Random Tuesday

This will be all about odds and ends:

I have enrolled in two exchanges for the Spring.  The first is a Spring scissor keep/fob and scissor exchange with the TSS group.  The rules state that the keep should have a Spring theme and I was all set with a chart.  But now that I have been assigned a partner, I am confused since my partner listed the following preferences: sunflowers and autumnal colors.  Why join a Spring exchange if you want an autumn piece.  I was all set to stitch a very pretty Spring project and may still do just that since I have all the materials.  It's not as if my exchange partner is in the Southern Hemisphere where the seasons are reversed,  which would have made sense to me.  She is in Germany, for Pete's sake!  I am curious and ask you readers for an opinion on this: should I go ahead and follow the rules since I kitted everything up in accordance with the published parameters of the exchange or should I ditch my original plans in favor of my partner's preferences and go with an autumn piece.  It is the first exchange I am working with this group and I must say I am not sure which is the best way to go.  This exchange needs to reach my partner by May 26th.  Since I have no idea how long it will take a small package to get to Germany, I figure I need to get this in the mail no later than April 30th.  I know when we mail Christmas gifts [much larger packages] to my husband's German relatives it can take three to four weeks to arrive.  The second exchange is a Christmas ornament with the HOE group and the theme is Christmas birds.  Sign-ups continue through April 15th and the project won't need to be mailed till June 15th.  So I will have plenty of time to earn a new start with a finished class project and a finished 2010-11 WIP.  I will be using my go-to cardinal chart.  However, I will not be giving any further details on this last exchange for fear of spoiling the surprise.

Stash enhancement.  Since I sold my Just Nan Noah Revisited chart, I have had a $45 gc to 123stitch burning a hole in my pocket.  I have used it to purchase the fabric, Northern Cross cream linen in 35ct, for the new band sampler from Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly.  The chart actually calls for 30ct but the project would end up being unmanageably large.   I prefer stitching on higher thread count linens anyway, so 35ct it is.  The first part of the chart was published in the latest issue of SANQ and there will be two more installments.  I also ordered some more of the DMC needed for my Jacobean Elegance afghan.  Since I will not be skipping blocks as charted, I need twice the amount of floss.  And I ordered two pairs of scissors from The Silver Needle: one for me and one for my exchange partner.

WIP progress:  I have been working on my gift piece as my travel project for the past few days and can't show any photos of that.  But I can show a photo of my afghan progress.  The third block is nearly finished with just a bit of backstitching and long stitching yet to be done.  But in the course of doing this, I noticed that I didn't quite finish the first block and have to go back to that for an hour or two of stitching.  Can't imagine how I missed the furled leaf in the first block.  Next up will be the bud in the second row.  If anyone is wondering just why I am jumping around on the afghan it is because I am going to scan and flip the charts so the First row will be: flower facing left, bud facing left, bud facing right, flower facing right; the Second row will be bud facing right, flower facing right, flower facing left, bud facing left; and so on and so on.  I'll be stitching all the left-facing motifs first and then go back and fill in the right facing motifs.

On the homefront, I never did go shopping for a sewing machine this past weekend ... my husband and I were more in the mood for a lazy two days.  But next weekend, definitely!  Call me a grumpy old woman, but I just dislike shopping of any kind: I dislike the crowds, the lines, the mandatory salesman's spiels and the mule work of hauling the purchases out to the hinterlands of the parking lot.  I have never understood how some people can view shopping as a recreational activity or even as a high sport ... as the current crop of Kohl's radio commercials would have you believe it to be.  It is a painful but necessary chore, whether shopping for housewares, clothes [especially clothes] or groceries.  The only shopping I enjoy is catalog shopping: place an order by making a call from the comfort of your own home and receive the goods on your doorstep several days later.  Now that is convenience.