Stash and nearly a new start

The plan was to have a nice new start to show you, but you know what happens to plans ...

Starting with the new stash, HAED had a 50% off sale this week which I couldn't resist.  They have all sorts of yummy things on there, but I managed to keep my buys down to three charts.  My "Want to Stitch" list currently includes things like Joan Elliott's Renaissance ladies, flowers by Thea Gouverneur and Nel Whatmore, birds by Lesley Teare and Chatelaine's Medieval Town Mandala.  Did I buy anything that would fit into any of these categories?  No, I did not!

For some time now I have been eyeing up works by Randal Spangler - whimsical colourful pieces which combine dragons with books and a touch of magic.  So I bought three of his pieces - Train of Dreams, Medieval Shelf and So Many Books, So Little Time.  

I decided that I wanted to start with Train of Dreams, so I printed off the pdf, made up the thread cards, bought the A5 zipper bags to keep the threads in, sorted out which threads I've got and which I need to buy, and looked in my stash box for the extra large piece of 25 count that I knew I had in there.  This is where the plan to show you a nice new start fell to pieces.  The extra large piece of 25 count was only 27 inches by 20 inches.  I need a piece which is 31 inches by 13 inches.  So now I need to go buy more stash in order to start work on the first lot of stash, which is slightly annoying.  I could fit Medieval Shelf on the original bit of fabric, but now I'm all psyched up and sorted to stitch Train of Dreams.  Having checked the charts, So Many Books isn't going to fit on the extra large fabric either, so that will mean more stash further down the line as well.


So as there is no new start, I will show you the current WIPs.  Starting with Delft part 3, this has not been getting much of a look in - I've spent my lunchtimes on-line rather than stitching.  However I took it to Patchwork on Thursday night and stitched the whole of the pale blue border and the additional border bits in the bottom right hand corner.  I've done this in order to make it easier to get the other parts of the main chart in the right place - there are three butterflies and another large flower.  I also did a bit whilst babysitting the other night.

Moving on to Carnation, I took this to Patchwork on Thursday to show them how it was coming on and they were impressed.  I got the usual comments about not having enough patience and how small the stitches were, but they do know enough about cross stitch to appreciate it properly.  I've had another cracking week this week.  I finished off the incomplete block from last week, stitched the next four blocks and moved into a fifth.  Admittedly nothing much else is getting done around the house, but never mind.
 
There's another three weeks (give or take) before the next Full Moon.  I would like to get Delft 3 finished (and Delft 4 started), Train of Dreams started and some good progress on Carnation.  How's that for goal setting?
 
In other news, the garage's insurers rang my colleague on Thursday evening but she is only back in the office tomorrow, so I will have to wait and see what happens next.  Also my Dad goes in to have his lymph gland removed on Wednesday, so wait and see on that as well.