Holland Landscapes update!

Took a bit longer to finish part 8 than I thought, but here is Chatelaine's Holland Landscapes! All four windows are filled and topped by the tulip gardens...finally! ( I left most of the clouds off the lighthouse window to balance with the one opposite, which had NO clouds.)

Here is a close up of the lighthouse window.

Christmas in July!

Wish we had the weather to go along with Christmas!  It's HOT in North Carolina right now!

My rotation interlude turned out to be a Christmas ornament, the 1990 Schooler Santa by Prairie Schooler.
It is stitched with DMC on 18ct putty khaki davos over one. I started stitching them around 2000, and decided to go back to the year my DH and I met in 1989 and make one a year onward as well. I am almost to the end of the oldies!  I will finish them all as ornies and will have a Schooler Santa tabletop tree at Christmas (along with our artificial tree...we have cats). This one I have dubbed the Wildlife Santa.

Now I get to go back to a large piece, Chatelaine's Holland Landscapes, to finally stitch the last of four tulip rows! At that point I will be 75% done on it. Think cool thoughts in this hot summer!

Chinese Garden Mandala update again

A quick post to update my Chinese Garden....pt.3, the top gate opening is done! Have to rotate now, but will get back to it in August after vacation. As usual I have found a mistake or two, but not so you would know! I did decide to fill in the "sky" area because it looked odd with black in the background. The next gate window has this filled already, so this will fit right in.

Tiny biscornu break...

Took a break on July 4th to stitch a tiny biscornu fob for my necklace. Being a patriotic day here in the USA, I used some red, white and blue floss, Week's Independence, and 28ct Ray of Light lugana in pale yellow. This little guy is just over an inch across, stitched over one. The pattern came from the Stitch Creations blog here. I used two tiny white seed beads to dimple the center and sewed on a bail for the chain.

By the end of the year I'll have a biscornu necklace for every occasion!  Now to find a suitable August-themed pattern in a small size!   Back to the Chinese Garden Mandala for the rest of the week. Hope everyone is having a nice July!

Chinese Garden Mandala update...finally!

Whew!  The second part of Chatelaine's Chinese Garden Mandala took a bit longer than I thought it would...nearly two weeks!  I am really happy with the way it is looking on the black linen, as you can see...

Due to the black fabric, I made a couple of small changes...I left off the back stitched leaves among the yellow flowers because they just didn't show up well. Also changed the color of the darker green on the corner motifs for the same reason. Here is a close up of the piece from an angle....

Today is Independence Day here in the US of A, so I am stitching a new mini biscornu in red, white and blue! Hope to finish it tonight. Nature's fireworks outside...thunder and lightning...so I'm betting local displays will be delayed to another day. My pets will appreciate that...they don't like booms!  Hope everyone is having a nice summer (or winter if you are down under!) and getting lots of stitching done!