Yes, I'm still making Prairie Schoolers!

Okay, so post-IHSW I didn't finish the Happiness ornament for my friend Yi.  SIGH

So, maybe it will be a Christmas present?  Then I'm already ahead of schedule!  Yes, make lemonade from lemons.

But I can share that I'm making solid progress on the Prairie Schooler Spring and Fall leaflet.  I'm getting further along with the November turkey.  This is a SAL that I was working on with Debbie and Linda in 2012.  When I finish this one, I am done with this leaflet.  Then I only have December - February in the Prairie Schooler Winter and Summer and they will all be done.  The only one truly "finished" in a usable form is July, but won't it be fun to finish all the others too?  Yep, and maybe I'll make them doorknob hangers or perhaps each with be something unique.  Maybe a few framed for those seasons when I am light on decorations. Maybe ornaments, or in a wreath....the possibilities are kind of cool to contemplate.

So, here's November in progress.  I am in agreement with Linda that the colors as they really are and how they photograph on the leaflet are different.  The in person colors are a bit darker, but they are working for me and I like them.

I've also got fun news - my niece had her first child, my first great nephew, and I was able to be there for the birth.  It was more of a miracle than I could have expected, and I was so overwhelmed with love and awe that it still gives me a shiver.  He is gorgeous, absolutely GORGEOUS!

Forgive how awful I look - I'd been up 20+ hours but was just so full of energy from the experience that I'm beaming.

We also have adopted two kittens.  They were born to a feral mom and were only semi-feral when we rescued them, they were intended to be fostered by us but who am I kidding?  I needed caring for them to help me bear the loss of Emma.  I think she must be visiting them at night and telling them to be good kittens because they have really been adapting well.  They are much more affectionate and we're trying to get them acclimated enough to join Taz in the everyday home.  Until then, they have a room with a comfy chair, their taming cage, and lots of toys and food.  The taming cage is open and they only go in there now for potty time.  But I keep it for them as a home base, for stability.  We will probably take it down next weekend and put in a cat perch for them to enjoy.

This is Molly.

This is Arya.

Finally, an update

Sometimes, despite your best intentions, you just don't get things done.  Such is the case with me.  I've actually made progress on my stitching but haven't had a chance to update the blog.

So, here we go. My Saturday SAL with Linda and Debbie is progressing - I admit to sometimes stitching on these projects on other days (bad me bad me) but they are a great size for taking along in a bag.

September is done - I really enjoyed this one, fun colors and a fairly quick stitch.  Now I am getting autumn fever and want to start decorating with pumpkins and hay bales! 

October is underway and it's a lot of 3371, a lot of it but it's not vexing me as the red-winged blackbird of June did!

I missed IHSW this time, but did take a photo of my ORT jar, switched from the glass of before.  Love the mix of colors! (I also think I need to dust - LOL)

IHSW - June 2012

The June design of the Summer/Winter Prairie Schooler leaflet is vexing me. I had made SUCH good progress at the start and then somewhere, and I looked and looked, frogged and restitched and then....just could not figure out what was going wrong.

(insert very cross words and potentially some cursing)

Whew, okay, regroup.  Ever been so frustrated that you either have to put the stitching away, throw it away, or restart.  I did all three in sequence. 

Now, I've restarted.  So, this past weekend I decided to make a new start of the chart.

Here's the progress I made.

So far, no pulling out stitches and no headaches. 

But I'll be very happy when this one is done, and I hope that is soon.

IHSW May 2012 and TUSAL

I have always wanted to participate in the

Interntional Hermit and Stitch Weekend (IHSW)

but there never seemed to be the time.

BUT, this month I did take time

and I worked on the May robin

from the Prairie Schooler Spring and Fall leaflet.

I also took a photo of my ORTs/TUSAL for this month. 

It doesn't reflect all

my little thread bits because I used to throw them away, but it's rather

nice to see a little reflection of the effort.  (besides the actual project)

So look, Debbie and Linda, I am making some progress!
(please, I'm lonely stitching this)

C'mon, get started on May!