Coming down to the wire

I was feeling pretty good about being able to finish my Chatelaine before the retreat in just over two weeks, but then I was asked to stitch the larger Friendstitch model again (they are offering two colorways, one more muted and one brighter) and now I'm leaning towards thinking I won't get it done. But maybe I'll be able to finish it at the retreat, which would also be kind of cool, so it's all good. After my last post I did decide to move into the center and do the cross stitches there, then I started the back stitching and specialty stitches, moving from the center outwards:

I received my three latest Tiny Towns from Faye Riggsbee a couple of weeks ago, and she did an amazing job as always:

In non-stitchy news, I woke up to this site outside my bedroom window about a week ago:

She was guarding her baby, who was nestled in a little nook off of my friend's patio next door:

They were there all night, then left around 1pm--I'm sure once the neighborhood woke up and everyone let their dogs out into their yards the mama realized it wasn't the best place to bed her fawn down. It was pretty awesome to see her so close, though.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

One month from today...

...I will be flying to Charlotte for the Chatelaine retreat, and I am really looking forward to it! Last week I went to the DMV to get a Real ID, so fingers crossed that it doesn't get lost in the mail. 🤞🏻

I ended up finishing the second Friendstitch model a week ago yesterday, which was a few days earlier than I had thought, so I've been back to working on Chatelaine's Little Tuscany Mandala for the past week:

I love how each new color changes the look of the piece. I'm done with all the cross stitches in the outer border and am trying to decide if I want to start the specialty stitches in that area or head to the center and start the cross stitches there. Right now I'm leaning towards the center, because I don't need as much focus for regular stitches, but I'll see what appeals to me when I actually sit down to stitch later.

The latest Heart in Hand model I stitched has just been released:

This was stitched with one strand over two threads on 36ct linen; if/when I stitch it for myself, I will use two strands as I'm just not a fan of the coverage one strand gives. Cecilia also released another Frill for the Nativity Tiny Town:

While I like the idea of the shepherds being included in the Nativity, I will admit to being slightly disappointed that the release wasn't a Tiny Town Farm, but I guess that gives me something to look forward to in the future!

Speaking of looking forward, I was excited to see Cathy Habermann post a sneak peek of a design for the class I'll be taking with her in September:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!