Mona Lisa Progress

Summer just isn't summer unless I can spend time outside. After the miserable weather that we have had for much of the year, I am taking every opportunity to enjoy the summer. Every year I make it a point to photograph my flowers in bloom. It not only gives me a visual record to help me direct my efforts for next year's garden but it cheers me up to see my beautiful flowers when I feel like winter is dragging on and on.
I grabbed my camera and photographed one of my Rose of Sharon bushes while it was in full bloom.

I have been working on the Mona Lisa in cross stitch. Instead of doing the traditional cross stitch I am working in half cross stitches or the needlepoint tent stitch. I am happy with the results so far and after two months of stitching, most of Mona Lisa's face is in place. I had a hard time at first stitching with the half cross stitch because it was a new concept for me but once I treated it as needlepoint on Aida cloth it got a lot easier. In traditional cross stitch I tended to jump around when I got bored. I found that you can't do this with a large charted design. If the stitching is not done in 10 x 10 blocks it is easy to lose your place when you take a break from stitching. You will notice the gaps of boredom on fabric.

Mona Lisa after 2 months of stitching.