TUSAL

Good grief, are things getting busy around here! I had a wonderful shower last weekend, and we're heading out for another round of celebration this afternoon. This time, it's a mani/pedi party!

My March TUSAL update is ready, but it looks like I accidentally focused on the bricks instead of the jar. Whoops. I'd redo the photo, but it's raining here. This will be the last update with that brick background. By the time the next update rolls around, I'll be living in my new home with my new name. Actually, I won't even be around for the next update. I may try preloading the update, or I may just have to skip April's update. We'll see. Anyway, here it is:

The newest threads at the top of the jar come from a piece I've been working on this week that arrived in the mail with this lot:

I cracked that BBD Limited Edition box open immediately and set to stitching on it. It suited my springy mood. It's now completely finished except for the button. The holes in the button are so narrow that I need a beading needle to attach it, and I've packed all my beading needles! Fortunately, Mom is supposed to be bringing me a needle so that I can finish the piece later this afternoon. I'll post a photo of my finished stitching with my next post.

I want to thank those of you who shared suggestions for dealing with my worries about running out of thread. I especially loved the idea of blending one length from each skein in order to keep the differences between dye lots from being so noticeable. Unfortunately, I am stitching with one thread. Fortunately, I did have enough to finish the grass. But then I packed the sampler without taking a photo of my progress. Whoops.

I am back to work on my Gyrafa sampler, but I haven't done enough on it to merit a progress photo. Til next time, I hope everyone stays safe from all this crazy weather, and that you have a frog-free week!

As boring as watching grass grow

I know the real phrase actually talks about watching paint dry, but I'm struggling through a massive amount of green grass on my Soleil project. It just goes on and on and on. It's pretty, but not all that interesting to me. The only drama is whether I can make it all the way through that lawn without running out of silk. The chart didn't say I would need more than one skein, but I strongly suspect that I will. Which wouldn't be a big deal if this weren't an overdyed silk. I know I have another piece of a skein in my stash, but I don't know how similar the dye lot will be. And I'm not gonna look til I have to. So here's what I've accomplished since last week's post:

I've also finished all of the darker green in the border. My sides met, although there are two stitching errors. They were so far behind me by the time I realized it that I'm not going to frog back to them. I don't think they will be too obvious. I hope it's not too obvious.

On Saturday, several of my family members, stitching friends, and childhood friends gathered at my mom's house for my first wedding shower. It was so wonderful to get to spend a little time with those who could make it, and I think everyone had a blast. I know I did. I don't have any photos at this point to share, but I will say this: the shower had a Hawaiian theme. My dear, sweet sister tricked me into eating a Spam sandwich (Spam is very popular in Hawaii), and they spiked my tiki drink without telling me. Then they put me in a grass skirt, etc, etc. It was silly, but fun. My mom, sister, and sister in law really knocked it out of the park. And I made them each a little something to thank them for taking the time to celebrate with me:

Each piece is finished with some vintage lace and some Blueberry Crumbcake fabric. Here's the view from the back:

In other news, I am truly having a great time watching the yard at my future home bloom and grow. Alton and I had planted some daffodils and crocus under one of the Bradford pears in the front yard. And hooray, they came up! I have never tried to plant crocuses before, so I was glad those weren't a total bust. And I love daffodils. I planted some at my childhood home, and that first planting is still going mad at the house, all these years later. I'm hoping that these newly planted daffodils will also divide and multiply in the years to come.


I have never had much success growing pansies in pots. Which is ridiculous, because they are supposed to be a super easy plant. I won a yellow pansy at a stitching event last fall. I am pleased (and a little surprised) to see that it is still going strong.


The previous owner must have also been quite fond of flowers. There are a few daffodils blooming that I did not plant, as well as a handful of hyacinth.

I think there are tulips growing in several spots in the yard. The Bradfords are working their way into a full bloom as well.

Gus the cat was able to spend a little time outside on Sunday. I think he was a little jealous earlier in the day when he was stuck inside looking out:

I am on the road to recovery from my throat/cough thingy. Hooray! Now it's on to a busy week of work, and hopefully a good little bit of stitching. Til next time, I hope everyone has lots of creative time on their hands.

March WIPocalypse update and a BAP update too

Where does the time go? This has been a busy month, trying to close things out at work, packing, and planning. And for the past week or so, there hasn't been a ton of time for stitching. I imagine things are going to get even busier for the next month, and then things will hopefully slow down some.

On to my stitching: I had to set aside my BAP Challenge piece about a week and a half ago to work on some gifts, and here's what it looks like so far:


You can finally see where the giraffe's legs are! Hooray, the big blobs of color look like a bit of something. I hope to put in another week's stitching later this month.

I also worked on two WIPs. This first one is a Halloween ornament that I did the actual stitching for last year. I didn't completely finish it, but I did do the outlining of the pillow, cut it free from the larger piece of linen, and cut the backing fabric out as well.

Finally, I picked up Sous le Soleil de la Lune by Reflets de Soie. I bought and started this sampler after seeing progress photos on another blogger's posts. It was just so beautiful that I had to have it for myself. And I am loving all these gorgeous overdye Gloriana silks it is stitched with! Here's what it looked like when I set it aside sometime last year:

And here's where I'm at as of yesterday morning:

I added some more to the green border and worked on the yard and houses. I know these photos aren't very exciting, maybe next month will be better. Maybe.

I'll be posting photos of the gifts that I'm working on after this weekend's shower. Then you can see what I've spent more of my stitching time on! My goals for this month are to put in a week or so on my giraffe sampler, maybe another 2 weeks on Soleil, and to finish at least one pillow (maybe the Halloween one, or maybe one that's non-seasonal).

That's it for today. I hope this post was mostly coherent. I've caught some nasty little bug and I'm feeling a little loopy. And I'm in the process of losing my voice. Hopefully, this won't completely ruin this weekend's shower for me. And maybe this will be my one time to be sick this spring and that I won't be sick next month for my wedding and honeymoon. Til next time, I hope everyone has lots of time to be creative!