A Finish and TUSAL

 I finally finished Butterfly Fairy Day   I started this on on 11/13/09 and finished it up Friday night 9/14/12.  This was my first time stitching a large project on evenweave. I did get off a stitch somewhere in the beginning but by the end of the project I was having no problem stitching on this fabric. I have the fabric for the companion piece - Butterfly Fairy Night.  I am not sure I am going to add it to my rotation right away.  I might wait awhile and see if any of my other projects jump ahead of it.

 It is time for TUSAL again.  Here are my orts.  Most of the new threads are from backstitching Butterfly Fairy Day and Autumn Angel which is also in the home stretch.

I have moved on to the next project in my rotation - In the Garden.  But just couldn't get into it last night.  Hope to have more stitchy motivation today.

Weather was perfect yesterday.  I had a cookout at my Dad's house for my family.  A good time was had by all.  This week I will spend two days with my sister hiking at Turkey Run State Park, our annual trip together.  So I need to spend some extra time at work getting things done.  Hoping the beautiful weather will last.

 I worked on Autumn Angel by Joan Elliott for 2 weeks.  The first week I didn't get much done so I decided to keep it out for another week.  There is alot of backstitching which I am about halfway done with.  There is also 400 beads that need attached.  I have never put that many beads on one project.  I like the look of her without the beads and I am tempted to leave them off.

A few weeks ago one of the agents I work with sent me these beautiful flowers.  The tall green flowers on the sides really smelled good.  I googled them and they are Hills of Irish (hope I got that right).

Wedding planning is still going on.  We need to meet with the bakery about a cake and set an appointment with the decorator for the reception hall.  Still searching for a photographer.  Time is just flying by and I am starting to feel the pressure of not enough time to get it all done.  My wedding was very small and simple (and cheap).  My mom handled all of the details as she enjoyed that type of thing.  Wish she were still here as I would turn this over to her.  I think I got behind with the wedding planning as I was working thru my divorce.  Now that it is final I can turn all of my energy to the wedding plans.  It was kinda hard at times meeting with the divorce attorney in the morning and then checking out reception halls in the afternoon.  I want my daughter to have her chance at happiness so I try not to let my opinions of marriage color my enthusiasm for her special day.

WIPocalypse

I only worked on 3 of my projects.  Not much was done on Amish Star as I had to rip it all out.  Little Fairies at Play saw some attention as did In The Garden.  I am hoping for a more productive month next time.

 Here is my progress on Little Fairies at Play.  I only got 300 stitches done this past week.  I just can't seem to find time to stitch.

And here is my most recent jigsaw puzzle that I completed.  Brand new out of the box and it is missing 2 pieces.  I don't know if they fell off the table when I was working it or if they were missing to start with.  I put my puzzles away for now and hope to do another one this winter.  When I finish the puzzles I put them back in the box.  I have found 3 old puzzles when I was cleaning the house and have added them to the do do stack.  I shouldn't have to buy any new puzzles for a while.

My daughter is back home living with me.  She got a temporary job working where I work so we ride to work together.  School has started for my son and we are back on the school routine.

 Here are my orts.  All of the lovely greens and purples on top are from ripping out the counting mistake on Amish Star. 

My jar is getting fuller.  I keep tamping them down after each month's report.  I got absolutely no stitching done this past week. I started out cleaning, taking down the border paper and then repainting my son's room.  Here it is all finished.  The color he picked is called pumpkin and looks a little darker than this in person.

My daughter and her boyfriend moved back home on Monday.  So alot of the progress I made in emptying out the garage and house has been lost to their boxes of stuff.  The boyfriend's futon is in Andy's room.  The boyfriend is not sleeping here, just hanging out and eating with us.  They are getting married in January so I will need to get another futon or bed for Andy when they move into their own place.  They both start jobs on Monday.  My daughter is working with me for a two month assignment.

I hope to stitch on Little Fairies at Play this week.  I need to make some progress on this one.

 This week I was working on Amish Star.  I stitched on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  Then on Wednesday I noticed that the whole thing was off a stitch!  There was no way to fudge it as the entire design would have been off center. So I spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday ripping it out.  That left me with this sad square.  I have put it away until the next time it comes up in my rotation.

 So Saturday I decided it was time to fix up DS's room.  It has this lovely disney baby border paper (which still looks good) but a 16 yr old is not enamored with it.  So I have bought the supplies to strip it off.  I have never removed wall paper before and I am hoping it goes fast as I also bought the paint to paint the room.  Ideally I would like to be done by the end of Sunday.  Saturday was spent cleaning junk out, moving stuff around.  I also mowed the lawn, took care of my dad and went grocery shopping.  So after church today I hope to get started.  It is a small room so how long could it take?

Hopefully next week I will have finished pictures to show.  Please remember I let my 16 yr old son pick out the paint color.  I was quite surprised by his choice.

I worked on In the Garden this week while watching the Olympics.  I really enjoy stitching on this one.

We had thunderstorms go thru yesterday evening and last night.  It has cooled things down a little as it is only supposed to get to 88 today.  Sad when we think 88 is cool.  This afternoon my sister is coming over to walk.  We will walk 8 miles round trip - from my house, along the river greenway and to Moss Park and back to my house.  Next weekend my sister is doing a 3 day 60 mile walk for cancer and we have been taking these longs walks to prepare her for her big walk in Chicago.

I registered my son for school on Friday and we went and bought some new school clothes.  School will start 8/20 and he is thrilled (not).  It will be hard for me getting up again at 6 am to prod him out of bed and onto the school bus by 6:40 am.  I enjoy the luxury I have now of taking my time in the morning to get ready for work.