Incoherent Scribblings

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. I have to be honest: Due in large part to He-Who-Must-Not-Yet-Be-Named, this year’s birthday was one of the best I have had in many years. And we aren’t finished celebrating yet! The birthday activities will conclude on Monday with a trip to the theatre to see the long-awaited return of Indiana Jones.

And now… on to the stitching report!

This week I have been working on Margaret Sherry’s “Cool Cats” and managed to finish up Summer this evening. I don’t really have much to say regarding Summer because in typical Margaret Sherry fashion it is a fun and smooth stitch. I really like Summer’s sunglasses and her ice cream cone. The only thing that would make her more stereotypical summer would be if she were wearing flip flops!

Well, because of the Kreinik situation, Dawn and I weren’t able to finish “Harvest Witch” by my birthday. However, since they finally arrived tomorrow we will be heading back to our SAL… Of course, I am not sure how much I will get done since I am attending a wedding reception with He-Who-Must-Not-Yet-Be-Named (Boy that is getting to be a pain to spell out! I either need to name him or abbreviate him, huh?) tomorrow evening, but I am sure I can at least get a few stitches in.

I know it is not even March yet, but out here in West Texas we are already beginning to see signs of spring, so when I pulled out “Cool Cats” by Margaret Sherry last week I decided it was time to stitch the spring cat. I have now completed two of the four seasons.

I am stitching all four cats vertically on one piece of fabric with the intention of turning it into a wall hanging when finished. However, after I finished the winter cat I noticed that while I have plenty of extra fabric on the left and right sides for finishing, the bottom (and now with the spring cat the top) is a little skimpy. I hope that when it comes time for finishing I will have enough room to do it.

Today with the finish of the winter cat from the Margaret Sherry patterns in the December 2007 issue of The Cross Stitcher, I have a semi-happy dance. Since these patterns easily stand alone, I could count today’s finish as 25 of my 26 Project Challenge. I decided to stitch all four cats together on the same fabric though so I am not counting this as a happy dance until I stitch all four. Nevertheless, here is the first one out of the four.

In addition to working a little bit on “Fairy Flora,” I now am completely finished with Outi’s belated birthday present. However, I am not mailing it until after I return to Texas because I am waiting on a little extra for her package. I am quite pleased with the way her present turned out. I just hope she likes it.

I had a very nice Christmas as I was the lucky recipient of some of Dawn’s lovely over-one stitching! She made me a little tin box and a scissor fob. I love the little tin and I put the festive scissor fob on my Gingers.

In addition to the stitched presents I received from Dawn, I also bought myself a little stash when we were doing our last minute Christmas shopping. I bought issue 194 of The Cross Stitcher and the January 2008 issue of Cross-Stitch and Needlework at Barnes and Noble. The Cross Stitcher has a seasonal Margaret Sherry cat design and Cross-Stitch and Needlework has a Mirabilia design. There are some other designs in both magazines that I might do, but the Margaret Sherry and Mirabilia designs are the reasons I bought them.

In fact, I decided to start the Margaret Sherry pattern, “Cool Cats,” right away so Dawn and I made a side trip to Hobby Lobby where I bought some 28 Lambswool Jobelan for it. I have decided to stitch “Cool Cats” as a vertical banner with the hopes that when it is finished I will make it into a bell pull.

Most of the day was spent stitching, so here is the progress that I have made on the winter cat. I think he is about two-thirds done. The magazine said the four cats should take about 48 stitching hours, so I am curious to see how long it will take me… Perhaps it will be my first 2008 finish.