The last two days of February are upon us and we are in the middle of a blizzard.  I think Mother Nature is reminding us that although Spring is around the corner, there is still Winter weather to contend with.  Yesterday, I shoveled my driveway 3 times to keep up with the snow!
Now, on to more interesting things.  Here is the latest photo of the Sonja rug, taken this morning.  I haven't been able to get too much more done than what you saw in my post last week, but still, it is something.  I am enjoying stitching the white background and seeing the design pop out at me.  Finishing each little section gives me quite a thrill.  I try to view each section between the larger motifs as a milestone instead of looking at the project as a whole.  This makes it easier for me to finish each section and feel good about what I have accomplished instead of looking at how much still needs to be done.

Filling in the background of the middle border is progressing well at the moment.  As stated in my previous post, I am using Basketweave stitch to fill it in.  To see a very good description of basketweave stitch, check this link: www.needlepointteacher.com/stitches/numbered-a-b/basketweave/   
I found this website to be very good for explaining the many types of stitches found in needlepoint.  Petitpoint (which I am doing) is often made up of the same stitches but primarily Tent (sometimes referred to as Continental) and Basketweave.  One of the other petitpoint stitchers I know sometimes uses a full cross stitch to highlight single stitches of a color, which I may do for the single stitches of dark blue that you can see in the inner and outer borders.  I haven't fully decided yet what I will do.
For now, I will continue to fill in the background...

Slowly but surely, the design emerges.  It has been a couple of weeks since I posted last but they have not been idle.  I now have all of the middle border outlined and the colors filled into the motifs.  Now, I need to stitch the white background around each motif.  It will be difficult to see if I photograph it on a white piece of paper again the way this photo is so I will choose a colored piece of paper for the next photo so that you can see the stitched background easier.
Stitching the colors in each motif was a bit fiddly because there are four different blues in some of them, but very satisfying in the end to see the various colors blending and working together to give each motif some depth.
I will be using basketweave stitch to fill in the background as opposed to the tent stitch I have used so far.  Basketweave is done in a diagonal direction and I often like to use that for backgrounds unless I am using an overdyed floss for the background.  Overdyes must be done with half cross stitch or tent stitch so that the lines are horizontal and match the "abrash" look that you see in many old rugs.  Next week I hope to have quite a bit of the white filled in for you to see...