Updates on:

Dream Dance Fear...  Sad that there won't be much to see on this one for a while, but at least I do love stitching blue!



And Flower Power... It's been a very long time since I worked on this one and it was a lot of fun getting it out again. 


I was so happy that I received the fabric for Treasure Hunt Bookshelf along with some q-snap extensions and new clamps right at the beginning of my Christmas break.  I was so excited to be able to start this and have two uninterrupted weeks to work on it!  I added the extensions to my q-snaps (two each on the top and bottom, giving me a 23" x 11" frame), bundled and clipped the fabric using these scroll rod covers from Amy's Sewing and Cross Stitch and some hair clips. This worked great and I was so pleased that I seemed to have tamed the excess fabric beast.  And then I stripped the knob that tightens the clamp on my stand and couldn't get it to grip the q-snap.  I would be going out the next day and figured I would stop at Lowe's and pick up a new knob, but in the meantime I thought I could just use a regular nut to hold it.  Tightening that caused the bottom of my clamp to snap off!  I was devastated... particularly since the gentlemen who made the stand has passed away and I can't get a replacement.  My whole day was absolutely ruined!  And the incident put a rather gloomy damper on my spirits for the remainder of my vacation.  I did finally manage to jury-rig something using the clamp from my Lowry stand so that I could at least stitch.  I had hoped to get more done, but time spent moping and scouring the internet for a replacement clamp (or stand) made a pretty big dent in my progress.  I managed just a little more than a page.


And here is a picture of how I managed the fabric:


The scroll rod covers were just the ticket.  The elastic on the ends helped hold the big roll of fabric on the end while also containing the excess at the bottom. 

One of the other things I did over my break was update my web pages.  In doing so I became really sad about how some of my projects have been neglected.  I have some that I still want to do but haven't touched for 10 years!!  So I wrote a query for my database to give me everything I haven't worked on since before 2010 and have decided that I am going to have a turn at each of those 19 projects before restarting my rotation.  So yesterday I screwed some metal plates onto the bottom of my clamp (which I had previously super-glued back together) and started work on Heaven Above, which I have not touched since 2007 and for a while had considered not finishing it at all since I originally started it as a memorial sampler in honor of my brother and then decided this Memorial Sampler would be better.  I will continue on it until it is finished which shouldn't take more than two weeks and it will also be nice to start 2014 with a finish (particularly since I had no finishes in 2013).

And now, sadly, I must prepare for my first day back to work.  I am really not looking forward to it...