More towards the latter, I think...kinda.

I'm so close to finishing the darned butterfly cross-stitch I can taste it. But I've set it aside while I work on the blankie for my impending niece or nephew. (My brother-in-law and sister-in-law say they want to be surprised. Bah, I say, bah...). I've got 10 of 20 squares finished for that - it's a pattern from Bernat that I can't link to since I'm at work, published in a leaflet called "baby baby" - "boy" and "girl" variations on four different blankets. The one I'm doing is the Quilt Squares Blanket, but since, as noted, the kidlet is so far androgynous, it'll be purple, yellow, and green. Run into a problem, though: the squares I've made are all slightly different sizes. Hopefully they can be blocked to be vaguely the same.

Likewise, I set aside Tradewinds after finishing Dolphin #3 and getting a good start on the left-hand mermaid in order to work on Impending Willey's birth sampler: "Precious Baby" from Bobbie G designs. It's big. So far I've got the elephant finished and partially backstitched, and some of the other items on the top shelf done. If it gets too close to the baby's due date (mid-August), I might stop after the first two shelves.

I've also set aside for now the poncho I was making for Daughter; once I finish the blanket, that'll be next. And the Mystery Stitch-along is coming along (although I haven't finished last week's! I felt guilty working on that instead of the baby thing...) It's definitely birdies in a "four seasons" tableau, although so far Winter is, indeed, a mystery: we know it will have a beak and red in the wing.

I'm participating in a Mystery Stitch-Along, being managed for the cross_stitch group by litlaskvis. The premise is this: each week in our e-mail, we receive a PatternMaker file containing one color, and only one color, of a larger chart.

It's vital to grid the fabric, marking out in some way a 10x10 grid so you've got some reference points for the first few weeks of stitching. Some people used a pen, but that struck me as hard to do on evenweave fabric (I'm using white Monaco), so I did it the old-fashioned way, with sewing thread.

( Gridded fabric )

( Week 1 )

( Week 2 )

( Weeks 3 and 4 )

( Week 5 )

I share the theory that this is a "four seasons" related design - I think the upper left will be a robin. I am at a loss for what aspect of winter the big spiral in the lower right would be, though.