Moving Right Along, Not!

I decided that this week I would concentrate on two projects till Friday and my next day off rolls around.  They will be Lori Birmingham's The Jacobean Elegance Afghan on the home front and Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie as my travel piece.  Then on the weekend, I would revert to the afghan alone.  If I am to have the remotest hope of stitching and lining the afghan in time for Christmas giving [to my Mom], I will need to complete another 17 blocks by mid November.  That's a little less than two blocks a month.  Still, I'd like to do a bit better than that since I would also love to stitch and finish Christmas Stockings for my two grandchildren.  A third grandchild will be arriving in late September, but until I know the sex of the new baby I am not even going to consider a stocking for him/her.  Christmas 2013 will be soon enough for the new baby.  So with these three Christmas projects in mind, I need to put on a bit of a push. 

BUT ...  There hasn't been much at home stitching going on so far this week since I have had to work till nine Monday and Tuesday and will do so again today.  All I have managed is a bit of lunchtime stitching on Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie.  I have filled in all the leaves on the tree, put an urn beneath the plant stitched on Sunday and got a start on the grave stone.  There are still two or three birds, a squirrel, a heart, a sun and the rest of the memorial to stitch.  Did I mention that this block is very busy with all sorts of motifs?  And typical of primitive designs the motifs are placed without any reference to reality or common sense: the solar disc and the half moon and the stars are all beneath the tree canopy and there is a heart floating in mid-air.  With all that in mind, here is a progress photo to compare with that of Sunday's post..