Bea's progress and news

Ok...I'm back. Did you miss me? I took myself out of circulation for a few weeks, there's so much going on right now at Chez "What Are We Going To DO" that I became a tad overwhelmed, stressed, bitchy and most of all weepy. I have to say that my stitching has kept me sane. Thank goodness for linen, silks, DMC and a needle. And of course, all the blogs that kept me motivated to be creative and not hide under a rock.

This month, I've made significant progress on Bea: (sorry for the crappy photo, but if you click on it, it'll get BIG!)

She's almost done! I am down to one motif on the lower right side and the initials in 2 motifs. Plus, while I was pressing the piece in order to take a semi-decent photo, I noticed that some of the thread ends are working loose. I didn't double back my threads when I was ending them until very late in the sampler, so I may have to do some repairs just to ensure that nothing unravels.

It's very possible that I could see a finish in the next week or so. Hear the band warming up? It's going to be a Happy Dance!

I decided to stay true to the pattern and stitch the initials from the original sampler. I toyed with personalizing the sampler with my family's initials but my anal tendencies won over and I'm staying true to the original. I may break from tradition and add my initials above the bee motif on the lower left corner. I don't think Bea would mind and there is enough room in that space to make it look like adding my initials was intentional and not crammed into the space. I don't think placing my initials there will detract from the over all composition of the piece so I'm going to stitch them in that spot.

Before I forget, I am accepting signups for Round 2 of the Blackbird Exchange I am hosting. I hope you will join us for the next round. Stop by for all the info to sign up. Round 2 sign-ups will be open until June 15th. Shoo! Shoo! Go see what treasures have been stitched in Round 1! That should whet your appetite to come play with us!

I have been stitching every night for the last few weeks. Mainly on the projects that "Shall Not Be Shown". I've finished my Prairie Schooler piece, now for the finishing and the Blackbird Designs exchange is just about done. I am torn on the finishing for that piece, I have a couple of ideas clanking around in the ol' cranium but nothing that's won over my heart. But I'll figure it out very soon!

I've bought a bunch of stash but I'll save that for another post cause the camera is wheezing and is refusing to take another picture. And I've got LHN's Watermelon to show you and Blackbird's Petite Rouge sampler to show you too. Plus, Feed the Birds which is inches away from completion.

After getting my exchanges sent off to new homes, my focus will be the Wedding Sampler. I am combining Victoria Sampler, Heirloom Wedding and Heirloom Christmas patterns into the sampler. There's a section of stitching in the Heirloom Wedding that I am not fond of so I decided to swap that part out for a section from the Christmas sampler. Plus, I like some of the lace patterns from the Christmas sampler better than the Wedding Sampler. It will be unique for the soon-to-be Second Lietenant and his lovely Jenna. But I've got to get cracking, otherwise I'll be giving it to them on their 5th anniversary. I am stunned to think that the Wedding is about 100 days away! Geez, where's the time gone! So much to do!

Lastly, I want to thank each of you who've stopped by to read my drivel and keep up with my adventures. I certainly appreciate all of you who come by and honestly, it's a comfort and a blessing to know that you care enough to stop on by. I promise now that things are somewhat settled, I'll be back around a little more frequently.

It's been a week already!!!

Wow, where did the week go?

It's been a week since I posted pictures of the lovely Jenna and her dress-to-be and guess what? She went back to the bridal shoppe on Tuesday and tried on a few more and found one that she absolutely loved. So my favorite turned out to be her second favorite.

And she bought this gown:

She looks like a princess, don't you think?

On the stitching front, not much is happening. I futzed around with Beatrix Potter and that's about it. I should take a picture and post it cause there is significant progress from the last time I posted but not much progress this week. I just couldn't get warm and all effort went to trying not to freeze in my corner of the couch. One evening, I complained to my DH and he told me to turn up the heat...DUH!!! Well, I checked out the thermostat and it was 58 degrees in the house! Geez, we could have built a snowman in the family room...it was SO cold even with a fire in the fireplace insert.

I really looked forward to stitching on Friday night but I was so tired when I got home. I put in a few stitches on Bea but it wasn't any fun so I went to bed. I slept 10 hours!

Today, I had to do some housekeeping cause I didn't do much this week. While I was at it, I decided to re-organize my stitching stuff. What fun I had fondling stash. I also realized that I am a stash glutton. I have more stash than I will EVER be able to stitch. But I can't part with any of it. I put together my stitching basket and put some other things away in my Wip box.

My stitching basket has the following things in it:

• Beatrix Potter
• Heirloom Wedding and Heirloom Christmas (I'm swapping out some of the bands for the wedding sampler)
• True Virtue
• A bag full of Blackbird Designs (Blessings & Kind Wishes, Where My Heart Blooms)
• Remember Me - Cricket Collection
• And a bag full of Christmas ornaments to stitch for the Cadet and Lovely Jenna.

I think this will keep me busy for a long time.

Well, I best be cleaning the bathrooms now so I will write more later. Stay warm!

I have a cold and I feel yucky...

What a great excuse to sit and stitch! I am gearing up to get cozy on the sofa with my needle and thread even though the house is beyond dirty right now. It's the mud season in New York and we drag in half the barn yard each time we come back in from being outdoors.

However, we did get a piece of that Nor'Easter that blew up the coast yesterday. I think we got about 6-8" of the white stuff, just enough to make driving interesting and now I get to add water to all the dirt that's infiltrated my house. Just fabulous!

I don't know what I want to work on now that John is finished. I put BOAF's Peace sampler on scrolls but the tension is bad so I don't want to stitch on it. The fabric is very soft and limp so the tension is not as taunt as I prefer. Plus, I have to make a color substitution for one of the overdye threads that is fading into the backround and I don't feel like dragging out all my GAST or Weeks to change it out. I know that I can not begin another project (not that I feel up to kittting anything right now) but the WIP pile is unusually silent. Something is always screaming, STITCH ME! but not today. Hmm-mm did they all go on vacation and left me here?

Oh, a couple of things...the Cadet's situation has vastly improved in the last 2 weeks. The ROTC decided to drop all the charges against him and his buddies for their *indiscretion* and altercation with the campus security. He and these boys are very lucky. Their Commander made strong recommendations to keep them in the program because they were nanoseconds from getting booted out. However, it's not completely over just yet, there's payback both to the school and to the ROTC. All this headache, anxiety and worry over a stupid decision.

And the house..well, the lawyer sent a letter to Mr. C. outlining a schedule for completion. No response from him whether he can make it or not. I smell lawsuit, even though I am PRAYING that we don't have to go that route.

Well, I do hope all of you are having a great Saturday. I've been blog hopping, catching up with everyone and drooling over WIPs and finishes. Gosh you all are so inspiring!!!