Finished!

The stockings for my sister's family arrived home from the finisher today! I couldn't wait to share them with you. But first I had to take a nap. (I am so old and tired and the dog woke me up early and then has been a pain in the bum. We went on a hike and she's still been in and out, in and out, because she is bored and at loose ends and still can't go to daycare because she is coughing. St Francis help us, amen.)

 I sent them to our friend Faye. And she did a great job! I love that they have miniwale corduroy backing--matches the ones I did for my cousin. And the colors she chose are perfect matches. I feel so relieved! Let's imagine I tried to do this myself...first getting myself to the store for fabric. Going to every store in the greater Philadelphia area to get matches. Then clearing off enough of the sewing table to cut and sew and then the piping. I could have gone nuts.

Instead, now they are done. Done and beautiful and I am so so very happy!

Round Eight: the Winter Storm Edition

It's amazing how much you can stitch when the weatherpeople tell you not to go outside. Not that I really needed their help avoiding it! Overnight we had gusty winds and snow, of course, but the next day it just kept snowing and snowing. Nothing like getting winter all at once. My daffodils had buds before they were covered in snow. I'd tell you how much but it was so windy that the snow drifted in ways that make it difficult to tell. For example, on one side of our driveway, the snow drifts as high as the Honda Civic; on the other side, you can see the neighbor's lawn poking out. According to the paper, we got 22" out this way. And a two hour delay today! (Only because the college is surrounded by tertiary roads, and I bet they're still digging those out. Our street is down to one lane.)

Anyway, last night I finished stitching Sadie's Stocking! You'll just have to take my word for it that the name is stitched--I want to protect everyone's privacy.

In the rotation, this will be replaced by either Mary's Stocking or Christian's Stocking. Plenty of stocking left to stitch!

WIP: Tisket

A tisket a tasket, I've been stitching a basket! (Also a little bit of dress.) That's what happens when you're sitting around letting the dye take...

Thanks to all for reading, and especially for commenting. You do not know how much it helps when I do something crazy like decide to blog every day!

Oh, It's a Monday

This morning on the way to work, I was sitting at a railway crossing (mostly commuter trains, but the occasional Amtrak as well). The gates were down for well over 15 minutes. People started turning around, which you could do because no traffic was driving on the other side of the street. And then they started driving around the gates and through an active train crossing. People, I don't care that you're late for school or work. I don't care that you're impatient. I don't care that the gates may be malfunctioning. In the story of train vs car, the car always loses!

Accident in March 2013 in the UK.
Looks like a motorcycle, but it's a car.

There were a couple of times when cars were coming around the gates on both sides of the tracks and having to do a little tango in the middle. I even heard a train whistle while this was happening! (I was going to be very angry if I had a front row seat for this accident.) And then the school bus behind me went through! I couldn't tell if there were kids on the bus, nevertheless. Poor judgement, she should not have been driving a bus. I texted my boss to let her know I'd be late. Called the day care to reserve a spot for Stellie just in case they filled up before I could get there. And then called the police who had already had a report. I had been there for a good 25 minutes at this point. (And I never did see the police.) A really tense start to the morning!

But you came here for the stitching not the complaining!

Making progress!

The Village of Sadie's Toe

Silent auction meeting ran late, so just a quick update on my WIP, Sadie's Stocking.

Babies!

I'm plugging away on Sadie's Stocking. Tonight we went to my sister's and had dinner with the future owner of this stocking.

The girls are starting to talk, using such fascinating words as "baby," "banana," and "gorilla." Anyway, you'd think they'd be better at constructing a coherent narrative with those three words than they are. I mean, did the baby feed the banana to the gorilla? Did the gorilla steal the banana from the baby? Is the baby a gorilla? They totally left me hanging.

Special K pointed out the art work they are doing with their nanny and Sugar Rea asked for more in sign language. She didn't like the broccoli I had made to go with the lasagna but she was happy to eat some sort of green thing that had been pureed and put in a jar. Shows how good her taste is.

WIP Wednesday: It Makes a Village

Some days it's hard to be a volunteer! These past two are among those days. It's the silent auction again... I didn't have time to stitch at all, and I am blogging past bedtime.

So just a quick note then to tell you thanks for all the Insta follows and for letting me know you are out there too. I'm trying to follow back.

And to show you that sometimes I stitch. Behold, the village of Sadie's Toe.

Happy Halloween!

If someone could tell me where the last few weeks have gone, I'd be indebted. Things are super busy at work (five projects due before December). It just saps my energy. What's more, I realized I had only read six books for my Goodreads challenge (of only 15). So I picked up Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. That'll keep you involved! Anyway, no time for stitching or blogging. 

October Review

I didn't really set out goals because of the cluster that was the beginning of the month (starting with being stranded in Tennessee an extra day because of the rain on the east coast). But my goal was to stitch a small (decorative gourds), finish Sadie's stocking, and possibly stitch on an autumnal piece in the WIP basket.

I did get sidetracked by Cinnamon Stars. I love the colors of this one so much. Although I started this one for Debbie's Crazy January, I am discovering that I do not have all the colors I need. (How surprising...) That's kept me focused on finishing the front of the house where I started. That's definitely a strategy for staying focused!

But I'm back to work on Sadie's stocking because, well, these kids are too cute to disappoint. (And I'm missing one color and ran out of another.) (Story of my life!)

November Goals

I had hoped to spend November working on a different project every day for NaBloPoMo but I really need to focus. I know, I'm disappointed too. But I'll try to knock out Sadie's stocking so that I can pick up the challenge of something new every day.

And yet, when I think of the things that need doing next month, like finishing the Christmas cards, the silent auction (that old chestnut), and the Thanksgiving celebration, I'm not sure this is a reasonable goal. 

Yes, suddenly I'm going to make reasonablegoals!

WIP Wednesday: Meet Sadie

Let me introduce you to Sadie. My productivity slowed a bit because I have had lots to do the past week--including the Library's chili cook off, cooking for and attending Cook Book Club (the best book club in the world!) and of course my stamping day! Work is also ratcheting up--working on three sets of reports at once, fun!--so I'm a little less inclined to stitch when I get home. Still, this is coming along.

I also received a call from my LNS and the threads I ordered to finish Charland's stocking came in. I'll see if I can sneak in a trip to pick them up--it's the Friends of the Library booksale this week. (Of course!)

WIP: More Stockings

I had been in a MWF blogging groove and somehow I've fallen down. I am looking at my calendar but I don't see anything that is obviously eating up my time... I have been stitching, however. And enjoying it--thinking about the girls and the Chrsitmasses they will have with these stockings.

They are walking as a matter of course now. And eating food the rest of us are eating. And they love being read to; you could read to them for hours. They're getting more exciting, almost like real people. {wink}

I have finished all of Charland's Stocking that I can without the artichoke thread I am awaiting.

So I picked up Sadie's Stocking. And then took a really crappy photo!

Oh, and I decided Special K is getting Charland's Stocking. She didn't have any hair when she was born and that angel looks bald. And we all remember that Sugar Rea had tons of dark brown hair, just like Sadie's angel. (If you don't remember, click on the "babies" label.) So that all worked itself out as I knew it would.

Thanks for stopping by!

Days 11 & 12

I am keeping up with the new start every day--though most days I feel like a duck paddling wildly below the surface! I'm doing even less well blogging my starts unfortunately. (And even worse posting on Facebook.) Long time readers will remember that I love starting and it pretty much takes me forever to finish. But right now--halfway through the month with more charts left to start--I kind of feel like kid binging on candy. I just want to take a break. I'm hoping that this will make me superexicted to start my rotation next month. My plan is to stitch one week on something I started this year, one week on something I started last year (or ealier), and one week on a small. The fourth week will be free to stitch whatever, to work on finishing, or to prepare for Craft Month.

Sadie's Stocking by Shepherds Bush was Sunday's project. You would have thought I could have gotten farther along on that one, but no dice.

On Monday, I started Ewe and Eye's Slow Poke. I had to substitute the fabric because R&R don't dye the called for color anymore. Instead I used WDW Peoria Purple. I have used the Anchor floss called for. I know it's silly to hunt down Anchor flosses when I have a full set of DMC, but there is something slightly different about the colors and I like what E&E&F chose.