Assessing September Progress, Setting October Goals

I scaled back my goals for September considerably for several reasons.  The first, of course, being that as the new school year opens, I have less leisure time.  But the second reason is by far the more pressing: I truly want to finish the stocking for Liam in time for this Christmas.  I started it in August 2012 and had planned to have it finished by Christmas 2012, more fool I.

Anyway, here is my short list of September goals:

BAPs: Concentrate on TWs Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking:  I have been working diligently on this piece and much progress has been made.  Section 4 and 5 are complete and I have begun work on Section 2.

Needlepoint: Continue work on Rice Pudding:  It's a pity but even with this drastically scaled down goals list, I didn't get to this project.

Town Square SAL: Stitch The Framing Shop: This didn't happen either.  This month, it's been all about the stocking.

And I am going to be honest with myself in setting the next month's goals.  I will be limiting myself to only what I know I am willing to tackle.  So here are my two goals for October:

BAPs: Continue to concentrate on TWs Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking.  

Class Project: Pre-work on Victoria Sampler's Mystic Christmas Sampler.

And so on and so on

I hope I am not boring my followers and readers but I am still working diligently on the stocking for Liam.  I have finished frogging and restitching all the errors in the right wing.  I have also added four more colors to the right wing portion in Section 2.  That brings the number of confetti colors up to 7 with only 5 more to go!  The next step will be to add the remaining five colors and to catch  up on the back-stitching of the wing and the angel's robes and drapery before moving on to the left wing and the trees that cross over into Section 1.  There's another white bird for me to screw up stitch in this area.  Part of the bird is in section 1 and part in section 2, giving me myriad ways to come up with a mistake.  Wish me luck!  But the truth is, I have not been doing all that well with the white sections of this stocking.  I will hold off stitching the top with the name to be done later and all at one go after the pictorial parts of Section 1 and 2 are complete.  It will be very very fussy with all the quarter stitches and such.  Anyway, I want to re-read the directions before I tackle the name area.  I've forgotten which part of the back stitching and/or long stitching involves the #4 braid and which part is done in good old DMC.  Besides which, I am not sure I have the right braid in my admittedly excessive extensive stash - I may have to order it.  I do know I have to order the beads.  I have a pretty large stash of petite seed beads but almost no magnifica beads as called for in this design.

The photos you see here are as last seen [first and to the left] and current progress [second photo shows the whole stocking and third photo shows the close-up of recent work].  There is not as much progress as last week, though, since I lost two stitching days to a migraine headache last Wednesday and Thursday.  Even so, I am still ahead of schedule.  I had hoped to complete Sections 4 & 5 and perhaps start Section 2 in September and then stitch 1 & 2 in October, leaving only the over one and embellishment charts for November.  But September has seen the completion of 4 & 5, the correction of the errors in the

wing in Sections 3 & 6 and more than half of the pictorial stitching of 2.  As you can see in the shot of the full stocking on the right, all those annoyingly wrong charcoal gray lines in the wing are gone, gone, gone.  I am still trying to figure out how I let such a glaring mistake pass unnoticed for so long.  I guess it's a case of seeing what you expect to see rather than what is actually there.  I am reasonably sure I can complete 1 & 2 in October, even including the over one stitching of the name and, maybe, just maybe, the over one stitching of the angel's face.  That will leave only the embellishment charts and the sewing assembly for November.  I continue to find it a source of amazement that I am not yet bored with the piece.  I usually have stitching fingers itchy for novelty and change.   Not only am I still interested in the piece, I am delighted by it and look forward to picking it up each day.

While watching a DVD one evening earlier in the week, my husband casually commented that Liam had better appreciate this stocking after all my hard work.  He than joked that the kid would probably spill hot chocolate all over it.  Like Queen Victoria, I was not amused.  But I do trust Christina, my daughter-in-law, who has an appreciation for handmade things.  She will treat it as an heirloom and not allow any beverages, hot or cold, anywhere near it.  As for Liam, at 6 years of age, I am sure he will care more about the contents than the stocking.  He'll have to grow a bit older before valuing the stocking as a gift in and of itself.  It'll be enough for me if he simply accepts delving into a stocking as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas and remembers fondly the grandmother who made it. 

Confetti

I realize most stitchers associate the words confetti stitching with widely spaced single stitches on otherwise unstitched linen.  So when I use the phrase to refer to a solidly stitched area like the wings of the angel, there may be some confusion.  What I mean is that the solidly stitched wing is made up of many single bits of color that when combined, make up the whole.  The angel's wing contains about 12 different shades, all of them using tweeded needles.  To give you an idea of the confetti like nature of this stitching, I took the photo on the left after stitching just the first shade.  And, the second photo to the right, shows the wing after a second color has been added and a third has been started.

Ultimately the whole area to the right of the angel's head will be a solidly stitched wing.  But only after I have added another 8 or 9 blended color needles' worth of floss.  I think you can see what I mean about confetti.  It's a gradual build up of shade upon shade upon shade.  Well, I'll just keep on counting and stitching till it's all filled in.  Just call me a real party animal, tossing confetti every which way!

Coming soon

I just happened to notice that I am a mere 29 posts from my 1000th post.  It boggles the mind.  Though I suppose it shouldn't, I am a rather wordy person.  One of my husband's cousins is always remarking that I am the most satisfying correspondent: she'll write a few lines and get back several pages in return.  The simple truth is I enjoy expressing myself in the written word and I am much better at it than I am with the spoken word.  Oh, I am reasonably articulate and can make conversation when required.  But when all is said and done, I am an introvert and more comfortable communicating at a keyboard or with my trusty fountain pen than face-to-face.

It'll probably take two months before I reach the landmark post so I'll have plenty of time to think up ways to celebrate.  There'll be a gift certificate giveaway and some sort of survey.  I'll come up with something that I hope will amuse and engage readers and followers.

A Good Weekend for Stitching

It hasn't been quite a Hermit Weekend but a good one nonetheless.  I got at least four hours of stitching in on Friday.  Saturday was nearly as productive though I had errands to run in the afternoon and served as  lector at the 5:30 Mass and then met with the Teen RCIA after Mass.  On Sunday, I concentrated on relaxing with some Star Trek Next Generation DVDs and, of course, some stitching. .  

Section 5 is finished and a start has been made on Section 2.  I had been feeling as though I was a week ahead of my own schedule until I realized I had made a mistake in stitching one of the symbols in the wings in Sections 3 and 6.  What brought it to my attention was stitching the wing area in Section 5 and not having things match up properly.  It is going to be a pain in the neck to frog and restitch because, well, it's a Wentzler design: meaning that the back of the area is an interwoven mass due to the confetti stitching on the front.  I pulled out the wrong stitches on the bottom inch or so of the wing.  The mistake involves a tweeded blend of ecru and charcoal which should be a blend of golden beige and medium tan.  I figure I'll just frog and re-stitch one diagonal row of the wrong stitches each day until it is all corrected.  It is way too tedious and fussy a task to tackle at one go..  It would probably destroy my forward momentum on this piece if I attempted to do it all at once  

The first photo shows the whole stocking and the second photo is a close-up of the weekend's progress.  Although these are outdoor photos, the day is only partly sunny so the photos are a bit darker than usual.  Still the colors are more accurate than when I take photos under my stitching lamp.  I may get another hour or two of stitching in today before work.  It's a late day for me since we have our first catechist meeting scheduled for this evening.  I never stitch a Wentzler piece after eight p.m. so there'll be no stitching this evening.

The confetti stitching of the major portion of the angel's wings is still ahead of me.  I've only a bit more of the evergreen crown and hair as well as the tiny bit of the robe's yoke just to the left of the drape to stitch before I have to deal with the wings.  The face is over one and so will be reserved till I have done all the over two stitching.  I expect it to be nearly as great a challenge as the snow.  So, getting Sections 1 and 2 stitched by the end of October is still problematic.  But I shall do my best.

Further Progress

I was just paging back through the blog to see when was the last time I stitched on any thing other than the stocking.  It was August 18th, on Stitch Bitch's challenge piece featuring the Plum Street Sampler free chart, Be True.  Considering my usual affliction of stitcher's ADD, working on one piece and only one piece for  a little over a month is truly astounding.

The result is evident in the progress I have made.  I have only a bit left to do and I shall have finished Section 5.  With my usual three day weekend starting up, I anticipate getting a nice jump toward completing the pictorial part of Section 2.  I plan on leaving the Celtic knot work and the over-one lettering of the name in both Sections 1 and 2 till I have finished the angel and the background.  I didn't manage any stitching on Wednesday or Thursday not even during lunch hour minute.

This being the first week of classes, with the usual Parent Orientation and Meet the Catechist sessions, means the days have been pretty high energy.  I simply crash when I get home.  There are all the usual glitches: catechists who have had a change in work schedules and can no longer serve, replacements to be recruited, the usual few parents suddenly waking up to the fact that, "Gee, I really should register the children for religion class", even a catechist with a dreadful medical emergency in her family that will keep her in south Jersey for the foreseeable future and for whom I had to recruit a long term substitute.  But for the most part things are running smoothly.  Ninety percent of the volunteer staff showed up as expected, all the textbooks and resource materials were delivered on time, 96% of the expected enrollment is actually registered, we had no criers or clingers among our new first graders.  It's been a good week.  And the weeks that follow will all be so much easier.  So, to celebrate, I spent a good part of this morning on the stocking, filling in a bit more of the chest and sleeve of the angel's robes.  Again, the first photo is a when last seen photo and the second is current.

Apropos of the recent post of Autumn finishes: I hadn't realized just how very much I gravitate towards Autumn and Halloween and Thanksgiving projects.  For the heck of it, I went back and counted the photos on those three gallery posts and it came to a total of 67 projects.  And that's only as many projects as I  have bothered to photograph.  There are probably a dozen or more similarly themed pieces gifted to my daughter and a few more gifted to my grandchildren that were never recorded in my digital photo albums.  I am almost afraid to browse through my stash to see just how many Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving charts are yet to be stitched.  I could very well end up in three digits.  Perhaps it is a good thing that I have embarked on the project of making a stocking for each of my three grandchildren.  It will give me a bit of variety in my stitchery.  Though it is true that when my own children were younger I stitched an awful lot of Christmas stuff.  I guess I do tend to get hung up on themes.  A quick mental inventory of my stash shows me I still have many dragon charts, Quaker charts and sampler charts awaiting stitching.  So, I see many a dragon, an acorn, an alphabet and a Quake motif in my future interspersed with witches and cauldrons and such like stuff.

Autumn Stitching

On one of the boards I read, a request has gone out to share photos of one's Autumn stitching finishes.  Since I have been stitching for a little over 40 years and since Autumn is my favorite season, I thought I'd gather as many of my Autumn finishes in one blog post ... at least as many as I have photos of:  I have had a digital camera for only the last decade or so.  Of course, I am not counting Halloween or Thanksgiving finishes since I have already done gallery posts on those holidays.  This post is just generic Fall stuff: acorns, colorful leaves, harvest scenes, etc.  The gallery below includes 20 projects.  I know there are more around the house but I limited myself to those already included in my digital photo albums.

This is an old Handblessing complimentary bookmark chart - I don't think it is available any longer

Bent Creek [I think] ... one of the many Autumn samplers I have stitched

This is a very old complimentary chart ... I am afraid I cannot remember the name of the designer or the design.  I stitched this at a time when I was less discriminating and frequently failed to note such details.  I have a vague feeling that this might be a San-Man design but I wouldn't swear to it.

This is a Silver Needle Night design from the days when Mona was still doing most of the designs.

This is one of the pieces from a CATs stitching banquets ... take a closer look and note the beaded tops of the acorns ... this is one of my favorite things.  Three designers on the organizing committee of CATs would each supply a design, we'd all eat the usual rubber chicken meal and then the rest of the evening would be a quick class on each design.  This is a Liz Diehl design.

This is a Round Robin:  I did the border the top panel and the center and right panel on the bottom.  The rest was done by other members of the round robin.  It uses Prairie Schooler charts and a border from The Better Homes and Gardens 2001 Cross Stitch Designs.

This is another old Handblessing's free bookmark chart.  I can no lonher find it on the website so I suspect it has been withdraw.

A small amulet bag I made for my daughter using  another older free design  the name of which I can not remember.

Spots of Fun done in autumnal colors.

Strictly speaking, this is an Earth Day sampler but I switched the colors to an autumn palette and re-designed it to include two squirrels instead of one bird.

A Prairie Schooler complimentary chart - somehow pheasants suggest Autumn to me.

Teresa Wentzler's Autumn Faerie

Cedar Springs Berry Patch Rabbit

A biscornu using autumn colors

LHN's Autumn Entry from the Season of series

A Prairie Schooler piece I used to make a long pin cushion for an exchang

Just an ornament I use it on both my Halloween tree and my Thanksgiving Tree



The gist tote bag below features a small red squirrel ... another creature I always associate with autumn.

Sheep and knitting and wool also suggest Autumn to me ...here is a knitting project baf I made for one of my sisters

And here is another knitting bag I made using an old Halloween ornament design on a larger count linen than originally called for.  The photo below shows the interior of the bag.

A Different Routine Starts Today

Today is the first day of evening classes and I'll be going in a bit late today.  So, I had two hours to stitch this morning instead of just one.  Something tells me I am going to be needing the added tranquility from this morning stitch time as I face the challenges of the day.  Our reduced enrollment has made it practical to down size from five sessions to four.  Some of our late registrants were unable to get all of their children in the same session and there is much gnashing of teeth.  Of course, these same folks had from May 15 to register, knowing that I follow a first come first served policy and that the more popular sessions fill up quickly.  Waiting till late August or early September to register and then presuming to be surprised that they can't get the exact placements they wanted is a wee bit insane naive.  But, of course, I am the bad guy, refusing to make their lives easier by over loading classes and placing strain on my volunteer catechists.  

This week begins the routine of working 9-5pm on Mondays and Wednesdays but 12:30 to 8:30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I doubt I'll do much more than eat a quick supper and fall into bed tonight after I get home.   So no more stitching today and probably not another post till Thursday or Friday morning.

But that isn't what you visit this blog to read about.  Back to stitching.  Here is the progress made since yesterday: some more of the back stitching done and some more of the sleeve completed.

And here is a close-up of the bottom portion of the stocking.  I am so close to finishing up Section 5, I can taste the sweet satisfaction.  It looks as though I really will be starting Section 2 this month.  Of course, at the moment, I am ignoring all other WIPs, even the two projects I listed on this month's goal list, thinking I might want a break from the stocking.  That doesn't seem to be happening.

To the Nth Degree

That is precisely how focused I am on my Wentzler Christmas Stocking.

Do you require proof?  The project folder for a stitching retreat I will be attending next month arrived in the mail a few days ago, so that I might get started on the pre-work.  I unpacked the box and shelved the folder in the bookcase by my stitching corner without even opening the folder.  Such an uncharacteristic lack of curiosity on my part is proof positive of my preoccupation with this stocking.  Oh, the pre-work will show up in my October goals but for the moment, the stocking continues to be my first priority.

Further proof may be found in the fact that I have been so busy stitching that I have had no time for blogging.

Unfortunately, with classes starting tomorrow, this past week has been one in which I haven't manage much time for stitching.  Just an hour or so a day.  But my usual three day weekend was a splendid one for stitching.  When last seen the stocking looked like the photo on the left.

But now, the drapery is filled in, and a hand cradling a rabbit and the infamous white bird are evident.  There is even the hint of a sleeve emerging.  I have been back stitching as I go along to help keep my stitch counts accurate.  At the rate I am going, I should be able to finish Section 5 by the end of this month, notwithstanding the fact that a good portion of the wing [confetti stitching] makes up the far right of this section.  Who knows, I may even get a decent start on Section 2.

And here is a close-up of the recent stitching on Section 5.  Today, I plan to catch up on the back-stitching and work on the sleeve.  I know that soon I will have no choice but to tackle the wings again.  The wing portions of Section 1 and 3 were the first things I stitched when I started work on this project.  I am hoping that now that I am in full Teresa Wentzler mode, I won't find them nearly so annoying challenging.



I should be able to finish Sections 1 and 2 in October, leaving the embellishment charts [beading and metallic braid] and the over one chart [the angel's face] and the sewing assembly/finish for November.  Then it will just be a matter of filling the stocking and mailing it out to Liam.  I have reached the point where I am beginning to believe this stocking will be finished in time for Christmas 2013.  Just a month ago, I was hoping but not actually believing.

Jeremiah was a bullfrog ... was a good friend of mine!

Did I say in a previous post that I could manage one little bird easily enough?  Wrong, wrong, wrong!  Perhaps it's because the bird was white.  Or perhaps it's because I stitched nearly the whole day. every day. all weekend long and my eyes were tired on Monday.  In any case, I managed a miscount and the first order of business today is frogging.  And I had been so proud of my progress.  At least this bit of frogging won't take too long or set me back too far.  No stitching last night for fear of more errors to compound those made in the morning.  Just watched some Poirot episodes that came from Netflix.  I love all the British Mystery Theater series now being published by Acorn Media.  Last week we watched three of the Lord Peter Wimsey episodes.

And for those of you who are puzzling over the reference to a song from my youth, Joy to the World, here is the first verse and chorus.  I always liked the Three Dog Night version.

Jeremiah was a bullfrog
...was a good friend of mine
Never understood a single word he said
But I helped him a-drink his wine
And he always had some mighty fine wine.

Chorus:  Joy to the world
              All the boys and girls
              Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
              Joy to you and me.

Now, maybe that's the answer: I need some wine.  No, probably not a good idea.  Way too early in the day!

TUSAL and Progress Post

The top layer of orts is froml TW's Woodland Angel Stocking: heavy on the whites from the snow with a touch of green from the trees and now moving back into blue-whites and blues for the drapery ... soon there will be a quick side trip into whites and silver whites yet again for the dove flying up just in front of the blue drape.  There's no getting away from those whites!  But this is just a small bird and I can manage that much at least.

The first photo shows the progress as of last Tuesday ... some folks have commented that they like to see comparison photos on the same post.  Anything to oblige.

The second photo shows progress as of Sunday and the third phot is a close-up of that progress.  Section 4 is done, even the back stitching.  Section 5 is moving along nicely.  I did quite a bit of back-stitching on Section 5 as well.  I like to tackle the back stitching as I go along, especially if the project is large.  For one thing, it breaks up the tedious chore into manageable segments.  For another, I love the way the design comes to life as the back stitching is added.  And finally, the back stitching provides another reference point when counting stitches.  The robes in the lower right corner of this section are done and quite a few more shades have been added to the draperies.

I was running low on 340 and 341 as well as some other DMC floss.  As luck would have it, I had most of the others in my skein stash and wound the skeins onto bobbins for my TW case. It was only the 340 and 341 that I had to run out and buy because, of course, that is what I need for the drapery on which I am working on NOW.  Everything that was conveniently in stash will not be needed till I move on past the blue drape.  Another example of Murphy's Law in action.

Damnable Diversions

I have a number of things I need to do today, though my fingers are itching to stitch on my TW stocking.  

• First, catch up on the mountain of laundry overflowing the bathroom hamper.
• Second, run my sewing machines to the shop for repairs.
• Third, check out the folder with the pre-work for a stitching retreat I am planning to attend.
• Fourth, try out my brand new crock pot with one of the pot roast recipes I have downloaded from the internet.  And maybe, make the chocolate fondue in the small dipper pot from the recipe booklet included in the box. [Must remember to stop and buy some angel food or pound cake if I do that.]
• Fifth, check the floss box for the TW stocking to see what I am running low on.  Stop at Michael's or A.C. Moore to get the needed floss.

Then, I can get back to the stocking for the rest of the day: I've got just a bit of green to stitch on Section 4 and then I can concentrate on Section 5.  As I reach the top of Section 5, I'll probably do another photocopy, cut and paste of the chart sections so that I can move smoothly to the angel's shoulders and wings.

Obsession

This Christmas stocking is consuming me.  

It seems I have only two moods when it comes to a Teresa Wentzler project.  The first is obsession, in which I am enthralled, stitching single-mindedly on the TW piece with nary a glimpse at any other WIP, begrudging every moment diverted for such silly things as working, eating and sleeping.  The second is dogged determination, when the obsession has run its course and I have to discipline myself to keep the TW piece in my rotation.  Hot or cold.  Love or hate.  No middle ground.  But I always love the finished product!

This obsession phase is certainly giving me hope that my deadline of December 1 will be met.  Of course, right now I am in the easy stage of the angel's robes and draperies.  The photo to the left shows what I mean about this being the easy stage: note that the sweeps of the blue-white which are the lightest areas of the drapery are just one blended needle of white and 3747.  While the same blend was used in the snow as confetti stitches, here it is used as an easy to stitch sweep.  So much quicker and more pleasant.  There are several challenges ahead [the wings and the name border] but having survived the snow, I figure I can manage any other difficulties.

I didn't have all that much stitching time yesterday: just an hour before work and a half hour during the lunch break.  There was a parish team meeting last night, after a full day's work.  By the time I got home, fixed dinner, went back for the meeting and then came home again, I was too tired and bleary eyed to stitch.  But I got in an hour before work today and am hoping to get several hours of stitching in tonight in addition to my usual lunchtime routine.

And the Winner is

# 20, Melissa, selected by an online randomizer.

There were 22 entries to my blogaversary survey and the responses were rather interesting.

Let's take a look at the questions.  

How many blogs do you read regularly?  The answers ranged from a low of 2 or 3 to a high of 300, with most saying they read between 50-100.   [My answer:  There are 36 blogs on my reading list but since 3 of them haven't posted in a year, I guess the true number is 33.]

How much time do you spend reading blogs each day?  This also varied widely from approx. 20 minutes  to 3 hours daily, with most people noting that the time varied from day to day depending on how many bloggers were posting.  [My answer: less than a half an hour.]

What sort of content attracts you to the blogs you do read? For example:, photos, musings about the needlearts, the style or personality of the blogger, humor, etc.  Twelve of the respondents listed photos of stitching as the first priority, while six listed the personality of the blogger as the first priority and the two remaining listed sharing life experiences as a first priority.  It was interesting to note that almost all of those who made photos a top priority were quick to note that personality of the blogger ran a very close second for them.  [My answer: The personality of the stitcher and the stitching content are equally important to me.  I don't mind the occasional glimpse into the personal life of the blogger as long as stories about children, pets and the angst of daily life don't take over the blog.]

Do you enjoy message boards devoted to stitching?  If so, which ones do you read?  Ten of you don't bother with message boards but twelve of you do read them.  123stitch, sanman and a few others mentioned.  [My answer: I selectively read 123stitch at least four times a week and I do get involved in some of the discussions, stitch related and not.]

Do you use Facebook or Twitter to keep in touch with cyber friends who share your love of the needle arts?  This split right down the middle: eleven of you do and eleven of you don't.  [My answer: No nor will I do so in the foreseeable future.]

Do you belong to a stitching group that meets in real space and in real time and promotes person-to-person sharing?  Thirteen do not, many of whom would if there were a group available.  Nine do, one of whom belongs to six groups.    [My answer: No, but I have gone to stitching retreats which I have found to be a wonderful experience.  Since I am now off on Fridays, I am seriously considering approaching the folks at our local library about starting a group and meeting in their Community Room.]

What a Difference a Week Makes!

Another day spent on the TW stocking.  Seeing the progress made since last Tuesday is energizing and it keeps me stitching on this piece exclusively.  The angel's right hand is now raised in blessing over the woodland creatures.  There are more trees in the background.  Who knows what else may appear before week's end!

For comparison's sake, here are photos showing the past week's progress:

As of Tuesday, August 27, I had completed sections 6, 7, 8 and 9 and parts of 3, 4 and 5.  See close-up below.

As you can see, I had stitched the snow at the toe side of  Section 4 and, as a change of pace, worked on the deer and one of the smaller trees, also in Section 4..

And as of 10:00pm, Monday, Sept. 2, we can see more of the woods and more of the angel.  Section 4 is very nearly complete [just a few bits of the darker greens in the upper left corner] though there is quite a bit of Section 5 left to stitch.  There is still much work to do.  But, for the first time, I begin to hope that I really will meet the self-imposed deadline of December 1 for completing the stitching and embellishing.  That would leave me another week to get the sewing finish done before the stocking need be stuffed and mailed to the West coast.

I know there are still some rather fussy bits ahead of me: the border around the name with all its half and quarter stitches, the wings with all their confetti stitching, the over one of the angel's face and the lettering of the name as well as the embellishing and beading of the border trim of the robes and draperies.  But as I move quickly through these easier sections I am optimistic that this stocking, started August 6, 2012, will be finished by December, 2013.

Into The Woods

The stocking progresses, although I only managed an hour's stitching before work Wednesday and a half an hour at lunch break Thursday.  My plan to stitch most of the the Labor Day Weekend has been a quasi-success so far.  I stitched for a couple of hours each on Friday and Saturday  It's been raining on and off for several days and the sky is threatening again today, so that's an excuse to cozy up indoors.  The dampness has caused my arthritic left knee to seize up and that puts paid to my plans for Sunday Mass.

So far, I have finished work on one of the smaller trees [just behind the deer] and have begun work on one of the larger trees set back even further.  I have been alternating work on the large tree and the angel's robes and draperies between which, as luck would have it, was yet another small patch of snow.  I can't seem to get away from the stuff.  And just to make things more interesting, the angel's blue drapery had a white border though, happily, it contained only three shades of white and stitched up relatively quickly.  The trees and the robes, while still painterly and containing many shades, involve fewer colors of floss and in somewhat wider swathes making the stitching ever so much easier.

The photos, taken indoors because of the unreliable weather outdoors, have a slightly yellowish cast even though I have used my stitching lamp to illuminate it.

Here's a photo of the full stocking.  You can see I have stitched quite a bit in the past few days.  It's amazing what progress can be made when working with the larger elements in the piece.

And here is a close-up of what I have accomplished since the last series of photos.

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And for those who are wondering what the end result will be, here is a photo of the stitched model.