Smugly proud and eager

Dearest Gentle Reader -- A happy Monday to you and yours.  (Why, yes, I'm hanging on to my perky with both hands this morning.  How could you tell?)  After an utter slugfest of a weekend I am proud to show some actual accomplishments off for my time.  It feels like I get so little done-- do you get that too?   You know you were doing things all weened/evening and yet for the life of you it seems unclear what they were when you look around or try and explain to the officemates on Monday morning.  Or even more vexing to me is the periods spent doing absolutely nothing when I could have been doing something (ie. stitching and reading.... ok, ok.  Maybe even *gasp* cleaning.).

Anyway, today I can show true progress.

First off my Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fundraising piece is done -- complete now with Swarski crystal flowers -- which I must say really did finish it off nicely.  It was supposed to look like the pic on the left and I thing it made it.

And, as if that isn't glory enough, Ethel's festival-going ladies are all now fully clothed (assuming hats don't count)

And now for the Eager Alert (aka-- the Uh-Oh-She's-Getting-In-Trouble-Again Alert).  I singed for Pull the Other Thread's Mega Mini Month Maddess.  Do one small piece each week for October.   Now normal people should be able to do this.  "Normal" being the key word.  I need to acknowledge that my stitching moods are not normal, and therefore it is highly unlikely I will stay on task for this as well as keep up everything else I need to get done.  But what the heck, it sounds like fun.

The first order of business is of course selecting my alleged 5 minis.  First I thought of my lingering friends, LK's Flip-Its.  They've been waiting for me to finish them for years.  I pulled these 5 out as the top of the pile to get done:

Then I started thinking (always a sure sign that trouble is about to befall us) about all those cute little Christmas patterns languishing around Chez Hovel, and a few post-its later these popped to the fore:

You have to admit he's a lovely goose.

 And those 4 houses are certainly mini and downright darling.

And what about this scamp one over one?

I've always thought this jay looked particularly fetching.

 Who can resist a snowy lighthouse?

Christmas bells always make me smile.

I can see some color adjusting making this winter scene simply perfect for me.

And, well, he's just cool.

So there we have it -- my 15 possibilities for the Mega Mini adventure.  Yup, insane as charged.   Anyone else want to join the insanity?  Aww, come on.  It'll be fun.

Good and Bad and Fridays

Hello world --- And a happy Friday unto you and yours.  Today I'm going to be accomplishful dang it  --- even if it kills someone.  Probably not me, probably today will be most likely fatal for a member of the corporate IT staff.  Don't worry, it will be justifiable.

In the happy world, here is my nearly done piece.  She needs some flowers (mostly likely will be floral sequins) to be completely done.   Oh happy days!   The sun rays are, for the record, alternating strings of beads -- yellow, orange, and red.

I was awash in near-done happiness so I unearthed my old Prairie Moon friend and got a little more lake put in and started a new building:

Then I felt the urge for something really new --- stop me before complete idiocy sets in!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm sorry;  I couldn't stop myself.  It was like an alien took over my body.--- yeah, that's it.  It wasn't me, officer, it was that alien who started yet another needle project despite there being dozens of languishing ones in the vicinity.

And I fear the insanity will continue.....    I kitted this up:

 Sigh.   It will never stop will it?   Is there a class on controlling my startitis I can take to help?


Oh, but check out this guilt-free bit of happiness--   My buddy Jenn (who I should by rights be annoyed with because after all this whole needlepoint distraction if entirely her fault!!!!!) brought this  lovely magnet back for me from ANG.  It really is cool and I'm very lucky she tolerates my fussing at her for the needlepoint addiction.

Oh Lord -- you don't think I'll get addicted to magnets now do you?  Argh

Ok, I'm going to sally forth and conquer my desk.  The first idiot that wanders p with another plan for my day is toast!  Have a great Friday and a fabulous weekend!

Isn't that always the way?

Surely this is a thing all of us share.   You're nearing the finishing line-- you can taste the sweetness of completing a project and getting it out of the UFO/WIP pile --- and what happens?  You run out of thread. [and the swearing commences.....]

This weekend I was pet sitting and I got to here (below) on my Leukemia and Lymphoma fundraising piece (the right to have a custom ornament was auctioned off at a corporate fundraiser and the woman that won wanted me to do a cube commemorating both her daughter's art and her new home):

and I'm out of Flair (the skinny, zig-zag, veritcal-ish rows).  I had another card with me and ready, but seriously?  Twenty-five stitches from the end I need to start a fresh card?  Sure.   lol

On other fronts--  check out the cool needle minder my shop owner brought me from the Dallas Cash and Carry.  She's very blingy isn't she?  I'm calling her Katye after my great aunt Kayte who would certainly have worn this with pride on her "out to dinner" coat.

And, I want a round of applause for my latest finish.   Here are my "nature" inspired squares for our friend Sweet Pea in the FandS exchange--

They are modified from a pattern in Kooler's 555 Timeless Cross-Stitch Patterns and done in a combo of DMC and Belle Soie on a blue linen.  For the record, I know you are supposed to use neutrals for F&S, but I got Sweet Pea's permission to go blue.

Oh, since I mentioned the pet sitting gig I thought I'd share one of my charges unique approach to resting--

Honest and true this is his favored resting position regardless of locale -- hardwood floor, carpet, chair, doggy bed.  I have yet to understand how he can do this on the hardwood floor because he'll be sound asleep with all 4 feet in the air.  I don't get how he doesn't roll over and wake himself up.  Silly dog.

Ok, dear peeps,  I have to run... it's not that I don't love you.  It's that my desk looks like this:

Happy Stitching!