T-Minus 6 days

Oh no!  6 days to a class in Cape May and I don't have my pre-stitch done yet.   Better get stitching.  So many things have been getting in the way of stitching time but I sure hope this weekend I can eek out some time.  

I might be stalling on this a bit since I have changed it up from the original design.   I added the green to better suit the color scheme in my house and then I added a set of different colored leaves along each side of the border.   I kind of feel disloyal to the designer and certainly unworthy of questioning her skill when she created the design so I think I have a stitching block.    No fear, I need to charge through it this weekend.....and heaven knows if I will be able to stitch and finish a scissors fob for the exchange.   Thank goodness that exchange is voluntary.

On to what I have been doing, stitch wise, at least.   I have been devoting my morning pre-work hour of stitching to Halloween Quaker.   The way I am approaching the motifs may seem crazy but there is a method to my madness.    I know somehwhere in the middle I am off a couple (or more threads) so I worked the border across the top and bottom so I could do the right side (and it matched!).   And now I plan to work from the right side of the pattern back to the middle.

I won't be finished but Halloween but I am so much closer than I was.    My EGA Guild Challenge really helped me get so much done this past month.  It really is a fast stitch when I just put my mind to it.

Here's where I was at my last posting.

My goal is to finish the stitching by the time I have a long weekend with my daughters in November where I hope to finish/finish it.

So that's it for me.   Nothing spectacular going on.  Work drags on with new assignments and training new employees which keeps me from doing my regular work.  They are tempting me with dangling the carrot of a four-day week and a salary bump but I just don't know.  It's the workload that needs to decrease more than the hours do.  My brother's estate is also dragging along.   All the antiques from his house arrived this week and my living is piled to the ceiling.   The nieces and nephews better come make a pick and take it or there will be no Christmas decorating this year......hmm.....while I speak sacrilege and am conjuring visions of Byers Dolls with tears down their faces if denied their normal holiday positions no decorating could be a great time saver!

Almost forgot, I have the September AND October buttons of the month from JABCO to share.  

 It is such fun to get the little box each month and see what they have included.  When I was last at Salty Yarns I priced these individually and the month automatic shipment is about a 40% reduction in cost.

Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching.

Fall is upon us

We seriously went from the A/C one day to the heat the next!  Better add pulling out the fall and winter clothes to my long list of things to do today.     No rest for the weary.

I was able to put in a little stitching on my EGA challenge piece.  This year's challenge is to select four pieces you wish to work on.   They can be new starts or WIPs or even the dreaded UFO's.    Each month a number is chosen and the corresponding project is what we are to focus on for the month.

Here is where I was when I picked this back up on Friday morning.

And here is what I have added since.  I am happy with what I've gotten done.   And as I stitch, I am wondering why I put this down.   I won't put the pressure on to finish before this Halloween....

The fabric is just perfect.   It is called "murky" from Weeks Dye Works.  I finished off the row of houses and the quaker motif on the right.

Then added the "frog legs" green spot motif and started the 310-Black motif.

I also have gotten a teeny tiny bit on my class pre-stitch.   I'm getting there.   Now I have to decide if I want to stitch and finish a scissors fob for the exchange we will have during the class.

The '1621' is the year of the first Thanksgiving.

This week I have interviews to hold and something to do 3 of 5 nights but I want to try to start planning for my trip to Boston in November.  Middle daughter will turn the big 4-0 and mom said you can't celebrate a big birthday  without your family.  No. 1 daughter is going with me and we are planning a 5-day sewing frenzy.   I think I want to concentrate on doing some finishes.  I need to go through my supplies and start assembling them on my craft table while making a list of what I need before we leave.

That's it for today.  Short and sweet.  Got to clean, do laundry, paperwork, yard work and about ten other things on my list.   Ugh!  I used to say I go to work to recovery from my weekends but work has taken a turn.  I had to add to my workload covering for two employees who are out on medical leaves to the list of already covering two positions for the last 12 years.......wonder how many people they will have to hire to replace me when I leave.  Counting the days.......

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.....not

Just back from my semi-annual retreat at Salty Yarns in OCMD and I was NOT the winner of the contest of who spent the most!  I might have even won the least amount spent award.   Wow!   I showed restraint.  

But first, my stitching progress since my last report. I finished the halloween witch before I left.    I kind of don't like the like the moon.   It looks like of goofy to me; like it is backwards.  It might stay.....it might not.  

 The day before I left for OCMD, my pre-stitch for a class in November arrived.   This is a "candle mat" from Beth Seal of Summer House Stitch Workes.  I took it along with me to get started.   We're cutting it close but it looks easy enough to finish before the class.  

 For "Mend" from Hands on Design, I got in all of the tape measure, EZ-PZ

As for the tomato, tamoto.....not so EZ-PZ.    I stitched it once and frogged it to change colors; then stitched it and frogged it a second time because I was off from the start........third time is the charm.   I think I am on the right track now.  When this one is done, I have three more identical ones to stitch. 

As for the goodies I brought back fro Ocean City.    First up, our fabulous gift from Salty Yarns.  Brenda Gervais pattern, package of needles, linen, floss and box were all packaged up for us.  What an awesome gift.  They are so good to us.

For purchasing, I bought about a half dozen WDW flosses I needed, the Just Cross Stitch Magazine Christmas Edition and a Scarlett House pattern and fabric.   Like we have all said so many times, the flyer does not do the piece justice.   One of the girls brought her finished and framed piece for show and tell and I was sold.   I bought 36 count Mello from PTP to stitch it on. 

So that wraps up my weekend.  I've got a busy week ahead with a full calendar so maybe not much stitching time for me.   

Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching.