And I'm not sure if I like it! Isn't that always the way? The furniture store had the sectional version on display so I based my purchasing decision on that. I'm hoping my chaise becomes a bit more comfortable over time -- my behind seems to wedge itself in between the squares which impedes movement and does some unpleasant things to my undergarments. On the plus side, I managed over 1000 stitches yesterday (a feat that hasn't occurred for quite some time). So most of the discomfort must be in my head! My daughter, on the other hand, loves it! She fell asleep on the couch last night. The other thing that is off-putting (besides the color, I never should have let my daughters talk me into burgundy) is the size of the chaise. It is absolutely huge and looks more like an adjustable bed than a piece of living room furniture. But the idea was I could move my behind to reach my stitching rather than having to move my stand. Which actually would work very well if it wasn't for the two points mentioned earlier.



On to the stitching. This week I worked on An Emblem of Love and Luna, Sol, and Stella. I had hoped to get more done on Emblem, but my parents came for a visit and I really wanted to move on to Sol. I wanted to get all the way across on her, but I'm having a really hard time with the fabric on this one. It suits the design wonderfully, but it's a dyed Monaco and the weave is really tight. I actually broke a needle in half trying to force it through!

And finally, let me share a couple of pictures from a field trip to Medieval Times with my daughter's Excel group. We had a marvelous time and my daughter has dubbed it "the best field trip ever!" I was very excited to go since I read mostly fantasy and really wanted to see some "real" jousting. The show did not disappoint. Although the action was quite obviously choreographed (and I must say, some preformed better than others!), the clang of metal against metal and the quite real sparks that were flying as they did battle was quite enough to make up for that!

My WIP of Dutch Beauty.

The wings are done on Dragon Skies and soon I'll be able to start on the dragon.

My oh my have I been busy. Two, count 'em, TWO finishes.

First we have Broken Angel. She is my fourth HAED finish.

And then Desiderata. I had a lot of trouble with the hardanger on this one. I think I made every mistake possible!

First I cut the wrong threads and ended up having to reweave a section with floss. I probably should have tried pulling threads from elsewhere in the fabric because there are two little blocks where I had to weave both ways. Can you guess where? But I was so disgusted and disgruntled at that point that I just left it. My darling daughter has assured me it's "not that noticeable". She's a sweetheart, but in this case she's also a liar.

Then I continuously cut the thread in the Kloster blocks. I can't understand how I kept making the same mistake over and over, but there you have it! Regardless, I was still not able to get close enough when snipping the threads and have ragged edges everywhere.

I think if I ever work up the courage to do this again, I'm going to invest in a very sharp, very pointy pair of scissors!

And toward the end I discovered I was using the wrong thread to weave the bars. I used the Waterlilies instead of the Wildflowers.