Mythical Myrtle was an EGA GCC by Barbara Kershaw, done as a Lightning Round. I changed to a varigated perle cotton and decided "Myrtle" was too mild a name, so I decided he is her kin named Vingjie, which means "gallant hero" in Chinese, according to Google. I found it fun and easy.

Vingjie was stitched using casalguidi (raised stem stitch) and drawn thread done on evenweave linen with perle cotton, floss (tassels), cotton fabric (lining), and beads. Began June 2020 and sent to Barbara Kershaw for review January 2021.

This is Debbie Rowley’s Mermaid’s Tale with many mods. My granddaughter saw it and asked me to stitch it for her, but I decided to switch things up. The first thing was, I saw this as a round porthole, not the square as diagrammed. As I stitched the background, I thought I didn’t like the openness of some of the stitches and decided to raid my bead stash.  I added beads to 3 of the water layers. The mermaid screamed for padding so I added 2 layers of felt under the body and wired the tail so it could flip forward.  The seaweed also had areas that lifted off the canvas.  The 2-dimensional project became very 3-dimensional.  My framer was able to complete the look with a round frame and a convex glass. Unfortunately, museum glass is not available as convex so there is a lot of glare so this picture is before the glass was added.

This is Jelly Bellies by Caela Con Tyler, who was featured in Needle Arts Dec 2013 as the Designer Across America. In 2011, she released what is known as an "Infamous Kit" called El Mercado that contained 126 different threads! Jelly Bellies had only 36 different threads.  This kit stretched my skills as I had never stitched through tulle (waves) nor used saran wrap (Jelly Fish #2) as stuffing. The beaded tentacles of Jelly Fish #4 were a challenge as they are attached to the lower opening of the jelly fish. The red tentacles of Jelly Fish #5 are only attached at the top under the body and move as the frame is tilted.