Stash diving & WIP Progress

Every now and again I like to go through my stash of charts, partly just to refresh my memory of what is there, partly to plan for the future and partly just to admire the work of the many talented designers I patronize. During the earlier part of the week, I was troubled with sinus headaches that were edging toward migraine intensity. As a result I wasn't able to concentrate on stitching. Instead, I used my usual stitching time to do a bit of browsing through my stash. Although I stitched three Halloween ornaments from JCS September 2010 last month, I have another four charts for Halloween ornaments that I had planned to stitch but didn't get to. I'll be keeping these charts in my current stitching bag to be stitched in 2011: Blue Ribbon's Halloween Greetings from the JCS issue, Monsterbubbles Day of the Dead also from the JCS issue, The Stitcherhood's Boo Pumpkin freebie and Primitive Needle's By the Light of the Moon freebie. I will be designating 2011 a year of Halloween and fantasy stitching. I have such a heavy concentration of Halloween charts in my stash as well as a plethora of dragon charts ... all of which I love and am itching to stitch. Yes, I know that, according to the Chinese calendar, 2010 was the year of the dragon ... but for me it will be 2011. As for larger projects I'll be slipping into the rotation: I definitely want to work on Cross Eyed Cricket's Sleepy Hollow and Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie as well my four remaining Dragon Dream's dragon charts [Dragon of the Summer Sky, Dragon of the Ice Kingdom, as well as the compass point dragons and the dragon tea party charts], a few TW dragon freebies and a beautiful Celtic knotwork dragon that I bought as a pdf directly from the designer. Then I have a few more Workbasket Quaker animals to stitch before I can assemble my quilt. And then there is Something Wicked and Ghosts and Ghoulies Etui and Zucca and The Goblin Market and ... But all that is for next year.

My current project: The Town Square SAL Clock Tower, by the Cricket Collection. I probably managed 3 or 4 hours of stitching on this today, in between chores and errands. However, I am going to have to set it aside for a little while since I am waiting for some GAST floss in colors I didn't have in my rather extensive stash. I am always surprised when a design calls for a GAST and WDW color I don't have. I tend to have most of the muted traditional sampler colors ... and this design calls for a number of bright vibrant colors not found in the sort of thing I usually stitch. I ordered the floss from Stitchery Row back in late October but they forgot that I had said I didn't mind paying two shipping and handling charges if they didn't have everything in stock. I had asked them to send me whatever they had on hand immediately and the back orders in a second mailing.

Another small finish:

The Octber Bride's Tree SAL ornament. The Quaker Pine Cone is my own design. As soon as I receive more fabric from 123 stitch, I'll get started on designing and stitching an angel in the Quaker style for the November ornament... I don't want to fall behind again with this SAL. I have ordered Workbasket's Quaker Santa for the final ornament in December. It'll be nice to have the complete set.