Work has been slow on this piece for a few reasons. The biggest culprit is all the little eyelets; not only are they time consuming, but all the embroidery is so tight that the needle often needs extra encouragement to pierce the holes in the ground fabric. I've broken at least a half-dozen needles so far. Modern needles, mind you. I shudder to think about how I'd fare using some hand-made needles.
One of the other reasons progress has been slow is due to this little side-project: I'd decided that, after my class on German counted work, I should really have some examples that use the 2/1 stitch slope (sometimes referred to as Gobelin stitch). The patterns are from Richard Wymarc's A Stitch Out Of Time (patterns 6 & 10 on that page). Both will become small cushions:
