Gifted Gorgeousness SAL

My first post for this SAL, yay! Since WIPocalypse and YOTA are both at the end of the month, I really enjoy having a SAL at the middle of the month ;-)
This SAL is hosted by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching, where you can also sign up or have a look at the other participants work here.
The idea of this SAL is to work on projects that have been gifted to you or which you want to give to someone, I thinks that's a brilliant idea =)

I worked on two projects for this SAL so far, one that has been a gift and one that will be a gift.

First up is the Map of Middle Earth, I have been RAKed with the large version of this chart some years ago. I bought the regular version and was unsure if I should buy the large version, after all it had more detail, but I already had the regular one (knowing I would not stitch that if I got the big one...). So I was really happy when I received this chart during the first Haed support event in the Stash, stitch and honking rakateers group on facebook.
I finally started this huge project last summer. I am working on page 2 of 60 now and added 1960 stitches aka 2 columns this month. I am fairly happy with that progress (getting that much done on it every month would be awesome!). I have a total of 9800 stitches in now and there is a total of 421,500 stitches.
So at the beginning of the SAL:

And now:

My second project is a Dimensions kit called "Wolf Kiss". I bought it last month with the intension to stitch this for my boyfriend, who really loves wolves. It's small compared to my other projects and it's really nice to have something where you can see fast progress. I only worked on it for a few days, but it already looks like something. It's weird to stitch on 14ct Aida, the fabric feels hard and the stitches are huge :D at least compared to 25ct or 28ct Lugana...

The project is a new start, so here is my progress so far:

And here is how it will hopefully look like:

I hope to get the first wolfs head done by next month (well closing that gap/stitch the part on the first side of the pattern).

Unfortunately it is going to stay quiet here for a few more weeks and I am not commenting on many blog entries these days. I have 4 weeks left to hand in my master thesis and so I am working a lot... When I hand the thesis in I will spent a week in my flat and stitch... :D