Taking shape

Nativity Tiny Town is progressing well; the top of the manger is the halfway point, so I should pass that sometime this week as long as I can at least stitch for an hour or two each day:

I'm in love with the critters and can't wait to get to the camel; I really hope Cecilia does an animal tiny town at some point because her animals are just so cute!

Hands on Design's Ladybug Picnic arrived a few days ago and I have all the threads now, so I've picked fabrics for it and Botanical Bee:

Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind if another option comes to mind and I like it even better than one of these!

I really need to start thinking about starting a Chatelaine design soon if I'm going to have any appreciable progress by the time the retreat comes around in July. I was going to start Rose Lights, but now I'm thinking about Little Tuscany Mandala. I've had the supplies for years now, and it's small enough that I could probably get quite a bit finished by July:

Just this past weekend I signed up for another retreat, this one in April at The Silver Needle in Tulsa with Amy Bruecken and Weeks Dye Works. I'd been toying with the idea of going for a while but had decided not to, and then the deadline to sign up passed about a month ago. Recently I saw Amy mention on FB that this would probably be her last class, and I regretted that I would never have a chance to meet a designer whose work I enjoy so much. Then last Thursday I got The Silver Needle's newsletter and they said four spots had opened up due to cancellations, so I called the next day and signed up! We will be dyeing linen, thread, wool and velvet to make this project (or something similar):

I'm very excited for meeting Amy, working on the project and being able to look through the shop, and it's really nice to have something fun to look forward to in less than a month now.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!