Slow Sunday Stitching - June 28, 2026 AND 2026 Rotation #4 Slot #4 (Pictorial) Changeover

Quick life update - Alexis broke her foot again.  They had to put in screws and a plate this time!  Poor kid, she's back on crutches.   It almost makes me wish she'd stop doing gymnastics!

I've been working steadily on "Santa of the Forest" by Lavendar and Lace.  My goal is 110 stitches a day and I exceeded that number every day during this rotation!   I'm now at 14,635 stitches (approximately 42.17%) and put in 6,532 stitches this rotation.   It's close enough to the end of the month that this post can also be my month end check in photo for June.  I'll report on the total stitches for June and the first few days of July next week.

The bear is almost done - just his paws left.   I'm not sure where I'm going next.  I need to bring the cloak down and there's a checkered shirt sleeve showing where Santa's arm is supporting the bear cub in the crook of his elbow.  But there's also a little forest vignette just to the left of the bear's head inside the fold of the cloak that looks interesting.  Decisions, decisions - but bear paws first 😀.  

Here's where I was at the beginning of the rotation for comparison.  Quite a difference since I finished the beard, added some to the sleeves and finished the owl and most of the bear - it's been a productive six weeks!  Getting the bear (pretty much) done got me to 14 completed colors.

This also brings me to the end of Rotation #4.   Time to get out the vintage needlepoint and launch into Rotation #5.   I'm clicking through the projects are a pretty good pace.  It helps that I'm not doing any SAL projects currently, though I am tempted by several, especially a couple of patriotic pieces.

This coming week has a couple of extra bell rehearsals for the annual Fourth of July service at the Cathedral.  Always a lot of fun.  Linking up with the SSS crew (current week is here).

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 17, 2026 AND 2026 Rotation #3 Slot #4 (Pictorial) Changeover

Well, we made it through my grandson's sophomore year of high school!  His semester grades were decent - 3 As and 3 Bs (one a B+).   I'll take it.  The summer has started as of noon on Friday LOL.

Then Saturday, there was the third annual Toadstrangler 5K.  Both the grandkids ran it this year.  Carl's times were not great - his allergies are really acting up this spring (mine, too.)  But Alexis was on about the same pace as her cross-country track times from her junior high team.  She's trying to stay in training.  There's a bit of a rivalry going on there, and Alexis was crowing that she'd beat her big brother while said big brother complained that it shouldn't count since he had to walk while he was getting puffs from his asthma inhaler.  Which is fair.

So this week didn't see all that much stitching.  I did restart the rotation for Rotation #4 of 2026.  The needlepoint piece has come out, but first. a report on the pictorial.  My goal is to work on this for at least 110 stitches every day - sometimes I get in quite a bit more.  "Santa of the Forest" by Lavendar and Lace.  32 count two strands of DMC over two threads.  I put in 6,764 stitches during Rotation #3.  That brings me to a project total of 8,103 of approximately 34,700 stitches or 23.35%.   Didn't quite make it to my goal of 25%, but it's close.  I even finished 5 colors in the flesh tones of the face - and there are a couple more pinks / tans that just have one or two stitches in the animals.

Where the rotation started for comparison:

I am down to Row 90 in the beard and Row 100 on the shoulders.  Even though I started out using my typewriter method like I used on the dragon, this project has more 'swathes' of color, so the reds got ahead of the whites.  I'm continuing to put in a length of white each day, but I think I'll tackle the owl before I do too much more on the robes.   I'll need to roll the fabric upwards once I finish the beard, and I don't want the owl to get out of reach.  Besides, you can already see where the bear cub will be - his ears are the void area on the right side of Santa's beard, and I'd like to get one animal finished before I start on the next one.  I'll post a picture at the end of the month.  I'd like to have the beard fill-in done by then and a good chunk of the owl.

Linking up with the SSS crew (this week's roundup). 

Slow Sunday Stitching - December 21, 2025

 What a week!  My grandson made it through his finals.  Good grades unless he bombed his public speaking long form speech on the last day, but even if he gets a poor score, he will pass the class. (Speech was NOT his favorite class, and I can't blame him.  I hated it every time I had to take it - high school, college - both degrees - and a couple of rounds of professional development over the years!)  So now on to Christmas!  I can't believe we are only four days out. Where did December go?

Bells play today for the last Sunday in Advent and again on Christmas Eve at the early service.   One of the pieces has a very tricky syncopated section that I only get right about half the time.  I'm praying that the service is on the good side of those odds! 

Crafting has been a bit scant on the ground this week.  Two extra rehearsals in the run up to Christmas services and the end of the school term really cut into my free time.  But I did get the binding for the 80s quilt finished and all ready to go when it gets back from the long arm quilter.   And the design wall looks a bit different this week.

First of all, look at it all mounted on the wall and everything!  Thank you, JC and Carl for plaster anchors and levels and getting it squared away.  Second, you'll notice that all the 'parts of blocks' are now actual blocks except for the 3 inch finished squares.  I ended up with a total of 12 blocks to date.  

I've been thinking about how to approach this back.   The quilt is going to a long arm quilter, so I will need an extra 4 inches on each side of the top dimensions.   The top is 85 inches / 216 cm square.   So the backing will need to be a minimum of 93 inches / 236 cm square.   That's way bigger than my design wall, so I'm going to put it together by the quarter like a huge 4 patch.   

I'm going to set some guidelines for myself:

• No blocks in the outer six inches / 15 cm (so no blocks get chopped off and the binding is easy on the back).  
• Asymmetrical so it doesn't matter where the top lands relative to the back.  
• Bottom left corner - light neutral for name and date label (use that lone rosette to embellish).   
• Use up the bright rose fabrics and the intense plaid first for large sections of backing.
• I'm going to try not to worry or overthink too much about the layout.  As Karen Brown says in the tutorial I am using, the only two rules are 'big enough for the quilter' and 'must lay flat'. 

I'm hoping that the back goes together quickly so I can get an appointment with the long arm quilter that I used before.   But I'm not going to make that appointment until I get the back finished and ready to go.  I don't need the stress of an actual deadline on this thing!  Besides, this one will probably hibernate for a couple of weeks until after the holidays now.  The sewing table needs to be clear for gift wrapping and holiday crafting.  This is better than the old house, where the dining room table had to suffice for all of the above plus dinner!

Linking up with the SSS crew (this week's roundup).

Slow Sunday Stitching - December 14, 2025 AND starting the pieced back for the 80s quilt

It's been a busy week; this coming week is finals for my homeschooled grandson and then winter break starts Friday.   End of term assignments - ugh.  I thought I was done with those twenty plus years ago when my son finished school!  I am keeping up with the last month of the Daily Temperature Log as we bounce back and forth between an extended Autumn and full-on Winter!   We had our first snow, though it didn't stick around for long.  Then Tuesday, it got up to 62 degrees F / 16.6 C.   

I'm also keeping up with the 100 stitches per day on the Mead Dragon, but the rest of the crafting time this last week went into quilting.   I'm still working on "It was the 80s" (pictures of the finished top here).  The plan was always to do an improv style pieced back for this one to use up all of the blocks from the original sampler quilt.   

So, using the tutorial on making an "After-Quilt" from Karen Brown "Just Get It Done Quilts" (link to her YouTube channel), I laid out the remaining materials and took inventory.  I started with identifiable blocks and components of blocks.

There are eight large blocks (finished size is 12 inches) remaining from the original top, some mini 9-patch blocks (3 inch finished size) and four patches / pinwheels (finished size 5.5 inches).  Plus there's an extra strip of 2.5 squares (2 inches finished) and the chunk I cut off the side of a 12-inch crumb block to replace an area of unassuming plain squares in the original "Solstice" layout from Pat Slone.   When I made the EPP section of the top, I made an extra rosette (and a random extra background hexi for some reason).

design wall is just tacked up, my son needs to mount the frame

As far as materials I can use for the backing, this is the remaining yardage; size is from a full yard WOF down to a scant fat eighth.   I really want all of the bright rose and pink out of the stash, so using all of that up is a priority.   So the plaid and everything in front of it needs used first.

There were lots of extra strips cut for this quilt and there's a stack of all of the mitered sashing from the original quilt, so I divided that up into three piles - strips 3 inches and up, strips approximately 2.5 inches, strips approximately 1.5 inches.   There's a small stack of squares ranging from 2.5 to 4 inches and a couple stacks of half square triangles (mostly the offcuts from the miters on the original sashing and not all the same size!)

And finally, there's a bunch of true scraps.  Strings less than 1.5 inches or wonky, small squares and potato chip rectangles (2 inches and less), little HSTs from 'stitch and flip' corners and some random tiny or odd shaped 'crumbs'.   Plue the rest of the old sashing and a couple of false starts of backings when I thought I might hand quilt this in the 'quilt as you go' style.  

What a mess - but at least it's a somewhat organized mess LOL.   The next step is to take all the bias strips I cut this week and make the binding.   I like to make the binding right after I get the top done to be sure I use up the larger bits of remaining yardage.  In this case, I used up almost all of the blues for a scrappy but color-controlled binding.  You can see up in the yardage picture that there's not a lot of blue yardage left!  

I'm having a lot of fun puttering around with fabric again. Linking up with the SSS crew (this week's roundup) - inspiration and accountability!

Slow Sunday Stitching - August 24, 2025 AND Rotation #5, Slot #2 (Modern) Changeover

Busy weekend - Carl had a 5K on Saturday.   (It was a wet run but he didn't melt 😅) So of course, I had to cast on a charity hat to have something to work on while he was running the course.  

Fall colors LOSY hat (link to my Ravelry page):

I kept up with the daily stitching this week, and after getting off to a rocky start last week, the remaining rotation hours on Just Nan's "Butterflies, Blossoms and Bees" flew by!   I finished the middle band (except for the beading) and got the first step of the center square completed.   I'd hoped to get a little further, but I lost a couple of hours to that frog visit!  

Time spent frogging and fixing mistakes does count in my timed rotation slots.  It's a part of the needlework journey, after all. (It happens to all of us. 😟😕) Next time I work on this, there are more eyelets, more cross stitch and backstitching, but what I'm really looking forward to is the little over one bees!  

Here's what this project looks like at the 30-hour point:

And here's where I started the rotation for comparison:

fabric color is truer in this photo

Linking up with the SSS crew (current round up is here).  Then I'll be getting out the surface embroidery project - the floral tote.   I haven't worked on it since my grandson and I went on our road trip in late June/early July before Independence Day!  

ETA:  The race was at a small lake near our city and went along the shoreline. I think I got a good picture of him at the finish line:

The mis-matched socks are deliberate;

it's become his 'signature style' for luck in races.

Slow Sunday Stitching - August 3, 2025

What a busy month July was - I took my grandson on a quick road trip to spend a long weekend with his other grandparents.   We got back home just in time for the 4th of July holiday.  Then I moved.  I'm finally getting settled in, though decorating and small projects will be ongoing.   You know old houses - there's always something.   The "new" house is actually older than the "old" house - the new place was built in 1920, so it's just over 100 years old. 

I have garden plans!  This week a small shed in the back was torn down (it was failing, you couldn't even close the door, and it was mostly a home for mice).  Glad to evict those tenants LOL.  I liked the garden bed I had at the old house, so I bought two for the new house.   I'm watching the sun patterns to figure out where to site them.   One thing I love about the new house is that there are two hose bibs on opposite corners of the lot.   Thanks for thinking ahead, Dad!

The first of the month means it's time to do an update on the daily projects.  This month's temperature daily log was another Rhodes Stitch variation - this time it was butterflies.

And here's a close up of the stitches.   Like all Rhodes Stitch variations, the individual stitches that make up the larger stitch are worked in a spiral and the varying lengths make up the final shape.

And overall, the piece is really filling in now.   We have had a relatively cooler summer with no highs over 100 degrees F / 37.7 C.   Though we may get there in August - it's not unusual for the summer highs to linger into early September.  So I haven't had to use the two 'hottest' colors (yet).

And the Mead Dragon is coming along - see the July month end post for stats and a comparison picture.   I hit a milestone in early July and got to the 2/3 point. 

Last but not least, the Blackbird Design piece "And to all a Good Night" is at 13.5%.  It's actually a bit more than that since I finished the snowflakes and there are 5 Queen Stitches in each one.   But they don't show up in Pattern Keeper.    I'm excited to get into the top of the house this week.   Time to roll the fabric up!

Checking in with the SSS crew (this week's link).

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 25, 2025 AND 2025 Rotation #3, Slot #2 (Not Counted Thread)

Another decent, but not outstanding week.   Lots of end of the school year stuff, graduations and promotions that cut into the stitching time.  Including Alexis being promoted from 6th grade to middle school.  Yes, she's still in the boot from her broken foot, but it's a lighter walking cast now.  At least she's done with the crutches.

I'm managing to keep up with the Temperature Stitches Daily Log and the Mead Dragon - I'll have month end pictures of both of them next week.

The travel project/charity knitting is coming along.  I'm about halfway to the crown decreases.   

And the big news is that the Eagle is DONE.  See the Finish post for all the details on the piece and its history.  

This means that I will be moving on to a new project in the 'not counted thread' category when this slot comes around again in the rotation.  I have a number of projects that are candidates for a new start - two kits, two more of the 1940s buttonhole cutwork projects that I inherited from my mom, a vintage needlepoint kit that my mother-in-law brought me back from Germany (along with THREE German knitted lace books) and a miniature carpet in silk gauze.  But I think I'll start a project that was gifted to me by a co-worker about a year before I retired.

Wilma, my co-worker, came from a family of needleworkers; she is a quilter, and her sister did all kinds of embroidery.  When her sister passed away, she inherited her sister's stash.  She didn't need all the DMC threads, so she offered them to me at yard sale prices.   Of course, I said 'yes, please'.   When she delivered them to me, she had put all the threads in a nice fabric tote with a stamped embroidery design unworked on the front.   

The stitch guide was tucked into the bag.   I like the suggested colors, and I think I'll line it when it's done to protect the stitches and make it a little sturdier.   I need to dig out one of my hoops for this project and finish getting the floss into Floss Away bags so everything is set up and ready to start when the "not counted thread" slot comes around again.   

I give credit to the SSS crew for all the cheerleading on the Eagle.  You folks got me off high center on that project - big hugs to everyone.   Here's this week's link party to see all the great projects that people have on the go.

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 18, 2025

I'm sort of slow off the blocks today.  I even skipped church.   Yesterday was exhausting.   I ended up driving over 6 hours on Saturday, much of it on rural roads - narrow, some gravel not paving.  But Carl ran his second non-school 5K.

It was in a little town west of us and was in support of a local nature/walking/running/biking trail that is entirely volunteer run and locally funded, so worth the effort!   The race name is "The Toad Strangler", which I find hilarious.  The 'medals' were homemade and very cute.   Surprisingly, the race was formally chip timed and Carl cut almost six minutes off his time in the last race.  It helped that Saturday morning was perfect running weather.  As long as he wants to run, I'll pay his fees and get him there.

I took my charity knitting, since I didn't know if I would have a table to sit at for needlework (I didn't, so good call on the knitting).   This is another Leftover Sock Yarn (LOSY) Hat and should use up the last of the neon pink yarn!  "Another Goth LOSY Hat" - no clever name on this one.

I did get some needlework done this week.  Keeping up with the daily Temperature Log stitch.  And I finished the first ten hours on the Just Nan piece "Butterflies, Blossoms and Bees".  See the changeover post for picture and commentary.  No progress on the other Just Nan piece - the finishing on the pin cube, but I did decide that it's going to have a simple fixed pincushion top.  The charm on one side is quite heavy and rather a snagging hazard, so the pincube will have to be a display only piece.  Now I just have to find the right fabric for the cover of the pincushion area.

So on to slot #2 of the current rotation.  The vintage crewel eagle is back out to play.   I got the first of the three pine needle clusters on the bottom branch done except for the bullion knot pinecone in the center.  These sets of needles are much smaller than the upper ones, yet no simpler in construction.  But they are coming along!

As far as the last current active project goes, I've already fallen a bit behind on the #WIPintoshape challenge.   Yesterday, Andrew ran a half marathon, which meant I needed to put in over 200 stitches on the Mead Dragon.   With driving my own runner all over the eastern part of the state of Kansas, I did NOT accomplish this goal.   So, I need to play catch up today.   

Still, it's been a good week.  Linking up with the SSS crew (current round up list).  Going to hop over and see what everyone has been up to.

Slow Sunday Stitching - April 13, 2025

 Gosh, it's been a busy week for crafting this week.  Before I forget, Tulip Festival.  Didn't get to spend a lot of time there this year.  My granddaughter, Alexis, managed to fracture a bone in her foot at gymnastics and was on crutches.  I swear, that girl is just like her daddy.  Fearless.   And giving me grey hair LOL.   My grandson, Carl too, with his motorcycles and daredevil bicycle stunts.   I think I cursed my son with the mother's curse - "May you have children JUST. LIKE. YOU."  And he did!   

Now on to crafting.  Here's the current travel project.  The next perforated paper Santa is the "Bell Ringer Santa".   It's gotten several hours of TV time in addition to the work I put in while waiting for Carl's running event to start and for him to finish the 5K last week.  About 700 stitches into it currently.   This one is part of the 'family' ornament series - standing for myself, of course. And a little for my mom, who got me into bell ringing in the first place.

The Bell Ringer Santa is "the" travel project and not "one of the" projects, because I finished the Goth LOSY hat.  It's a charity knit and hopefully someone will like it.   I'll be casting on another charity hat later this week.

And last but certainly not least, I FINISHED the stitching on the KC Plaza Sewing Bag!!!  (See the finished post for the photos and details.)  It's got a long way to go to be an FFO, but it's moved into the 'under the bed box' for the moment.  Working on it for the better part of a month straight has really burned me out.   This is why I can't be a purely monogamous stitcher!   But it won't languish for long.   I'm going to re-do my 'finish and frame' WIPGO board to encourage myself to get it fully finished.   I don't like seeing the 'to be finished or framed' number increasing 😖 

Here's a sneak peak of the next 'Modern' focus project.   This will be a start along with Brenda, @handworkmanic in May. 

It's a small piece by Just Nan called 'Butterflies, Blossoms & Bees'.  I got mine as an online class from Tapestry of Dreams, but never even got it started.   I'm doing mine in the silk version (very bougie).  That linen is hard to photograph; the purple shade under the needles and bead pack is more accurate.  It's only about 4 x 4 inches (10 x 10 cm) but it packs a lot into a small area.  Should be fun.

But before that new start, I need to finish off the last slot in Rotation #2 for the year.  So next up for my focus piece, I'm on to the "Vintage Crewel Eagle" for ten hours.  Hopefully I won't run into any more snags on that project - I'm starting to think it's cursed and it's SO close to a finish, just foliage left to do! (Picture next week if I'm lucky.)

The "Eagle" is the last of the 'zombie' / 'old' WIPS from both the Great Sort in 2015 and the COVID basement clear out.   Could not have done it without the encouragement and accountability from the SSS Crew.  (Link to this week's roundup.)

Slow Sunday Stitching - April 6, 2025

First Sunday of the month, so reporting on the daily temperature log.  Pattern is Temperature Stitches by Stitching Mommy on Etsy.

And where I am overall.   March stitch was Diamond Eyelets.  Unlike most eyelets, these didn't give me much grief!

Other monthly reporting includes the Mead Dragon - details in the month end post here.  

I've also put in several hours on the beading on the fountain side of the KC Plaza Sewing Bag.  The design looks much more balanced with the water sprays filling in the top!  Still to do by mid-month, the beading in the water and the backstitch and beading on the border.   

In knitting news, I got to the top of the charity hat on Friday.

Now as I learned with the Musselburgh Hat, I can't do crown decreases in a busy environment, so I didn't take my knitting to Carl's 5K on Saturday.  This was his first non-school race.  He won his age bracket (M 15-19) and had quite a respectable time considering that the race was cold, rainy and VERY muddy.

Instead, I started the next perforated paper Santa.   I sorted thread and got everything set up and just barely started.  I'll show a picture next week.   Linking up with the SSS crew for the weekly round up of inspiration.

Slow Sunday Stitching - December 22, 2024

 Merry Christmas to all the SSS crew who celebrate.   And it's the solstice - days will be getting longer now!  (at least in the northern part of the world).  

My mother knit me this stocking when I was a newborn and I still hang it every year.  And here are some Santa's to celebrate.

Black Forest Santa

FFO of the Feline Santa I showed last week

Linking up with the SSS crew.

FLASHBACK NEEDLEWORK - "Black Forest Santa" by Willmaur

 

Found while getting the ornaments out to trim the tree.   The "Black Forest Santa" by Willmaur.  Designed by Sandra Cozzolino.  Stitched in approximately 1999.

After I finish the Timberline Santa set, I have decided that I'll do ornaments honoring my family members.  This one will be for my maternal grandmother: Alice Koenig Castor (1883-1966).  Her family emigrated from Germany before her birth, came through Ellis Island and after a brief stop in Pennsylvania with relatives, they claimed land and homesteaded in Dickenson County, Kansas where she was born.  She was born in a sod house, lived through two world wars and ended up seeing people in space!

She taught me how to embroider, quilt and sew.  My Featherweight sewing machine was originally hers. "Aunt Lottie" of the 'Aunt Lottie's Garden' quilt was her younger sister.

Slow Sunday Stitching - November 10, 2024

It was a good crafting week this week.   I finished off five hours on the new Blackbird Designs piece, "Blessings and Kind Wishes" and got the left half of the border done (see the changeover post for a photo).  That five hours and the finishing and FFO work on the older Blackbird piece finished up the first chunk of the current rotation, which is the Historic Inspired slot.

Then I moved over to the KC Plaza Sewing Bag in the Modern Slot.   Since I finished the cross stitch on the fountain area, it's time to tackle the border stitching.  There are five repeats of the border motif on each side of the bag - three for the large side and one on each end for the short sides (each of which will have a side seam down the middle).   When I glanced at the chart at first, it looked like a very simple area.  I spent the first hour and bit basting verticals through the border area to show the edges of each repeat and confirm that I had enough space for the side panels, which I do.  You can see the yellow basting between the trumpet shaped flowers and just before you get to the edge basting; the side motif starts three stitches before the actual corner (basted in red) on each side.

Then once I started stitching, I realized that the major section in the teal green is composed of Rice Stitch.   If you haven't done Rice Stitch, this specialty stitch is composed of regular over two cross stitches, then all four of the corners are tacked down by diagonal half cross over one stitches.  So, six up and down per individual stitch.  And I've discussed at length about my struggles with over one on this project!  Oh so slow.

Five additional hours got me almost to the end of repeat two.  So much for finishing the five repeats on this part of the bag this rotation.   I'll be lucky to finish the three repeats across the main face of the bag.  This project is never ending.....

I did manage to get over to the framers and pick up the framed Birdhouses project I finished in at the beginning of October.   I think it turned out lovely.

As usual "The Frame Warehouse" in Topeka KS made my work look even better.

The hat is also ticking along.   I'm about 3/4 of the way through the straight section.  I'll probably not post a photo until it's done.   Currently it's in a rather awkward in-between blob state.  I'm going to go to Alexis' gymnastics meet next Saturday, so hopefully I'll have an FFO to show by Sunday.   Nothing like being stuck in the bleachers for several hours waiting for the few minutes that she's actually competing LOL.  Good crafting time, though.

Linking up with the SSS crew for this week (link party is here).

Full Coverage - October 2024 Month End Report

 Hope everyone had a fun Halloween with lots of little ghosties and giblins (baby goblins).  My neighborhood is right between the local 'historic house museum' on the east and the 'big Victorian houses with a major light display" that's known for good treats on the west.   Plus, we have decent sidewalks and no through traffic, so lots of people from other areas of the city come around.   My dad always used to keep a tally, and we have had as many as 300 kids when Halloween fell on a weekend and there was nice weather.  Probably fewer than that today with it being a school night, but I bought three jumbo bags of treats and ran out of candy before I ran out of kids!

But enough Halloween stuff.   How about a dragon instead?

Mead Dragon, my full coverage piece, is coming right along!  I hit a milestone this month - she is now over 1/3 done!  I finished 2,809 stitches this month and that brings me to 31,679 stitches out of 94,500 or 33.52% complete.  And I also met my 2024 goal of 30K stitches on this piece since it was started.   I'm working on row 100 to complete the background using the 'typewriter method' of choosing what symbol to stitch next, which also feels like a bit of a landmark.

Here's where I was at the beginning of October.

You can really see her back wing now and the area under her chin is filling in nicely, you can see where the 'fuzzy' part of her body is and the beginning of the fancy jeweled collar she is adorned with.  

 

Slow Sunday Stitching - August 18, 2024

I'm feeling better overall, but the first part of the week was a bust on crafting as I was still feeling pretty icky with whatever that virus was (not COVID, I tested negative but rather nasty nevertheless).  

The latter part of the week hasn't been better as I have had contractors in to do some drywall work and painters will be here tomorrow.   All in all, between feeling under the weather and the hustle and bustle of people coming and going, I haven't really been able to get into the groove of stitching this week.   We also had a big storm come through on Wednesday night, lost power for about six hours and this was what my front stairs looked like!

That's about a third of a large tree from my neighbor's easement.  Luckily, by the time it got to my side of the property line, it was just the skinny upper branches and didn't do any damage.   JC and Carl (son and grandson) came over with chainsaws and a woodchipper and reduced the downed stuff to firewood and mulch.   No damage to either my car or the neighbor's - it came down precisely between them - our guardian angels were working overtime!

What DID happen this week was finishing!  I was in the mood for something that I could do in small bursts.   This cleared a big chunk of my WIPGO board!

Front to back:  "Two Hearts Needlebook", "Wooly Mittens Pin Drum", "Peaches and Cream Sampler" and hiding in the back are the parts of a project bag which is up next.

I'm going to enjoy the urge to finish things while it lasts!   

Linking up with the SSS crew.  Finishing still counts, right?