My needle is on fire

Everyone is posting less this time of year....myself included......must be like me....enjoying the outdoors and yard projects.   Here's a quick catch up of the last four weeks -

• started and have finished 9 of 15 of my 15 sided biscournu
• making progress on Heart of America
• painted both sides of the 3 metal entry doors to Mr. W.'s garage - yuck, oil based paint
• Mr. W got home (which disrupted everything! LOL.
• signed up for a retreat in Ocean City MD in October
• booked a cruise for January - me and Diane in Aruba!
• weeded through my paperwork and the older household paperwork
• working on setting up a Mr. W. friendly file system for the current files
• read The Tea Rose
• finished reading Little Women
• read Out of Mormanism
• started reading The Winter Rose
• enjoying my vegetable garden which has morphed into an overgrown mess
• made arrangments with a solar company for an estimate
• dealing with MOLES in my backyard - anyone have a sure fired trick?
• enjoying the pool
• had a fabulous review from my boss (first one in 5 years! a review, that is, because of course it would be fabulous)
• building up time and speed on the treadmill
• trying to fathom what it would be like if Mr. W retires.  His Co. is rumored to be making one of those buy-out offers and he says with 39 1/2 years service he won't be able to pass it up.  (he'd better take up a hobby if he does - preferably gourmet cooking...lol)
• riding my bike
• contemplating some online (or maybe local college) courses

Here's my stitching progress and a little aside.  I set a self-imposed goal to complete this by my EGA meeting in September to add it to the WIP Contest we are having.    I made the visual survey of the pattern thinking I will have to really push that needle to complete it.  

Only a week later when I  looked at the color pattern did I realize the alphabet at the bottom of the pattern was only for charting purposes.   Yeah!  Silly me, I had wrongly assumed it was like a sampler with the alphabet and numbers across the bottom.   I am so glad I made that incorrect assumption because now I have my needle on fire knowing  I can get this puppy moved to the finished column by the September meeting.

Number 9 of 15 biscournu squares.   This is my carry-along stitching project with most stitching done pool-side at work at lunchtime.  (Yes, we have a beautiful Olympic sized pool and gorgeous grounds in the back courtyard area of our campus for employees and their family.  Spoiled on all sides aren't I?)