Here’s what I have so far . . . it’s T-I-N-Y  ! ! !

It’ll be about 2″ x 2″ when completed. We prefer skinny Christmas trees, so I felt the “over one” size would be more in-scale with our tree.

I’m stitching this on 28-ct. Monaco (thanks to Carol at Stitching Dreams for that suggestion!), in “Antique White”. I like the stiffness of this fabric, and there’s no worry about the floss slipping underneath the threads, as with linen.

Since the fabric I’m using is lighter in color than the fabric called for in the pattern, I’m changing up some of the colors as I go, which is actually quite fun.

As for stitching “over one,” a magnifier and a good crafting light are musts!! Frogging is very challenging (which is a good reason for me to take my time and pay attention to the pattern!), and running the ends of threads underneath stitches on the backside is also quite challenging. And, for me, it goes much, much slower than stitching over two. All that said, I’m thoroughly enjoying stitching “over one” and plan to do lots more of it :-).

I have some gotta-take-care-of-it deadlines on a few things right now, so have temporarily backed off on some needlework challenges in which I’d planned to unofficially participate, specifically TAST2012 and Embroidery Journal Project, and also a Color Theory Class on StitchMAP from which I opted to withdraw.

But I still have the itch to stitch something, but something without a deadline, so I decided to start on this cross-stitched-n-beaded ornament project from the July 2011 issue of Cross-Stitch & Needlework magazine.

I’m stitching it over-two on 28-ct. “Antique White” Monaco, and it’ll only be a bit over 2″ in diameter when complete.

Here’s a closer-up picture — this is a photo of the magazine page, so the detail’s not quite like it’d be if this was a photo of the actual ornament.

First I’ll do the base design in DMC stranded cotton, then next month I’ll order the various Kreinik braid and Mill Hill beads needed to complete the ornament and the tassel.

This ornament is one in a series of four seasonal ornaments. If I like how this turns out, I’ll get my hands on the other three issues of Cross-Stitch & Needlework that contain the patterns for those three ornaments. I’m making these to keep, to use as Christmas tree ornaments :-).

(As of now, the consensus is the larger photo size is preferred, so I’ll stick with that. Thank you for the feedback!)

We have seven, all females. They’re actually all in this picture, although the one in the back on the right only barely made the shot ;-).

I like this next picture because the chicken whose body is facing away from the camera gives you a good view of just how filled out their bodies and feathers are now.

Their feathers are sooooo pretty, especially when the sunlight hits them. I didn’t capture that in these photos, but maybe my sweetie can use his fabulous photography skills + his awesome camera to do that soon (hint, hint, Honey!).

We don’t have names for them anymore. We’d named a couple when they were chicks, but when their feathers started coming in it became too challenging to visually tell them apart. So we refer to them collectively as “the girls”. There is one, however, who is definitely the Queen Bee . . . but you figure that out by her actions, not by her looks. She’s the one: who is not scared of us; who is “in our face” when we’re in the garden or pen, curious about what we’re doing in or to Her Space; and who is the last one to go into the pen and the coop at night. She does things in her own sweet time, thankyouvery much ;-). I get a kick out of her . . . but will probably think differently should she ever get broody!

I love these chickens of ours. They’re beautiful, and funny, and curious, and not the sharpest tools in the shed . . . and they provide me with guaranteed-cornfree eggs, which is the biggest perk of all :-).

THE FIRST EGG ! ! !

It’s the egg on the right. The egg on the left is a store-bought “large”, for comparison. Our girls’ eggs will be in the “large” to “jumbo” range, but I imagine this first egg felt plenty big to the gal who laid it ;-).

I haven’t taken pictures of the girls since they were nine weeks old; they’re eighteen weeks old now. But here’s a picture of them from nine weeks ago, when they were all teenager-ish in size.

It’s funny to me to see them in that picture because they are now at least twice that size and very full-grown-chicken looking! I’ll get a new picture soon; they’re such pretty gals, and a hoot to boot :-).