No Project Loyalty Around Here

When I had time to stitch this week, I could not settle on any one project. Let me start with Beautie Spot and its wrinkles. This is a solid three years of wrinkles that we are all going to have to live with until the end. Margie wanted to see the whole picture and the one below is the progress I made on my current motif. I finished most of the stitching below the two smaller leaves last night. I am going to try to finish this motif over the weekend and start a March Motif. Several readers have said they have this or the sister piece hanging around in the WIP pile. If you want to set a goal to finish a March Motif with me, we could encourage each other along the way. (Goals for other pieces are welcome too.) I think I have five designs left to finish.

I got the top orange stripe done this week. I am not sure I did the corners correctly but I am not picking this out. It took a long time to put in. The stitch is a six trip herringbone. I think I have five more lines in this project. The same designer as Mayan Lightning will be teaching a new project at our March 12th Guild meeting so it would be nice to have this one done before I start a new project.

Hogwash is coming along. I completed the grass on the right hand side and the tops of two trees. I just love doing these knot projects.

The weekend is almost here. We are hosting two dinner parties this weekend. One is for 10 of our close friends. He is serving a menu of Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Breakfast is asparagus with poached egg and pancetta, lunch is a chicken crepe and dinner is beef bourguignon. On Sunday we will have a smaller party with homemade ravioli in a cream sauce with peas that is so good. I am really going to have to start going to the gym again so I can show my arms and not my belly during charity event season this spring.

Have a very happy, stitchy weekend.

Soon to be released!!

Blogger is not cooperating with me and will not allow me to delete this picture so you get to see my backside...

Hello!! A friend of mine who just finished NAN training and designed Mayan Lightning was asked to write a chapter for a book. The book is Crafting by Concepts: Fiber Arts and Mathematics. You would never guess she is a Math professor. The cube is a diaper pattern and there were some pretty big math terms in the directions. My finishing is not the greatest because I misunderstood the directions which as a pilot stitcher this is part of the process. This cube and some others were stitched last summer and it is in some of the pictures in the book. This is the second math/craft book these ladies have written. The first book was so wildly successful that they were asked by the publisher to write a second book. Who would have guessed?!

I figured I would lose followers if I did not get off the slow progression of Beautie Spot. I finished this small ornament /necklace. I do not see myself wearing this. Orna Willis gave this to me because the first on I did was so short on thread she felt bad. I changed the colors in this one so it would look a little more like Christmas.

Finally, I want to show you my progress on the Pig. This Teresa Layman project has a ton of Colonial Knots which move much more swiftly than the French Knots. I finished the water, the tree trunks and started on the grass. The flowers will be fun so I am saving those for when I get tired of grass and sky.

Today is my birthday so we are going out to Moto tonight for dinner. This restaurant has been all over the Food Network, it was one stop Anthony Bourdain made on No Reservations when he was in Chicago, and they have their own show Future Food on Planet Green. We are having the ten course meal (opposed to your other choice of a 20 course meal) with the wine pairing tonight so it should be yummy! DH did not think he could take 4 hours in a restaurant to eat 20 courses. I figured that would come with 20 small glasses of wine and I would be drunk before dinner was over.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend with many hours of stitching and sunshine.

Not much stitching...Again!

Here is my progress on Beautie Spot. Boring! I worked on this three nights this week but don't have a lot to show for it.

Now on to non-stitching related things. They play we went to last weekend was o.k. Three of my friends did not make it to the show before the start so they did not get to go. Everyone knew the show started at 4:00 so they just ended up drinking in the bar. Sunday was the Super Bowl Party which was a lot of fun. DH made Buffalo macaroni and cheese with chicken and blue cheese that was to die for. This is not for anyone concerned about calories, cholesterol, heart disease, or high blood pressure because this stuff literally could kill you. Last night was dinner at Crust which is an organic pizza place and it was very good. They had very unique pizza toppings and last night was trivia night but we did not stay for all of that.

This weekend is going to be dreadful. I have a board retreat for the homeless shelter. These weekends are not so bad once you get there but awful to think about giving up a weekend to sit in a boardroom. At least this one is in town and we do not have to go to a hotel or worse, someones summer home with not enough bedrooms or bathrooms but that is another story. I have spent the last year trying to get off the board so I would not have to go to this thing. I am weak and they have talked me into staying on the board until June but at least an end date is in sight.

One of you lovely ladies in blog land mentioned that you enjoy having your Kindle read to you. I had tried this once before and was not all that impressed. I tried it again last week and loved it. Kindle read to me A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin. It was a cute book that I really enjoyed. I also finished Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue. This book is not speech enabled so I had to read this one. The book was disturbing but I liked the book. This is our book club selection so at least that is out of the way.

That is about the extent of the excitement around here. Thanks for the nice comments and it has been great talking with some of my new blog friends! Hope everyone has a nice weekend with lots of stitching time.

Considering that I have not left the house since 3:00 pm on Tuesday, you would think I could have accomplished more on Beautie Spot. Sometimes wine after work beats out cross stitch...

The big news around here has been the weather. I won't talk about it much because most of you are living in the same dreadful situation. We have kept electricity so we are warm, safe and have plenty to eat so we cannot ask for much more.

This weekend will be a little more exciting. Some friends and I are going to a new brew pub that has a drinking and writing theater. They have a great quote on the wall: "Theater without beer is just a museum." Bertolt Brecht. This should be a fun way to spend part of the afternoon. Sunday is the Super Bowl so yet another football party. I think I am going to be happy when this season is over and I can have my stitching Sunday's back.

Super Bowl does mean some good stitching sales. I love sales but I am trying to use up things not add to them for now. Enjoy your weekend and may it include many hours of beautiful stitching.

BTW...Someone left me a note on the last post inquiring where they can get Mayan Lighting. Since I did not have the person email address, I left a comment on my last post with some more details about the project.