Feathers and foliage

The past three weeks have inched forward at a snail's pace, stitching-wise. Lots to do in the "real world", especially for work. However, I can't complain -- it can be a lot worse! My mojo has been meandering since that last Mette update, one day at this and the next day at somewhere else. On Jan 1, I bit the bullet and started two Longdog samplers -- because it was high time i actually put some X'es to the work of the fabulously talented Julia Line -- so i am doing Paradigm Lost (blue floss, on white annabelle evenwewave) and Bagatelle (snow white floss on navy blue lugana). Hmm. See a micro "trend" emerging? :) Not a lot done, of course, as per my bad habit of stitching a few X'es in a start and tossing it aside. I would say, however, that stitching Longdogs require a mindset - you really need to be in a mood for it and once you are, it's really enjoyable. In a SAL, I also began Houses of Hawk Run Hollow - and thanks to the browns (my latest favourite colour after yellow), it is on Square 1. No pix of that yet. My friends Sooz and Kevin are also working on it (Sooz is powering along like a freight train and leaving us in the dust) - and I'm quite ashamed to admit that I've not worked on it for a couple of weeks. Some progress to report though: the peacock as of last week:

and here's a picture of my handsome stitching companion (who only grabs floss if you dangle it, bless his heart)

Till the next update... ta-ra!