See what happens when one project frustrates me?


5 dishcloths later (yes, I know, they need their ends sewn in and some washing and blocking) and I figured I was ready to get back to some stitching. My gift project was still glowering at me from a corner, so first I went off and finished this:

Damsel's Dozen by Dragon Dreams
Stitched on stitchband with recommended fibres

This was a class piece from almost 3 festivals ago. I actually would have finished this many weeks ago had it not been for the fact that I ran out of the Waterlilies used in the piece. It required a trip to the LNS to find appropriate fibres to finish it off.

I still couldn't face my gift project and developed a horrible urge to do some canvaswork, so this little kit came out to play:

Braque by Kick Back & Stitch
Stitched on 18-count mono canvas
with recommended Waterlilies, Kreiniks and assorted Rainbow Gallery fibres

I had purchased this piece all kitted up some time ago but it languished in my stitching basket, mostly because I didn't have the right size stretcher bars (smaller than 8"x8" seems to not exist in my voluminous stash for some reason....). The above-mentioned trip to the LNS rectified that situation handily. Unfortunately, all was not well as I ran out of one of the Kreinik fibres a mere 8 stitches before completion. Hence the LNS saw my face again (they really like me there now....or they're too polite to say otherwise!).

While on my second trip to the LNS, I proceeded to kit up another piece by Kick Back & Stitch - one of the Octagon pieces. I fully intended to come home and commence working on it (it's all done in pretty purples and greens), but alas the Waterlilies was against me and was out of stock. So, there's another trip to the LNS in my future. I think my van can find it on its own now....

Being the champion procrastinator that I am, I thought it was time to do a little finishing, especially since the zillion-pound sewing machine had been hauled downstairs to repair the boys' gym clothes bags anyway. So, I put these things together:


Now, I still need to attach the cording and hangers to everything, but they're all stuffed and closed which is an accomplishment in and of itself. It's definitely a move in the right direction since some of those ornaments have been sitting in my do-something-with-me pile for a good 2 or 3 years. Also for the first time I tried out closing things with a ladder stitch - something heretofore untried in this house. I liked it for ease of closing and I'm sure I'll use it again.

In my continuing effort to avoid the project making me pull my hair out, I thought it was time to get back to my friend, The Big Grey Blob (or Nantucket Rose, IRL):


She's trucking along at her own happy little pace. She's really quite pretty IRL but doesn't photograph well. I think once something besides grey gets added it'll look better.

A few days ago I caught my kitties pretending to be an endless loop of fur, so I had to take a picture:


If it weren't for the ears, it'd be hard to tell who is who!

Oh and my gift project? Thanks to my suddenly remembering the benefits of magnification, I sat down with a fresh bit of fabric, my magnifier and a strong desire to stitch. The result? Well, I can't show you that just yet. All I can say is, it's finished. It's pretty. It just need to head to my finishing suite (aka the basement craft room) to be made into something I hope becomes pretty spectacular.

Not a bad two weeks, huh? And I even worked for 4 days straight in there too!

I'm off to the Spring CreativFestival tomorrow with my stitching partner in crime. Who knows what we'll get up to?