Which WIP?

Hi everyone!  Don't you just love holidays?  Not necessarily the extended Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years extravaganza (although don't get me wrong, that's the holiday sequence the entire rest of the year revolves around!), but the easy, 3 day MLK's birthday sort that mellows out the weekend before-hand and shortens the rest of the week to follow? I couldn't think of a better way to mark the day than to spend it stitching and updating the blog, so here I am.

On to first things first - let's get up to speed on Ann Grimshaw.  This is how her top row is looking right now.....

A few things need explaining.  You're probably wondering why the medallion second from the left is so much darker that the others?  It's not 2 different thread colorways, just two different dye lots.  When I decided to go with Finnegan's Fog, it was because I had the one dark skein of it already on hand and thought it would be an intriguing alternative to the plain old black silk the design called for.  Knowing the single skein wouldn't be nearly enough to complete Ann in all her immensity, I ordered 2 more for her without even considering the fact that the skein I had on hand was bought several years ago and might look different from what would arrive in the mail..  But I've decided to roll with the differences and use the darker skein in strategic spots to accent the overall design.  Let's just hope now that the skeins I have at this point are sufficient to get her done, because  I don't know that any further variations in tone are going to work so well. 

In my haste to get as much done on Ann as I possibly could while yesterday's football hype was on, I plunged on ahead with the center design of the unfinished medallion on the far left.  Such great progress! All that solid stitching was flying into place, right up until the point where it became apparent that something was not going to work.  Oh crap, what have I done?!  Sure enough, the entire pointy cornered center of that half circle is off by a thread.  Of course, I can't live with it that way, and of course, the entire thing will have to come out.  But instead of pulling it out in a fit of fury, I calmly left it as is for the time being and went off to work on a nice friendly-looking bouquet  of ivy on the other end.   Sooner or later I know I'll have to suck it up and pull it out, but if I have to do it right now, I might just put the whole thing down and go back to knitting socks...

The incident did send me off to my WIPs box though, where I comforted myself by retrieving two golden oldies, both of which only need a little bit of love in order to be entered into the finished column.  I was thinking it might be fun to take an informal survey here - which one would you work on if it were your choice?

Option number 1: 

Blue Dwelling is My Station, by Little by Little Designs.  It's been so long since I've worked on this that I couldn't remember why I didn't finish it?  But then I realized that even though there was a multitude of floss skeins inside the chart sleeve, none of them corresponded to what the design actually called for.  Hhhmmmm.....I must have not had what I needed and made a sorry attempt at improvising before I gave up and moved on to greener pastures.  Well, I'm wiser now. A a quick trip to Michael's this afternoon and I could be back in business.  

Or, there's Option number 2:

Birds and Beasts Sampler, by the Drawn Thread.  There is absolutely no reason in the world why this cool little piece isn't done already.  You can see it's two thirds of the way stitched, and it wouldn't take more that a few evenings to knock it out of the park.  Could it be that some of it is worked up with a skein of Needle Necessities that's gone AWOL and finishing it without that same said skein is too distasteful to consider? 

So, please help me out here! Should I:

1. Put on the big girl panties and get on with the dirty work of Ann Grimshaw's bungled motif?
2.  Get in my car and make the run to Michael's for the missing DMC's needed for Blue Dwelling is my Station?
or
3. Spend the afternoon rooting around in the stash depths for that one missing Needle Necessities skein that will be the only acceptable choice for Birds and the Beasts? 


As always, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by.  However you choose to spend you MLK Day, I hope it involves a needle and thread!

Full Circle

Happy New Year!  I'd like to say thank you  once again for all the very kind thoughts and expressions of sympathy from those who commented on my previous post. Losing my dad was the final hardship in the most difficult year I've ever faced.  Here's a heartfelt wish for better times to come in 2013!

Anyway, 2012 dragged its miserable old bones out with the same stitching project it began - Frances Eden.  Even though the year itself was a monster, Frances has been an agreeable companion all along the way.  Who knows, maybe she'll actually see a finish in the new year.  Here's how she's looking.

I've taken a very liberal hand with swapping her original colors for the Sampler Threads palette called for in And They Sinned.  She's been a fun, easy project so far and I'm looking forward to steady progress on her.

And speaking of New Year's transitions, I did get a nice start on Ann Grimshaw first thing  New Year's morning.  I'm working her as my part of Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year Challenge, with hopes of eventually starting Jane Atkinson as well at some point.  Here's how things are looking on her, 6 days into it:

If you take a look at Ann's picture on the Scarlet Letter website, you'll see I started her at the center top of the design.  She's being worked on 36 count flax linen with Silk 'm Colors Finnegan 's Fog, which I'm completely smitten with right now.

It's been fun this past week to read all the "stitching year in review" posts and/or the "stitching goals for the new year" entries.  So even though I'm running a bit behind in doing the same, I've taken stock of what I've accomplished this past year and hope to tackle in the coming one.  Here goes!

• First off, I started this blog!  While the official blogaversary date isn't until sometime in February, it was over the holidays last year that I began looking seriously at what everyone else was up to and began playing with the design for what eventually became the blog you're looking at now. 

• With entry into the blogging world, I've made new friends and been amazed and inspired by all the creativity and skills represented in all your posts.  Thank you so much for sharing that part of yourself !  As for 2013, I'm going to throw a cyber-bash in February as a blogaversary celebration, something we can all have fun with.... 

• Here's another big accomplishment - I actually finished more projects than I started!  That's got to be a first for me.  Major finishes include Frances Burwell....

 

 

• Jean Rattray....

• ...and the framing for And They Sinned.

• And looking ahead, I'd dearly love to see finishes for Frances Eden, Hannah Pepper, Ann Grimshaw and Atoche.  I'd also love to see a winning Powerball ticket, a vacation home in the Keys and a 20 pound weight loss.....we'll see how many of these actually happen! 

• And last off, it's dawned on me that I stitched an entire year using only stuff that was already in my existing stash hoard.  I don't know whether to be proud or horrified by that.  Well, I take that back, I did buy a DMC floss palette for Atoche.

• But who could possibly deny themselves this Caribbean rainbow? 

So I hope this finds everyone proud of the stitching they've accomplished and ready to forge ahead with new projects, ideas and creativity this new year.  Let the fun begin!