MLK Day - an Update

Martin Luther King Jr. Day - a day that last year, created controversy when several school systems wanted to use it to make up some time from the Snowpocalypse (which I think Dr. King would have agreed with). But since it's one of those holidays that doesn't really come up on my radar, the 14 yo had to get up this morning. Only as I was getting dressed did it occur to me that he probably has a 3-day weekend, since Miss Donna posted something on FB Friday about having a 3-day... SO guess who was playing WoW at 7:00 a.m.? Gee, not even a 12-hour break since he got off of there. Whatever. Time restriction goes back into effect TOMORROW then, I guess.


So, onto the stitching bits...

I got to go to the Tuesday night at the IHOP last week, finally, after finally getting over The Crud. I worked on my Yellow Santa, who is nearing completion. Hopefully this week I can get the white & grey trim on the bottom half, if not done, close. Here he is so far:


And the rest of the week, I slaved away on Secret Victorian Garden - man is Part 2 just ginormous!! Can I say I am glad I won't see that Honeydew Caron again for a while? LOL I also got roughly 1/2 of Part 3 done, stitching wise - there are a LOT of beads in parts 2 & 3 that will wait until the end. But I needed a break between sections of the Honeydew, so broke out the purple metallic for the 4 boxes the houses will sit on. Then I finished Part 2, and started on the flower stems & leaves in Part 3, and then did part of the flowers. Here's the overall:


And then a close up of the bottom right corner, which kind of shows how the DD blue Mountains thread used for the "comb" flowers & the Jessica's kind of tends to disappear when I'm not on the purple part of the strand:


I hated to stop midway though a part, but I figure it'll be easy enough to pick it up there, and give me a quick finish to that part before moving onto Part 4, next time it comes out :)


So, as that implies, I have put SVG away, and tonight, I start Ink Circles' Growth Rings, in BEADS :) I haven't made my industrial Tacky BoB yet - I think I'll use my regular old one until it just hasn't got any stick left to it, and then pitch it. We'll see how long I am able to work on a solidly-beaded piece - who knows if London might make an appearance this week? I do need to get that out, too, as I want to have that dome done and on it's way home to Texas before I get Tuscany out to start. I am also thinking, when I feel I've reached a stopping point on Tuscany, that the rest of February (assuming Tuscany is being working on into Feb) will be devoted to giving L&U some much needed attention. I cannot believe I didn't touch it more than a few hours for the entire year last year :( Throwing out my timed rotation, while beneficial in some ways, definitely did not help that one.



Saturday, a few of us in the local group are heading down south to Callaway Gardens, where they host a needlework school every January. The local chapter of the EGA, the Dogwood Chapter in Atlanta, is hosting an exhibit and a boutique. I was going to enter MTM and take it down, but between being sick before the entry deadline, and not relishing the thought of making the 130 mile trip (one way) 3 TIMES over 12 days, I decided to just go check it out this year, and see what I see in preparation for next year... I am taking the camera, of course, so if I can take photos, I will report back next week :)



Also, if you are a member of The Stitcher's Village, Tracy Horner, the genius behind Ink Circles, will be hosting a live chat on Saturday, 1/28, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern; if you can, please stop by and say Hi! Of course, I'll have to try to remember, since I ma not often on the computer at night on the weekends...


As a side note, New Fish croaked. And was replaced. And New Fish #2 has ALSO croaked. So I am wondering if the bottle of water treatment that I just got is bad - it's the only thing in common between those 2 fish. May have to go get a new one before I change the water in the sole survivor's tank. Dammit - the replacement was REALLY cool - deep red bordering on black, and probably the biggest betta I have ever had :(


That's the news from here - Happy Stitching this week to everyone!