A finish! A finish!

Here she is! I am quite pleased with the result. :) There are definitely errors (a result of me not paying attention to the pattern) - but they weren't glaring enough for me to want to frog, so they shall remain.

This took me a little over a month to complete... not too bad. I definitely didn't work on it every day.

So, now... on to new projects! Below are two pics of a WIP that I have decided to pull out of mothballs and re-activate (more on my current WIP strategy below). It is Gentle Strength (Persis Clayton Weirs). I haven't touched this puppy in about a year... It is a B.A.P., and I seriously burned out on it the last time I worked on it. I am making it for my mom (she raises Arabians) and this is the best "horsey/ Arabey" craft pattern I've ever come across.

I think what I love about it the most is not necessarily the head (it is a bit off for an Arab) but the gentle expression in the eyes... it is so expressive of the heart of these horses. They are without doubt amazingly intelligent, highly spirited, and strong animals... (Arabs have a really undeserved reputation for being "high strung" - of course there are total fruit loops in any breed, be they horse, dog, or even human) but the best thing about them is their heart. To see an Arab with a tiny tot is to see love and guardianship in a pure and beautiful form. I learned to ride on Arabs myself, and just last year my baby Leah (she was 2.5 yo at the time and it was not her first time on a horse) rode our 5 y.o. Arab stallion C.P., who is very much still a little boy in every day life (raging hormones, ya know). The moment we put Leah on his back you would have thought he was about 30 years old, and carrying the most precious cargo on the planet. It was one of the sweetest things I've seen in a long time. OK, so the horsey tangent is over. :) Here are the WIP pics:

I have a ton left to do. What you see here is only the top half of the pattern. Still lots of stitching (mostly 1/2 stitches) to do on the head and body, and black background stitches all around the head, neck, and body... not to mention the entire bottom half of the pattern. Yikes! :)

To help eliminate pattern burnout with the BAP, I've come up with a WIP strategerie. I will keep one BAP in progress (I have several Scarlet Quince patterns I can't wait to start - they are all even bigger BAPs than Gentle Strength), and alternate working on it with smaller projects.

Starting Wednesday (working on a gift scrapbook for a friend tonight and tomorrow night, then have a meeting on Tuesday night) I'll be working on the sampler I mentioned in a previous post (Little Wheels Birth Announcement - Linda Bird), along with Gentle Strength

Not much else new and exciting going on at Chez Robin... the weather here was absolutely beautiful this weekend! On Saturday Leah & I went to a local (huge) playground that we've never been to before and had a grand old time... we were there for well over an hour before I even checked my watch; today we ran errands then went to visit my co-worker Arin (ha! now there's a laugh! Try explaing to a 3.5 yo the difference between "errands" and "Arin's" - say it out loud, you'll see what I mean) who had surgery last week. Leah made her a very colorful picture to take as a get well gift, and I brought her some trashy novels to alleviate the boredom of her recovery. We all miss her at work, so anything I can do to help her heal is really motivated out of selfishness, lol!

Off to beddy bye for me... I hope you've all had a grand weekend!