Expanding my horizon...

I know I probably should wait until Gifted Gorgeousness to post these, but I just can't wait!  LOL  I have been participating in a round robin and I have to say, these ladies sure pick some challenging pieces to stitch.  I love it!!  I have always been a bit intimidated by all the specialty stitches, but I love learning them and enhancing my stitching with them.  I added so many to my repertoire over the weekend!  And in all honesty, they may look intimidating, but they are actually quite fun!  There is one more "robin" making the rounds that I haven't seen yet, but here are the three that I have stitched so far, and I'll include mine at the bottom that I sent around.

So first off is from Lady M.  She is the one I've been partnered with before for exchanges and she is the one who included me in the group.  I can't thank her enough!!  These have been a blast to stitch!  She found these Dutch tiles in a magazine (May 2006 CrossStitcher Magazine I think).  I picked this particular one because I love the sheep!  There was another that had a man with the sheep, it was a toss up between the two!  LOL

The next to arrive was from Lady C.  She actually sent two so I chose this one from the set.  I believe it will be finished as a needle roll or drum but was originally part of a travel set and was a passport book cover.  This also was from a magazine, but I'm unsure which one it was.

She also sent along Hillside Samplings My Stitching Chair Necessaire.  Oh my goodness, I am in love with this pattern!!!!!  I will be on the hunt for my own copy.  First of all, the stitching may be lots of specialty stitching, but it stitches up very quickly.  I don't know if I'll be able to completely finish it (I may have to find someone to fully finish it when it's done) but stitching on it will be a blast!  I learned so many new stitches that are not too hard, but look fabulous when finished!  It makes me want to  play around a bit with patterns to just throw in some specialty stitches instead of cross stitching everything.  So...I worked on the pin cushion.  

That stitched up so quickly I decided to chose another...and decided on the needlebook.  Whew!!!!!  This was loaded with stitches, each corner was a different stitch!  There was the four sided stitch, the rice stitch, the Palestrina knot, and the Smyrna cross in the corners.  Then came the fun stitches...the cross tied windmill, the queen stitch, the double cross diamond, the spider's web flower and the rosette flower.  I think my spider's web flower is a bit wonky, but I dearly loved stitching on the others.  

This is why I love round robins so much!!  It expands my repertoire of stitches, it is fun sending notes and admiring other people's stitching, and I just love stitching for other people.  There is something so special about the community of stitchers.  I think this is why quilting bees and other ladies gatherings were so popular before the invention of the tv and telephone.  I miss the days when we encouraged one another.  

Last is the one I sent around.  I think I may have posted this before.  I saw someone stitching this in a Facebook group and had to stitch it too!  I'm glad I had it on hand when I was offered a place in this round robin!  So I outlined all the parts of the 15-sided biscornu then stitched one of the sides and sent this around.  It will be interesting to see if the others liked it.  I can't wait to get it back and finish it off!

Thanks again Lady Belles (and especially Lady M) for the invitation.  It's been a real pleasure!  Here's to all you out there I hope you find joy in your stitching too!  Happy Stitching!!