Since the last time I posted a photo of the rug I have made a lot of progress. I now am working my way down the last side of this border. It is so fun seeing the border change in look with each color I add.

Once I am completed this border I have one small one to complete and then I start my largest border of the pattern. 

People at the show were very interested to see this "work in progress" rug and were able to understand a bit better the amount of time and effort went into making one of my petit point creations.

​Thinking ahead, I wonder how long it will eventually take me to finish this one?  Any guesses? I started stitching this one on January 6th, so have 4 months invested in it so far.

Yesterday, we attended the OMEGA Miniature Show and Sale where we had a table to showcase our patterns, one-of-a-kind hand-painted art, room screens and petit point stitched items. While at the show I gave a demonstration on making a petit point pillow. The demonstration was well received and I had a lot of fun doing it. 
It was wonderful to see return customers and meet people who came to enjoy the show.

Another few days and another section of the border is complete. I have now filled in the colors of the bottom section of the next inner border and it is looking great!

It is amazing to think that just that section has 4,240 stitches! Instead of looking like diamond shapes, they now look like a bunch of large X's marching along the bottom. I always love seeing how the addition of some other colors can thoroughly change the look of a pattern.

To stitch this section of the border, I began with the pale yellow and filled in all the way across. Then I stitched the dusty rose and the navy blue after that. In this way, I was able to ensure that I did not accidentally run a dark thread under a lighter one.

My little cat border is finally finished!  I am thrilled to see them marching around the outside of the rug. 

As I have said when I first started stitching this rug, it is the largest one I have worked on so far. I began stitching on January 6th and have worked many hours on it so far. Time has moved so quickly that it is surprising to me that almost 4 months has passed since I placed the first stitch on the gauze. In many cases with the other rugs I have stitched, I would be nearing completion now. Luckily, I am enjoying it so much that I don't mind how long it is taking.

​My next border has already been laid out so it shouldn't take me very long to fill it in. This photo was taken on the 20th of the month and I have already been hard at work 

After many starts and stops, I have finished stitching the background diagonals for the next border. It will be fun seeing the colors as I fill it in. However, I have turned my attention to the Cats border again and am now busy filling in the ones I couldn`t before due to lack of thread.  I purchased several skeins of the background so that I will have it for another project and will take the next several days to complete the cat border.

My folding frame is holding up fairly well but I don`t think it will be suitable for another use after this rug is finished. It has been a godsend for me when traveling though and protects my rug very well. I might try to think of another way to make one another time when I have a large project to complete. Since it is made from foam core, it isn`t very sturdy, but good enough for now.

Things are moving along nicely now and I found stitching the small, dotted border went fairly quickly.

The same cannot be said for the next section I am working. I have more time to stitch right now and for some reason I keep making silly mistakes! I think I have spent as much time unpicking my mistakes as stitching. Very frustrating!!

The zig-zag you are seeing is one half of the whole and I have decided to lay down the first half all the way around to make sure everything is stitched properly. Then I will stitch the other half using the first half to guide me. With the amount of silly mistakes I am making on this section of the rug, I am definitely glad I didn't choose to stitch both halves at the same time. Much less to pick out this way. When I make mistakes like this, I 

Round and round we go!  I am working my way around the animal border of the rug and, as of yesterday evening, have made it this far.

Unfortunately for me, I have run out of the background color of the animal motif, so will have to pause working this border until I can get some more floss. I am not close to a store that sells floss so I tend to wait until I have a few things I need before making the trek. Therefore, I have decided to begin the next border.  That border will keep me busy for a while.

With each border around the rug, I am slowly working my way toward the middle. The next border is a simple one that I can do without looking too closely at the pattern - and, yes, I did double check it to make sure there are no anomalies in the border designed to make it fit the rug properly!

It will be interesting to see how long it will take me to do this next border since each one is less stitches across than the last one.

I am pleased to announce that the diamond art version of my Jocelyn Rug pattern is now completed! 
It has been such a fun project to work on that I would love to do another someday. The company that created my diamond art kit for me was True North Diamond Art and they were wonderful to work with. They created a kit with a blank square grid on it and sent all of the diamond drills I needed for the project based on the number of stitches I had listed on my pattern.  I read the pattern the same as I would for doing

I have been making great progress on my custom Diamond Art project, so I thought I would post a slideshow of my work to date.

At this rate, I know I will be finished very soon. The next update of this will show the last section at the top completed. 

​Such a fun project to see my own idea immortalized in diamond art!

It has taken me a while, but the right side is now finished and I am working my way across the top. This side seemed to take me a long time filling in the empty spaces, but now I am on a roll and I expect it to go faster once again. 

I am still also working on my diamond art to give my eyes a bit of a rest when they get tired of looking at these tiny stitches.