She's Alive!!!!

I have made great progress on my Elegance of the Orient piece!!! She has a head and a hand now! LOL! The head and hair took ages to complete! There is SO much detail in her hair. I had to make a slight alteration to the pattern. The blue lazy daisies were meant to be double lazy daisies but every time I tried to make them work they looked ridiculous. I made three attempts and unpicked each of them. The double lazy daisies would either look like fat lines (I was also using three strands of floss) or they would untwist themselves in the hole?! In the end I decided on single lazy daisies and I think they look lovely too! Here's a picture of my progress:



Also, I organized all of the floss for my Lissandrea project. I was terrified that the little sleeves on the skeins would fall off before I got to the project and then I would not know what color they were. So I made my own little do-dads to put them on and away I went! I reached a small snag though. My fabric is too small! I bought 15x18 22 ct. fabric. The pattern, according to every fabric calculator I can find, is meant to be 12x16 on that fabric ... but it's NOT. I knew it would be a little tight only having an inch on either side but I thought it could still work. However, after counting it out (a few times) the pattern is actually 12x17 on that fabric and so it is just not going to work! I can't have a 1/2 inch at the top and bottom!!! So today's task is to go and get the right fabric so I can start her! Also, I think I am going to go from 22 ct. to 18 ct. I tried out my first 10x10 block of the pattern to see what it would look like and my crosses look too mashed together and uneven because I'm using two strands and the weave is too tight. I think I will prefer it on 18 ct. This one is a learning curve for me! LOL!

At Veronica's Stitching Vault she does a "floss toss" where she lays all the colors on the fabric to see how it all works together. I had never heard of this before and think it's marvelous! I attempted to do my own floss toss but there were too many skeins to fit and so I did it on my carpet instead! :) This is every color (except one) that I will need for my project. I only bought one skein of each even though the pattern calls for more in some cases but I'll get those as they become necessary. Can you tell why the woman behind me at the store had a conniption fit waiting for all those to be individually rung through!!!



Finally I shall leave you with some pictures from my garden:



This is a lily my Mom got for me and it has just bloomed for the first time!



This is a hydrangea that was a gift from my neighbours when I opened my store. I put it into the ground last year looking very dead and crossed my fingers that it would come back. It's very happy this year and growing like a weed! When it was given to me it was blue and now it's pink...that's an interesting trick! I understand it has something to do with the acidity in the soil. I hope it stays pink because when it was blue it didn't really work in my garden but now it does perfectly!



And last but not least, is this little one. I think it is lovely but have NO idea what it is! My Mom got it for me and I am very grateful but seriously...what is it? If anyone knows please send me a note.

I can't believe the amount of people who commented on my last post! You all are lovely and your own blogs are all filled with such beautiful work! Thanks for making me smile with all of your kind words!