It’s been a while! Summer has come and gone, finally – we weren’t sure it was going to leave this year, as it was near 100 into the first week of October, and almost no rain since July. But Fall is definitely here – we got into the 40s the last few nights, making for some chilly mornings, and making sure the furnace works, too early. Trees have been dropping leaves, though more because they are cooked & dry.
DH has been working the last couple of weeks adding about 500 square feet of new deck out back, which we’ve wanted to do for years, so we can actually enjoy our back yard without 1) sliding down the hill, 2) twisting ankles on the acorns and rocks, and 3) getting stuck at the bottom and too tired to get back up. Now we can really sit out in our tree house 🙂
I think when I last updated, I was either just getting Tuscany Town Mandala out, or had worked on it just a bit. I got 2 corners of Neverending Trees done – will probably split the last two up unless I am reallllyyyy motivated – and got Piazza del Campo & Sienna Cathedral, the right side, done. It’s big enough now that I can’t get a very good picture of it:
After I put this up, I got Winter Watergarden out for a turn, and put Part 2 in – I wish these photos could show it off better, the fabric and the subtle color changes in the threads are so much prettier in person:
After that, I decided to work on a gift for my great niece, who loves all things pink – Nor’a mermaid Cara Mia. I raided my friend Jackie’s stash for the perfect piece of fabric, a 28ct opal lugana from Under the Sea, Caribbean Tides. I used all called for fibers & beads – despite all the pink (so much pink!), I think she turned out great!
I don’t have pictures of either of my travel bag projects – a By The Bay piece, Meadow Hills, and also the 3rd of 4 of the Foursome Reel by Long Dog. I only started the LD because Julia has been releasing charts I want too fast for me to keep up with, so while I waited for Templar Prophecy to get to me, I was compelled to start Life After Death, though I had to go back & forth w/Silkweaver (Needleworker’s Delight) to get the right color fabric for my purple Silks4U silk – ended up w/36ct Silvery Moon:
And then, because apparently I’m a glutton for punishment, I started yet another Nora, Snow Queen. I saw this one done on FB, or I likely would never have paid any attention. Of course, that’s how half of my Chatelaines came into my possession, too, so… I have her on 28ct jobelan in Changeling from Stephanie, and so far, have an entire skein of white in her, along with several other colors, including two Carons:
After I put her away last week, I really wanted to work on something Halloween – hard to believe, I know 🙂 Remember Primitive Needle, the designer who was swept away in a flash flood several years ago? I loved her work and miss her designs, but fortunately, I have a couple. I broke out a little kit, Halloween Garden, which came with 35ct WDW fabric (Tin Roof maybe? I forget, I don’t have it handy now), and kitted it up with a variety of fibers – some of the called-for WDW, some old HDF, DD, and a Caron leftover. A nice 6-day project 🙂
And lastly, another Primitive Needle that has yelled at me pretty steadily for years – Wicked Alphabet. I pulled this piece of 36ct Thunderstorm fabric as soon as I got the chart, but it took a couple of tries to find the right HDF silk – I tried BeGrimed, but it wasn’t dark enough, and then I found Rubbed Black – perfect! The design is charted for multiple colors, but I’m doing it in one, except the with will probably have a couple of additional colors added (gotta have a green face, I think) when I get that far. I just started last night, so not much to see yet:
That’s the stitching news for the last few months! In health news, I am 4 days away from being done with my treatments, so hope to have a clean bill of health shortly, as soon as I get rid of all the nasty side effects from the capecitebine (Xeloda) that has been destroying my feet, among other things, the last 4 months. I would like to be able to walk normally again by Thanksgiving, when we should have one of the boys home. Added to work stress, this year just needs to be over. Next year will be making up for being on hold the last 15 months 🙂 Until next time, here are some visitors we’ve had this summer….
