EGS – On Beads and Needles

Seasons Come, Seasons Go – an Update

So – The Walking Dead is over until October, and wow did it end with a bang! And Black Sails ended for the season, as well, and now we know how Long John Silver came by his wooden leg. But we knew it had to end, for now, so Outlander could come back – and it definitely did NOT disappoint! This was the other episode I was waiting on, to see how they pulled off the “fight” scene; well done, Ron Moore 🙂

Sorry, it's not thistle season yet, so - violet. — Sorry, it’s not thistle season yet, so – violet.

Okay, so now that I’ve got that out of the way, let’s get on with the stitching bits…. I did it, I finished the Fountain scene in EGS! This has been a long time coming – every TW green and purple is in this bit, and about 5 kilometers of backstitching in 5 different colors – and I didn’t even put a single bead on yet! Here’s the overall (I even added a bit to the right-hand border, which will be the focus the next time it comes out):

TW's English Garden Sampler on 28ct evenweave, using DMC & Kreinik. — TW’s English Garden Sampler on 28ct evenweave, using DMC & Kreinik.

And then, a detail of the peacock, who would really like the beads added to his tail:

EGS_4-6-15_peacock

I also managed to get in some progress on Beautiful Life, with one IHOP night and then the March PINS get together. This actually goes pretty quickly, though there’s a lot of bs to get around each note:

Stoney Creek's Beautiful Life, on 32ct jobelan, using DMC & GlissonGloss silks. — Stoney Creek’s Beautiful Life, on 32ct jobelan, using DMC & GlissonGloss silks.

And, since it’s been 2 weeks, it’s time to get out the Project Randomizer, which was only slightly manipulated to give me:

ProjectRandomizer_pick3

That’s the stitching news for the last couple of weeks. But before I go, because there’s another season beginning this coming week, here’s this:

Happy Stitching!

The Calendar Says Spring – an Update

And in what is becoming typical spring weather, we’re all over the map – 70s and 40s for highs, 30 minutes of sun for every 12 hours of overcast & rain. We have multiple opportunities for thunderstorms this week; it’s going to be warm, so I assume no thunderSNOW in the forecast. All of the trees are in bloom, as are the forsythia – but I haven’t been outside with my camera, because it is always raining when I am home and awake. And as it is also pollen season, I will try to not whinge about the rain too much, as it’s about the only thing that makes April tolerable for Kid the Younger. So in lieu of new pictures, here’s one from last year:

In stitching news, I made my goal of finishing Part 6 of Tuscany, along with the bargello from Part 11; this thing is ginormous already, and I’ve only got it half done! But the next 4 parts – the buildings – will go pretty quick, compared to 4 & 5, and 11 & 12 🙂 Here is the overall – I won’t give you the detail shot, since it looks exactly like the last update’s detail 🙂

Tuscany Town Mandala on 28ct Waterlily jobelan. Through Part 6 of 12.

I also made good progress on my travel project, with 2 nights at IHOP and one hour-long conference call. Will I get it done before graduation (and by done, I mean framed, too)? Dunno. If not, I know where the band director can be found later…

Stoney Creek Beautiful life, on 32ct Ivory jobelan, using DMC & GlissonGloss silk. — Stoney Creek Beautiful Life, on 32ct Ivory jobelan, using DMC & GlissonGloss silk.

And since I finished Tuscany yesterday afternoon, I broke out Ye Olde Project Randomizer, and came up with this for my next rotation:

Project Randomizer says.... EGS! — Project Randomizer says…. EGS!

So I got it out & set up last night, and did a whole lot of 3363 – can you spot it?

TW's English Garden Sampler, on 28ct evenweave, using all charted threads. — TW’s English Garden Sampler, on 28ct evenweave, using all charted threads.

Granted, I didn’t get too far, since I was too busy watching THIS:

My Name is Rick Grimes... You Threatened my Family... Prepare to Die! — My Name is Rick Grimes… You Threatened my Family… Prepare to Die!

That’s the news! Today, my Kid the Bigger is 22! Of course, he’s not here at the moment, but we may not let that prevent us breaking out the ice cream cake later 🙂 So, at some point tonight, I’ll sit down to EGS again, and hope to have the Fountain scene DONE when next you see it 🙂 Or damn close, anyway… Happy stitching to everyone!

Unproductivity – an Un-Update

Yep, it’s true – did even less stitching last week than the week before, though I blame it this time on the Kid’s head cold dragging me in and keeping me from it 🙁 Colds suck. But then, I got a flu shot on the 17th, so of course I had the Crud the following week. But while I am feeling better, the Kid still can’t kick it, so is going to the doctor; I expect he’s got a sinus infection now, which considering strep & mono are rampant in school this year, we can deal with a bit of a sinus infection 🙂 It hasn’t helped that the end of marching band season is INSANE, with the football team making the playoffs, so more games, and competitions eating up entire Saturdays, so the Kid only has one day to rest AND do his chores 🙂 I really don’t think we were this busy even during tourney season when we were playing soccer (except that we were ALL busy then, as opposed to only the Kid being gone all the time). I think we are all looking forward to down time over the upcoming holidays…

As for the little bit of stitching I managed (most of it Sunday), I had the sudden urge to break out the ol’ EGS, since it’s been AGES since it was worked on by anyone! And – I did a lot of backstitching that you just can’t see 🙂 I couldn’t see it right after I did it, but my thread was gone, so I know I put it in there somewhere! The greenery around column #2 has its charted bs in now – can you see it?

TW's English Garden Sampler, on 28ct evenweave, using DMC & Kreinik as charted. A zillion beads to come... — TW’s English Garden Sampler, on 28ct evenweave, using DMC & Kreinik as charted. A zillion beads to come…

That’s the big update for the week. I didn’t go to IHOP or to PINS last week, so no further progress on any travel project. I don’t think I’ll be at IHOP this week, either; it’s Halloween, but even though we don’t get any trick or treaters anymore, I think I probably need to just go home from work and continue to rest up and finish getting over this crap; I may change my mind by then, of course 🙂 And on Saturday, we are having another Flat Fold & Pinkeep finishing day; I don’t have anything that needs to be made into a flat fold, but I do have at least one thing that needs to be made a pinkeep, so I guess I need to get my stuff together, literally & figuratively 🙂 I have no idea what I’m taking to eat, either! Oh noes!! The tendonitis is still bothering me somewhat, so I am going to say it’s too much computer work, since I haven’t done enough stitching to aggravate anything – but, as computering is what pays the bills, I guess I have to just deal, huh? The new workspace is still not a good fit, so that’s not helping matters – it might be time to request an ergo keyboard – and lose my mind trying to get used to it… But hopefully next week, EGS will have a peacock in it – or, if I continue to avoid it, the greenery & last column 🙂 Until next week, Happy Stitching!

Him got cold out on the front porch, watching his dad rebuild the steps in the chilly morning air... — Him got cold out on the front porch, watching his dad rebuild the steps in the chilly morning air… Him needed a bwankie 🙂

Yes, we baby-talk with the dogs, especially this one…