A little bit of stitching

I am very happy to say that I completed the Mirabilia model last Friday night; I have submitted photos and now just have to cross my fingers and hope for no revisions. It's always a bit disheartening when you have to make changes, even though it's only because Nora wants her designs to appear their best--but I still hope it gets approved as is!

I've had less stitching time for the past few weeks as I've been trying to do two or three hours of yard work most days to get the landscaping ready for winter. Happily I can probably finish what's left in a day or two, so by the end of this week I should be ready to burrow in for the winter. This past weekend I spent some time on the second block in Black'd Skie and was able to get the outline done and part of the interior:

I'm hoping I can get the block done in the next few days, before part 3 of The Rooky Wood is released on Thursday. This is the first two parts, minus some bits that call for a new thread that I'll start when adjoining parts are revealed:

Once part 3 is finished I'll probably make a start on the Rosewood Manor model waiting in the wings. It's on the smaller side so I'm hoping it stitches up fairly quickly and I can have a bit of free time around Christmas, though even after 35 years of stitching I'm still horrible at estimating how long a project will take to complete.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Can't believe I actually did it!

 I'm not sure I've ever actually completed a larger SAL on schedule, so my mind is blown that I somehow did two this year! The first was the Jardin Prive piece and the second is this design by Cecilia Votta, which I just finished yesterday:

I even started this one a month or two late but most of the blocks were small and stitched up quickly so I was able to catch up early on and stay on track. The final block was fairly involved and took just over a week to finish:

I was looking forward to being done with SALs for a while but then I just had to start The Rooky Wood by Tempting Tangles which will go until next June, so let's see if I can do it again!

Karen Kluba of Rosewood Manor had posted a bunch of pictures on FB of her room at the Needlework Galleria a couple of weeks ago and one picture in particular caught my eye:

The part that really drew me in was the alphabet on the large framed piece behind the main display--isn't it pretty? I had never noticed it before so I started looking through all of Karen's designs and finally found it on Parchment Tapestry:

I've seen this design before but the flower panels always drew my eye in and I just never noticed that pretty alphabet at the bottom. Karen kindly offered to send the chart to me and it arrived last week; I've ordered the WDW floss and when that has arrived I'd like to work on this once in a while as time permits. Of course the alphabet is at the bottom so it will probably be a long time before I actually get to stitch that part, but it will give me something to look forward to in the coming months.

Now it's back to work on the model, and the next part of Rooky Wood that will be released on Thursday. Must stitch faster...

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

A new SAL, and an older one

 I was looking forward to having both of the SALs I worked on this year finished this month as I have a lot of other projects I'd like to start or work on when I take some time for my own stitching, but then a new SAL from Tempting Tangles came out and it really appealed to me so I decided to dive in and see if I can keep up with a new one. This one is called Rooky Wood Mystery SAL and this is the teaser photo that drew me in:

The first part was released last Thursday and new parts will come out every two weeks for 20 weeks, so it will finish next June (if I'm still hanging in there, which is iffy); information about it can be found here. I bought the Dinky Dyes silks for this one and stitched the first part (except for a few bits I'll do when adjoining parts are released) on one of the fabrics I bought from Nicholas Flamel Design on Etsy:

I finished that on Friday and then spent the weekend working on the final part of the Cecilia Votta Advent SAL that came out October 1; it's a larger block than the others so it will take a few more days to complete:

Once this piece is finished it's back to the model for a big push to the finish--it's about 75-80% complete so it should definitely be done by the end of the month. Of course, I already have a Rosewood Manor model waiting to be started...

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!