Castles, Shakespeare, and the Sea

I am at an impasse. When I talk about what's been going on in my house, I almost always say cottage. A cottage is cozy. Nice for stitching. But do I want to be in a cottage? I'm feeling very medieval-ish (could it be the band sampler I'm stitching on?) and am sort of leaning towards saying "at the castle." Maybe I just want an English country house, like Pemberley.

Slav Yakounin, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Can you see yourself stitching there?

Decisions decisions! Leave a comment below if you have any suggestions.

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Anyways, this week at the cottage/ castle/ Pemberley, I've made really good progress on my WIP's. First stop, Paris:

Like I said the last time, I was really close to the very bottom of the chart! I've made a right, and am charging up the next 10 x 10 column. The splashes of red and pink are super pretty and fun to stitch.

Next is the Linen & Threads Mystery Sampler:

The next dragon is done! It's looking back at the other dragon like, "Why are you walking so close to me?" Or maybe the other dragon's ringtone is going off really loudly, and the second dragon is like, "Answer your phone already!"

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It's all the rage these days to share behind the scenes previews, so I decided to do that too. Inspired by the summer weather, the sea, and some vintage sailor themed posters, I've come up with this:

Mind you, it's not close to being done yet, and I have a few more ideas about what I'm going to change. I really like designing charts with negative space, and only using one color of floss. It's so much easier for people to customize that way, but the "look" that it gives really appeals to me as well. What do you think of this (tentatively named) By the Seaside cross stitch chart?

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It's safe to say that we are full swing into summer. And what better way to say summer than Shakespeare? Here's a link to the perfect sonnet for the season.

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