The good news?

I have Dutch Spiral down cold. The bad news? I have almost nothing to show for it.

I have been working on this all week. I have made numerous versions and ripped them all out. The first one had a color problem; it was supposed to evoke a field of tulips, and instead it screamed, "Christmas!"

After I ripped it out, I cut way back on the red and green and added in lots of yellow, and some orange shades. The color mix was good, but I had too many different bead shapes. That was not good.

The next one came out angular. I wanted soft and billowing.

I'm giving it another go; I hope I have it this time. The most frustrating part is how long this stitch takes to really show itself; most of my efforts have not gone bad until I'm four or five inches gone. That's frustrating! I keep saying that I'm going to give up, but then I think, what if I tried this and before I know it, another day is gone.

This is the last time.

I think.