Frankenstorm

In case you haven't had the radio, television or computer on in the last couple of days, the mid-Atlantic and New England are preparing for what has been dubbed "Frankenstorm".  If it does what they think it will, three storms merging into one megastorm, it is going to be a rough ride.  It looks like the worst of it is going to go just north of here, but with a storm as big as the one predicted, we will be impacted.  Everything that we can do to prepare has been done - bathtub is full of water, bottled water ready, laundry done can you tell I freak at the thought of not having water - it is one of the negatives of living in the country, we are on a well and when the power goes out we don't have water, everything that needs a charge to operate is plugged in and I have enough cross stitch pieces on large count that I will be able to stitch, if not by candle okay battery-powered lantern but *that* does not sound like roughing it at least by whatever daylight we may have.  There's also enough food that doesn't require refrigeration or cooking to keep us going for a few days. 

Is it just me or has there been a rash of comments from Anonymous on every one's blog?  I must get five or six a day.  I really do not want to go to comment moderation but I may have to.

I was finally able to watch this season's Wallander last weekend.  As much as I enjoy them, I do have to be in the right mood.  While watching listening I was able to stitch on a couple of projects:

First is The Nutmeg Company's Parma Violets gingerbread house.  It is stitched on 22-count white Aida with DMC no beads yet.  This is one wall of the cottage the needle is to give some perspective on the size.  No before photo as I stitched the roof last go-round.

And this is Chatelaine's Hawaiian Garden Mandala:

Before:

And after hmmmm given how little I got stitched, I guess I was watching more than I thought:

Chatelaine's Hawaiian Garden Mandala
Stitched on Summer Sky Jobelan with recommended fibers and beads

Mirabilia's Holly is on the frame for the coming week.  Everybody have a good week and those of you in the path of the storm, stay safe.

It was a WHAT?!?!

As you may have read on other blogs or heard on the news there was an amazing line of thunderstorms that hit Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia about a week ago.  Come to find out it wasn't *just* a scary thunderstorm with lots of wind, it was a derecho.  A derecho you ask? Well you may not, but I sure did.  According to the National Severe Storms Laboratory, "A derecho is a fast-moving windstorm that is made up of thunderstorms that repeatedly develop along the leading edge. These lines of storms can move very quickly and produce widespread straight-line winds over long periods of time. Derechos can move anywhere from 35-70 mph and last 8 hours or more. Most derechos that produce severe weather move at speeds greater than 50 mph. Warm season events probably move a little slower than cold season events." Seems the up- and down-drafts just keep feeding existing and creating new thunderstorms. Whatever you want to call them, they were scary.  The wind just would not let up, and I honestly kept waiting for something to come down on the house or the house to come down on something. We were fortunate that we did not lose power - it flickered but never went completely out.  We have several large branches down in the yard and a tree that came down, but no damage to any buildings.  As soon as it cools down some probably October the way this summer's going we'll get out and clean things up.  That is one of the advantages of living in the middle of not a lot, no homeowner's association to make a fuss if we don't pick up immediately.

So what else have I been doing since my last post?  Oh yeah, I was in Detroit for a week.  It was a very nice trip as I only had to speak once and basically hang around for questions/discussions the rest of the time.  DSister and DBIL were wonderful hosts.  Picked me up and dropped me off at the airport and trekked into Detroit to take me to dinner a couple of times.  I was able to take a couple of days off and see the rest of the family so all in all a good week.  Probably the only bad part of the trip was the building the hotel was in.  The hotel was in the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit and while it's a very beautiful building it is near to impossible to get around in!!  You could see where you wanted to be but could not get there.  The building is four towers connected by walkways - here is a photo from one of the walkways:

The tan/beige walkway is tile and it actually looks like a tire tread General Motors is headquartered in one of the towers.  It was definitely one of those places that you did not try a new way to get somewhere, figure out once and don't deviate!!
I did get a little stitching done in between travel and work.
Chatelaine's Winter Watergarden. Stitched on White Belfast with recommended fibers.

  

Before

After

It is really hard to tell what was done but if you look really hard you may see some additional filling stitches just inside the outer border. I *did* say a little stitching... 

Next is By the Bay Needlearts' Summer SAL.  It's stitched on 32-count Silkweaver's Lavender Swirl with the recommended DMCs.

Before

After

I think I am going to push through with this one as I'm so close to finished.  I took tomorrow off and Friday is my regular Friday off so I am hopeing to get some good stitching time in.  Chatelaine's Hawaiian Garden and Mirabilia's Holly are both moving back into the rotation.

Little Houses

Thank you everyone for your kind comments on my stitching.  As mentioned in my last post, the cherry blossoms are now gone; however, the walk around the Tidal Basin is still beautiful and you can take in three different memorials - Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt and Martin Luther King, Jr.  Now is the perfect time, not too hot and humid and much smaller crowds. Listen to me sounding like a tourist guide! 

The pines have joined the pollen parade as evidenced by my yellow-green colored car and my itchy, watery, puffy eyes I am hoping that all the plants have their grand spring celebration all at once and the allergy season is short.

I worked on Chatelaine's Hawaiian Garden this week and almost finished one hibiscus corner.  Here's a view of the entire section:

And here's a semi-close up:

Hawaiian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine
Stitched on 28-count Summer Sky Jobelan with recommended fibers and beads

I know nothing I have written so far has anything to do with little houses, but this does:

This all comes in that little package in the upper right corner.  It's the kit for Parma Violets from The Nutmeg Company's The Christmas House Collection, Gingerbread Houses and when it is finished it will be 6cms or a little more than 2-1/4".  It's a very complete kit including pre-cut fabric and frame pieces the finished stitching is sewn to them to give them body so they will stand when stitched together.

Marsh Marigolds on Logan's Creek will go on the stand for this weekend.  This one is close enough to being done, that I may have a happy dance before the weekend is out. Of course now that I have voiced that possibility, something will come up to prevent it from happening. 

Spring and LOTS of Other Stuff

This will be long and rambling not like my other posts are any different so as Mouse would say grab a cuppa and settle in. I don't have a kettle and don't know the first thing about making a proper cup of tea but I am willing to try and do always have iced tea in the fridge and despite living in the south it is not sweet tea!

Thank you to everyone on the comments on my progress on Winter Watergarden. I do love Chatelaine designs and just wish I had the time to stitch more of them although looking at my WIP list time is not stopping me from starting them.

Where to begin? Well it is definitely spring here in central Virginia. Not that we had a winter to speak of but there is no question that the season is changing.

The dogwoods are just opening and should be beautiful in another few days. This one is in the woods around our house, so it is just an ordinary tree and not the showpiece you might find in an arboretum.

I have mentioned that I work in Washington DC, so instead of my usual three laps around the third floor the Department of Agriculture building is huge, each lap of the walking "trail" on the third floor is right around 6/10ths of a mile at lunch on Monday I meandered down to see the cherry blossoms.  It was a cool, partially cloudy day but it was so nice to get out of the building.

Unfortunately for the organizers of the Cherry Blossom Festival, the blossoms are not going to be around for the opening of the festival. These photos were taken on Monday, the flowers last about 10 days and the festival isn't due to open until next week sometime.

So where to next? Rebekah at The Stitching Frog kindly awarded me the Liebster Award. Thank You Rebekah.   Liebster is a German word, meaning favorite, dearest or beloved, and the Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help the new(er)bies gain wider recognition. The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.
4. Share five random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

 I have done #2 and part of #3, #1 will be a bit more difficult but I will work on it while I write this although I may just guide you all to my blog list (on the left side bar) and invite you to visit all of them. I jump off to lots of other blogs from these and it is so much fun to find a new blog.  And #4, five random facts about me.  I am a pretty random person, so you would think that would be easy, but it has had me stumped for the last couple of days, but here goes:

1.  I hate cooked raisins but will eat them "raw".

2. My favorite word is aardvark. I just like how it looks and sounds no great love for the animal although it is interesting.

3.  Yellow is my favorite color, followed closely by red

4.  I am not a morning person although I have had to make myself pretend to be one due to work

5.  I still watch Scooby-Doo cartoons

I won a give away!! Donna at By the Bay Needleart has been designing Stitch an Inch projects. Each chartpack contains seven designs - six major plus a bonus chart - that can be stitched all as one scene or as individual designs.  If you stitch 1-over-1 on 28-count fabric, they are one inch square.  I won her give away of Stitch an Inch "Winter". There was a slight mix-up in some mailings and she graciously sent me Stitch an Inch "Spring" as well. I am a total sucker for seasonal series and as I already had "Summer" and "Autumn"  I now have a complete set! I can't wait to get these into my rotation.

STASH!!! The remainder of my threads for Serengeti arrived this week!

These are the Dinky Dyes and Wildflowers that I ordered from Stitching Bits and Bobs:

And these are the Glorianas, Waterlilies and Petite Treasure Braids I ordered from Needlecraft Corner:

And yes, I did actually do some stitching this week.  In honor of the first day of Spring, I started Mirabilia's Santa's Magic.

I am stitching this on Silkweaver's 32-count opalescent Ametrine Jazlyn.  The opalescent seems to be showing up but the colors of the fabric aren't - ah well, if I took a good, true photo I wouldn't know what to do with it.  The red bit you see is metallic fiber. I am very glad I switched out the called for Kreinik #8 for Kreinik #4, I can't imagine trying to get #8 through the fabric.

If you made it this far - thank you.  Chatelaine's Hawaiian Garden is back on the frame and calling.  Happy stitching!!

I Hermited This Weekend

After following the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend for most of the year, you can read more about it on Joyze's blog,  I finally got around to officially joining for this weekend.  Of course that meant that I didn't get to do as much stitching as I usually do, but I did craft and finally finished our holiday cards I put them in the mail this morning, so I can say that I am DONE with holiday preparations!!

Before I get to my update pictures, thanks to everyone that left comments, I really appreciate them.  Dani, no treadmill for the last month?!?!?!  I'd be in really sad shape, literally and figuratively, if mine every went.  Ouch on the washing machine - not exactly what I would have wished for as a gift.  Over 1?  Are you doing Enchantment of Winter?  I have that one in my stash and if by some miracle I finish Twilight of the Tsar I plan to start that one.

Since it is now 8:40 and I have to be in bed in 20 minutes the joys of getting up at 4:00 AM, here are my update pictures:

Twilight of the Tsar.  I did the backstitching on the ring and added some blue.  I also remembered why I don't like stitching with blending filament, but the effect will be very worth it.

Next,

Hawaiian Mandala.  Added the gold topstitching in the outer border, the algerian eyelets not fun in metallic thread and worked on two side pineapples.

And finally,

Santa 2010: Socks & Underwear.  I put this one on my scroll frame and it went so much faster than stitching in hand.  I finished the body of the shirt and hope to give Santa some arms and hands during the week.  This one could actually be a finish this week as all that's left, aside from his arms and hands, are his pants and boots.

All in all, given the limited time I had to stitch, I feel pretty good about what I did get done.

An Up and Down Week

It has definitely been an up and down week, unfortunately, the down is the most recent part (another car repair - this one more expensive than the last  - believe me, it was a surprise when the power steering stopped working!!) so it is definitely coloring how I'm seeing everything right now.  I'm working on adjusting my attitude I found TimTams at the store tonight and hope to be in better spirits soon or at least before I eat the whole package and feel more miserable!!!

Thank you all for the kind comments on my finish.  I have it pinned to my design door I would take a picture but the battery in the camera is dead!  I swear the thing turns on at night as it runs through batteries faster than anything I've ever used!! so I can see it and dream of actually getting it framed someday.  They spliced the cable line into the main line today and The Hubs has been on the phone trying to get an appointment for them to come run the line to the house we live about 1/4 mile off the road, so getting the majority of the line run by the cable company was a HUGE plus, we only have to deal with a few hundred feet now. Jo, I had to smile at your description of your cable - fortunately, ours is buried, at least the bit running up our drive so pigeons should not be a problem - now the moles might be another story!

We had a fairly nice day on the water today I don't know if I ever mentioned that we own a boat - well the bank owns it and they kindly let us use it each month for a fee - I really need to take my camera and get some pictures - it got very choppy around noon, so we didn't stay as long as we had planned nor did we catch any fish, but it was nice being outside.

No stitching during the week, but I did get a fair amount done last weekend.  First up, I'm sure to nobody's surprise, is Hawaiian Mandala:

The white squares are either filled with algerian eyelets or bicones.  The eyelets will be done, but the bicones won't be added until I finish all the stitching.

Next is a new start Twilight of the Tsar by Dimple Designs

I found this series late so grab them when I can.  This one was an unwanted WIP that was given to me.  Unfortunately, the stitches were crossed in the opposite direction of mine, so I had to do some frogging right away.  Fortunately, there were less than a dozen stitches, so it wasn't terrible.  I think I will be going back this weekend and doing the backstitching on the ring.  I really dislike backstitching and there is a lot of it on this piece, so if I leave it until last I'll have another WIP/UFO.

As I was looking for my stitching pictures, I found one of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel at sunset. The CBBT is a total of 17 miles long with two tunnels and three bridge sections.  It connects southern Virginia to the Eastern Shore.  It's an amazing view from the bridge, but if you're too timid to do the drive yourself, they actually have people that will drive your car for you.  During really windy weather it can be a white knuckle drive and I can see how people would be nervous.  Anyway, as is usual, structures in the water attract fish and other sea life I caught a 4 foot eel along here once so we spend a lot of our fishing time along the bridge or over the tunnels. 

Wrapping, baking and card making are on the agenda for this weekend.  I hope to get some stitching time in there too.

Unofficial IHSW update

Thanks again for all the kind comments.  I'm a rather isolated stitcher, so it's nice to hear from other stitchers.  March Ann, I really do like this area.  For me the biggest plus is that it's rural but only a skip to Richmond or Fredericksburg and then on to DC.

I didn't officially participate in IHSW this month, but I pretty much hermit and stitch every weekend, so I'll claim unofficial participation.  Let's see, I got through the rest of this season's Dr. Who - I sort of figured out the "surprise" ending a few episodes ago, but it was still fun to watch; all of this season's Warehouse 13 - didn't see *that* ending coming; and, one full episode and the first part of a second of Whitechapel - this is a new to me series and one I really enjoy.  Oh yeah, I also saw the first episode of this season's Primeval.  I realize that my "this season" is not everyone's "this season" as these shows are mostly British imports and folks in Europe probably saw them years ago.  Anyway,

I'm sure you all didn't click over here to read about my television habit which isn't as bad as it sound as I don't watch any during the week, so it all gets saved up for the weekends and I was terribly behind and I don't really watch as much as listen, except for Whitechapel, that one did require a bit more attention than most so here's what I accomplished:

First up is Tree of Stitches:

I finished up the algerian eyelets, french knots and stared the rice stitches.  The picture is dark, but this is done on a piece of Silkweaver's opalescent Ocean with an unknown NeedleNecessities thread that reminds me of autumn leaves.

Next is Hawaiian Garden:

Definitely a volcano now.  This is easily the most colorful piece I have stitched in a long time.  Most of the blank spaces are filled with beads and Petite Treasure Braid, so this section will really sparkle!

And last but not least, Birds of a Feather mystery:

I did something I almost never do and changed the colors a bit.  The house is charted with Weeks Dye Works "Straw" but I thought a bit of red inside the border would balance out all the red in the border, and I like red houses, so I used Week Dye Works "Brick" (rather appropriate I thought) instead. 
Sort of busy weekend coming up.  I'm waiting for cakes (one flourless chocolate and one carrot) to cool so that I can frost them - they are my contribution to tomorrow's Thanksgiving feast.  We'll be in Virginia Beach at DSIL's sister's house.  I think we're coming home Friday, but that's not decided just yet.  I do need to figure out what stitching I"m going to take with me, probably Socks & Underwear, but that's not decided yet either.

Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating and happy weekend to everyone else.

Could get used to this!

I have another three-day weekend this week.  Of course, I had to work extra hours to do it, but I am liking this 4-day work week deal.  I'm just waiting to hear back from the garage that my car is ready - it needed new brakes and some new belts so hopefully it won't take forever as I have a few errands to run and while I was brave and drove the Hubs' truck this summer, I will not drive it around downtown Richmond!  I get tense enough driving my little car around down there, never mind his small continent on wheels...

Thanks again to all your kind comments on my stitching and agreeing to ignore my blatant disregard of my stitching goals...

As I finished iStitches' SAL last week, I need a new Friday project.  I can't decide whether I should work on finishing Tree of Stitches or start one of my 2012 projects.  I know which one I *should* be doing but it's not really the one I want to be doing and honestly, I should be working on Socks and Underwear Santa.  While I wrestle with myself, here's what I accomplished last week:

Part 2 of Birds of a Feather mystery is done! and part 3 is started.  As seems usual for my recent projects, there is a counting error.  This one is somewhere in the tree trunk.  I am not going to take that out and redo, so I am in the midst of some fudging.  And yes it is upside down, I had to turn it around to accommodate my stitching style.

I got a bit more done on Hawaiian during a marathon Dr. Who watching - only four more shows and I'll be caught up for this season: 

WOW! that is a wonky picture.  The side really is straight!  If you look hard enough, you can see the volcano taking shape.
No plans for this weekend other than to do some winterizing in the garden, so hopefully there will be either a house or a hill on BoaF and a volcano on Hawaiian by Sunday night.

Start of a long weekend

Errands tomorrow morning and housecleaning in the afternoon, but I hope to have the rest of the weekend for stitching.  I had a bit of progress and a finish last week.

First, my finish:

This is iStitch's SAL.  It's done with HDF Cloud and Victorian Mauve on a piece of 30-count R&R Reproductions.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one - one of my stops tomorrow is Michael's so maybe I'll get inspired there.  I was so happy to see that my initial fit perfectly in the space I had left.  So many trials and tribulations with this piece, but I'm very happy with it and thank you all for listening to me grumble and for the possible fixes for my fiber issue.

Up next:

Birds of a Feather.  I have about a dozen leaves left before I can call part 2 done.  Once this is framed, I think it's going to live in the guest room.  The colors will fit and there aren't a lot of pictures up in there.

And last but not least:

Hawaiian Garden.  Those of you that have stitched this or have the pattern will know that I am not stitching this in order, so pay no attention to my previous post on goals for this month as I am obviously not!  

There was stitching this week!

Yes, I did get some stitching done this week.  Still none during the week getting home at 7:45 puts a crimp in everything, not just stitching but I did get a bit done during the weekend.

First up, iStitch's SAL:

Only one more part to this one.  Like Jo mentioned in her last comment, I think part of it will be an initial.  I hope it is as I should be able to fit an initial into the smaller space that my counting error left me.

Next is Lizzie*Kate's Socks and Underwear: Santa 2010

This one is giving me counting fits also.  I did those darn suspenders about three times.  I'm not sure what's going on, but these "easy" ones are really giving me fits.  I guess I should be happy about that as I really hate frogging the speciality stitches.

Next is Hawaiian:

This little section was soooo time consuming.  I thought I'd get two done this month, but I was lucky to get this one finished.

Last but not least is Birds of a Feather:

I ended up with a striped tree but it's not as bad as I thought it would be.

I did the last bit of stashing for a good while.  ABC Stitch updated their clearance pages and I was able to get Victoria Sampler's Gingerbread House and Gingerbread Church with the accessory packs and The Nutmeg Company's The Castle Inn.  I'll probably have The Hub's collect the package and give it to me for Christmas I do this frequently as he doesn't pay attention to the lists I give him, so this way I get exactly what I want.  The antique almond cashel for the Victoria Sampler stuff is very *hard* to find.  I finally found it listed at Needle in a Haystack in California.  They don't have it listed as one that's on the frequently produced list, so I hope they have enough in stock.

TV Marathon Stitching

I don't watch a lot of "normal" television channels, or at least what passes as normal here in the US (I've never seen an episode of Cheers, Friends or Seinfeld, I lean towards BBC America, Science, and National Geographic with a little ESPN thrown in for balance (of course I'm more likely to watch rugby or soccer than football or baseball).  I also don't have a lot of time to watch television during the week, so I am thankful that I have a DVR on our satellite service.  I hermitted this weekend, I didn't join the official "Hermit and stitch weekend" but it felt good to not worry about too much of anything but stitching and getting some of the stuff off the DVR.

I got a bit more done on Santa's beard while watching an episode of "Mysteries of the Dead":

I am still hating the Wisper thread, but not too much more left to stitch with it.

And after three episodes of Mysteries of Deep Space (I think that was the name), three quarters of a college football game WAR EAGLE!!!!, three Inspector Lewis and two Torchwood I had this:

Part 1 of Hawaiian is done except for the bicones and cubes.  

I still have 19 episodes of Dr. Who and three of Bedlam left on the DVR along with an entire season of Warehouse 13 and several episodes of The Hour so I am still set for some serious stitching time.

I actually didn't do any stitching this weekend on BoaF but I do almost have a tree from the previous weekend's stitching:

Last day of the long weekend

First, welcome to all my new followers.  My followers gadget doesn't seem to be working so I didn't even notice until I went into the dashboard that I had over 50!  I appreciate your taking the time to read the drivel that I tend to post.

Second, I forget that not everyone reading hangs around with me and my mixed-up, confused idiomatic expressions.  The galloping horse test is:  Can a person riding by on a galloping horse see the difference?

And last but not least, here is what I've been doing the last few days.

Paper crafting.  I make these for the Niblings (brothers and sisters are siblings so nieces and nephews are niblings - I'm fairly sure that came from Jo's blog, but if not let me know where I read it and I'll give you credit) on their 18th birthdays.  The directions can be found at Stubby Stampers. 

Here it is closed:

And open:

We put money in three of the boxes and a small card in the fourth.

Stitching.  I'm sure you'll be shocked to read that I worked on Hawaiian.  I am very pleased with my progress.  I may finish the stitching on part 1 next weekend  I'll have close to another full day of speciality stitches and beading for a full part 1 finish.

And finally, Birds of a Feather:

All the housework is done, the oven is cleaning I LOVE the self-cleaning feature on my oven, if I never spend another day with my head inside an oven trying to clean it, it will be too soon!! and I have several hours of uninterrupted time for stitching  what a great way to end a long weekend.

The only thing worse than being cold...

is being cold and wet!  So making a short story long - we left for Virginia Beach Friday morning in bright, warm sunshine.  It was 85 with a slight breeze coming off the ocean when we arrived.  Just perfect for walking along the boardwalk and admiring all the amazing art these folks were waayy beyond "craft" and eating a crabcake sandwich or two.  About 8:00 that evening, the wind picked up and it started raining when we got up Saturday morning temperatures were in the high 50s with partially cloudy skies and a bit of a wind - still wonderful for walking along the boardwalk as we were fairly sheltered from the wind.  We met up with the Hubs' cousins and their family/significant other/friends around 5:30, but 7:15 it had started sprinkling and by 7:20 the rain was pouring down, the wind was blowing and we had all scattered to our various shelters.  It took me forever to warm up last night.  The Hubs still has a mobility problem from his broken leg/dislocated ankle of a couple of years ago and he was soaked to the skin - I know the cold and wet did not do his leg any good.  But we all had a great time while there.

Thanks everyone for the comments on my stitching and the Hubs.  Just to put too much information out there, he was diagnosed with diabetes in April and has several other things that are results of his uncontrolled blood sugar, and he is, I think, in denial about what can/will happen if he doesn't start following the doctor's advice.  I just keep hoping that one of these days he will understand that we're not trying to make him miserable just healthy!

On my floss issue - Jo I never thought about redoing the border, I will keep that in mind.  I was also thinking of using one strand instead of two for the remainder of the filling.  I'll just call it "artistic license" and be done with it.

I did a little stitching on the way to Virginia Beach on Lizzie*Kate's Socks & Underwear - Santa 2010 but as it was all outline-and-fill-in-some-of-the-beard I didn't take a picture.  I am hating not enjoying stitching with Wisper.  I know I have another pattern somewhere that calls for it and I will probably just substitute plain DMC for it unless anyone has a good substitute.

Stitching I actually did take a picture of?  Well, the usual...

Hawaiian Garden Mandala

And Birds of a Feather mystery

BoaF will most likely get my attention this afternoon as I don't feel like taking it off the floor stand.  I have started my list for WIPocalypse2012 but have soooo many projects listed that it's defeating the purpose of trying to finish any of them.  Fortunately I have time and Measi made the rules more like "guidelines" so I should be okay.

Happy Autumn!

The calendar says it's officially autumn. As I mentioned in my previous post, some of the trees are starting to change color, but the surest sign is the State Fair of Virginia starts next week! I love going to the fair. For a rural state it really is we just have some very heavily populated areas but they don't make up the majority of the land area of the state it doesn't have a lot of animals and I'm usually dismayed at the small number of handcrafted items entered and always say I'm going to enter "next year" BUT I thoroughly enjoy the day, just walking around with the in-laws, eating bad-for-me food I mean really? Fried Butter?!?! and looking at the exhibits and booths.  Opening weekend conflicts with our annual trip to the Neptune Festival in Virginia Beach, so will most likely go the following Friday. Two fairs/festivals on consecutive weekends?  I think that deserves a Squeeeeeeeeee!

Thanks for the comments on my previous posts. I really do wish I could meet all of you in person, but this is a fair second.  I also wish I could truly capture the colors I wonder why American English dropped the "u"? in "Hawaiian Garden", they are amazingly vibrant! Mouse, I know what you mean on the cost of Chatelaines. Before the Hubs who knew he would be so darned expensive? I was able to kit most of my mandalas with all the silks and overdyes, but the majority of mine are stitched using Martina's DMC conversion.  Hawaiian  is an exception to the DMC. As it's a vacation memory piece, I splurged on the silks.  Unless mine is displayed next to one done in the called for silks and overdyes, nobody is going to know that it is "different".  The patterns can be expensive, but I figure for all the enjoyment I get out of them that the per use cost is very low and they are unique pieces. 

Stitching, you ask? Yes there was some this week.

Birds of a Feather proved to be more "Frogs of a Feather". I was one row off on the leaves, so had to pull them all out and redo. Despite that there was progress as the alphabet is now finished.

I may actually finish this before the end of the year! I have been thinking of how I want to do the tree trunk. My WDW "Bark" is very variegated and I don't really want a striped tree. I am down to two options. The first is stitch the trunk using continental rather then English method. The second is to flip one ply of thread over so that the colors don't line up and stitch as usual.

And of course Hawaiian

Photo is dark, but you can see the progress.

Carol released part 5 of her mystery sampler yesterday so I will be focusing on finishing it today. I'm starting to worry that I'm going to run out of thread, but will worry about that when I have to and try to not ruin the fun I'm having stitching this piece.

Brrrr....

I know I was complaining about the heat, but this is ridiculous! It was near 80 when I went out at lunch time on Thursday, by the time I left to go home around 5:00 it was in the 60s! Last I checked, we hadn't cracked 60 yet today! I don't mind the cooler temperatures, but little by little would have been easier to adjust to!! Fall (I read somewhere that fall is only used in American English - don't know if that's really true or not) is starting to make itself known - a few of the maples have started to show some color and the tulip poplars are going yellow.

Finally went out to check around the house and property to see what, if any, damage there was due to the rain. We have some planting areas that are washed out and need to be remulched well the mulch needs to be moved from where it ended up back to where it belongs - that's what I'll be doing later today but nothing serious.

In response to your comments, if you haven't stitched a Chatelaine, I highly recommend you give them a try. Martina has an amazing way with color! She explains her speciality stitches fairly well and well, you just have to love all the bling! I have too many several started, have finished Caribbean and Egyptian Garden large mandalas, two samplers and several of her small designs. I read a lot of folks complaining about the monotony of stitching the same thing four times, but most of her newer designs, especially those representing specific places, such as Tuscany, Caribbean or Hawaii do have different scenes on each side.

Wasn't a great stitching week for me. I had a training to give this week, so got home late Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. But some good may have come out of that, as I found that I wasn't that much more tired working that extra hour each day, so am going to give a compressed schedule a try at work. We have to log 80 hours in a two week period, so each Monday through Thursday I'll work 9 hour days, 8 hours on one Friday and then have one Friday off. Basically means that every other week I'll have a 3-day weekend. I'm rather excited at the thought as I'll be able to get all the housework done on Friday and have two entire days for other more enjoyable things. Anyway,

Carol released part 4 of her mystery SAL early and I was able to stitch it up last night.



Here's my progress on Birds of a Feather mystery. Part 2 is actually a good match for my stitching time. I can do a letter or leaf or two and there are enough leaves to keep me busy for ages a night and, even with my limited stitching time, see some progress. 





And finally my progress on Hawaiian:

I have a chance of finishing this part in the next month or so. I won't meet my goal of finishing through part 6 but I'm further along than I was at the beginning of the year.