Weekend Progress Report #24

There was not much stitching done this weekend. This was the first Saturday that I did not have classes, since the Religious Education Program ended last weekend. Even so, I got up especially early [6:16am] to finish the RR piece and get it in the mail before the post office closed at 11:30am. The rest of Saturday morning was devoted to running errands: banking and running to the other end of the county to pick up the designer fountain pen I had on lay-away for my husband's combined Father's Day and birthday gift. I am afraid Sunday morning was pretty much a total loss. The past few weeks finally caught up with me. I am afraid even four mega-mugs of strong Assam tea didn't rev me up enough to get to Mass. I spent most of the morning in my stitching chair desultorily putting in the back-stitching in my Kreinik Cornucopia. Then, given my limited concentration, I started a very simple project, Shepherd's Bush's Be A Witch, on 10 count tula. I needed something easy if I was going to keep the frog from the door. Most of Sunday evening was consumed with a multi-event celebration: Father's Day, my husband's birthday and my youngest son's birthday ... all falling within the eight day period of June 15-23. We visited the family's favorite sushi restaurant, a tiny place called Hanabi, half the width of the normal storefront. But the food is fabulous. My husband, carnivore that he is, enjoyed the beef negi as well as some more traditional sushi rolls. My son and daughter did the usual sushi platters, with the addition of some steamed dumplings. My sister-in-law and I went totally vegetarian. She had the mango/avocado salad as did I but she follwed hers with two spring rolls [more like fluffy pancakes at Hanabi] and I had three different vegetable sushi rolls. I wished I had my camera with me: the presentation of the food is phenomenal ... the sushi chef is creative, the food is amazingly fresh, the service in this small Mom & Pop restaurant is casual and friendly ... a wonderful way to cap the weekend.

So instead of finishing up three Thanksgiving and one Christmas ornaments as planned, including final finishing as flat ornaments, this is all I accomplished:

Linda's Round Robin: Jane's Quilts [May15-June15 rotation] FINISHED AND MAILED 6/19. This was a a frenzied, quick stitch since I only received the piece in the mail on 6/14.

Thanksgiving Ornaments:

Kreinik Cornucopia [May's ornament] stitched but still needing assembly. I hope to spend a little time this evening assembling this little beauty. I quite like the effect of combining satin and cross stitch in the same piece and I love the tone on tone effect of the cross stitches in Ancient Parchment on the Mississippi Mud Silkweaver 40ct linen.

And a little Startitis: Shepherds Bush's Be A Witch. Normally, I finish such seasonal, large count pieces as classroom banners but I am not sure this is quite the message I want to send to my students. I believe I will attempt my first no-sew cube for display in my sewing room-to-be. Or perhaps a stand-up using one of my little acrylic L-shaped doohickeys. I look forward to some more relaxing stitching on this in the coming week ... I just don't feel up to anything that requires concentration right now. It's probably because as one school year winds down, I am busy with all those finicky little details necessary to close out one year: inventories, tracking down all the kids who owe me exams, other work or textbooks, evaluating all the home study students, etc. etc. Then there are the start-up details for next year: getting next year's registration in and on the database, ordering textbooks and supplies for the new school year, recruiting and vetting catechists, finalizing the calendar, etc. etc. All of which needs to be done by June 30, when I break for a much needed month long vacation.