Lots of stitching and Gifted Gorgeousness

Today is Presidents Day here in the states which means, for me, a 3-day weekend.  Friday was my compressed schedule off day, so I decided to make my nice 4-day weekend into a really nice 5-day one and took Thursday off.  My plan was to pull Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden out of hibernation and spend as much time as possible working on it. 

When it came out of the WIP box on Thursday morning, it looked like this:

 

I spent the late morning and afternoon stitching, but decided to keep regular stitching schedule and include my other stitching in the fun. So that evening, Its About Time was put on the frame and had another 300 stitches added

Friday became a HAED stitching day. I started working on Christmas Presence in the morning and hit a rhythm with it and didn't want to stop. I finished a column and the stitching with all the parked threads on the last page.  I estimate about 600 additional stitches total.

After  I finished with Santa, Shakespearean Fantasy was put on the frame and I spent a rather relaxing time stitching nothing but black.  I added almost 700 new stitches.  I may actually get to add some color at the bottom of this column!!

After running errands Saturday morning, there was more stitching on SVG.  Sunday morning is reserved for smalls stitching and  I finished Welcome Spring by Jardin Prive

Given that I am looking at snow and freezing rain right now, this square is a definite mood lifter.  I didn't start the next block as it's a "pick your own color" block and I haven't decided on one yet. 

So that brings us to Monday evening and I am very happy with my progress on Secret Victorian Garden .  As of right now, it looks like this:

Sorry for the horrible photo, but it was the best I could get given the lighting and space needed to get the whole thing in frame.  I have about half of the outside border and all the beading left for a finish.   I probably could have finished it if I hadn't done all that other stitching, but I am very pleased with the progress on everything and would not change it.

WAIT!! What's the Gifted Gorgeousness you mentioned in your blog title?  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching and is a way for us to thank people that have gifted us with charts, fibers or fabrics, by showing them what we are doing with their gift.  It also gives us a place to show what we're stitching for gifts.  I won't repost photos, but the patterns for Its About Time and Shakespearean Fantasy were gifted to me by Kate from Needles and Haystacks and Pull the Other Threads respectively.  I am shoehorning Christmas Presence and Welcome Spring into the SAL as they are freebies and, in my estimation, a gift from the designer.  I have one piece that I am working on right now that is a gift, Just Nan's Christmas Soldiers.  Am I the only one that hears the tune for "Onward Christian Soldiers" when I read that?   Probably not now :-)!

That was my stitching journey this week.  I am, as I mentioned, very pleased with my progress on everything.  I'm not sure when I will have the opportunity for another stitching binge, but I will not hesitate to grab it.