Crochet Alongs- Update

The nights are getting colder, the days shorter and after a busy day, there's nothing better than snuggling in for the night with a crochet project. I have two CAL's on the go at the moment, so I thought I would update their progress, so far.
Firstly, my Mandala Madness CAL:

This was my progress after Part Three. We added the pink circles and a ruffled border. There was quite a bit of work in this installment and I had a bit of trouble getting those circles to look perfect (to me), but once it was done, I was really pleased with the end result.

At the end of Part Four, the Mandala became a hexagon. This is where the "madness" part comes in; over the course of this CAL, the shape will constantly change. This installment was nice and quick and apart from lots of counting, one of the easiest installments so far.

In Part Five, we added those gorgeous scallops to the mandala. One of the challenges of doing a mystery CAL, is not knowing where to place the colours. I took a risk with this installment, hoping to really frame the hexagon with some of the darker colours and luckily for me, it worked :)

And here's my Mandala, after Part Six. I was so pleased I chose the darker colours in the previous installment, they really showcase that centre. My plan is, to inject a lot of white into this project but those large expanses of colour really make me happy. Part Seven came out today, so I'm looking forward to adding the next installment over the weekend.
I am loving this CAL so much. It's a real challenge at times, but I'm learning heaps, its making me think and the end result is just gorgeous.
The other CAL I'm working on, is the Fran Mystery CAL:

In Part Three of this CAL, we worked on nine sweet little squares called SUE and in Part Four, there were nine called FAY: Both of these designs are lovely and they are quick to crochet.

I am enjoying this CAL and I think the blanket will look beautiful but I'm finding it quite repetitive and I'm not learning anything new. Once the first square is complete, there is no challenge but this IS a CAL suited to beginners and I just love Shelley's patterns so much, that I really want to keep working on it and see where it leads :)
I have finished my "In A Spin" CAL but haven't had time to take any photos yet, so I'll have more on that one later.
To find the links to both CAL's, you can check out my original post HERE and it will take you to straight to each of the designers blogs.
Back to the hook :)