Incoherent Scribblings

Once upon a time I used to blog and I used to stitch. And sometimes I would even do both! Like tonight!

Yes, you read right: I’ve been stitching!

I am working on a Country Cottage Needlework piece called “Summer Retreats.” It has three houses and I have chosen to stitch the one called “Butterfly Bungalow.” It’s slow going… I started it last month for Pete’s sake! Normally a piece like this wouldn’t take so long, but in addition to the interference called my life, I’ve had a couple of pretty severe encounters with the frog, and I haven’t been 100% happy with the fabric. Oh, I like the color (it’s 28 count Opalescent “Green Apple” Lugana from Silkweaver), but I don’t think the threads are very even for evenweave. I am pretty close to getting finished with it though. I hope it will be either my last or second-to-the-last piece of the year.

I also have a new small start on deck from the latest issue of Cross Stitch and Needlework called “Snow Pals.” It is a pretty simple design, but I am going to try and work on it in the car when I go on vacation later this month. I have never stitched in the car because I am usually driving when I go on a trip, but this trip I am mostly going to be a passenger, so we’ll see if I can stitch.

And finally, in case you were wondering, I haven’t worked on “Castle Sampler” since mid-October. I know I will eventually come back to it though. I love the piece, I just needed a break from it. Maybe I will take it to work on while lounging in the hotel or visiting while on vacation… Hmm… Now there’s a great idea!

I don’t stitch a lot anymore and right now I am fine with that. However, I am still stitching here and there so when I have something to show, well… here’s what I have been working on when I have been stitching:

I am almost half way finished with the border on “Castle Sampler.” I say almost because after I took this picture I realized that I still needed to backstitch the left border.

I finished my second summer class on Thursday, so guess what I did this weekend? Yep, that’s right! I finally got to stitch!!! Here is “Castle Sampler” with a few more over one letters:

And here is “Too Cute to Spook.” Dawn and I haven’t SALed for a couple of weeks due to my schedule, but we plan to remedy that tomorrow.

Hopefully I’ll get back in the stitching and blogging groove soon. Until next time…

This post is going to be pretty short since I haven’t been stitching much lately. However, I promised Dawn I would work on our “Too Cute” SAL tonight, so here is my progress. I didn’t do all this stitching tonight, but this is where I am since my last progress pic.

I should also do a goal review I suppose.

For June, I wanted to:

Participate in the June SAT. – Nope

Work on (and maybe finish) “Too Cute to Spook” with Dawn.- Just barely

Work on “Castle Sampler” or “Spring Queen” or both. – Worked a bit on “Castle Sampler.”

Work on “Navajo Style.” – Nope

What can I say? I was too busy studying to do much. And since July looks much the same, I am just going to list two tiny goals.

• Work on (and maybe finish) “Too Cute to Spook” with Dawn.
• Work on “Castle Sampler.”

That’s it.

P.S. If you would like to see the pictures of fireworks that I took over the Fourth of July weekend, click here and here.

Even though my blog has been quiet lately, I have managed to sneak in a little bit of stitching here and there in between reading for class. So here’s the skinny on what I have been doing lately:

I have made progress on “Too Cute to Spook,” but have been too lazy to take a picture for a couple of weeks. Dawn and I moved our SAL day to Monday, so I will try and take a picture after I work on her tomorrow.

Last weekend (I think) I started a new project called “Lady Rose” by Joan Elliott. I bought this from a stitching catalog that I get and it came as a kit with 14 count Aida and floss “similar to DMC.” Normally I wouldn’t buy a kit, but I really liked the pattern and couldn’t find it any other way. Needless to say, I have switched the fabric from the Aida to a piece of 28 count pinkish Cashel from Silkweaver that I had in my stash (I’m not at home and can’t remember the name right now) and am using proper DMC.

This past week I pulled “Castle Sampler” back out of the WIP pile and worked on my over one alphabet. I chose to stitch “Castle Sampler” on 32 count, so you might think that the over one stitching would be a bitch, but it really isn’t. Of course, using evenweave as opposed to linen might have something to do with that… I do love my linen, but those uneven threads sure can be a pain over one!