More birthday gifts came in the mail for me yesterday!
McKenna Ryan's quilt pattern "Morning Mews." Plus all the wonderful fabrics to create this beautiful kitty quilt.
The bonus? The kitty looks very similar to my crazy kitty, Klawd... :)
Thank you, both, Anne Marieke and Margit for choosing such an "appropriate" pattern for me.
With all the special presents from my "far away" friends, this year's birthday is turning out to be very special indeed.
Look at the wonderful gifts I received from Isabelle for my birthday (a little early, as my birthday is not until next week). A great chart with a beautiful heart as well as some antique floss. But the best part is the pouch she made for me. Perfect stitching - perfect finishing. Thank you, Isabelle! I love them all!
Did you think I got lost in the desert? ;) Nah! Just no stitching was getting accomplished the last few days. But now I can say that there is a little more progress on my desert landscapes. Some more cacti, lots and lots of beads, and ......drum roll, please.......
I decided. I filled in the background. Added more branches to the tree...and yes, I did the lightening. But not as charted. I wanted a more subtle lightening, as if it were off in the background a bit more than originally charted.
Look: 
and here (although a bit blurry):
I am starting to feel like Wiley Coyote...;) spending so much time in the desert here lately.
My latest progress:
Lots and lots of different cacti in the next part of my Desert Landscapes Mandala (Chatelaine Designs). Lots of color changes...Let's just say, lots of green color changes. The spines remain to be stitched on the cactus near the corner with the orange flowers.
I did add all the beads around the inner perimeter of Part 1. I am waiting for my bead order to arrive to complete the outer bead border on Part 1.
Only one more section left to finish filling in with the squash flower. I'll do all the backstitching on the cacti after that is done. Loving the shape of this one.
No decision on my lightening, just yet.
Funny little shape right now, isn't it? Those green areas (according to Martina's directions) are cacti. The lower right hand one does have the backstitching, which shows the little spines for the cactus. Those empty areas will be filled with "squash flowers." My desert is beginning to bloom. :)
A little joke...(OK, OK, very little). I am still working on my Desert Landscapes Mandala.
I have finished the over-one hawk, as well as the additional thread on top of my tree....still not quite happy with it, but I have to think on it for a bit. And all the outlines for the outer border are done waiting for the innards ;) to be stitched.
I am still thinking about filling in that lightening bolt with the background colors. I just think it looks like a "white" tree branch and not lightening. Agree or disagree?? Let me know what you think about it. I think it would be a "calmer" version of night in the desert.
Can you believe it? I actually worked on the Desert Landscapes Mandala again for quite a while yesterday. The center portion is very close to being finished. After the remaining portion is done, I'll move onto the outer areas.
I still have to go over the tree with the additional braid.
Uh, huh...another one. For the past week and a half I have been trying to find my "mojo" (as Margit puts it). I pick up a project - work on it for 15 minutes, toss it down. Search through my WIP's, and think, OK, this one is it. Work on it for 15 minutes, toss it down. Now I have got some stitching done, but just have not "wanted" to work on whatever project I was stitching. Make sense in some sort of convaluted way? Until yesterday...woke up from a brief nap with the immediate notion to start on my Desert Mandala from Chatelaine Designs. Usually I ignore these "notions." But yesterday I just said "what the heck is another WIP to add to the pile?" and gave in. I have had the fabric, the Petite Treasure Braids and DMC's for this one for about two weeks. I also have most of the silks (I think). So, I cut my fabric to size and started stitching....and stitching....and stitching. I just could not put it down all day! Now that doesn't happen too often. So here it is after yesterday's stitching marathon.
I even managed to stitch the over-one coyote. Can you see where the over one hawk will go?
Now that tree...if you look at the top central branch you can see that it is a bit darker than the rest. I was not too happy with the coverage of the black Treasure Braid (which seems thinner than the other colors, to me). So I tried stitching over top of the stitch's top leg once again with the braid. I am going to do the rest of the tree, too. Next time I'll know better and use two strands from the start to do the stitching.
Maybe not the one you thought (the Mirabilia one?)....but this little cutie.
She is stitched with Pickled Beets Crescent Colours on 32 count opalescent Belfast.
I may finish her as a little pincushion.
A little more on the 2009 Mirabilia freebie. The chart is available for download now on the Mirabilia website. :)) I think this one is very unusual for her cherubs. Very bright colors, plus the "cherub" is totally different than the previous years. To me, it looks more like a Christmas card. Not that it is a bad thing...just different. ;)
The long holiday weekend is over. You would have thought I could have done a lot of stitching. You know how it goes....it was just one of those weekends where I picked up five or six different projects and just stitched a little on each. No one particular design seemed to keep my interest for very long. But at least a little progress was made on each...just not really picture worthy.
I tried. I really, really tried. Not to start another new project. I held off for two days. Then she kept calling me and calling me. I had to answer....you know how that goes. :)
Mirabilia's 2009 Free Cherub. I don't think she looks like a cherub at all. Pretty, nonetheless.
She is holding a trumpet with a banner hanging below. I am missing a few threads and all the beads. I used Crescent Colours Sassy Brass, since I was missing DMC 869. This is only about half the design.
