Getting Close

Another blue done and some more of the lighter gold. It's so close to being done that I hope to have part five done by the end of the month.

Browns and Reds

I'm going to be using a LOT of browns and some reds and whites going forward for quite a while. This week, I got some of the light red done and some of the darker browns on the dress done. It's progress.

What Else I Did in Kosovo

I made a shawl! Since I was supposed to be learning how to watch TV (evidently I don't pay enough attention), I made a very easy double crochet shawl out of a really soft yarn. Just a couple of days ago, I added the fringe. It's another finish for July, which makes two. I'm happy after June's total lack of completions. Now I have to wait until October or so to use it.

Flower's Core

This week I worked on band seven's flower core. It had algerian eye stitches and satin stitches and brick stitches. Because of all these, it's taken more time than just regular cross stitches. I've started the outer part of the flower now too. This is the last huge band in the piece, so hopefully it'll be done soon.

Winged

Now on to the background. I used Frosty Rays for the wings, since the Fyre Works the stitch guide asked for weren't in the kit. I have since received said Fyre Works and the Kreinik braid that was missing. The shop mailed them to me with my last shipment. They didn't realize it wasn't in the kit. I'm not frogging the substitutions out, but it's a nice gesture.

Last Band Started!

A very little bit of the last band is now done. It's a big band, though - larger than any of the others, so I expect it'll take a while to complete. On the other hand, it means this is definitely almost done. I have no idea what my husband is going to do with it when it's finished, though.

Added to the Rotation

I talked about Bibendum (known here as the Michelin Man) as my next project, so I thought I'd post a picture of the kit. I bought it in France last year, and it's got red aida as the fabric. I'm changing that to a hand dyed orphan I bought last winter from Picture This Plus. So it's started, and it's going to be a boring stitch, but should be quick. It'll look good in my husband's office - either the home one or the work one. Why Bibendum? My husband invented a new way to make one of the main components of tires. Michelin is one of the biggest consumers of this new process... and besides, he's cute!