More progress on the Chinese Garden and a gift delivery!

Seems ALL I have been doing is stitching on the Chinese Garden Mandala from Chatelaine these days!  I FINALLY finished up to part 8 and have kitted up my next freebie for later this month.

It may look like it's finished completely, but there is still an outer border along with vases, bamboo, mums and phoenix birds on all four sides!  I have had to tweak a bit again due to the black linen, subbing DMC 500 for the called for silk in the Winter Garden pine tree. The green silk was just too dark. Here's the close up of the final seasonal garden....I think it's my favorite!

And here is the entire piece so far....

And also this week I was able to deliver the LONG overdue gift of the New Zealand Map Banner to my dear sister-in-law Ann and her family. Ann was suitably amazed and surprised!

Progress pic on Chinese Garden and the Liebster Blog Award

Hi y'all!   I have been busy stitching on my Chinese Garden Mandala from Chatelaine, and recently finished part 7, so I thought I'd post a picture here!  I'm doing the WiP Killer SAL on the Yuku Chatelaine BB and trying to finish  this so I can get the new Serengeti mandala! Click on it and I think you will see it enlarged. I had some trouble with one of the silks being poorly dyed and had to go back with some DMC in the same coral color and replace it on the upper left spring garden. Upper right is the summer garden, then autumn below. Part 8 will be the winter garden in the final corner, plus a narrow border around the entire piece so far. The final parts go around the outside, and include 4 phoenix birds! I'm going to take a break with a small and then get on with this again!

Also, I've been stitching my next freebie, so watch for it in the near future!

In the meantime, I got a blog award from Rebekah! Thank you! I borrowed the info below from her blog.
She gave me one of the Liebster Blog Awards and this is what it means.....

Liebster is a German word, meaning favorite, dearest or beloved, and the Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help the new(er)bies gain wider recognition. The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.
4. Share five random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

So, choosing 5 blogs that haven't already gotten this award is the tough part. Here we go.



1)Chronicles of a Cross Stitching Hockey Fanatic http://archangeldecker.blogspot.com/

2)Sue's Stitching  http://suesstitching.blogspot.com/

3)The Twilight Thread http://thetwilightthread.blogspot.com/

4)Nancy's Needle Notes http://ndmurdock.blogspot.com/

5)It's Geek to Me  http://lottloft.blogspot.com/

And the 5 random facts people don't know....yet!

1) I have a Masters in Library Science, circa 1989
2) I used to own a children's bookstore in the 90's
3) I own (along with DH and DD) approximately 9,000 books (noticing a trend?)
4) I surprise myself by being a crazy 'Caniac (ie hockey fanatic)....who knew?
5) I have wanted a pony or horse since age 5....it's an incurable disease I don't mind having!

More October stitching!

Here I am again with another Chinese Garden update!  I finished the Spring corner garden of part 6 and have an updated picture....there are three more seasonal corners and lots of specialty stitching yet to come!

And here is the whole piece so far....I am now 2 parts behind but with the holidays upon us I don't expect to get caught up anytime soon!

In addition, I finished up a couple of smalls. One is from the SanMan BB, and is exclusive to members. This was my car project for the month (while waiting for DD's soccer practice to complete). I changed the cat's eyes to green but otherwise no changes. The fabric is a 28ct cashel called Violet Mist. It will probably become a Halloween ornie!

Finally, my November Kitty Kalendar from Val's Stuff....stitched on a 28ct colonial blue evenweave.

Only December left, and then will probably make a wall hanging of some sort so I can flip the pages like a calendar each month.

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!

Chatelaine's Chinese Garden progress...

The fifth part of the Chinese Garden Mandala has been added!  This is the third moon gate image, which is upside down in the piece, so I flipped it for easier viewing here!

And here is the overall piece so far....

I'm really loving it on the black linen, and have not had much trouble seeing the threads, to my surprise!  Going to move on to the last of the Chatelaine Micro designs for the rest of this week. Happy Stitching!

Chinese Garden progress....

Hey all!  I have the progress pics of Chatelaine's Chinese Garden Mandala thru part 4, the east gate. This went a bit faster than the north gate since the stonework is the same.

The whole piece so far....the south gate is next up once I rotate back to this.

Today I'm doing another Victoria Sampler state heart, #20, which is Mississippi.  Thirty more states to go!

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.

First progress report on the Chinese Garden Mandala!

After two weeks of steady stitching every evening I have finished the first part of the new Chatelaine design, the Chinese Garden Mandala! I am using the full silk kit from ECC, along with black 32ct Belfast linen. I love this part so much! It alone would make a nice top for a fancy lacquer box, don't you think? All the beads and crystals have been added because I like to add as I go or else I worry I'll miss one!


A couple of small changes due to the black fabric....I turned the lights on in the building by using the lightest yellow Eterna silk in the window openings before backstitching over them. I used the same green silk for the steps to backstitch the motif over the door, knowing that black on black just would not work!



And here is a close up of the central building with all the crystals!

Now I'm going to take a break and stitch a couple of smalls before moving on the the next BAP in the rotation....Happy Stitching!