Crazy Weather

Yeah, we've had some crazy weather this week.  I showed you the snow pictures in my last post, well we're only five days out from those and it was 80 F this afternoon!  My flowers are coming up and the trees are budding.  There are daffodils blooming in the planting beds around the Department of Energy's building in DC.  If this keeps up, the cherry blossoms are not going to wait until April to bloom!  It is supposed to cool off a bit for the weekend as there is a front coming through.  Right now the wind is just howling - a few gusts have shook the house.  It is eerie to hear it roaring across the fields, through the woods and towards the house.

My fabric for Serengeti arrived today!  I'm going to be using Wichelt's Summer Sky Jobelan. I'm using 32-count to reduce the size a bit it is something like 410X410 stitches but may have to do some fiddling to get the center beads to fit my experience has been that these "hand dyes" don't seem to have the shrinkage factor that some others. I decided that as this is intended as a gift I'd go all out on the fibers. Normally I would order the kit from European Cross Stitch, but this time I was able to get the majority of them on sale at either Needlecraft Corner or Stitching Bits & Bobs.  Needle in a Haystack filled in a few and Alex-Paras Needlearts came through with the Caron Impressions and I got the bead kit from European Cross Stitch. Even with the shipping I saved quite a bit doing it this way. I should be able to pull the majority of the DMCs from my stash. Just have to start stalking the postman wait for delivery.

I mentioned that I had Monday off and I was able to stitch for a good portion of the day. I probably didn't get as much done as I could have. I had the first season of Sherlock recorded and it's not really a show you can have on as background.  I was talking with DSon about this series and neither of us care for Moriarty. I know, you're not supposed to *like* the bad guy, but the portrayal just doesn't fit our perception of Moriarty. DSon said that Mycroft was more what he was expecting. Oh well, a minor irritation in an otherwise good series.  We are both looking forward to Season Two. I still think Benedict Cumberbatch would make an interesting Dr. Who.  Okay, that thought train was totally derailed, back to stitching... I almost finished one quarter of part 10 of Secret Victorian Garden.  Lucky me, who hates backstitching, there are two gates on this part that are entirely backstitched in Rainbow Gallery's Petite Treasure Braid.  It's a beautiful effect, but UGH! 


Secret Victorian Garden by Chatelaine
Stitched on 32-count Carol's Meadow by Silkweaver Fabrics with recommended fibers and beads

Shepherd's Bush's Holy Night will be making an appearance on the System 4 this coming week.

Happy stitching everyone.