch.

Lani's Journal - Lani's a good friend and talks about her life as a musician in the Army, her family, and her stitching.

Stitchery Nook - She has some beautiful pieces she's working on.

Rooted in Mississippi - Rissa's got some "pretty impressive stuff" and she's not afraid to show it. She does some awesome work.

Gigi's Blog - Gigi is a great cross stitch designer and is always doing something new and different. Go visit, even if you don't speak French.

Isabelle Vautier's blog - She always has something going, and the pictures are beautiful.

Athena's Thimble - a website dedicated to the neeedlework of members of the East Kingdom of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

CJ Stitching and Blooms - Judy does some beautiful work in both beading and crazy quilting.

It's an Oval

This week, I was -one- jessica from finishing this when I realized I was -one- thread off two thirds of the way around ago. After muttering several curses to the stitching gods and frogging all the way back to the offending jessica, I decided I had enough of this particular area and spent three hours straight completing the oval. Don't you hate when you're off and it's a symmetrical design and would be noticed for placing everything else?

I still need to put the big stitches inside and fill in the jessicas, but I think getting that whole outline done is something to be proud of, especially since it's made with really slippery rayon.