Quick update on Chinese Garden...

I'm working on pt.6 of Chatelaine's Chinese Garden Mandala this week, and finished the fourth gate. Before moving on to the northwest garden I took some pictures to share here! This is the gate from the left, or west side.

And here is the whole piece so far...I had to move it into a larger q-snap at this point! Now working on the upper left corner garden. More later!

In Halloween mode!

Halloween is so fun to stitch for!  I have three new finishes to show off....first, a kit from Trail Creek Farm called Halloween Cats. The pillow and stitchable cover come with the chart and floss, so it's a quick stitch. I did have to stitch most of it in hand because it was hard to use my usual q-snaps inside the cover. I gave the cats different faces for some humor. I didn't really like the charted faces so uses some backstitch and french knots instead, and left the words (Halloween Cats) off, as I thought it was cute without.

Next is my monthly biscornu necklace fob, from a chart by Jemini Designs called ScareCat. I stitched it over one and added a border to be able to finish it as a biscornu. It is about 1.5 inches, a little bigger than the others.

Last night I finished another Halloween pillow, this time by SanMan Originals, called Halloween Hoot Night.  Sandy even made the tuck pillow with the round opening!  It turned out really cute on 28ct Silkweave solo linen. This little owl looks like he got into the cider and had too much!

Now I'm back working on the Chinese Garden Mandala.....more later!

Two more September finishes...

Finally found some time to post about my last two finishes in September! I'm blaming it on the new school year for daughter Kira, plus it's her senior year which means soccer practice, SATs, yearbook photos, homework, etc.--and I am trying to work out 3 days a week, and all the other stuff of life, including the new kittens! They are off tomorrow to be neutered and after that we can start letting them out of quarantine in the guest room!

At any rate, here are the pics, which I'm sure is more interesting than all that!
First is the final Micro design from Chatelaine--#04. It is stitched on 32ct Silkweaver solo with called for fibers and beads. It is the version 2 colorway except for the dark purple motifs which were supposed to be the darker pink. I wanted a bit more contrast so I just used the Purple Night Sky (personally I think is looks more very dark blue, but hey...) instead. Now all four Micros are done, and I have to figure out what to do with them!

I also stitched another state heart from Victoria Sampler's series, this time #21 for Illinois. Almost to the halfway mark on the 50 states!

I felt the urge to start something new for Halloween so now I'm working on a piece from Trail Creek, and hope to finish it soon so I can get back to my Chinese Garden Mandala.  Happy Autumn!