February Smalls Check-in

It's time for February's  check-in. But before I get to that, Trouble, Salem and Spot are rather upset that I have been giving the guest cats more attention here than they've been getting. So to right that here's a picture of the resident cats:

The two black lumps are Spot (on the left - if you look very closely you can see the white spot on her foot that gave her her name - that and I thought it was funny to call an almost solid black cat "Spot") and Salem (on the right) and Trouble is in the bed in the front.  And yes they have their own chairs.  A couple of years ago, The Hubs and I bough new desk chairs.  We couldn't get to the dump right away, so we pushed the old ones to the edge of the room.  Weelllll, the cats started sleeping in them and the chairs haven't made it to the dump yet.

I do have to talk about the guest cats a little.  I have been stalking checking the rescue group's website to see how the girls were getting along and on Thursday it showed that Molly was adopted.  One big sigh of relief and now huge crossed fingers that Olivia finds her family soon.

So onto  check-in.  The Smalls SAL is hosted by Heather at Stitching Lotus.  This SAL is the main reason I have any finishes throughout the year.  I tend to be a BAP stitcher so anything that reminds me that small is good too is for me.  This month's piece is By the Full Moon from Ink Circles:

 It's stitched with DMC on a mystery piece of hand-dyed fabric although I am positive it is from Picture This Plus.

And before I forget again - if you're in the Richmond area and have a few hours the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is hosting The Terracotta Army: Legacy of the First Emperor of China until mid-March.  I went a couple weeks ago and am going again next Sunday.  I have seen a number of television shows on the topic, but to come around the corner of the main exhibit hall and actually see them stopped me in my tracks.  They don't allow flash photography so the photographs aren't particularly good but give you an idea:

and here's a close up of one of the faces:

I may have watched too much Scooby-Doo when I was a kid, but it was not hard to imagine them stepping off their display podiums and walking out the door.  And if the warriors aren't your cup of tea the museum has an amazing Faberge (I can't get the ' over the "e") and Russian Decorative Arts collection - including five Imperial Eggs.

Zen is still on the frame and I hope to get some quality time with it this afternoon/evening and tomorrow.

GG, TUSAL, IHSW, EIEIO

I don't blog for a week and suddenly I'm behind on three SAL check-ins.  But first some news on the guest cats.  Molly and Olivia are now in the care of the wonderful folks at Feline Foundation of Greater Washington.  One of the first rescues I contacted back at the beginning of this saga texted me with their information and suggested very strongly that I call them, so I did.  Forty-five minutes and  several emails with pictures, etc. later, they tell me that there is someone very interested in Molly and a waiting list of people wanting long-hairs and/or Maine Coon cats so they don't expect that Olivia will have to wait too long for a home.  I dropped them off Friday and sniffed and had watery eyes the whole way home, my brain knew my part in their story was going to be short but my heart didn't get the message - I don't think I'm cut out to be a foster, but I know this is an amazing chance for them to find wonderful homes.  So onto SALs....

 is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  It is a way for us to thank the generous people that have gifted us with stitching things, or to show things we're stitching as gifts or anything we can shoehorn into that criteria.  Two of my pieces are perfect fits for this SAL as they are gifts, but they are also part of  my  post.  IHSW is hosted by Joysze at Random Ramblings or on Facebook by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching.  IHSW takes place on the third full weekend of each month and is a wonderful excuse if you need one to sit and stitch for the weekend.  I worked on three pieces this weekend and as I mentioned two of them fit with Gifted Gorgeousness.

My main focus this weekend was Goldie.  In the last few minutes of Sunday I had a page finish.  It went from here:

to here

This is the fastest I have ever stitched a Heaven and Earth Design page.  Fingers crossed that I can keep it up.

Japanese Zen Garden went on the frame this morning.  When I showed it last, it was here:

And right now, it's here:

The majority of this was done last weekend, I have only stitched one rock and the blue stitches on the outside there.  The open areas will be filled with beads and specialty stitches.  I want to finish the cross stitches in the next section out before I start adding all the bling and fussy stuff. 

I had a bit more progress on By the Full Moon.  Not sure if I will finish it before the Smalls SAL deadline, but will give it a try.

 
And finally TUSAL.

TUSAL is hosted by Sharon at It's Daffycat. Another no stress SAL - just save all those bits that you'd normally throw away in some sort of container and post a photo each new moon.  Mine are accumulating nicely.  I'm pretty stingy with my thread, so it always amazes me how many ORTs I collect every year.

I'll be working on Zen for the rest of the evening - gotta love long weekends.

Survived!

Survived what you ask? Taking Molly and Olivia to the vet.  I figured things had calmed down too much so they needed stirring up again.  Anyway I am very happy to report that both girls are healthy and are now up to date with their shots.  Both girls are also younger than the in-laws said.  The vet estimates they are no older than 7, the in-laws said they'd had them for 10 years.  Molly, who I have not heard say a thing made her displeasure about the trip and being at the vets know LOUDLY to all who would listen - she made one of the dogs in the waiting room jump with one of her howls!! 

This cute little Jim Shore snowman came in the mail today 

 

Funny thing is, I didn't remember ordering it.  Now I do forget things, like where I put my keys or parked my car or why I walked out of the room, but I don't forget needlework orders ESPECIALLY as I'm participating in Stitch from Stash right now.  Digging around a bit more in the envelope and there was a letter congratulating me on winning one of the prizes on The Stitchers' Village 12 Days Event!  THAT I had totally forgotten about entering mostly because I never win anything so I never went back and checked. 

 

Speaking of Stitch from Stash, I had a zero spend in January but have already spent February's budget.  I caved and signed up for the Ingleside Imaginarium Guardians of Notre Dame SAL.  If you haven't seen it, here's the border and first two parts: I have no idea what color fabric or whether I will order the over-dye to do the border, but I love grotesques and gargoyles so looking forward to starting this.

 

I am still filling in the ear/head on the Goldie stocking.  When I put it on the frame last week, it was here:

 

 

And when I took it off the frame a few minutes ago, it was here:

 

It's definitely looking more doggish. 

So there's some stash and some progress and now, a new start. 

This is By the Full Moon by Tracy Horner of Ink Circles.  It's from the 2010 September/October Just Cross Stitch and is stitched on an unknown scrap fabric although I suspect it is either 28-count DaVinci or 28-count Haunted both by Picture This Plus with DMC.  Yes, I know I said The Sampler Life SAL pieces were going to be my smalls until I finally finished them off, but I just couldn't find one that called to me.  When I went looking for one, this jumped out and grabbed me.

Zen will be going on the frame for this week.  The PTBs finally showed up so I plan to go back to the middle and tart it up a bit.