Very, very busy week, but I did get a surprising amount of stitching done. Probably because my chaise has been restored and I can once again lounge in decadent comfort while I ply my needle.

I got a bit more than usual done on Bubble Flower. Probably because I had a bit of background to work on which was comprised of only three colors. For once I was happy to be working on a monotonous section. And then came the bubble. Ah, well, back to the confetti on this one. I almost want to downgrade it from one of my "priority" projects that I work on each rotation. But then I look at it. It may be tedious to stitch, but the end results are awsome!

On Tuesday I chaperoned my daughter's school field trip to the Franklin Institute. Unfortunately, the district called a fog delay so our departure was also delayed. Fortunately, the school officials allowed us to leave at 8:00, rather than following the "rules" and waiting until school was officially open. Unfortunately, we missed the I-Max film. A great disappointment. But they still got to dissect a cow eyeball. There's my daughter with the organ in question. As you can see, she was very excited! I, on the other hand, could have done without the exercise! Although she did not get to do everything that she wanted, we did have a lot of fun and she has declared it the "2nd best field trip EVER" (after the one to Medieval Times, of course).

On Wednesday, I went to the dentist and they started work on my second crown (the first having been done last month). I was very glad I had the day off because I had an opportunity to observe a little visitor. I thought it was a cat, but upon investigation discovered a gray fox trotting across my backyard. He stopped to have a drink from a puddle on the edge of my driveway, where I managed to get a photo. It's not real good, having been taken out my bathroom window, but I didn't want to open the door for fear of scaring him off. We knew they were around, having seen tracks, but this is the first official sighting.

Wednesday night was my daughter's band concert. Here she is with her flute. Again, not a very good picture, but isn't she cute? I'm so very proud of her. She started band mid-year, but she worked very hard and was able to catch up very quickly. Her goal for next year is to be first chair! She is such a wonderful child, I don't know what I would do without her.

And now I have managed to rope her into my HAED addiction. She has started working on a Storykeep - Wolf Countess. She is stitching it with two threads on 16 county ivory aida banding and has been working on it almost non-stop since we got the fabric on Friday. She's got nearly 1000 stitches done now (twice as much as in the picture)! And vows to reach the eye today. I'm not exactly sure how the child is managing to stitch faster than me, but she is.

My other bit of work for the week is Teresa Wentzler's Celestial Dragon. This is one of my first projects -- very ambitious at the time -- and my first over-one experience (I didn't much care for it, either). I can't even remember the last time I worked on it, but I suspect it was sometime in 2005 shortly after the ex and I split. Needless to say, what was daunting back then has become a joy today and I enjoyed working on it so much I am seriously considering adding it in as a "Priority" project to my already bloated rotation!

And last, I shall leave you with an image of my crazy cat. I do not know how he manages to sleep like that!

Now I am off to put together the garden shed I purchased this weekend to stow my lawn mower in. Right now most of it is in the back seat of my car and I really need to get it out of there since the plastic smells so bad when it gets hot (and it gets really hot in my car) I'm afraid it's putting off some kind of toxic fumes! Not looking forward to it, but that and cleaning the litter box are my only two tasks for today and then it is back to stitching!

I feel like I had an extra-busy week, but when I try to remember what I was doing I can't. All I know is I didn't feel I had time to switch out projects and so worked on Babysitting for a couple extra days. I'm on the downward slope of this one and should be finishing it fairly soon. Of course, working on it only every 7 months or so that "soon" may be a couple more years!

Or maybe longer, since I plan to start Chatelaine's Mystery XIII (Peacock Garden) as soon as I work up the courage to spend the $200+ on supplies. I think I will stitch it on 32 count antique white Jobelan and will not be using the NPI. I might substitute Hand Dyed Fibers for the NPI or I might just use DMC. It's a dilemna... you spend so much on the other materials you want to save where you can, and yet it is such a huge investment you want to do it justice by using the best materials possible!

I also purchased Ravencroft's Mistress Winter and Jack Frost in the recent HAED sale and I'm itching to start it. I don't think I will be able to resist!

The next week is going to be another busy one -- although I may be able to get some stitching done since I'll be home all novicaned up one of the days! Plus the furniture repair guy is supposed to come tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed that he can fix my chaise so I can go back to stitching in comfort!

Just my regular weekly update. I don't feel like I got much done this week, but I do have two to share. First is Alpine Seasons Garden. I'm through part five on this one now. When I was taking a look at what the next part entailed, I discovered the most horrible thing -- I had neglected to save the password for Part 8!! Luckily, a kind soul on the Chatelaine board still had it and took pity upon me. I'm very grateful that I do not have to buy the whole chart! Particularly so since I am saving my pennies to purchase Chatelaine Mystery XIII. I have been drooling over it since I saw the first WIP and my desire has grown with each new installment.

Sadly, after I got so much done on Alpine Seasons, I find myself reluctant to do much stitching. Probably because I broke my gargantuan chaise and have been forced to relocate to the couch. While the couch itself is quite comfortable, the angles are all wrong and I have difficulty watching TV. And since my life is controlled by the amount of space available on my Tivo, I simply must watch TV. My deleted folder hit an all-time low of 17 programs!

So, my work on American Sampler suffered. I think I only got 1000 stitches done in about 5 days!

To all you mother's out there who are being punished for forgetting about your own mother! I'm a horrible daughter and I never remember these things until it is too late and so now I am punished and all three of my kids forget! Ah, karma.

And speaking of kids, I've noticed a couple of hits to my blog from St. John's College in New Mexico. I'm curious who this person is since I can't imagine it is my son. Could you possible make yourself known to me? If you know my son, I would love to hear how he is doing! The boy tells me nothing and usually only answers my e-mails when I start threatening to call!

So, on to my weekly update. Which is A Rose Among Thorns. The top 60 rows are now done! A pity the chart has been retired because it is such a lovely piece and quite fun to stitch.

And now I must tear myself away. I really, really don't want to, but I must mow down some weeds and kill some baby trees. I really hate doing yard work. I bought a bunch of wild flower seeds and will sow them in the back which will hopefully keep any more trees from taking root over my septic system and also negate the need to mow.

Finally I may be getting back on track. First there is The Tower of Stony Wood, one of my all time favorite pieces of artwork! It is such a joy to be able to reproduce it in cross stitch. I'm looking forward to the next go-round with this, I'm almost to the wall which hopefully will be some easy, only-a-few-colors stitching!

And that finished up the third round of my rotation, which also happens to wrap up a larger rotation of pieces marked "Favorite".

I now get to start over on the top of that list with A Confabulation of Dragons. The picture does not do this one justice. And I was extremely gratified when a friend of my daughter's recognized there was a dragon amidst the riot of color!