A chill in the air

There is a definite chill in the wind today. It is also damp, definitely feels like autumn. The trees in the low, wet areas are changing color and the others are looking very tired.  I have also noticed a shift in the bird population at the feeders.  More chickadees, cardinals and titmice and fewer finches and the gold finches are putting on their winter colors.  The hummingbirds have headed south.  There are two females that showed up earlier this week, but I don't expect them to stick around much longer. I read that they migrate to Central America and Panama for the winter.  It is hard to imagine something that small flying across the Gulf of Mexico. Nature is truly amazing.

What hasn't been amazing this week was my stitching.  As I mentioned in my last post, I worked from home this past week and had several hours a night for stitching that I don't normally have.  You know the old "best laid plans?",  yeah, that was me.  I did some reading, I did a ton of net surfing, I spent at least one evening searching for fabrics for Serenity Harbor, I got all my unkitted and three kitted pieces of  DMC loaded into my Xstitch app (Jo at Serendipitous Stitching did this review in April) .  The inventory has been eye opening, more for the questions it raises than anything - for instance, why do I have 16 skeins of 501? The only thing that I would change on the app is how the thread is sorted.  Currently the 3000 series is interspersed with the 300s and the 4000 with the 400s.  A fairly minor issue, but it did make initial entry and additions a little awkward.  I will quit whinging about what I didn't get done and show you what I did:

99 by Ink Circles came up in the rotation.  When you last saw it, it was here:

today it is here:

One piece I did start and finish this month is Jayne Netley Mayhew's Bluetit for The Sampler Life's SAL.  The only change I made is the addition of the backstitched border, it needed something to stop your eyes.  This is a minor addition /change and pretty much the limit of my ability.  If you'd like to see some amazing chart changes/modifications, you need to check out Kate's blog at Needles and Haystacks.  Her work completely blows me away every time I see it.  The blocks for the SAL are my  entries each month.  Heather at Stitching Lotus hosts this SAL that focuses on smalls and ornaments.  So here is my September entry:

and here is the whole piece:

I was a bit worried that it wouldn't fit with the other blocks, but I think its closeness to the rose block helps.

I am going to start my rotation back up in the hopes of getting through this stitching slump, so 99 will stay on the frame through tonight and Just Nan's Florentine Floral will go on tomorrow.