My solution wasn't great...

 In my last post, I said I wasn't sure if I would be posting my next scheduled day.  I didn't and my solution was to just not post at all for two!! months.  We are well into summer and zooming to autumn.  We have trees starting to drop their leaves, but I think it's more stress from lack of water (although today should help a lot, it's been raining since early this morning) rather than seasonal change, but one can hope (I am not a lover of summer).  

So, grab a cuppa and hang on, this one's going to be long...

I mentioned I was planning to go to Michigan the end of June for Cassie's birthday.  I made it!!  I had a wonderful time and it was so good to see everyone again.  Here's the "card" I made for her and a picture of a one year old eating cake:

To save space, I made up collages, some things were cropped a bit but think you can see everything.

When I got home, I did a lot of sewing and knitting.

I saw a YouTube video on these bags and decided to give it a try.  I love them! The size is perfect for large gifts (I used the animal one for a baby shower (more on that later) gift), and storage (the other two have sweater quantities of yarn).  I have fabric ready for a few more that I will use for general yarn storage. The nice thing about this bag is that it takes minimal supplies - 2 fat-quarters for the outside, some interfacing, a zipper and lining fabric.

I enjoyed sewing so much that I did some rearranging in the guest room and brought my sewing desk up from the basement, so my machine is now out  all the time and my sewing things are all in one place again.  When I decide to work on papercrafts, I just move my sewing machine to the floor and have the desk for my work surface - it's so much better than the dining room table.

The majority of my knitting was on the blanket for my niece's baby (my other niece texted that she was going to host a baby sprinkle the same weekend as the family reunion so I needed to get it finished).

Here's the finished piece and a close up of the bubbles:

I needed a card and made this:

So July 23rd, I bundled the blanket into the animal bag and took the card and headed back to Michigan for the family (my dad's side) reunion, a baby sprinkle and to see everyone again.  I had a wonderful time and it was so good to see the extended family again.

The baby sprinkle was not a minute too soon as on July 31st, Miss Ellidae (Elli) Louise was born.  

She was 10 days early, but she seems pretty happy to be here:

She's named after a maternal great-great-grandmother (her nonno's grandmother) and shares her oma's middle name (which is my dad's mother's name).  Everyone is doing well and settling into being a family of four.

I am hoping to get to Michigan over Labor Day weekend to meet her.

With the arrival of Elli, my focus changed to her birth piece.  Here is the finished Winter Hearts by Shepherd's Bush

and a close-up of the hearts:

There is hardanger (lower left), pulled thread (upper right), and cut work (upper left) in the piece.  It is stitched from the kit on white Belfast using Au ver a Soie and white #12 perle cotton.  I'm going to finish as a wallhanging, but need to get a few more specifics from my niece before starting.  

So after getting things finished up for Elli (well, except for the hat I'm knitting for her for Christmas), I started on things for the next baby (my nephew and his wife are expecting a boy the end of October).  I started a blanket (crochet this time, I'm not sure I'll knit a blanket with a time limit again), but there's not enough for the pattern to appear, so will show it next time.  I also started:

This is Baby Bug Ball by Shepherd's Bush.  It's stitched on Light Sand Belfast with the silks and beads from the kit.  I'm waiting for the fabric so I can get started on his Christmas stocking.

In the few minutes between sewing or working on baby things, I've been knitting.

This is the Neutra shawl by SweaterFreak.  I started the make-along, but I'm rubbish at them so didn't keep up, so am just doing a bit when I can - this is all of part 1 and a bit of 2 (the slanted ribbing).  This is not as dark as it's showing up here.  It's also hard to tell, but the blues are a gradient set, I think they will show up better in later parts.  While I do have to pay attention to what I'm doing, this one is only knits and purls.  I'm very tempted to do another one with a light gray main color and a burgandy gradient.

With all the different knitting projects I have started and planned, I have a small but growing needle collection.  To keep them all separated, I made this:

This is the Flip Pocket Portfolio by comfortstitching.  When you open it, there are six zippered pockets:

I had some difficulty with the binding as the directions were very different from what I'm used to.  I'd never stitched with vinyl before, so I'm sure that didn't help the process any.  This wasn't a complicated sew but it did take good chunk of an afternoon and evening.

We were notified that we won't be called back to the office until at least October 1st, most of us are thinking it will be closer to the end of the year, and that my boss is pushing for either remote or maximum telework for her staff, so I finally felt comfortable enough to start a craft rotation.  While I'll be crocheting and stitching to finish up baby things, I'm making time for other crafts.  I don't know how long I'll keep it up but it's nice to be able to get some other things started and finished.  That announcement also helped me realize that I don't have to save up all my housework for the weekend, so I've finally started spreading it out during the week so that my weekends are usually fairly chore free and truely relaxing.

Hope everyone is well.

Even less this week

 Once again, not my usual posting day.  I went to the optometrist and ran errands Friday morning (and a good chunk of the afternoon - I forgot how long it takes to do the grocery shopping when you actually go into the store) and then cut out things and sewed the rest of the day and well into the night.  I made two sock project bags   and two  shawl/sweater sized bags.  If I make the larger bags again I will need to get a stiffer interfacing (maybe the fusible fleece) as they are a little droopy.  I also forgot to write down the final dimensions (I was making it up as I was cutting and sewing) so another thing on my "don't forget to do list."  

Saturday I got started on the housework that didn't get done on Friday and did some more sewing.  I finished DSon's pillow .  The photo does not capture how vibrant the stitching fabric is.  Rather than the comic strip style/color backing fabric I used this:  .  This fabric and the blue scales in the shawl bag came from Spoonflower.  I could easily go crazy on their website, but I have enough fabric in my "quilting" stash to make many, many more bags.

Today is the May   check-in.  WIPocalypse is hosted by Melissa at Measi's Musings.  No sign-up, just post about your WIPs and link up (either on her blog or the Facebook group) on the last Sunday of the month. Since I changed my stitching plan, I have stitched nothing from my original WIPocalyse list. I hadn't even factored in there would be baby stitching this year when I made my list.  Fortunately the rules allow for new starts and additions and subtractions from your original list, so I added  Winter Hearts by Shepherd's Bush:

This is done with all the kit materials - white Belfast linen, Au ver a Soie and white 12 perle cotton. I did stitch a bit more after this picture was taken and have finished to the center of the border.  It is taking a lot longer than expected (story of my stitching life) as while the leaves are all one color, they aren't large so lots of starting and stopping (that and I've been watching FlossTube while stitching and everytime someone shows a project or chart, I have to go look for it - fortunately I haven't been buying just looking).  The flowers and leaves will be connected by a vine.  As I am all caught up on everything, I plan to spend the rest of today and a good chunk of tomorrow (Memorial Day) working on this.  In addition to posting our progress, Melissa gives us questions each month.  This month's is:  What was the first project you ever stitched? (whether you finished or not).   My first cross stitch project was a Santa face.  It was a kit and came with everything - hoop, fabric, thread and needle.  The hoop became the frame for the finished piece.  I remember finishing it, but I'm not sure what happened to it.  I seldom get rid of Christmas decorations, so I imagine it's in a box somewhere in the basement.  

I think that's about it.  I have done some knitting on the baby blanket but as that's just rows of baubles that look like all the other rows of baubles, there's not too much to show.

Hope you are all well.

Not a lot this time.

 It's been two weeks already?  I had a couple hours off last Friday afternoon and that's thrown my sense of time off a bit (not that that is difficult right now).  

No new birds to report this time.  Sadly, the migratory ones have moved on.  We do have at least three pairs of cardinals that are sharing tolerating each other around the yard and woodline this year, but I haven't seen the grosbeak in a week and we're down to one blue jay so other than the cardinals and the male Goldfinches some of the brightness has gone from the feeders.  

Some littles news:  

She's going to be running with her brother and cousin in no time.  What's the saying, "moving out of the way for the next one?"  

In my last post I said I was going to have a new rotation by this one.  I did a lot of thinking and it looks like the best option is to go one-at-a-time on each project.  It worked well last year (I was even done early) so hoping it will this year too.

I also mentioned that I had two pieces picked out for Grady's sister and was all set to start one of them, but was missing fabric or thread for both of them.  An order was placed and the waiting commenced.  I could have picked up Goldie but knitting was calling louder so I spent a week working on my Knights Who Say Knit MAL.

This is part 1 and a bit of part 2 finished.  Lots of artistic license happening (especially in the very top part. I have pulled it back and started 3 times but can't seem to get it to work, so I am doing a "variation").  The puffs towards the top are areas between some lacework and should block out when it's done.  I did do a quick steam block to straighten out the bottom and get it more in shape.  As expected, I am not keeping up with this any better than I do a SAL as part the last will be released on Monday.

My order came in (EARLIER then the tracker said!!!) and I started Winter Hearts by Shepherd's Bush.  It's done on white Belfast with Soie d'Alger and perle cotton.

The boxes are done with four-sided stitch and are taking me forever to do (it's good tv stitching).  It's in muted greens, pinks and purples.  The baby's room is being done in greys and pinks so I thought this would go well (and it's not babyish so could stay up for a while).  There will be a heart in each block with different specialty stitches.  The border is leaves and that flower in the corner that you really can't see.  This is an old kit (the chart is hand drawn) and I don't think it's available (the Shepherd's Bush website says if you'd like to purchase to contact them).  

I just realized that tomorrow is the official check-in for   and even though I'm off my normal rotation I still have projects that fit.  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by the every wonderful Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  She started this in 2015 as a way to show our appreciation for stitching gifts that we may have received.  It expanded to include gifts we are making for others or anything else we can shoehorn into the theme.  My MAL fits as I bought the yarn with birthday money.  Winter Hearts definitely fits as it's a gift for my great-niece-to-be as does this (my secret project from a bit ago):

Raccoon Rabble from Plum Street Samplers.  It's done on 36-count 'Shroom Juice (my tag doesn't say which company) with the called for threads.  Here's the back: 

The chenille trim is from Lady Dot Creates (and it looks like I forgot to tie the bow in the corner). This was a Mother's Day gift for my mom.

I've liked all the Plum Street stacks but have you seen the newest?  It's hedgehogs and sooooo darn cute.

So, I could have sworn I worked on more, but for the life of me, if I did, I can't remember what it was.

Today was my compressed day off and all the housework and grocery shopping is done, so I have the weekend to work on the hearts.  Maybe I'll finish those boxes!

Hope you're all safe and well.

 

Final 2014 Stitch from Stash Update

The cards are made and on their way. The gifts are made, wrapped, boxed and on their way. The cookies are on their way too. All that's left is the goodies for the in-laws and wrapping their gift, I have time as we will see them on Christmas, and to try to find my Christmas spirit. My holiday mojo seems to have gone on holiday. Maybe I just hang around with a bunch of curmudgeons, but I have heard the same statement from a lot of people this year. No clues as to why the sudden lack of holiday spirit, but I do hope it returns soon.

The making, baking and boxing has taken the majority of my time this past month, so there is very little stitching to show. Fortunately, when I don't stitch, I don't think of stashing; however, I was in and out of craft stores all month and the temptation was strong (especially in Jo-Ann's Fabric as they had DMC on sale for 3/$.99). Because I was so close to a zero spend year, I didn't give in and can give my final Stitch from Stash report as:

Carried over:  $300
November Budget:  $25 + $50 exception
Available:  $325 + exception
Spent:  $0

I had no new starts from stash, but did do a little bit of stitching on:

Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts Sampler

and:

Shepherd's Bush's He Tends

I have finished He Tends but will save the photo for the Smalls SAL check-in.

So that is it! I made it an entire year and didn't spend anything on new stash.  Of course, it does highlight just how large my stash really is and explains my signing up for 2015's. There is a  ten day gap between the end of 2014's and the start of 2015's and I will use that to buy the floss I need to finish kitting up my HAEDs but I don't anticipate that next year's spending will be very different from this year's.

If you are interested in signing up for Stitch from Stash 2015A, Mel has opened up sign-ups until December 21st or until 120 people join. There were 69 participants last I looked so don't wait too long if you're interested.

DESIGN, A New Stitchy Start, WIPocalypse, Smalls SAL and Gifted Gorgeousness are all still open for sign-ups too.

Online Advent Calendar - Day 14

 

Thank you to Jo at Serendipitous Stitching for hosting the 2014 Online Advent calendar. This is my first year participating and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's posts.

 

 

I have done a lot of Christmas stitching over the years. As a matter of fact, my first counted cross stitch piece was a Santa. I don't have pictures of all of them as they were completed before the ease of digital photography and I gifted most of them, but I did run around the house taking pictures of the things that I have kept and put up every year.

 

The large one on the left is Shepherd's Bush's Santaberry Pudding. From top to bottom: Lavender and Lace's Gift of Peace; Peppermint Twist by Blue Ribbon Designs; 12 Days of Christmas by Hinzeit; Angel of Light by Lavender and Lace; Angel of Freedom by Lavender and Lace; 1993 Angel by Lavender and Lace, Fondant Icing by The Nutmeg Company; and, 1991 Christmas Angel by Lavender and Lace

We do have stockings that I stitched from the old Cross Stitch and Country Crafts magazine, but I haven't pulled them out of storage yet and can't find a photo anywhere.

 

Jo asked us to tell about the best present ever. I could tell you about the Needlework System 4 stand that The Hubs gave me or the year he drove the ladies at Needlecraft Corner crazy with phone calls while trying to get a pattern kitted for me or the Jane West doll my sister and I got way back when. But in all honesty, the best ever present wasn't a Christmas present but a St. Nicholas day present and it was my sister. Now, I will be frank and say that I was probably not all that thrilled at the time and there were times that I would have gladly returned or traded her, but I know that my life would be lacking without her in it.







November Small SAL

I woke up to a downpour and now it is:

Yep, snowing.  This isn't the earliest I have ever seen snow, but it sure is the earliest I have seen snow here in central Virginia.  I do hope it isn't an indication of how the winter is going to go.  If it is, I have plenty to keep me busy inside.

 is one of the SALs that has kept me busy this last year.  Heather at Stitching Lotus hosts the Smalls SAL.  You define what a small is and post a photo of it on the last Wednesday of the month.   In the last month, I finished Shepherd's Bush's Garden Fair from the She Tends leaflet:

And started His Flock from the same leaflet:

I think I have my stitching plan/rotation for next year worked out - I will continue to focus on whittling down that WIP list there on the right but have a couple of new starts worked in just so I don't feel deprived.  As usual, it is all subject to change at any time.

November Stitch From Stash and other things

For all you folks in the US:

A big welcome to my new followers.  I really appreciate you stopping by and reading about the craziness that is my stitching life.

Besides the start of holiday stressing, November means the beginning of announcements for 2015 SALs.  I always say I am going to cut back on them, but never do. I was waiting on the official sign ups for a couple of mine from this year that will continue into next when Jo at Serendipitous Stitching announced the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL.  The SAL is a way to show people that have gifted us stitching items, how much we appreciate their gift.  I have two charts, Snow White Santa by Mirabilia and Shakespearean Fantasy from HAED, that fit the SAL theme perfectly, so Gifted Gorgeousness became my first official SAL of 2015.  Snow White Santa is slated to go into the Santa slot in my rotation but won't be started anytime soon as there are a couple ahead of him, but Shakespearean Fantasy is slated as my New Year's start - I am working on rotation revisions but believe that instead of both my off Fridays being set aside for smalls, one will be for smalls and one for SF.  Anyway, if you're interested in participating, the SAL name should take you to the sign up page.  If it doesn't work, the blog name should take you to Jo's blog and you can navigate from there.  In the spirit of the SAL, Gillie at Random Thoughts from Abroad is having a give-away for those of you living outside the US - 15 skeins (your color choices) of DMC floss.  I forget that DMC is a loss leader in the big box stores so not everyone has access to the $.39 to $.44 prices.  And in line with Gifted Gorgeousness, my mom stitched this pretty towel for me:

Speaking of Shakespearean Fantasy I have all the threads, except black (even being the thread stasher that I am, do not have 41 skeins of black) pulled and need to bobbin them (yes, I know that is not everyone's favorite way of storing their threads, it's not mine either but it is the easiest way for me to store all the threads for this project and no I will not be bobbinating the black.  I am planning to purchase a cone of thread and will keep it in the project bag) and will be buying the fabric around the beginning of the year.

Why am I waiting until the beginning of the year? Well, I have, so far not spent anything on stitching stash this year and just because I can, I plan to finish out the year that way.  What a perfect segue into my Stitch from Stash report.   Stitch from Stash is hosted by Mel at Epic Stitch and is a way to get the stash spending under control and reduce that stash a bit.  We get a budget of $25 (or the equivalent in your currency) each month for "must haves" and are allowed to carry over the unspent amount to the next month.  For November I had:

Carried over:  $250
November Budget:  $25 + $50 exception
Available:  $275 + exception
Spent:  $
Balance forward:  $300.

I had two new starts from stash Garden Fair:

and He Tends:

Since my last report, I stitched on each project in my rotation!! Yea me!!! 

Santa's Magic has been on the frame this week and went from here:

to here:

I have started filling in the beard with Wisper and am not enjoying it, so I stitch an area of beard and then go to something different (I finished the glove and a bit of the cuff shadow) so that I don't get overly frustrated.  Santa  is on the frame through tonight, so I hope to have a bit more progress on him.  Lizze*Kate's Holly and Hearts Sampler goes on the frame tomorrow.  As I have next week off and no plans I hope to finish part 2 and a good bit of part 1 - because I'm stitching it upside down (to fit my stitching style) I did part 3 first.

Procrastination

I started back to work this week.  On the whole, things went well; however, my mind has not returned to free-time-is-short-get-things-done mode.  I kept putting things off or finding other things to do - Pinterest is a great time waster although I have found some great ideas for gifts - thinking I'd have plenty of time later to do them and ended up getting very little done.  I expect it is going to take until after the first of the year to get my rhythm back as I have a lot of vacation time to use up before the end of December.  I get vacation time and sick time as separate pots of time so while I was recuperating, I was using my accumulated sick time and have close to three weeks of vacation time to use before the end of the year or I will lose it.  I have already donated a bunch of time to other folks that have used all their leave due to illness but I'm not going to lose the rest of it.

With all that said, here is my progress I use the term loosely on Kayann's Kreations' Elegant Doily

What?!?!  You don't see any progress?  Well, I went from one spider web finished to three and a half!!  Yes, that is the sum of my progress on this piece for an entire week.

On a brighter note, I did start and finish Shepherd's Bush's Her Garden Fair which is the second piece in the She Tends portfolio.

These pieces are fun and quick stitches.  The only drawback is that charms play such a large part in the design and they are expensive.  I was fortunate that I had disposable income and kitted these up during a sale a number of years ago.  If I had to purchase them today, I wouldn't be able to.

Before Elegant Doily went into the rotation, I had a bit more progress on Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden but I forgot to take a picture.

Mirabilia's Santa's Magic is on the frame for this week - hopefully I can concentrate a bit more on it than I did Elegant Doily.

Mega-Mini Month Madness 5 and Small SAL check-in

That is probably the most unimaginative post title I have ever come up with, accurate but blah. Titles are the hardest part of a post for me, I suppose I could just as easily put Post 1, Post 2, etc but that's pretty blah too. 

I really can't believe how quickly the time has gone by, two weeks from today I will be back in the office (assuming the doctor gives me the go ahead).  The total lack of work stress has been amazing, not only physically but mentally too.  I knew I was stressed and heading for burn-out, but really didn't realize how close I was.  I did have all intentions of teleworking during my recuperation and had planned to be almost back to full time work this week and next, but there was a change to our mobile access software that can only be installed when the computer is connected directly to the system, which given the number of people that are remote employees makes absolutely no sense, so I am unable to connect to the work network and therefore, no work at all.  Fortunately, my new boss understands and told me she wasn't sure why I was so worried about it as I was supposed to be getting better.  I was so shocked as that attitude is so different than what I have been working with the last seven years - so my question of whether the new division will be better?  Yeah, I'm pretty sure it will.

Anyway, I have two SALs to check-in for today.  Before I do that, have you seen the new SAL that By the Bay Needleart is hosting next year?  I haven't stitched many of her designs but do have a bunch in my stash.  I really like her style and color choices.  You can see the new piece here and here is a little bit of information from her blog:

"If you remember I mentioned long ago that I have been designing a 36 inch tall cross stitch scene.

I have been working on this design for a few years. Always making changes. 

Well I finally finished it and will be offering it as a year long project. 

If you choose to participate you will be emailed a 3 inch by 11 inch section once a month to stitch. 

There will be a blog that you will be invited to publish on and share your photos.

 I still have to think of cute names and create the blog, the design is finished as a chart but of course I have not stitched it myself. We can do this project together. 

The cost will be $7.00 per month. You must sign up for the 12 months to complete this project and at the end I will be sending out to you a special  thank you kit made just for this class."

No connection, etc., etc., just a very tempting piece.

Back to my SALS.  Pull the Other Thread hosted Mega-Mini Month Madness.  Stitch on small(s) and post photos of your progress each week of October.  I didn't stitch solely on smalls but I did manage to finish two.

First an update of The Nutmeg Company's Fondant Icing.  I took an afternoon and evening off from stitching and finished all the little pieces I showed in my last post into this:

Front and side

Back and the other side

 Makes me want to pull the other kits out and get busy on them.

I was also able to finish She Tends from Shepherd's Bush's She Tends leaflet.

Heather at Stitching Lotus is hosting the Smalls SAL. A fun SAL that focuses on smalls of all types.  Fortunately, actually finish-finishing them is not a requirement.  There was a definite cross over of the Smalls and MMMM SALS so the above two pieces are doing double duty this month.  I will be continuing with the Shepherd's Bush leaflet so there should be three more pieces coming in the next few months.  I have some finishing ideas rolling around in my head but will have to see what other ideas I come up with.

I also worked on Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts Sampler this week. It looked like this the last time I showed it:

and today it looks like this:

One picture I will get an accurate photo of the fabric, it is really pinkish with blue and purple bits in it (much prettier than I am describing). 

Just Nan's Spring in the Air is on the frame and after a couple more episodes of Inspector Morse (apparently the only place more deadly than Midsomer is Oxford) I should have the over-1 pansies finished but that progress picture will have to wait for the Just Nan SAL check-in.

Huh? Would you look at that?

A blog post? From me? I don't think I've ever gone this long without posting something.  And I have only been reading and commenting sporadically the last few weeks.  Work has made it impossible to even think about turning on a computer or engaging my brain in any activity that requires more than two neurons firing at the same time when I am home. 

First welcome to my new followers I appreciate that you think I have something worthwhile enough to say that you're willing to show the world that.

So what's been going on?  I am finally over the cold that I mentioned in my last post, but the darn thing hung on for ages.  I got some gardening done - okay it was mostly weeding and mowing the grass, but at least the house doesn't look like it's abandoned.  Oh yes, I did find a lovely nest of yellow jackets while I was mowing.  Nothing intentional but they seemed to take offense to the mower running over the entrance of their home and then me stepping on it.  For something so small, about 1/2" to 3/4" I have no idea what that is to the rest of the world - it would have soooo much easier if we had just gone metric back in the 70s, they pack a punch!  And wouldn't you know that if one is injured say by someone frantically brushing it off their leg (which was encased in clothing) it sends out a message to all its friends that it's in distress and please come help and you end up with multiple stings because each one of the nasty little things can sting multiple times from multiple critters.  It was not a pleasant experience.  The worst of the areas is just now settling back and looking like normal I ended up with 7 sting areas but thankfully the skin reaction was all I had.

Our summer invasion of finches has arrived.  The little pigs-on-wings pretty much empty two feeders every other day or so.  They are having help with a third feeder a raccoon is climbing the feeder pole and dumping out the seed and then cleaning it up off the ground so I will need to get back out there with grease and make the climb a little more difficult. 

On the bright side, I have been stitching. In no particular order here is what I've been working on:

Ink Circles' 99
Stitched on Unknown Company's 32-count Golden Walnut with DMC threads

This photo shows the fabric color a little better, but also shows what happens when you forget to divide by 2 when deciding on a starting place 9" is probably a really good margin for a framer.  Fortunately there is enough space to put a row above this one and not throw the design off or frogging these bottles. AND there are only 96 more bottles to go before it's finished.

A HAPPY DANCE!!  Shepherd's Bush's Holy Night
Stitched on Unknown color of 28-count R&R Reproductions linen with recommended fibers and buttons

Summer Mystery SAL from By the Bay Needlearts Part 1
Stitched on 32-count Silkweaver's Lavender Swirl with DMC

Drawn Thread's Summer into Autumn
Stitched from materials in kit

Dimple Designs' Twilight of the Tsars
Stitched on 32-count Smokey Pearl Belfast with DMC and Kreinik BF and Braids

I think that's about all.  Probably not a lot of stitching this week as I am traveling for business, leaving tomorrow and home next Sunday.  Chatelaine's Winter Watergarden will be put on the frame for a little love this afternoon/evening, but unless the cats or The Hubs have learned to stitch while I haven't been looking, there won't be a lot done.  I do hope to get a chance to catch up on my blog reading and commenting while gone the wonders of tablets and WiFi.