Miscellany

Item 1: I have informed Anna [Stitch Bitch] that as the one and only serious entrant in my PIF for Mandarin floss, she is the uncontested winner [duh]. I await an e-mail with snail mail address and will send her a card of floss in a soft green. Anna mentioned Very Velvet, another Rainbow Gallery fiber, in her entry ... it is a fiber I have enjoyed using as well and one I could recommend highly to anyone who wants to add a bit of texture to a piece.

Item 2: I just received the Halloween ornament issue of JCS and have fallen in love with five of the ornaments: The Sweetheart Tree's Pumpkins on Gingham, The Prairie Schooler Owl, The Homespun Elegance Black Cat, Elizabeth Designs Pumpkins and Raise the Roof's Smell My Feet. I will just have to do all of them ... happily I have some tan gingham linen, the Homespun Elegance Pumpkin with Star Olde Brass button, most of the Mill Hill beads called for in these designs as well as linens that will work quite nicely even if they are not the ones called for by four of the designers. I can see a few more deviations from goal oriented stitching ahead ... but these particular designs are just too tempting to ignore. Besides, I am involved in a Halloween ornament exchange and will use one of these designs for my exchange piece.

Item 3: I did a bit more work on my Prairie Schooler 2005 Santa [The Quilter] and should be able to finish it in a day or two at which time I will post another picture. That will leave only the Knitting and Sewing Santas to stitch before the August 30 deadline ... a manageable goal as long as I don't go on a binge of Halloween stitching.

Item 4: I signed up for a SAL starting Sept 1, Spots of Fun [Debbie Draper Designs]. I haven't decided which linen I shall use as yet. I do know that I will be making it a true sampler by using as many different types of fiber as there are motifs in the design and that I will concentrate on an autumnal color way. It should be fun and if I stitch just one motif a day it shouldn't cut into my time for other projects.