Tired of Blue and Gold

Well, it's getting closer and at the rate I'm currently stitching, part five's cross stitches will be done by the end of the month. There aren't that many specialty stitches - just a lot of Rhodes squares all in the same color. I'll be glad to finish this part and start working on something different with it. It's beginning to feel stale to me.

Top's Done

Yay! I finished the top half of the Lady! She's got a lot of beading to do up there, but all the cross stitching is done. Now on to the skirt and bottom, which I've started working on since this picture was taken. It seems all my projects are reaching milestones this month - finally. Makes me feel like I'm finally making some progress on stuff.

Second Frogs Framed

Before I left for Kosovo, I made a second frog trio for my niece. My husband finished framing it this weekend. He did something different with the mat, and I think it came out really well. He painted a white mat with a bunch of squiggles in the colors of the frogs. I hope Jackie likes it when she gets it.

On to the Seventh

I got band six done last week and started band seven when I went to the sampler meeting last week. Band seven is a bit of a mess chart-wise. It's that there's writing all over it, so it's hard to count. I think I've got a good start on it now, though. There are only nine bands, and seven is the largest of the remainder. I should have this done before it's due date in August. At least, I hope so.

Dragonfly Tail

I made a lot of progress on this while waiting for Mattie at the freight office at JFK last week, getting the dragonfly tail done (neat process - bullion stitches under the satin stitches to make them poofy) and outlining the wings. Unfortunately for me, I seem to be missing two more threads that were supposedly included. I didn't fill in the wings because what I had was too light in color, so I'm looking through my stash for something better. Should start them this week.

Pay It Forward - Free Stuff

I posted about these on Vikki Clayton's forums, but someone wanted pictures. I really didn't want to have to scan them in just for that, so I did and put them here for others too. First asked, first given. I'll even plump for postage in the States and, depending on what you want, to other places. Just email me if you want something.

Edited 7/7 to add: New Stitches and Tiny Tim are taken.

Eight of Twenty Done

I finished up the eight set of four squares yesterday. The pattern's definitely emerging, but I have no clue what that claw-looking piece in the middle's going to be. Round nine doesn't come out until the fifteenth, so I'm actually all caught up early for once.