WIPocalypse check-in: March 26, 2017

This month's question is: "What stitchy blogs, groups, or flosstubes do you follow and why?"

​OK, The only stitch blogs I really follow (if getting digests each week or month is the same as following) are:

• ​Pin Tangle - because I used to participate in the TAST challenge (but no longer after creating a pile of shapers nearly six inches thick over 2.5 years) and because I really really like the art blog by Sharon B and the photography blog by her partner Jerry Everard (which lately covered their Camino experiences)
• Nuts About Needlepoint - because Janet always has such interesting tips, news and interviews
• On Beads and Needles - simply because I am in awe of Karen's stitching!
• Needle in a Haystack - although, in reality, what I follow is a newsletter, not a blog. I simply LOVE this shop...

​The one "group" I belong to is a closed Facebook group called Cross Stitch Crazy which is limited to members of Yuku's (pretty inactive at present) Cross Stitch Crazy Board which, in turn is a descendant of the old iVillage forum "Cross Stitch Crazy" (now totally lost in the ether thanks to NBC-Universal's mismanagement). I am registered as a follower of the "WIPocalypse SAL" Facebook group although I don't really "follow" it that closely.  I do "follow" (very loosely) a couple of other Facebook groups, like "Take a Stitch Tuesday" and "Ink Circles Mandala Stitchers", but only in that the occasional notification from them appears on my newsfeed.

And to be honest, I had no clue what a "flosstube" was until I just looked it up! No, I don't follow any flosstubes!

Now, as for my WIPocalypse progress in March --- nil, none, zero. I didn't even pick it up today when I decided to see if I had indeed done nothing since my last check-in! I don't WANT to stitch while my hand still aches when holding the Q-snaps (and no, I WILL NOT use a frame --- I HATE frames). And the piece I am working on, "Love Is..." really isn't calling to me, nor are any other pieces in my WIP/UFO pile. My stitching mojo was practically done in by that arm break and I don't know if it will ever recover.

But we live in hope... there is a trip or two in my near future where I may take my traveling needlepoint. No frame, no Q-snaps --- it's being stitched in hand. We shall see if that rekindles the stitching flame.

WIPocalypse check-in - February 26, 2017

The question for this month is: "What is your favorite stitch other than the standard cross stitch?" Well, I'm not sure I have a favorite stitch other than the cross stitch. In fact, I'm not even sure any more that the cross stitch is my "favorite" but... the stitch I use as often as the cross stitch is backstitch, although I'm pretty sure I'm not doing it correctly when I do blackwork. As for how-to, here is the best link I can provide for regular backstitching and here is how to do it (aka the Holbein) in blackwork.

This was another stitch-free month, except for 50 minutes last night trying again to work on "Love is..." I managed to get six letters in backstitch and French knots stitched when I found out that I had stitched the last two one stitch off! AAACK! Frogging backstitch with French knots is NOT fun, I wasted an entire strand of floss in doing this, and now I have some restitching to do to cover the stitched-out linen where the old stitches were.

Still, the left wrist held up better than the last time I tried and I think I will be stitching some more, although taxes take priority this afternoon.

WIPocalypse check-in, January 29, 2017

First check-in for 2017 and not a very happy one, I fear. I tried to stitch on "Love Is..." an Xs and Os design, in mid-January after being given the "all clear" from my orthodpod and my occupational therapist that I could continue on doing my hand exercises on my own. But I failed miserably in being able to hold my q-snap frame for more than a few minutes at a time. Maybe it didn't help that the word I chose to stitch was chock full of French knots (which I hate, especially on linen) but then...

All I got done in one hour was the one word: "record" and I gave up:

I haven't stitched since. My hand is still stiff and I can barely make a fist with it in the morning. And if I use it TOO much, the thumb and wrist start to ache something fierce. I am getting stronger (I can curl a two-pound weight now) but I still am having issues. I hope to get back to stitching soon because, if nothing else, I MISS IT!

This month's question for discussion: What SAL’s are you participating in this year?

As for SALs I am participating in, I am committed to WIPocalypse as a SAL and have promised a stitching buddy to do a private SAL with her on "Cardinal Points" (A Long Dog Sampler). I've also downloaded the first band in a monthly mystery sampler from Linen and Threads. And of course, one of my long-term WIPs is the Elizabeth Almond blackwork SAL "Save the Stitches".

SALS won't be my primary focus, however. Because I have this list (from the first WIPocalypse post this year) of 12 WIPs to work on. Maybe I can tackle some of the machine sewing on that list to whittle that list down.

SALS may also take a hit from new starts. Assuming my hand returns to near normal before the year is out, that is... I have a serious case of "start-itis" lurking in the wings. There are a chart and two mini-kits arrived this week from Michael Powell (more of his Greek scenes). Add to that three needlepoint kits that I ordered last summer before the wrist fiasco... All six have color, LOTS of BRIGHT tropical color, and I really need some of that after this winter and all the monochromatic reds, blues, blacks and neutrals in the embroidery pieces in my WIP pile.

WIPocalypse 2016 - December 14

Checking in here WAY late, but I forgot to check on the full moon date!

Anyway, the final question for 2016 in WIPocalypse is: "Recap your accomplishments for the year! (Your finishes, your final before/after photos, etc)."

So here goes. No photos ...

My finishes in 2016 were scant becasue I was working toward finishing two massively BAP/WIPS.

• One got finished: the "Tropical Seas" colorway of "Roll Your Own Mandalas", which was completed in August...
• The other BAP didn't even get touched: "Save the Stitches" by Elizabeth Arnold, which languishes in the state it was on the January 2015 Wipocalypse!
• Another piece I stitched on during 2016 was my tavel needlepoint, Palm Tree Elegance", which was left with finished borders in July...
• In August, I started a birth sampler ("All Creatures") for a grand-nephew and it was completed and sent off in September...
• In September, I started a belated wedding sampler "Love Is" and left it half finsihed in October when I broke my wrist...

So, all i all, not a very outstanding year for stitchery!

My wrist is recovering, slowly, but I don't think I'm up to hand stitching or holding my Q-Snaps with my left hand quite yet. Still, I have hopes that that wedding sampler will make it to my niece before her first anniversary... "Palm Tree Elegance" may not have much opportunity for stitching since we don't have any road trips planned for this coming year. As for "Save the Stitches" - well, it may languish a bit more because I am being tempted by others to do a SAL on the Long Dog sample "Cardinal Points". The chart, 18ct fabric and threads are on order so we shall see if I am up to it...

Weeks Forty (October 6, 2016), Forty-One (October 13) and Forty-Two (October 20, 2016)

I was not stitching much in these three weeks, and when I did get back in the “mood”, I got stopped in my tracks with a broken arm! I’m scheduled for surgery on October 25 and have follow-up on November 4 so I suspect I won’t be stitching much in the coming weeks either.

This is as far as I had gotten on “Love Is…”:

I have had to drop out of an ornament swap and clearly stitching on this sampler, “save at the Stitches” or any other stitchery is out of the question for a while. I can “type” one-handed if I am slow and carefully check my spelling so I may post even with no progress. 

See you on the “other side” of surgery!

WIPocalypse, October 16, 2016 - The Hunter’s Moon

This month’s theme question is “What online stitching communities do you enjoy?”

Well, I do belong to a number of online communities and some of them are stitching-related. 

I am still enrolled in the Cross Stitch Crazy forumhttp://crossstitchcrazy.yuku.com, a closed group which is now more active in private Facebook group. I am active on the Facebook page, not in the Yuku forum any more. Having been a member of this group since the days when it was tTHE most active group on the late lamented iVillage, I feel that I know most of the people in it and feel most comfortable there. 

I am enrolled in, but inactive in, The Stitcher’s Village. I receive the newsletter and read it through but rarely participate in the forums and do not post in the galleries. I used to but as the format changed over the years, keeping up with it became more trouble than it was worth to me. 

I am enrolled in six needlework groups on Stitching’ Fingers. I receive occasional notifications, usually from the crash quilting group, but again, rarely post. It also went though a “reformatting” a few years ago and I find it hard to follow threads the way they are formatting, have found and even harder to participate for that reason. (The last I heard from Stitching Fingers was in September and the moderator/sponsor was bowing out and saying the site might close by December if no-one else came forward.)

I am also a member of Craft Bubble 2, a successor to Craft Bubble which went under some years ago. It covers all sorts of crafting but does have a needlework section in the current version. Again, the change in format has pretty much put me off and I rarely visit.

I know that I am still considered enrolled in a few others but since I never go there, I can’t remember the forum names, and in the event I get an email notification, I can’t remember my user names or my passwords so I can’t get in without a big hassle. 

I am no longer active in the Quilt Journal Project or the Bead Journal Project (which has also moved to a closed Facebook group). I decided to opt out of their challenges this past year to recharge and rethink my interest in these needlecrafts.  Primarily, however, they were just a place to post progress on the yearly challenges and not really a community, per se, in the way that Cross Stitch Crazy was/is.

I do subscribe to a large number of newsletters, thanks in part to having been a member on the now defunct iVillage.com, where I was a community leader on a cross-stitch forum. Most are from online and redbrick shops and that is how I keep up with what is new in the field. 

And I subscribe to a number of blogs written by other stitchers as well. While I don’t always comment, it feels to me like more of a “community” feel on a blog these days than on forums. Guess I have evolved form the days when I preferred forums to blogs! ;-)

Basically, I find that online stitchery communities have less to do with stitching and more to do with a) public galleries of one’s work and/or b) small talk about all things going on in the lives of people I do not know. Simply said: a lot of time for little return on the investment, in my opinion. And based on the lack of recent activity on some of these forums, I think others must feel the same way. 

~~~~~

Last WIPocalypse, I was:

• planning to have the birth sampler framed and sent off to my niece = DONE. She received it and liked it
• hoping to start on a wedding sampler for a different niece = Started but it’s embarrassing. I haven’t stitched enough to blog in October. I just seem to dislike this WIP so much. But I shall persevere!
• hoping to maybe get out “save the Stitches” and make some progress there = NOT done. The stitching mojo needs some real work!

Here is where  the wedding sampler, “Love Is…”,  now stands. Not quite halfway…

This coming month, I will continue to plug away as the wedding sampler but I make no promises!

Week Thirty-Nine - September 29, 2016

I took the birth sampler in last week to be framed and it was ready on Saturday:

Husband mailed it off to our niece on Monday and it should be there by now…

I am having to force myself to work on this wedding sampler/belated gift. It is all in red on white and it is all backstitch. Each letter has to be started individually so as to not have loose ends showing through, which is using an awful lot of floss. What is more, it is just plain tedious counting. Still, I have finished a third full strand of floss (I suspect the pattern is being a little skimpy when it called for only two skeins of the variegated ad I can see running out of the first skein VERY soon… with not even two lines of the sampler finished!) and here is where it stands right now:

I will keep plugging away at this as I really feel that, once started, it MUST be finished. But it won’t be my favorite-ever stitched piece.

Week Thirty-Eight - September 22, 2016

Having completed the birth samplerand taken it off to the framer, it was time to get to work on the wedding sampler. I chose “Love Is” by X’s & Ohs (by Jo Gatenby). It is the passage from 1 Corinthians (13:4-8a) that I read at my niece’s wedding back in April (before I took a flying header off the podium and sprained my ankle!). I thought it would work in the variegated red DMC floss called for and chose 32 ct white linen as my fabric.

However, this is as far as I’ve gotten in the last three days:. 

I hadn’t realized how much of it was backstitch, in two strands at that! And it is a constant stop and start, complete with waste knots, in order to keep that red thread from showing behind the white linen. I think I shall HATE this before it is done!

WIPocalypse 2016 - September 16

The discussion topic for this WIPocalypse period is “Tell us a story about the journey you took through one of your completed pieces.’ Sadly, I can’t answer this as, for me at least, what I stitch doesn’t necessarily reflect a story about me or it’s stitching. It just is/was… It may have traveled with me (usually a needlepoint piece) but that is just in case I am left alone in a hotel room while husband is out on his conference duties and I need something to fill the time if I’ve run out of reading material. My traveling pieces may take years to complete (for example, the last completed traveling piece was “Butterfly Beauty”, started in May, 2005, stitching completed in May 2006,  and finally finished as a pillow in January 2012!) and may have been all over the country and even on a cruise or two. But it doesn’t reflect any specific “journey”.

In my last WIPocalypse report, http://210920746822434353.weebly.com/my-stitchery-journal/week-thirty-three-august-18-2016-and-wipocalypse  I had proposed the following goal - to finish the birth sampler and send it off to my niece. Well, it is finished (except for blocking and pressing, that is):

Once framed, THEN it will be sent off to my niece… So I didn’t meet that goal… but I came close!

My next project is a belated wedding sampler for another niece. I need to kit it out, my plans for today. 

The long-term WIP onboard is the “Save The Stitches” blackwork sampler, designed  by Elizabeth Almond (in the works since February 2014). I MAY or may not get it out and work on it. 

Week Thirty-Seven - September 15, 2016

I set myself a goal to try to have the birth sampler ready to frame by the end of this week. So, once I finished all the cross stitch, I set right in to the backstitching and now have all the basic backstitch and French Knot bits done:

All that remains is the personalization, which I will have to chart out before starting.

Meanwhile, that wedding sampler  (for the wedding last April!) I ordered needs to be kitted so I can start on that. It’s only one color so it ought to move along nicely… just need to decide on fabric and color.

Saturday will be a day lost to stitchery — home football game!

Week Thirty-Six - September 8, 2016

Some progress made this week on the birth sampler, mainly on the single-stranded cross stitching of the grass and waterr, despite one night of stitching foregone in favor of binge watching the last series of "Lewis"! Only three more pairs of animals to stitch (one is started) before the backstitching. Man, do I ever dread that!

This coming weekend is going to be a real test of my mojo since there is quilt guild tonight and the Friends of the Library book sale and the Volunteer Firefighter’s “steak out” on Saturday. That means at least two days where I won’t have the energy or time to stitch. Sure am hoping to get this done and to the framers as the kid is already a week old!

Week Thirty-Five - September 1, 2016

What a week! Here I was, stitching away on the birth sampler for a great-nephew who was supposed to be born next week. Naturally, he must have heard I have deadline issues because he was born on August 30! And I am nowhere near finished. Oh well, at least I have all the data needed to finish the sampler when the overall stitchery is finished!

Here is where I stand so far - only three more rows of the sea to do in the single-strand cross stitching and a flag on the flag pole and the I can move on to the left half.

Oh, by the way, I’ve been calling it “Two by Two” and I got that wrong, it’s “All Creatures Birth Sampler”, a “lite” version of “Two by Two”! Good thing it's a "lite" version too! I'd NEVER have attempted the full-blown version for this deadline!

Back to the stitching grind-stone — there’s a lot of green grass on the left that will probably take several days (all that space in one color! AAARGH!) and several pairs of animals before I can move on to the backstitching!

Week Thirty-Four - August 25, 2016

Well, I didn’t get as much stitching done this past week as I had hoped. A big kerfuffle about someone hacking my Apple Store account took all of Friday on the phone and back and forth to Federal Express. And Wednesday night was filled with tornado warnings, tornado watches, sever thunderstorm warnings and heavy downpours. Both event tended to put me off my stitching “stride”, as it were.

But I did get some stitching done and the full cross-stitching right-hand-side of the birth sampler is nearly done:

 (what remains to be done in cross stitched water using single instead of double strands… And of course, there is copious backstitching and a few French knots on another set of charts…)

I hope to do better this next week! But then, I always say that, don’t I?

Week Thirty-Three - August 18, 2016 and WIPocalypse

The WIPocalypse topic for discussion this month is “Have you ever read any fictional books that involve embroidery?  If so, give us some recommendations…”

Yes, I have although I hate to say that most needlework-related fiction uses knitting - and a few years ago, quilting - as a theme more than traditional embroidery. In fact there is even a sewing circle-themed mystery series… But I digress.

There are three needlework authors in my “library” and I have read many of the books listed here. 

I can highly recommend the Needlecraft Mystery Series, all in paperback (a few in hardcover) by Monica Ferris (pseud. of Mary Pulver Kufeld), set in Minnesota.  The books include clever (albeit cozy) plots and well-developed characters and includes needlework patterns. (Note, even she has gone over to the “dark side", with her latest boom a knitting themed one!)

• 1.  Crewel World (Berkley, 1999)
• 2.  Framed in Lace (Berkley, 1999)
• 3.  Stitch in Time, A (Berkley, 2000)
• 4.  Unraveled Sleeve (Berkley, 2001)
• 5.  A Murderous Yarn  (Berkley, 2002)
• 6.  Hanging by a Thread (Berkley, 2003)
• 7.  Cutwork (Berkley, 2004)
• 8.  Crewel Yule (Berkley, 2004)
• 9.  Embroidered Truths (Berkley, 2005)
• 10.  Sins and Needles (Berkley, 2006)
• 11.  Knitting Bones (Berkley, 2008)
• 12.  Thai Die (Berkley, 2008)
• 13.  Blackwork (Berkley, 2009)
• 14.  Buttons and Bones (Berkley, 2010)
• 15.  Threadbare (Berkley, 2011)
• 16.  And Then You Dye (Berkley, Dec. 2012)
• 17.  Drowning Spool (Berkley, 2014)
• 18. Darned if Your Do (2015)
• 19. Knit Your Own Murder (2016)

I am a little less prone to recommend the two series I have on my iPad. The first is The Embroidery Mystery Series by  Amanda  Lee (aka Rebecca York), set in Oregon. To be honest, I can't remember if I have read any of these even though they are in my "read" file":

• 1.  The Quick and the Thread (Signet,2010)
• 2.  Stitch Me Deadly (Signet, Feb., 2011)
• 3.  Thread Reckoning (Signet, 2011)
• 4.  The Long Stitch Good Night (Signet, 2012)
• 5.  Thread on Arrival (Signet, 2012)
• 6.  Cross-Stitch Before Dying (Signet, 2013)
• 7. Thread End (2014)
• 8. Wicked Stitch (2015)
• 9. The Stitching Hour (2015)
• 10. Better Off Thread (coming Dec. 2016)

The other series I have on my iPad is the Mainly Needlepoint Mystery Series by Lea Wait, a cozy series set in Maine. I have the first three and have read the first one.  

• Twisted Threads (2015)
• Threads of Evidence (2015)
• Thread and Gone (2015)
• Dangling by a Thread  (2016)
• Tightening the Threads  (coming in 2017)

Last month, I had low expectations for my stitching this month. My mojo was gone and I was struggling to put in even minimal stitching. However, I DID manage to complete the "Roll Your Own" mandala series (Ironically, on the day the county fair I had been aiming for ended! Maybe next year!

Instead of moving on to the "Save the Stitches" blackwork sampler, I took my own advice and started something new. Even though it has a deadline of early September, I took on the Bothy Threads "Two by Two" birth sampler and, even though it is full of fudging because of counting errors, I am making some progress on it:

It is a break from all that blue and that, along with stitching on 14ct AIDA, helps. I wouldn't call it a cure for my lack of stitchery mojo but maybe it's a start...

So next month, my plan is to have finished this piece and send it on to our niece. 

Week Thirty-Two - August 11, 2016

Since I completed the last of the “Roll Your Own” mandalas, it was possible for me to get a start on something new (I simply am not ready to get back to “Save the Stitches” yet) so I pulled the Bothy Threads “All Creatures” Birth sampler kit from my project bag and got started.

Only got the two zebras done in three nights:

This may take longer than I wish! Of course, it didn’t help that three of the colors might just  as well have been “white on white”! Even on AIDA, that’s hard to see…

Oh well, it isn’t blue!

Breaking News! A COMPLETION!

I have finished something! Woo Hoo! I couldn't wait until my usual check-in to celebrate!

Here is "Return", completed:

And here is the complete series, ready to frame (man will that cost a fortune --- the stitched portion of the fabric is a little more than  a half yard!

This started out as an online SAL, organized and moderated by Tracey Horner of InkCircles There are 9 Roll Your Own mandalas. I decided I would do them all on one piece of fabric ("Iris Garden" by Silkweaver, 32 ct Jobelin) in the "Tropical Ocean" colorway.

There were a number of preset colorways available or one could design one's own (hence the name, "Roll Your Own"). Since I'm not that comfortable with designing color schemes, I opted for one already posted. "Tropical Ocean" consists of 12 DMC threads in four color groupings: Bright Green - 3850, 3851 and 959; Teal Green - 3847, 3848 and 3849; Delft Blue - 798, 809 and 747; and Navy Blue - 823, 311 and 312, all outlined in black - DMC 310.  

I started it the week of January 21, 2014 and finished on August 8, 2016! Talk about a BAP!

Week Thirty-One, August 4, 2016

The end is in sight! I finished color 11 and am a little more than halfway through color twelve (the last color) in “Return”, the last of the nine mandalas in “Roll Your Own”!

The only open areas are now the top two and the top motif on the left (the bottom motif on the left is partly finished.) which appear to be the very palest blue. The floss color is almost exactly the same color as the fabric background!

I didn’t make my start of the year goal to finish in time to enter in the county fair for 2016 (it’s going on now, in fact), but it will be eligible for 2017. I might even forego the county fair and take a shot at the state fair (Both my neighbor and my husband are promoting the latter action and since the State Fair and the County Fair happen at the same time, I have to choose 0ne — I van’t do both!).

So, by this time next week, I expect to be able to show you the finished piece! That feels SOOO good!

Week Twenty-Nine, July 21, 2016 and Week Thirty, July 28, 2016

As I said last week, I haven’t been stitching much of late. I partly blame the heat — my room isn’t as cool as much as the rest of the house and it’s been darned uncomfortable holding that yard+ of heavy fabric to stitch on. Also, my stitching mojo is pretty week — has been for a year — and any interruption (a trip to Michigan to see a historic home on Wednesday, guests for dinner and the evening on Saturday - although we did watch a great movie “Spotlight”) tends to put me further off my stitching schedule. Still, I did “force” one night of stitching this week and finished off color 9 (of 12) in “Return” of the Roll Your Own mandala series. What is more, I have roughly 25% of color #10 done as well…

With the weather forecast of more 90+ weather with high humidity to come (and no relief from rain), it’s highly unlikely that I will be productive. We can hope, though…

WIPocalypse 2016 - July 19 (two days late)

It was WIPocalypse on Tuesday and I didn’t even realize it! AAACK! 

The topic for discussion was two-part: 

“If you are participating in the Olympic Challenge, tell us about your plans – which type of challenge you’ve selected, the pieces you’ll be stitching on, etc.  If you are not participating in the challenge, tell us how this year’s stitching is going for you so far, and if you’re meeting your stitching goals so far for the year.”

What is the Olympic Challenge?  I wasn't sure so I had to look it up... “August 5 - 21: Olympic Challenge (rotation or distance or Olympic colors) The Summer Olympics will be held in Rio and will run from August 5th to 21st.  [WIPocalypse will] be hosting a challenge for everyone stitching on their WIPs to run for the length of the Olympics with three different “competitions”:  a rotation challenge (for those who like to work on a bunch of different pieces), a distance challenge (for those one at a time stitchers, or anyone else who wants to do some serious focusing on a particular piece), and a color challenge (stitch only in the colors of the olympic rings on your WIP pieces, OR… your nation’s flag).”

Well, I probably will avoid the Olympics like I have avoided politics this year. It’s just getting to be too much for me and I hate how I feel when all this brou-ha-ha is going on. Anyway, I don’t really fit into any of the three categories for this competition (I’m not doing a rotation this year, I can’t really “focus” on my mandala piece any more than I have been, and there is no way I’m stitching in Olympic colors) so… No, I won’t be participating in the challenge. 

As for how this year’s stitching is going for me…I guess I have to say that my stitching goals for 2016 are NOT being met so far this year.  Not that I made any realistic goals — I was hoping to finish at least one of my two BAP WIPs in time for the fair this summer (registration was the first week of this month) and, not only did I do NO stitching on “Save the Stitches”, but I’m still three colors away from finishing “Return” and therefor the “Roll Your Own” mandala series.  I simply have lost my stitching mojo and when I do stitch, I feel like I’m forcing myself to do so. I think that starting something new would be a good break from all these BAPs (and the color blue) but I can’t find any project I’m totally enthused about. I have found two charts that would work for a wedding gift (belated - the wedding was in April) and a birth announcement (early September), but both have the dreaded feel of “deadline” attached to them and I’m lousy when it comes to HAVING to stitch. Even they may never get done. Perhaps a long vacation from stitching is in order… but the again, it was that horrible prolonged layoff in early 2015 when I had that terrible cold/sinus infection that set this lack of mojo in place so I don’t really know. If anyone has any suggestions on how to remotivate, I welcome them!

Week Twenty-Eight, July 14, 2016

It’s hot here in NW Ohio. VERY hot. And all the rain seems to be bypassing us. I suppose I should be grateful since most of that rain comes equipped with high winds and hail but, still, the humidity should at least spawn a thunderstorm or two, don’t you think?

It’s been too darned hot to stitch, especially on “Roll Your Own” with all that spare fabric, so I really didn’t get in a lot of stitching this past week. I’m only about halfway through color #9 (of 12) in “Return”:

I did get the charts I ordered though — one a belated wedding gift and the other a birth sampler. startitis will have to be in full force once I get “Roll Your Own finished” since that birth is expected in early September… Maybe I’ll put “Return” on hold and start the sampler this week, just to take the edge off. After all, there is no rush to finish “Roll Your Own” for the fair — registration is already past and the fair is in less than three weeks…