My Calendar Says October Still - an Update

Yep, the calendars all still say October, but it's definitely looking like November here - the leaves are about half changed! That NEVER happens here in October! And last week was cold; we had frost warnings for a couple of nights, though my cannas are still in bloom, so I guess it didn't get that cold down in the hole our house is in :) We are back in the 70s this week, but I'm just really surprised at having FALL this year, instead of summer one day, winter the next. No idea what that means for the winter we're going to have...? Have I mentioned how much I want to go to AZ????


In animal news, Lucy managed to keep her stitches in ALL WEEK - we took ALL 3 OF THEM out on Saturday, so she is now cone-free :) Still needs a bath - smells like she was in the animal hospital, you know? But we spent all our animal-bathing time on BEANIE instead. I was lying in bed Wednesday morning, dreading the alarm going off, when I suddenly had a 20-pound oil-soaked cat jump on me. Apparently, Beanie stayed in the garage overnight, and at some point during the night, probably chasing a critter, he managed to land in the remains of the last oil change that DH hasn't taken out yet. So of course, I go into panic mode, because no one else is up at 6 a.m., and am trying to wash the cat with the soap I had in the bathroom - which was pretty ineffective, as you might imagine. Meanwhile, the dogs are both losing their minds because it sounds like I'm killing the cat, so the boys both get up to come see what's going on - and two of the three of us have to get showered and get going. Needless to say, it was NOT a good morning. And I was already cranky before that all went on.


That's also when the cold snap came through, so the temps dropped and stayed down, so though he desperately needed more washing after the Big Kid did what he could after I left for work, it was just too cold to risk it. But I did finally get him bathed yesterday, and he's now all clean again - his beard and feet are white again, and he's FLUFFY :) And it didn't take the entire industrial-sized bottle of Dawn to get it done! But we'll have that around for whatever else needs it, as I can't stand using that stuff for washing dishes...

So on to the stitching bits already...

I have another finish - Mill Hill Halloween is done, as of 1:30 a.m. Friday night/Saturday morning! it took 6 hours total to get all those beads on - I do think Boo House had more beads & less stitching than the other 3, but at any rate, had it done in exactly 1 week :) Here's Boo House:


And then the overall:


I do wish I had seen all 3 of these together in detail - Boo is the oldest of these 3, and the sky is charted in blues instead of the greys the other 2 use; it sticks out to me a LOT, but I assume it'll stop bugging me eventually. OR, if I'd gotten a bigger piece of fabric and 3 more kits, I could have balanced it out by having another older one w/blue sky somewhere else. Oh well, it's done now :)

Tuesday night, I went to IHOP for the Hooty Girls Stitch In :) I worked on my Santa ornie some more, and then worked on it a bit more on Sunday evening, as I didn't have much time to stitch over the weekend. He now has a face - I wasn't about to leave him with no eyes!


Saturday, we had our October PINS get together, and we presented our host & hostess with the Chickens; I think they were both very surprised, and I know Loretta herself was almost crying. So a well-received gift :) And considering all the re-decorating they've been doing the last month, the timing couldn't have been better; in addition to the new wall paint that was there last time, there are new chicken things all over, and lots of wrought iron pieces hanging throughout - the blackwork bits on Chickens are a perfect compliment. I couldn't have planned that any better if I had tried. I'll be curious to see where it ends up, though she did say she was going to take it home and look at it for a bit before bringing it back to find it a home in the restaurant...


While at PINS, I worked on my BoaF SAL - that should have been done a couple of months ago, if I hadn't gotten hung up on these Halloween things. I got the tree in Part 2 done, and would have finished Part 2 completely, except I didn't have the rest of the threads with me, so the 2nd bird is all that's lacking to finish this part:


And then, when I got home, I tore the place apart looking for those threads - I was completely stumped as to why they weren't in the bag with the whole kit. I can't find them, they are just gone. So either the ring they were on slid off into the trash can I have between couch & table and we never saw them when it got emptied, or an animal has them stashed somewhere, in which case I probably don't want them back. SO I get to order 10 new skeins of WDW - which won't match dyelots, of course, and a couple of them, I only need a length or two. Dammit. I don't lose stuff. But on the bright side, in my effort to find them, I did get the remains of recent finishes put away, and got things a little straightened up on the table.

So, this week, since I am stopped on BoaF until I get the threads ordered (along with that new Ink Circles chart, Metamorphosis), I SHOULD work on Knotgarden - I want that done so badly I can taste it. Until it irritates me again, of course. So I might have to switch off this week, but I HAVE to work on it; maybe I'll get past the hump that's driving me nuts... I'll keep on that Santa, too, when time permits; I'd like to have the set of 3 done this year, but it's not going to happen, not as lon as this one's taking. So next year, probably :)

And that's all I've got. Happy Stitching this week to everyone!