Don't Hate Me

Yesterday, I was sitting in the sun in the back yard enjoying a trashy novel and today it's gloomy and rainy...but still warm.  Okay, so I really shouldn't be complaining since I'm wearing short sleeves and I haven't used snow tires in over a decade.  In fact, this is excellent stitching weather...then again, I don't need an excuse to stitch. 

And to make you even more jealous, I'm packing for a stitching vacation!  Tomorrow morning I am heading north to Laura's house where we will spend almost a week indulging ourselves in our favorite activities...stitching, eating, stitching, sleeping, stitching, watching TV, stitching...  You get the idea.  As of right now, I have only packed two projects in my stitching bag.  You guessed it...Pigalle and SoHRH.  But the day is not over yet.  I recently started pruning some of my charts.  Other than pride of ownership, I have no reason to keep charts that I've already stitched.  I even found a few that I admit I'll never stitch.  Unfortunately, I still have hundreds (at least I hope it's only hundreds) of samplers still begging for my time and attention.  This may be the reason I'm considering adding something else to my bag for the trip.  I found so many things I want to start RIGHT NOW! 

But for the moment, I continue to work on SoHRH.  I'm not done with the big ship yet, but it's coming along.  Stitching time has been at a premium this week due to increased activity on my Etsy shop.  That's a good problem to have and I thank all of you who've visited my shop. 

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I Spoke Too Soon

I never should have mentioned snow.

 

It started snowing about 8:00 p.m. last night and snowed most of the night.  We woke up to a bright white landscape. I was up early (for me) like a kid on Christmas.  Quit laughing! I haven't seen snow in almost 10 years! And Lester has never seen snow!  I got the camera out and was ready for his first steps in the snow. (FYI, he's a dog, not a small child.  I know it's hard to tell from the way I talk about him.)  And guess what!  There's not a single picture of Lester in the snow...because he wouldn't step foot in it!  We have a sheltered area under our screened porch where he can do his business during inclement weather.  For us, that usually means a hurricane, but apparently snow on the ground qualifies too.

But I did get some shots of the almost pristine, white neighborhood.  We are about 1/2 mile from the beach...and no, I have not been over there yet, and 1/2 block from the intracoastal waterway.  As I write this, the snow is already falling from the trees and the paved areas are almost clear.  But isn't that the way most adults like it...gone by noon! 

And just in case you tuned in for a stitching update. I worked on Block 4 of SoHRH last night until the opening ceremonies of the Olympics were over.  Only things left on this block are some red (huh?) stars.  Then I'll probably start the big combo block 6-7.

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Let's Get Back to MY Stitching

Because frankly, it's all about me. I know I said I was getting used to having multiple projects going, but the fact is I'm having so much fun with "Pigalle" that I'm not ready to switch back to SoHRH.  Maybe as soon as I finish page 2 (very close) I'll switch back. The left side of my brain really needs that symmetry and feeling of logical completion. Apparently, I have totally gone over to the dark side yet.

I've completed most of the navy base stitching on pages 1 and 2 and now I'm filling in with all those luscious colors that I changed.  I should have a really good feel for how the whole thing is going to work together by the time the Colts take the Super Bowl!

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Red Plum is it!

I know you've all been holding your breath waiting for me to finalize the colors for my version of "Pigalle". Well, you can breathe again. I replaced GAST Black Raspberry Jam with GAST Red Plum. Did a couple of hours of stitching last night and I think it's good. Now I can just keep stitching. Lots of football and college basketball on this weekend, so I should make some progress.

My SoHRH is coming along too, but I forgot to take a picture of it this a.m. I worked on it while I was trying to find the right colors for "Pigalle". Maybe I'll get more done on it this weekend too.

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Winter at My House

Okay, there is no snow and not likely to be any time soon. (We had snow about 9 years ago.) But it is cold and windy and I'm a weather wimp, so that's good enough to keep me inside and stitching. Actually, I've been so busy trying to catch up with my scissor fobs and pins and stitch markers that I've only been stitching at night while watching TV.

I've hesitated to post pics because there's not much to show. This is what Shores of Hawk Run Hollow (SoHRH) looked like when I put it away Oct 1st. (Remember the Christmas Panic?) So I pulled it out as soon as I finished my tree skirt piece. But all I've done is some more border and a little of Block 8. Not very exciting, but at least I'm stitching.

Now for the shock of the decade! I started a new project without finishing SoHRH! Do not panic, the world is not coming to an end, Hell has not frozen over...but it's awfully close. It's Spinster Stitcher's fault. I was reading about her "stitch whatever you want" attitude and I caved. I pulled out "Pigalle" by Long Dog Samplers. That's the good news.

The bad news is that I have to do some frog stitching. Sometime last fall I decided to change most of the colors because I'm just not into orangy reds. So I spent I don't know how many hours playing with it until I had chosen some blue and purple hues to go with one of the original reds that I did like. So I started it last night and after a couple of hours I realized it just wasn't going to work. So I trucked off to the stash room and started playing again. I now have reverted to warm reds...just not the ones listed in the chart. I'll show them to you after I make some progress. Here's what it looked like when I made the big decision.

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A New Start

Happy Monday morning to ya. I can say that now that I've had my pot of coffee and it's almost noon. I am not a morning person. In fact, if I had my druthers, I'd shift my schedule about 3 hours later than normal.

Last night I got on a roll, stitching-wise, and told DH not to wait for me to come to bed. I actually finished the first block of "Shores of Hawk Run Hollow", hereafter referred to as SoHRH.

As you can see, I changed the fabric. I'm using 40 count "Lucky Penny" from R&R. I'm also using Anchor floss. As I mentioned last week, I spent the better part of a morning making then floss conversion, but so far, I think it's working. I may decide to backstitch the lighthouse at some later date, but I'm going to wait until I get more blocks done to see if I really need to. I detest backstitching.

I slept in til 8:10 this morning and have already done more productive stuff than I have in a week. So, at least until Christmas, I'll probably do the night owl thing. I am sooooooo in the Christmas stitching panic.

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