Around the World in 80 Stitches SAL - Part 5 of 24

The latest part of this SAL has a lot of interesting stitches. Most of them were very simple to stitch, but have a very intricate appearance.

The center section has two versions of the Plaited Slav stitch, a straight version and a diagonal version. The green stitches coming out of the Diagonal Plaited Slave stitches are Croatian stitches. The pattern also called for Montenegrin stitches in the same area, but I felt that they were too chunky and did not look right, so I did all of them in Croatian stitches.

These are surrounded by Star Eyelet stitches.

Surrounding the center section are Asymmetric Eyelet stitches, which look like blooms, and flower stitches, made up of cross stitches, long stitches, and lazy daisy stitches. I really love the look of the Asymmetric Eyelet stitches, I will definitely keep them in mind for other projects. 

Chatelaine Christmas Mandala

I've just finished the Chatelaine Christmas Mandala, which is a free pattern available on the Chatelaine website. This one was very fun to stitch, and quite detailed for a freebie! I stitched this on 32 count Antique White linen, using DMC threads, Kreinik metallics, and beads from my stash. I changed the color of some of the beads, and added some additional beads where the pattern called for french knots (I was not about to do french knots with metallic thread!!) so my finished piece looks a little different than the model, but I like the way it turned out. I am planning on finishing it into a flat-fold ornament, but I have some supplies to buy before I can do that.