Finishing things is almost as cool as vacation

Hey there, look who's back already.  Must be vacation perkiness setting in.  That or having a finish to share.

This little guy who got started at the airport on the way here is now complete.  It's from Pickleberry and I did it in Anchor and Kreinik.  The little sheep needle minder is a fresh addition to my life.  I picked him up at In Stitches in Alexandria.   Maybe I will call him Alex though I don't think he looks much like an Alex.

 Aside from my stitching finish, I have also been making headway on a lovely box of custom chocolates that my ever so kind brother-in-law got for me from a chocolatier in Richmond.  I am doing my best to make sure that I don't go hog wild on them..... one every other day.  Yeah, that's the plan.

The reason I'm here on the East Coast "enjoying" the humidity is that I'm hanging with the BIL while my sister is in Peru on a marathon vacation -- part marathon, part vacation.   I wonder if there's an LNS there.   Here's her group kicking off their adventures in Cusco.

So while she's off enjoying Cusco Day (the day she arrived happened to be the city's annual celebration of itself) and getting ready for Inca adventures and trips to the Amazon, I'm adventuring about NoVa.  This morning found the BIL and I at the Alexandria farmers market --

I've got some time...... the squash above and bowls below may find a new home next weekend.....

And check out the yummy yarn!  That cream basket is cotton and it is so soft!

Produce from this morning's shopping is now happily marinating in the fridge......

After the market we headed to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for an inspirational brunch for Honored Team Mates in Team and Training.   My BIL is the Honored Team Mate for Team Tom which to date over the last 6-8 months raised $201,000!  GO TEAM !!!

In short, while my sister is off gallivanting in South America, I am "struggling" through life in Northern VA --

It's tough work, but someone's gotta do it, right?

*******************

To exercise my love of lists--

Vacation Stitching Wins:
Pickleberry snowflake heart

Vacation Reading Finishes:
Monica Ferris -- And Then You Dye
Franklin W. Dixon -- The Secret of the Caves
Victoria Hamilton -- A Deadly Grind

Next Stitching Targets:
LK Snippet -- Holly
Painted Pony -- Home of the Brave angel

At Bat in the Reading Realm:
Franklin W. Dixon -- The Missing Chums
Steve Perry -- The Man Who Never Missed

Nearing Summer with Dragging Feet

Somehow, though I have tons I could say, I can't work out what to say.  I have started this post a few times and only ended up deleting it when I stared at the blank screen without a clue as to what to say.
I've decided to go with "say something" just to get yourself going as a strategy.

I trolled pictures and came up with an embarrassment of missing things.  This little dolphin came back to me from the finisher looking very adorable.  He's mine -- all mine! He commemorates my childhood trips with mom to Sea World.  One time I got a stuffed dolphin which I remember to this day because the grey fur on the sides was sewed on so you could only pet it "properly" from the tail to the nose.  I don't know how old I was at the time, but my mom was an amazing seamstress and I knew all about nap.  I remember telling my mom that they should only let people sew these toys together if they knew about how to construct them properly.  :)

This half-done Santa is actually done now and off to the finisher.  He was fun even though I struggled with the background.  I had selected a soft yellow ThreadWorx, but everyone but me thought it was awful.  It took a couple weeks of searching the shop to find a thread that worked--- *every* blue in the world clashes with that teal hat.  I couldn't go white because of the wings.  Light purples looked hideous.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when the color that worked was pink.  Pink?  How did that happen?  The pink quandary is somewhat balanced in my memory by how much fun I had experimenting with the beard.

This little guy is done too.  Nope, I could have sworn I had a finished pick of this too, but Heaven knows where that is.  Possibly it went holidaying with the finished Santa pic of the canvas above.

I recently became obsessed with this piece.  It's for my sister, but no surprise since I sent her a picture of the canvas to see if it made her smile instantly as it did for me.  It did so it will be hers.  It's going to be a tray.  I will do the background in wine Silk and Ivory.

I'm fond of both the grey-gold Crystal whatsitsface I did the glass outlines in and the Kreinik copper metallic for the words.

And now phase two... this is my current obsession -- I pulled him to travel with.  It kept me good company at the airports and on the planes over the weekend.  I got to spend extra unplanned time enjoying Texas hospitality because of the extreme weather that settled over Dallas as my plane was trying to go through.  It's not like I could do anything about the delays so I stitched and did what I could with my impromptu overnight in Dallas.

Before this trip east, my Dove candy had a message for me.  LOL   I shared its thoughts with my dear buddy, Anita, who said I shouldn't ignore important guidance like this.  She tried her hardest to convince me to ignore packing the day before my flight and go book shopping with her instead because obviously I needed more books.

Silly Anita -- I already had these packed... and a Kindle.... and 26 audio books checked out from my local library on my laptop.

When I finally arrived in DC, my brother-in-law had a collection of packages waiting for me--  

I think I'm set for reading material for now.  [And, for the record, I believe I'm set for stitching too -- I brought 3 new, small cnavases; 1 small canvas to finish; by giant flag cross stitch; and 3 xs ornies.  And you know what, when I was picking up the magnifier, I almost bought two patterns.....  I think I have a stash problem.  LOL]

So far on this trip the BIL and I have had one adventure (my sister is off gallivanting in exotic locales so us domestic sorts are staying here at home) -- we were passing George Washington's mill and distillery (on the way to an LNS to get me a small clamp magnifier) and we swung in because neither of us had ever toured the place.  It was wonderful fun and a beautiful day.

Thanks for being patient with me........ Maybe this will help me start getting in gear with writing again.

Apparently Christmas Is Coming......

... whether or not I am ready.   I can tell this because finished goodies that had deadlines for my finishers so that there was time to pack them for Christmas traveling have started to arrive.

Remember this guy?   I'm pretty happy with how he came out.   I gave my finisher free rein on fabric, cording, and feet with the only guidance being "not too fussy or blingy."  I think she did an awesome job.

I love the copper ball feet and the suede -- I would never have thought of that tan suede on my own.

Mind you, I have a problem now-- exactly how am I going to safely transport this across the country?  It's a personal failing I know, but I am never successful at bow fluffing.   Oh well-- I'm a big girl;  I guess I will just have to cowboy up on this one and work it out.   If you see me on a plane clutching a box to my chest as if the Ark of the Covenant was in it, you'll understand.

And this little darling came back.  I am embarrassed to admit I forgot I didn't already have this.  LOL   I would probably have forgotten all about it if left to my own devices.  The red is Very Velvet, the white is Snow, the cording Patina.  The finisher used raw silk for the sides and back and you can barely see the rhinestones she studded the sides with.

While I totally love how this came out I fear it is going to cause me a problem.  You see I am pretty certain once my sister sees it in person she's going to want one too.  I hope the finisher got extra rhinestones.

The arrival of these finishes got my brain kicked into gear thinking about packing for my Christmas adventures.  This has caused another problem for me.  You see, I am lately obsessed with reading-- totally and completely obsessed.  Partly this is because I've run into some wonderful book series  in the last few months, but it is also fueled by the fact that I'm within something like 900 pages of topping what Goodreads said was my total number of pages read last year.  You know being that close just makes me itch for that extra page.  LOL  I know-- it is nuts.  Why should I care how many pages I read.   But I just can't help myself-- if Goodreads is going to give me that metric I feel compelled to look at it, and *thwap* I get hit in the face with a new compulsion.   Possibly I need a 12-step program for reading obsessions... no wait, I like me as a compulsive reader!  I'm pretty certain it is cheaper to be addicted to books than drugs.

Anyway, all that is to say that I started making a pile of books to pack.  I knew I was in trouble when the pile looked like this:

With serious consideration I got it down to this:

Do I except the reading-to-pack pile to stay this circumspect?  Nope.  Sorry, I know me.

I leave you with a little urban, Christmas spirit--   I love it when a city glitters!

I will say the laugh of the district is why does the fountain say "10880" when that is not the address.  Sure it is actually a "decorative" pile of tree ornies, but why make them look like a street address?  Possibly it's God's way of giving me something to chuckle about?