Presidential Challenge

At the May CyberStitchers meeting, I issued a presidential challenge to complete the Colonial Band Sampler in the next few issues of Needle Arts.  This is my start on the project - two months later.  I've already made a mistake, but I'm not changing it.  I placed the little blue bird on the upper left in the wrong spot.  It's made everything else off a little bit.  I'm just going to roll with it.  After this spot area is done, the rest of the sampler is bands anyway.

Moldovan Shopping Heaven

 When you live in Moldova, there really aren't many shopping options, especially actual malls.  There's a solution, though!  Merely two hours from Chisinau by road, there's Iasi, Romania.  It has the Palas Mall, which is shopping nirvana.  The outer grounds are also lovely, including the cultural palace (big old looking building), which is being remodeled.  That's about all that's lovely about Iasi, but it's enough if you've been shopping inhibited long enough.  It even has a Subway sandwich shop and an Auchan supermarket!

Even The Dogs Get Bored

 Outside of this one park, there's really not much to see in Hincesti.  Even the dogs end up lying on the street waiting for something to happen.

Creeping Over

Well, it seems every color I use at this point bleeds over to the next page. That's got to mean I'm getting close, right?

The Big Man

 This little park with the huge statue is the focal point of Hincesti, a raion center (county seat) in Moldova just south of Chisinau.  The statue is in disrepair, but it's still awesome.  He is someone who was a war hero in World War I.  This is unusual in Moldova, as most memorial statues are for World War II.  What makes it even more so  that it's in the Soviet style, and yet he died more than twenty years before the Soviet  takeover.  I do wish they'd repair it.  It's worth saving.

Two Full Poppies

Both poppies are done now.  All I need to do is get the border and background finished.

Bricks And Windows

This side is not remotely symmetrical, so I am working on a red brick building before transiting to a black tower.  The red brick's coming along fairly well.