Chinese Garden Mandala - post #5

All the missing threads for my Chinese Garden Mandala arrived before the weekend, so I was able to get in some good stitching time in the areas that needed them. I'm nearly done with the center now (still need to redo the rhodes stitches in the temple and add some backstitch) and I've made a good start on the gates around the center.

As always, the colors are a bit off, but I did find a filter in my phone settings that helps a bit, so you can finally see that the fabric is a light mottled blue.

Nearly complete center:

The entire thing overall! It feels good to have the four gates sketched out and in position. There's still more stitching along the top, but this is the most basic outline. Each one will be filled with a different scene, but I'm going to focus on the repetitive part until I get tired of it. :)

And a closeup of the bricks. I especially love the texture of the large bricks, they feel so nice when you run your finger over them! And the color is great too, giving the impression of old mossy brick.

Still loving this project and I intend to keep going with it for a while! There's still some more work to do on the border between the center and the brick arches, so maybe I'll try to get that done over the next few days.