Mega-Mini Month Madness Part 3

Lots of stitching this week!  It feels so good to say that as it means I am sitting up more than I am lying down now.  Yea me!  Recuperation is still going very well, as a matter of fact, except for the weird numb/hypersensitive skin right around the incision, I really don't feel as though I had major surgery. A HUGE part of this is due to a big mental shift that happened when I got a phone call offering me a new job!!!  I don't talk about it here (much) but I had reached a point where I hated going to work - not the work itself I think it is a great program nor my immediate co-workers as they are awesome people or even the crazy, ridiculous commute, but the management people leave a lot to be desired.  Read any article on what defines a bad boss and it could be written for the two I work for.  To give you an idea of the six people in my office with the same job I have, six of them are looking for new jobs.  Anyway, effective Sunday (our pay periods run from Sunday to Saturday for some reason) I am going to a different division.  Will it be any better?  I know all the people in the division and they're all great, I know the middle management folks and they are great and I know the upper management folks and they are good (can't say great as I really have only had minimal interactions with them, but everyone that works with them likes them), so I think it will.  The important thing is the minute I got the call with the job offer, I felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders and I have felt better, mentally, than I have in years, so "yes" I think it will be better.  Anyway, you didn't click over here to read about these issues, but to read about my stitching, so here you go....

Mega-Mini Month Madness is being hosted at Pull the Other Thread and just asks us to stitch on a small and post about it each week in October.  Last week I moaned about the lack of progress on The Nutmeg Company's Fondant Icing, but I can't do that this week.  Last week I was here:

And right now, I am here:

I finished the roof and one of the two side walls and am almost done with the second one.  Once these are done I have to do the fiddly bit of fitting the end walls on the fabric and then all the beading.  Oh yes, the wall closest to you is upside down - it is just easier for me to stitch it from the top down so I flip the fabric around to accommodate my stitching style.

The other piece I worked on this week was Mirabilia's Santa's Magic.  When I put him on the frame last Friday, he was here:

Yes, he's still sideways...

And right now, he's here:

Lots of metallic in the section I worked on if you have this pattern and are planning to stitch him on 32-count, I recommend switching the #8 Kreinik (if it still calls for it) to #4 or even Petite Treasure Braid (if you can do the conversion) - I'm using #4 and can't imagine trying to pull #8 through this fabric .  I hope to finish the moon and the blue streamers there in the lower right corner before I put him away.

As this is International Hermit and Stitch Weekend and I am still on semi-light activity restrictions, I think it will be a very productive stitching weekend.