First TUSAL of 2013

Well, I’m late.  I’m always late.  The start of this year has been somewhat hectic for me, so I’m quite behind on just about everything.  I’ve had a lot of teachers cancelling programs (which really hurts the pocketbook since I only get paid if I actually work, but there’s nothing to be done but wait things out!) and I’ve been adjusting and rearranging my booked dates all over the place.  I was supposed to work most of last week and almost every day this week and I was reduced to just working a half day yesterday.  On the upside, one school that cancelled for last week has rebooked for March.  I’m hoping this trend continues. 

In stitching news – here’s the ORT jar, after I dumped out last years ORTs:

Pretty sad, isn’t it?  Well, despite having an extra long Christmas vacation from work, I didn’t really have much stitching time.  Before Christmas I was completely occupied with my annual bake-a-thon and then once Christmas was over, I managed to get pretty darned sick and felt cruddy for the better part of a week.  I’m on the mend now although I’ve got a lingering cough that rears its head when I talk too much.  So my family is enjoying the peace and quiet! 

Don’t know what the TUSAL is or why I’m taking pictures of my ORTs?  Well, you can read all about it over at Daffycat’s blog.  Sign up if you haven’t already!

So, why is the jar looking so red?  Well, I picked up another piece from the CreativFestival and got to work:



This is called Canvaswork Dragon and it’s a hand-drawn canvas from Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams.  This class was challenging since each stitcher had to pull their own colour palette for their dragon.  I’ve gone with red and am really enjoying stitching it.  I’ve hit a bit of a wall with the interior of my dragon’s wing, which is why there are three different fibres in it right now.  I’m auditioning fibres.  I’ve decided I don’t like the red and I don’t think the two copper fibres I pulled from my stash are working either.  So, it’ll mean that it’s time for another stash dive.  I’d love to find something pearly.  I think.  Stay tuned!

I did have another little finish over the holidays:

Another CreativFestival class from Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams.  This is called Sparkle Needlecase.  I will eventually make it into a needlecase and hopefully it won’t take me as long as the last couple of needlecases took me.  I think one took me almost 4 years before I turned it into a needlecase.  Keep watching in case I finish it before next month’s TUSAL.  Won’t that be miraculous?

I also picked up an old WIP that I hadn’t touched recently.  I don’t know why I keep putting this piece down.  I like it a lot, but for some reason I keep putting it down for months at a time.  Legends of the Dragons:

When I last picked up this piece I had about half the border stitched around the middle block.  I finished most of the border around the block and have started stitching the adorable, chubby blue dragon.  I’m hoping I’ll keep moving on this piece.  It is really beautiful.

You know how some days you just struggle to get things done?  I have that problem regularly.  I realized the biggest contributing factor to my problem is this:



Her name is MoJo and I think she’s trying to tell me to get off the computer.