Getting My Ass Kicked

Yesterday I struggled with these white clustered fly stitches. Initially I tried to do both layers before moving on to the next one but the counting was really kicking my ass. Finally I decided to do all the outer ones first. That way all the counting would be consistent. Then I came back and easily did the inner ones. 

The blue crosses were very easy. I did long stitches and anchored them with the yellow cross stitches. These were all done while I was watching TV.

There is one counting error but I defy anyone to find it. Then I did the parallel diagonal faggot stitches, the leafy ones on the right and diagonal stair step stitches.

They were followed by the 'stars' which also required a lot of counting but after a couple, I got the hang of it.

With them completed, there were blue fly stitches. The pattern was changed slightly to improve the look. Instead of the crosses being 2 threads out from the centre, I made them three threads out.

I'm pretty happy I got so much done on this project over the last two days.  

The pattern in that empty space to the left involves a whole bunch of those long-tailed chain stitches with more needle weaving - different the previously done. I thought I'd start those with fresh eyes tomorrow.

I overbought lettuce the other day while shopping. Even though we had tacos only a couple of days ago, we're going to have tostadas (chalupas?) tonight using tostada shells (flat, crisp corn tortillas), ready made, packaged and for sale at the local grocery store. 

If I remember, I'll take a photo of the ones I'm going to make. They're so easy to make with seasoned ground beef (I use this recipe for my taco seasoning), refried beans, diced fresh tomatoes and onions, shredded cheese and lettuce, sour cream, and avocado. The avocado I bought today isn't ripe enough so I've been researching ways to quickly ripen them. It looks like a few seconds in the microwave oven will do it.