Spring Break - an Update

Spring Break - not that you'd notice from my activity, since it's just another workweek for me :( But my 14 yo is out touring the world this week with his buddy Noah - gets to go to Universal Studios AND a cruise to the Bahamas. What is wrong with this picture? The 18 yo has nothing planned - and pouted all day yesterday because he was bored. Gee, I had to WORK during spring break of my senior year, since everyone else was out of town on school trips and such. Am I the only parent that thinks high school students have NO business going to FL with all the college spring breakers???? You know, I am totally okay with not being the cool parent...

So on to this week's stitching progress....

I finished a chicken. Or actually, I finished a rooster, to be more precise. This particular piece of Monaco is a little bit "tougher" than the one I got for World Tree - or maybe it's that I am dragging 2 strands through it, instead of the 1 that WT uses. At any rate, it's roughly 1/4 done, a little less, since the black part of the border is considerably more than the red that I have started. I didn't actually flip it over to look to see if my blackwork is even remotely reversible; I doubt it, since I sometimes do the Holbein stitch, sometimes the good ol' backstitch. I am also glad that I changed out the red - the one they called for is WAY too bright, I like this rusty color much better.... These aren't fighting roosters, the red woulda looked like they'd just gone a few rounds, IMO.


I also got a LOT done on Lyne's sampler - I actually think I will have this done in 2 more weeks' worth of stitching time - IF the blending filaments behave :) I can honestly say I hope I never stitch another rose as long as I live :) I love the look of them when they are done, every time it amazes me that those straight lines look like an actual flower when I get done, but wow, enough already! LOL And I though TW used a lot of greens (about half of Triptych was various shades of green) - Stoney Creek got a little carried away on this thing with the greenery around the flowers. To gorgeous effect, of course :)


And speaking of flowers, I was COMPELLED to have a new start on Friday. I've kind of been lusting after some Joan Elliott designs lately, thanks to Chris and all of her stockings that she's cranked out this winter. And then Diane brought her Cross Stitch Collection mag to last week's PINS meeting, and in it is the Iris Fairy. You know - PURPLE and IRISES. I HAD to get it, and it only took 3 trips to find the damn thing - BAM apparently doesn't carry the UK mags (or doesn't now - I could swear they did before?). Finally went down to the B&N in the war zone and got a copy. And had it kitted up and ready to go by Friday (I wound 20+ bobbins in less than an hour, if that tells you how motivated I was :) ) - only because I had the PERFECT fabric in the stash, Silkweaver's Lavender Swirl, one of the ones I got while in their FOTM :) So I put the first stitches in on Friday night:


And worked late into the night, and then again on Saturday after I got my chores done and the kid packed for his trip. I put it away, though, so I could get back to Lyne's piece on Sunday - I was determined to get that bottom ribbon/flowers done on it - and got a good jump on the last bell, too :) I will have to decide on Iris Fairy, since the fabric is 32ct, which, being hand-dyed, is probably more like 33-34ct, if I need to swap the 11/0 beads for 15/0s when I get to that point - the few blanks already there look kinda tight for an 11/0. I might get by with using delicas instead, since they are a lot more uniform than the Czech 11/0s. That's a ways off, plenty of time to bother with that later...


This week, I am joining Laura with a Halloween SAL - I will be getting Murky Manor out tonight. I assume I'll get sucked into that again and keep it out all week - Lyne's piece can wait another week, since I am definitely within sight of the end :) I again did not lunch long enough to work on Tanglewood last week - since the quarter- and year-end crazies are over, I might be able to get that back out this week. I will try my best to NOT start anything else - but I do have Wicked Alphabet all ready to go, too, in honor of Lisa Roswell of the Primitive Needle, and it is a Halloween SAL week. Who knows? We'll see. Since the Kid is gone, I'm pulling extra dog duty :(, so that'll eat up a little bit more time - but I am also doing way less laundry this week :) Check back next week to see if I beat my compulsion to start yet another project, or not :) Happy Stitching this week to everyone - and here's some more purpley-iris goodness for you :)

From 2009 - these haven't bloomed yet this year - but they're coming!