Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - February =)

So, I am just one day late for the GG SAL :D I'm getting better at this :D But I have a ton of updates to share with you.

The fist one I want to share is a Round Robin I am participating in. A lady (Chelle) on Facebook started the Map of Middle Earth, but she didn't get along well with the confetti in it. She wants to give the map to her son and his girlfriend (once it's done), so she called for suggestions and somehow this ended up with being a round robin. So the Map of Middle Earth is traveling around our earth so we can stitch the project that Chelle wanted to stitch for her son in her place =) I think this is a lovely thing and I am so happy that I am part of the fellowship =) I plan on finishing the third page before sending it on. During the last two weeks I barely stitched on anything else, lol.

Here is my starting point, page 3 was started by Saskia from the Netherlands, who sent this to me:

There were a ton of stitches on the right hand of the upper row done as well, but I somehow just took a picture of the part I am working on.
So here is where I am so far, 5 rows and a bit done (nearly 4000 stitches):

I must confess that I am nearly sick of it, lol. But I will finish that page. I took out another project (Paddys luck) because I simply had to work on something else for a few hours. Lucky me, this page doesn't have to much confetti (compared to for example page 4, haha..... Esme will enjoy it...), so it stitches up fairly quickly. I plan on sending this on this month and due to my current progress, this is possible.
What is really funny, is the comparison to my own Map of Middle Earth which some of you may have seen last year (also for the GG SAL and it will return once I can stand stitching another map, lol). For example, my map uses TONS of 3771 (I think I have some 30ish skeins?) and this version uses none at all! The colors are completely different, Chelles map look more brownish and well, like a map drawn on really old paper, but my map looks more orange. The mane colors on Chelles map seem to be 402 and 436, my map doesn't have a lot of 436, but uses 3771.
And then I remember when the supersized version of the map came out, that were totally different colors again.... (I think in the end there were a light version and a darker version...) So many different versions of the same chart, I found that quite confusing :D

Anyway, what I also noticed is that I made the right choice by starting the XL version of the chart. I had the "normal" version at first and got RAKed with the XL version when it came out. I remember that Michele made a bigger version because not all the writings were clear and good to read. My map may have thrice as many stitches (normal: 151 650, my XL version: 421 500) but I hope the writing will be clearer. But we will see, I should reach some of the lettering soon!
When I am done with the map, I will sent it on to Esme in the UK and I will post another picture then =)

I have another project I am stitching for someone else. Chelles project started a discussion about stitching a piece together and then selling it for charity. One of the projects was "Dog bookshelf" by Randal Spangler. I signed up for it I am stitching a puppy, yay! The idea was that everyone should stitch one book and I got the book on the right, Barkleberry Finn.
I started this last year and hope to put more work into this soon. I hope to speed up once the map is sent on. Here is where I am:

Most of the puppy is done (just a few stitches in the ears are missing). Isn't he cute? =)

And then there is one more project I have worked on. It's my Candy Cane Santa I am stitching for my boyfriend. It's on hold since the map arrived, so he still has no face. But he looks like he has some kind of asian smilie  face :D

He is a lot of fun to stitch and I will definitely concentrate on his face next!

If you want to see more updates for the SAL, head over to Jos place and take a look at the link up =)

Happy stitching =)