Wow, that was the longest hour ever! I guess I am a poor judge of time. One turned into four. Here is the eagle completed, but no back stitching yet. I like to leave that for last.
(This picture is larger, but I am trying to figure out why it gets smaller when I load it to photobucket)
On to the trees now. I may start with the light blue and grey trees on the bottom first, so I can see quicker progress with the half stitches. If I had to guess, I would say I am just under half way done.
Wonderful! You're braver than me leaving the backstitch on the eagle until last! By the time I had finished all of the browns in the one I did, I didn't want to have to go back to the eagle so I made myself finish the backstitch as I did the background around him.
WIPs: There Be Dragons, Feed My Sheep, Canyon Flight HAED, Lotus Flowers HAED, Christmas Cove
Agi
"The world, as a colourful knot of threads, has turned into a memory, and now you cannot be sure whether it was real." (Géza Ottlik, Hungarian writer)
Call me weird, but I like to do my back stitching last. I think it is so neat to see all the cross stitching done, but then to see it come to life after the details of back stitching are added. If I feel like I need a break from my current stitching I may change my methods and do some back stitching.
Another update after 2 days of stitching. Moving on to the trees in the background so I can feel like I am making quicker progress with those half stitches. The light blue is a little hard to catch on camera because it is not much different from the dove drey aida. But those trees are supposed to be like subtle shadows from a distance, so I am not worried about the light color.
That looks awesome! You're thread is making me very anxious to start working on this again...I ordered some new fabric on Monday and am hoping it gets here soon-ish!
There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE! 
The light blue is a little hard to catch on camera because it is not much different from the dove drey aida. But those trees are supposed to be like subtle shadows from a distance, so I am not worried about the light color. 
