T-Minus 4 Days - an Update

4 days until school starts, that is. 4 days until we have to start the early-morning whinging when I try to get a certain 15yo UP and MOVING! Last week's band camp wakings were rough, though he was just getting back onto a DAYTIME schedule after spending the entire summer up all night, sleeping all day. Speaking of band camp, this year's Flowery Branch High School Marching Falcon's show looks like it is going to be realllyyy cool - they are doing music from a band I grew up with, Styx. The Kid needs a trombone upgrade, which we'll try to get done before the first game in 4 weeks. Here is their show shirt:



The Olympic Medal count as of this morning:

Country	Medalists				Total
China	See names	31	17	14	62
United States	See names	28	14	18	60
Great Britain	See names	16	11	10	37
Russia	See names	4	16	15	35
Japan	See names	2	12	13	27

Sure hope we end up with more than China when it's over. And way to go Michael Phelps! Beat that, anyone!

Again, I apologize for the photos on this page not automatically linking to their high-res versions - the links are THERE, I've removed & re-added them in, but they just don't go :( Stupid HTML, or stupid Multiply, which hasn't been cooperating with FB lately, either. IF you want to see these (my) photos in high res, here is the link to the original, Multiply, post, and clicking on them there will take you to the high res....

Okay, on with the stitching bits, which, despite stopping to watch the TV every minute when my favorite events were on (swimming, diving, rowing), I did get some in :)



First, I finished up Iris Fairy's face, as I mentioned last week. MUCH better with a face :) I also did a bit more on the right-hand start of the irises, so I could finish up her Kreinik hair. Next time, I should get down to her dress, and/or work on those irises more.



Also, over in The Stitcher's Village social area, I made a Joan Elliott group, with various discussions, if you'd care to check it out :) If you haven't been there (or not recently), you have to have a separate account than the one you get the newsletter from, in order to participate in the social area; but we have a LOT of great discussions there, LOTS of pictures, and all kinds of goings-on. Follow the link above, and enter through the Tea Shoppe, at the bottom right - unless you need to do some shopping first, like at PTP or Laurel's :)



Speaking of Laurel's, since the 2nd part of the L*K Very Scary Mystery is on its way to me, I finished up the Part 1 Bonus chart - the fabric came out a bit grey in this photo, as it was very overcast when I took it; it's actually a very subtle lavender, and the thread is WDW Onyx:



So now I am ready for Part 2, which should be here this week :)



I also worked some more on Bone Cheeks this week - he now has teeth :) Though they are kinda hard to see on this fabric, until I get the black done around them....



And finally, the main focus of the week, once I put Iris away, was Lady & Unicorn. I spent a couple of nights filling in blanks in the confetti - and no, you can't really see where those were. So by Saturday, I decided to cheat, and started working on some of the sections of continuous stitching! I will regret later leaving all those blanks to fill in, but I needed to make some forward progress, so I did :) Here is the area I worked on Page 7:



And here's a shot with the chart for comparison - all the pink highlighter is what I did last week:



This week, I will continue with L&U, and Bone Cheeks at lunch, if possible, as well as Tuesday night at IHOP (weather & barometer-head permitting). DH and I really need to do some work outside - those irises aren't going to divide themselves, apparently - as well as get that Kid some school clothes this weekend - a tax-free weekend in GA, so we'll have swarms of people to battle through :( We are also keeping an eye on the Gulf - we want to go to the beach for a few days in September, which will negate me going to the fair (and all the hassle to go with), IF we can manage to avoid the hurricanes. We will see...



Well, that's the news. Happy Stitching this week, and here's hoping we pull ahead & stay ahead of China in the medals!!