Why thank you! This is the first time I have taken photographs of a piece as I go through it. Of course most of my other stuff has usually taken a month or less to finish

. It's interesting seeing the piece grow and, as you say, the blues are lovely and, although quite dark, if you're counting carefully and marking off, it's not too bad. Certainly it's nothing like working with black (thank goodness

).
The iris and the other flowers were by a lady called Sheila Hudson and I met her at a Stitching Show in London Olympia one year. Her artwork was fabulous and I was really drawn to the iris because of the lovely colours. After that, I just had to do the others so I could have a grouping of four. Unfortunately Sheila died recently and she will be greatly missed.
The Lancaster picture looks a bit out of character in amongst the other 'girly' pieces but it was a present for my Dad as he has been aircraft-mad for ever (I spent most of my formative years on an airfield!).
I also had a sneak peak at your Castle, which looks fabulous. How many pieces have you got on the go at the moment?

Christine