Monday's Update - on a Tuesday

Because I've had a few days off, and well, I've been busy :) It's been in the 80s here for the last week, and today's pollen count: 9369. You know, 1500 is considered extremely high; so over 9000 is considered what, INSANE? Yes, yes it is, and EVERYTHING has a 1/4" coating of yellow grit, because the pines are already popping, too, a few weeks earlier than normal. But hey, maybe we'll just get it all out of the way and part of April, we MIGHT be able to go outside without a HAZMAT suit...

SO, as for what I have been busy with, OTHER than work - ummm, work, strangely enough. Laundry, dishes, laundry, some very light cleaning, that kind of thing. But in between loads, I did manage to have a FINISH :) A Spirited Mandala is done - in just a bit over 2 weeks, which is probably a personal best on a design of this size. But like most things Ink Circles, it just flowed so nicely, it was just so easy to go from part to part to part. I already see a black suede mat and a shiny black frame on it - unless the black makes it obvious that my thread isn't actually black (939, reallllyyy dark blue). A fun stitch, I highly recommend this design from the 2011 JCS Halloween Special Edition Book :)

I also continued on Lady & Unicorn, and made some significant progress in the confetti section. I found a pleather thimble at Hobby Lobby on Friday (I was in there gathering threads for JE Autumn Fairy - one of several JEs that I am starting to kit; because I don't already have a drawer full of kits). Bad thing is, I assume it's geared for a woman's thumb, and it won't go over mine; I want it for my middle finger, but for that, it's just a smidge too big. I need to see if I can cinch it up a bit - gotta find a sharp needle around here, see if I can get it through it to take a small gather in it. Anyway, you might not really be able to see a great bit of difference, but I know how many of those single blanks I managed to get filled in before I had to again give the fingers a rest. Here is the week before:

And now, the overall width and then the area I'm working:

I will keep on with L&U again this week - I really do want to get this Page 6 done, and get a good jump on Page 7, before I put it up and concentrate on some other things. IF I can just GET to Page 7, I do have some large areas of 1-2 colors, so I can make up some time that I've lost on this page of confetti goodness. Tonight, my last evening off before going back to the funny farm, I'm going to stitch at IHOP, and will likely work on Rainforest, now that the mandala is done. Or I also have IC Florin & Guilder in the bag - I had a piece of 36ct PTP Fog in with those, but got my mini sampling of the month yesterday, and in it was a piece of 32ct Earthen, which I like better - and both designs will fit perfectly on it, and I ought to be able to see it a bit easier in the dim light at IHOP. I didn't know if I'd be able to see the 36ct without my Ott light, and I hated hacking into a fat 1/4 for those two small pieces, so I was kind of waiting to see what my FOTM would bring in 32ct :) Glad I waited, though that mandala jumping the line helped there...

And one last note, just to keep the peace around here - for those who don't follow football, Chelsea FC is the last English team in the Champions League (thanks to firing the coach - though he was nice to look at as he stood on the sidelines, not coaching), and also, our continued good thoughts go out to Bolton player Fabrice Muamba, after collapsing during a match on Saturday with a massive heart attack. And kudos to the press, who honored the wishes of the family to NOT make a freaking media circus out of the whole thing, and for NOT having the cameras trained on the events as they unfolded on the field - too bad we here in America can't have the same respect and show a little dignity. I blame OJ/Paris Hilton/Lindsey Lohan for this country's incessant need for video of train wrecks...

Well, sorry about that, I felt a rant coming on. So I'll just end it there with a Happy Stitching to everyone! And HAPPY SPRING!