Great Frame Up

It took me so long to pick up my framing from the January sale, that they had already started the May sale when I finally hit the store. Sadness. I guess it has been a busy few months--and I'm sure you don't forget, snowy too--and when you only have one day to get to the LNS (Saturday) that's 40 minutes away, yeah, you get the picture.

Anyway, the first picture is Midsummer Night's Me & You Sampler. I think the gold on the frame coordinates nicely. I'm very happy with this one. Soon it will find space on the anniversary wall.

But I am over the moon with how this one came out! The frames themselves are a little brighter, not quite as muted, just like the piece itself. I was all set to enter this one in the fair when I noticed (to my horror!) that I forgot to finish four stitches on the coral flower that hangs over the house. I don't know if it is worth it to me to have it taken apart and put back together just to show it off to a larger IRL audience. Oh well, my light will be hidden under the bushel again. ;)

Call Me Overjoyed!

I started this piece during my first Crazy January Challenge in 2011. 

Star Light Star Bright
Little by Little Designs
DMC floss
R&R Blue Moon Java 35-count linen

I love the colors in it, and most people when they see it do comment on the colors right away. I imagine they are not for everyone though.

The requisite dog.

The crazy colored house.

Ten for February

Here we are at the end of January already. I had that week with the hacking cough, and the week of the job interview, which overlapped a bit with the week of the hacking cough. I feel like the interview went well but it's still not over. I had a writing assignment to do. That's complete but I'm sending it in tomorrow, once I've had a chance to sleep on it. And then we wait...

My very tiny goals for this month:

1. Five new crazy starts: One, Two, Three, Four, Five
2. Work on WIPs with the goal of finishing at least four this year: I had a finish! 
3. Stitch a monthly ornament: I apologize to Silverlotus. I go all half-cocked and sign up for the ornament SAL. I put the posting dates in my calendar, and still my ornament isn't completed. But it should be by tomorrow. I'll post it then.

In the meantime, here's a pretty picture. Well, it's a picture of a pretty thing. The picture itself leaves a lot to be desired. (It's dark out. Cut me some slack!) This is the progress I've made on Star Light Star Bright by Little by Little. The last time I had it out it looked like this. I have just one word to go before I fill the night sky with stars. Very close now.

I'm going to stick with my Molly Rotation for February--three days on ten projects (so I guess I'll need to borrow some days from March!)

1. Lady Gray, Lilybet (1-3)
2. Black Snowman, Shepherd's Bush (4-6)
3. February's Ornament (7-9)
4. Me & You Sampler, Midsummer Night (10-12)
5. Crazy Love, Cross Eyed Cricket (13-15)
6. Boris, Plum Street (16-18)
7. That Dern Parrot, Sheepish Designs (19-21)
8. Off the Deep End, Raise the Roof (22-24)
9. Treasured Tulips, Nutmeg Needle (25-27)
10. A Mind Independent and Free, Carriage House (28-March 2)

And because I like to sign up for things, I've signed up to do a Month of Letters. The challenge is to send a handwritten note in the post every day the mail operates in February. And to respond to everyone who writes back. Because I'm, you know, a show-off, I'm making all the cards I send. Fortunately, I have some in the can.

Still Standing

I'm sorry to have abandoned you. This getting up early three days a week to go to work is taking a lot out of me! The campus is beautiful. (It's an arboretum!) I've spent considerable time on urban campuses (since 1991), so it's a delight to be somewhere where you can, say, hear a woodpecker on the way into the office. The people are really nice, and I've come up to speed pretty quickly. I've been enjoying it.

I've also been using getting back to the blog as a reward for finishing the taxes...which I've been avoiding. Rest assured they are completed, and I have settled my accounts with the governments.

Friday stitching was a packed house with a lot of the usual suspects and a couple of newbies. We had two letters from one of the former members, the young grad student who moved home after receiving M.A. in order to fix flutes. The good news (to her) is that she is off to a PhD program. (More power to her, but forgive my cynicism.) They're very supportive of our young friend, but it's funny trying to explain graduate study to old ladies. We settled on talking about the weather the young Georgian will be facing up in Boston.

My neighbor, a widow, was telling me about this couple she used to go to breakfast with. Seems the man is now a widower, who has asked her out to breakfast again. She's not interested. I gave her my mother's advice to her children, "it's just a date, you don't have to marry him." But she thought he might be like this other fellow who bragged to his friends about how quickly he could get someone into bed although "those aren't the words he used!"

I couldn't help but tell her bestpal's mother's (also a widow) words of wisdom, "Women mourn; men replace." Another widow overheard and soon there was much laughter and yet another exclamation of "I love Fridays!"

I've been working on Star Light Star Bright by Little by Little. I am stitching with the prescribed DMC and fabric. I adore the colors on this one. So fun and bright!