A Stitching Pool: Gamble without any cost

I decided to start a stitching pool [like those Super Bowl Sunday football pools]:

When will the RR prep be done?

Anyone wishing to choose a date between April 1 and April 15 should post below: no duplications, the first one to choose a date owns it, the contest closes when all dates between 1-15 are taken.

The Prize will be three skeins of overdyed cotton in colors of my choosing [CC, WDW or GAST] and one skein of Rainbow Gallery bamboo floss.

To give you some background information on which to base your guesses:

-- See the photo above for my current progress

-- The mailing deadline for the RR is April 15 ... and no, to the best of my knowledge, the organizer does not work for the IRS.

-- I am a relatively slow stitcher, using the stab method rather than the sewing method. In fact, it took me 7 & 1/2 minutes to stitch each acorn "nut" or bottom.

-- 78 of the acorns in the border need to be back-stitched and long- stitched ... you can look at the three on the upper right to get an idea of what is involved

-- I am stitching my own panel at the top using the village scene from the Prairie Schooler Harvest Time leaflet but I will be adapting it as I go along as my space in 4 stitches less wide and 10 stitches less high. I will be eliminating the trees in the foreground and recharting the buildings accordingly and filling in some of the empty spaces with pumpkins lifted from one part of the chart and inserted elsewhere. Also when stitching the right side of the design, I will be stitching from bottom to top, so any overlap in stitching the church in the mid-distance and the small home in the far-distance will fall into place after the large home in the foreground is stitched. Adjusting the chart adds a little time to the process.

-- I will also be adapting the leaf motifs from Handblessings' Autumn Lace or Autumn Leaves bookmarks to fill in the dividers in Row 2 and 3.

-- Having removed the trees from the foreground, I will re-chart them seperately so that the other stitchers in the RR will have charts for the second row in my RR in case they can't come up with their own. I will be doing the same for the two buildings in the Autumn Scene in the Prairie Schooler Four Seasons leaflet to provide options for designs in the bottom row. I will also be looking for some freebies in the proper theme and style to give the participants more choices.

-- I run a religious education program in a Catholic parish and so will close my office for Easter Break at noon this Wednesday and not re-open until Monday, April 12. While I will be using some of that time for Spring cleaning and gardening, much of the time will be spent stitching and sewing finishes of my stitching.