I'm back!

I think I am back from this year's Plague at last. I wheeze and cough, but basically I'm human. Well, possibly human. And I'm still semi-employed. I was to be laid off, but I was rescued as "essential" and "irreplaceable" so I'm still working. A mere 24 hours a week though. Mutter mutter... must find new home.... mutter mutter.

I owe so many thanks and updates it's insane. So let me get to it--- in no order whatsoever so please don't feel shirked!!!!!!

Thank you to my dear friend Jody who sent me a lovely, cranberry-laced bday package--

Jody knows I have this huuuuge soft spot for cranberries so she sent me cranberry trail mix and a drum full of cranberry bath goodies. Yahoo! Bless you, Jody!!!!!

And, yes, it was my bday a couple weeks ago, but I was too sick and too busy to contemplate it. More on that later.

Thank you to Amy for her wonderful bday surprise:

Patterns and goodies galore! I am such a lucky ole so and so. And check out that sheep's face--

Isn't he a cutie? Thank you Amy for such a wonderful bundle of goodness. I've already used some of the floss which is absolutely lovely!

And thanks and blessings to Sally for the total happiness of her PIF's arrival. There it was on my chair in the midst of piles and piles of work and notes about how I wasn't really laid off even though I was going to be getting letters at home indicating I had been. Sigh..... anyway, there was this package on my chair and it made me sooooo happy:

Isn't it lovely? Oh how I wish I were sitting under a tree with a good book.... about a dragon too! Thanks so much, Sally!

As for what I've been up to besides looking for a better place to work, I have been stitching on stuff I can't show you, but let's see what I can show you. I have to admit up front that I haven't been stitching as much as you would think what with all the time I spent in bed. Most of my 6 weeks of the plague I spent either barely vertical at work doing things that "simply had to get done" or in bed. And when I did stay out of the office pretty much the most energetic thing I did was change the channel. lol Honest. Oh, ok there was this one week, but we'll have to come back to that another time.

I can show a shot of the F&S Easter Round squares I sent to Gillie:


She said she liked band samplers and bright colors so I did my own little take on Easter egg dying with a bunch of Belle Soies, Silk n Colors, and Ole Willows. It was really a lot of fun. One day I have to do a big ole band sampler for myself.

Gillie sent me such pretty squares that she designed herself, but lame ole me still has the pictures in the camera. Sigh. Cross your fingers my brain works tomorrow.

Early in march I got started on my neighborhood

I'm doing the CCN garden cottages over one in their Crescent Colors on Wichelt's overdyed jobelan "watercress." So far so fun, but then again I haven't worked on it in 3-4 weeks.

I've made progress on my Taking the 5th needlepoint

Actually, as of right now all the green, white, and grey bits are in and I've begun the black parts of the labels and caps. The black, white, and grey are in Neon Rays which I enjoy working with most of the time, but on this piece I have to be extra careful that it lays nice and flat so it covers. It slows me down a bit, but I like the sheen.

I even made progress on my shawl dancer:

You can see better from the back (any other needlepointers find it annoying that you can judge your progress better from the back than the front?)


My poor ole snowman has been languishing for quite some time.

Maybe he should be my plane project.... did I mention I was going to Arizona on Wednesday? lol I'll get back to that too.
For the record, Chris, he's done in Silk and Ivory, which is the thickness of traditional yarn rather than floss. I'm kinda wishing now I'd done him in floss on a smaller linen, but c'est la.

And I have even progressed on my Beatrix Potter Quaker--

And, once again, there is a more recent pic of this on my camera where the entire cream wreath is in. I have been pleasantly surprised that I have really enjoyed the tone-on-tone stitching. I thought it would drive me nuts, but it hasn't thusfar.

Let's see, getting back to Arizona. The Inaugural Meeting of the Grand Canyon Girls Club is taking place later this week/weekend. The GCGC consists of Michele, Chris, Karen, Sharon, and me. We're coalescing around Karen's neighborhood, heading off to a family cabin, and even visiting the Grand Canyon (hence the group name). They'll be stash shopping (we're visiting Bette at her shop, general frivolity, festive eating, and probably excessive alcohol. Oh and I promise lots and lots and lots of pictures.

As for trip planning I've really been out of the loop, but last Thursday I did my pre-pack. Silly me -- a week before I go and I have bags on the floor with t-shirts, sweaters, makeup, and stash. So far I estimate that 12 projects have been tossed into the pre-pack collection. Who am I kidding??? This is not like going round the corner to my house sitting resort. This involves a plane for Heaven's sake! I will whittle that pile down. I know I want to take either the Vierlanden or the Beatrix Potter, and I want to take the RAKs so I can get them all done and bring back a pile of finishing (we all know how good I am at that!). lol Besides that I remember putting 4 Heritage Collection floral pieces in the bag (let's see there were fuscias, daffodils, roses, and orange blossoms I think). The snowman got tossed in that direction yesterday. Last night I think a few Christmas ornies went in the bag. Today I'm thinking that the Black Swan dragon should come along. Stop me before I pack the entire hovel!!!!

Ok, gotta get stuff done. Cross your fingers for a last minute update tomorrow. And thanks to you all for your healthy wishes and good thoughts. I'm sure that's why I'm not STILL in bed.