You know what? I don’t really like cross stitch and yet here I am again.
Bit more done. Who thought adding a border would be a good idea? (It was me…).
I’ve got 70” of this to do… 
More progress being made. Can’t wait to get onto the body of this properly. But I need to get this border done… 
Finished the border in the right! Woot!
Just another 54 inches to go! Boo!
I messed up somewhere with my holly tree (it’s not in the right place…)
So I’m putting flower stalks in to make sure I can line my trees up properly.
More pig and more cat. More border too.
Completing this by end of year is looking increasingly unlikely. 
Bit more fence to stop the piggies escaping. #crossStitch #craft #needlework
Even more ponies.
Well in truth the bay was a big TBxID but my cats are the size of pigs which are the size of acorns so I think I gave up on scale along time ago…
And another pony.
And yes, they have names. Left to right we have Babs, Sailor, Spice and Sandy. Babs and Sailor were Haflingers, Spice was a TBxID (a big fearless mare who would jump anything you pointed her at) and Sandy was a Welsh Section B x Arab and went like the proverbial off a shovel (she jumped ridiculously high fences too).
See. There’s reasons behind all the oddly scaled critters.
And the last of the ponies - another two Haflingers - Nicky and Aurora
And now we need a fence to keep the ponies in! And of course… more borders.
More borders and more road.
I was a bit lost as to what to do in London, but now I have a plan. 
The wheels on the buses go round and round and in the interest of symmetry, nobody can get on or off.
London is done. The missing element was obviously some massive pigeons. Of course.
And to feed the massive pigeons? Well we’ll need some massive wheat won’t we!
You see, when I planned this all out on a spreadsheet, goodness knows how many months ago, it all made sense. Now, I’m not so sure, but never mind! On we go!!
More border and the green wiggles are taking shape* 
* I really hope I have them turning the right way…
@CurlyParakeet
Awwww, they are sweet, and even cuter than the Styer Puch Haflingers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amhiOFbwC6k
They are very lovely and live with my mum and dad. Nicky must be about close to 30 now and is probably about 25 in the picture.
With the Styer Puch Haflinger, I’m not sure I’d want to be in it when it hit top speed… and those seats… well I’m sure we had sun loungers that had a similar construction!
@CurlyParakeet
I am still undecided on which Haflinger would be the easier for me to control. 
Given the opportunity I would happily have either.
Although I haven’t ridden for a while, when I used to ride regularly, I was out on Nicky and he decided didn’t want to be out anymore so he turned around and bolted for home. This would have been fine if there hadn’t been a Toyota Hi-Lux behind (and now in front of) us.
I have never seen anyone reverse down a single lane road so fast!
And I think if Nicky had caught up he would have just tried to go through the Toyota like a flaxen maned tank. He is stupidly strong.
@CurlyParakeet
I haven't ridden for so long. Last time was a shire horse called Keiser.
@CurlyParakeet I laughed aloud when I was reading back through your progress thread and found "WhyDidIStartThis" :)
I am shy of counted grid cross-stitch myself.
I’m still asking myself this question!!
It’s my design so I don’t have to be super rigid with it, but it’s taking ages!!!
@CurlyParakeet I am enjoying your progress thread and the horse stories!
@jmeowmeow there’s a story behind every bit of it in some way or another. I think I’ll go through it all once I’m finished.
Perhaps the fence might keep out the pigs.
8- )
Cats, using the "feline dimension", can easily pass thru fences and other barriers.
Your previous toot told us that Sandy & Spice will jump almost anything. Thus, I will not consider it surprising if they bound up & over into other parts of this sampler!
:- )
Chapter the Fourth brings us to university!
8- )
( We must have passed our various college entrance exams, thank goodness!! :- )
sorry, didn’t see the reply until now!
I’m not sure I quite captured the grandeur of the main quad….
A beautiful scene! 8- )
That does make me wonder how old are those two observatory buildings and if they still active?
I've often seen similar-sized buildings, usually on higher ground or away from taller buildings to enable a broader view of the night skies.
:- )
TBH I never understood why they were there and sort of assumed they were decorative. In reality I doubt you could see much out of them even if they were usable (they’re in central London)
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1113064?section=official-list-entry
<loud voice aimed at the double-decker bus>
"
DRIVER! STOP THAT BUS!
You are just about to proceed an incline into who-knows-where, maybe even into fabled 'Neverlandia' !!
"
8- )
"
Roads? Where this bus is going, we don't need roads!
"
8- )
( just a banana peel or four. :- )
@SaguaroLynx I’m at a loss as to what to do next… my buildings look like cheese graters on my plan…
WooHoo! A *plan* !! 8- )
I eagerly await to see what "London" brings to your sampler!
:- )
It’s not an awesome plan, but I boxed myself in by putting down the road. 
As a tourist, the other item I frequently saw on London streets was the classic black "cabbie".
Perhaps a bicycle might also fit?
Oh! How about a callbox? Your choice of color:
BT Red
Police Blue*
Especially since you mentioned being "boxed" in. :- )
I hope that you find some inspiration!
( * TARDIS optional. :- )
@SaguaroLynx the original idea had an underground sign, but it looked a bit like a UFO 
I imagine that your scene has people going between the busses, and each just *happens* to walk right behind a tree or the central building.
8- )
In further quest for balance /symmetry, do the wheels on both busses rotate in the *same* or *opposite* directions?
I.e., do all wheels rotate widdershins ?
:- )
@CurlyParakeet
They are definitely giving it the T. Rex vibes with the buses!
@CurlyParakeet
I'm not sure which would be the more scary!
TBH, I would have done giant rats, but I couldn’t make a small rat design that didn’t look terrible.
Perhaps this is an example of "cross-stitch perspective"?
The items on sides are closest to us while those in the center are farthest from us.
In this case, the pigeons are actually the smallest, while the distant building is the largest.
8- )
@SaguaroLynx I think it might be pushing the bounds of perspective a bit, but let’s go with it for now!!
@CurlyParakeet this is beautiful! I love the warm colours
Thank you! 
@CurlyParakeet borders always seem like such a great idea and then it’s like “oh wait, this is super repetitive and also takes like 80% of the time of making the overall piece”
Yup! There’s about 70 inches of border in this project and it’s soooooooo boring…. 
Cool! Wheat* "ears", borders, & "wiggles"!
8- )
( * I see four "triticum". I wonder if these comprise "quadri-triticali" ? :- )
@CurlyParakeet ¿Is that going to be an exon/intron/allelic map?
It’s autobiographical so the dna is related to my work
@CurlyParakeet given the border I definitely expected that to go A, C, T, G
@3x10to8mps thank you!