Another little finish and a bigger start

Well, here's the other little finish - Santa himself.  I finished him off at Patchwork Group on Thursday, having polled the rest and decided not to add the Ho Ho Ho! in red backstitch.  I think that he looks better without it, just as the Snowman looked better without snowballs/snowflakes scattered round him.  Originally the plan was to carry on doing these little kits - I've got four more of them - but now I've changed my plans.


In my last update I wrote that I had a cunning plan for a 40th birthday present for a friend.  Over the past couple of days since finishing Santa, in between other things, I have copied the chart, sorted out the threads and cut myself some fabric.  Mum hemmed the edge for me today while I took Dad shopping and I put the first few stitches in when I got home.  And here he is, all kitted up! 

He's a very sweet robin designed by Eva Rosenstand which I am stitching on 27 count cream/off white evenweave using DMC threads.  Those first few stitches are a light blue (932) in the shadow of his wing.  I'm looking forward to stitching him, and if all goes well, there are three more bird charts in that catalogue and some more in the other ER catalogue that I have.

As you will see, I have made some progress on Beetle this week.  I didn't have to go out, the washing machine behaved itself, I just have to not stop and read my book now and again.  The front bumper is finished and I am moving up to the other headlight.  I'm feeling a bit better about this now, but there is still a long way to go so I need to keep plodding on.

However, progress has been slow on Carnation this week with only two blocks completed.  Quite a few stitches went into a third block but I was too tired last night to finish it.  This week is going to be a busy one again, with me out four nights from five, plus my colleague at work having the week off for her birthday.  I don't begrudge her at all, especially as I shall be having a fortnight off for mine, but it does mean that you have to work that bit harder to stay on top of two people's workload.


Well, Measi has accepted me onto her WIPocalypse list and I am now cogitating what else I want to put on my list.  I'm waiting for my stash to come from the US - I'll tell you more about it when it finally gets here, having been delayed by Hurricane Irene!  I also have a little list inside the front cover of my stitching journal, so I'm umming and aahing over what to add to the list.