A FINISH!!!!

I've been quiet for a while and I haven't been doing much stitching in my absence. A series of headaches put me out of commission and they got so bad I actually (GASP!) went to see a doctor. But apparently I'm fine (yay!) and back to stitching (and blog reading, I'm about 300 blogs behind, EEP!). Which means... a finish! Not a page finish or a section finish but an actual bona fide entire finish.

It's kind of cheating because it's a Chatelaine freebie, but I'll take what I can get.

Before:

After:

Just look at that sparkle!!!

Suffice it to say, I'm VERY excited. Mini Rose Garden Mandala is next. I went ahead and updated my left-hand stash-a-column. You may notice an AWESOME addition, that being the CHATELAINE GREEK MANDALA! It was on my Christmas list that I gave my mom and during the European Cross Stitch Company's Black Friday sale she handed me her credit card and said, "go buy." You don't have to twist my arm, mom! I bought the chart, bead pack and fabric since I felt super guilty about spending $200 on silks, especially after they already bought me a new camera (and a cashmere-blend sweater from White House Black Market). So I'll eventually get the silks myself. But Greek Mandala is definitely in my stash!

Also, I have  another update on College.

Before:

After:

I can't believe how fast it stitches up when there are solid blocks of color! You can see the outline of another tower on the left side there. I'm excited to fill it in next week when I visit Boyfriend again.

That's it from me for now. I'm going to bask in the glory of my sparkly finish. Thanks for all your comments, everyone! Happy stitching!