...but it was totally worth it! It's hard to know where to start, so I guess I'll begin by saying that I was able to finish Little Tuscany Mandala with 90 minutes to spare on the last night and was able to ring the bell--woo hoo!! 🔔 Of course, about half of the attendees had already left, but that doesn't diminish my happiness at finishing in time, because I was uncertain all day whether I was going to make it. I completed all of the stitching right before the room closed on Friday night, so all I had left to do was add the beads on Saturday, but as the day wore on I really started to think that I wasn't going to have enough time; I ended up skipping lunch and dinner and just took a few small snack breaks throughout the day, and my efforts paid off--phew! Here it is in all of its sparkling glory:
Monday, July 21, 2025
It took me a week to recover from the Chatelaine retreat...
Monday, July 7, 2025
Two more sleeps...
...until I leave for the Chatelaine retreat--yay! It starts Thursday afternoon, but I fly out on Wednesday so if any travel snags arise I have plenty of time to deal with them. I've already been thinking about what I need to pack, and I'll probably pull my suitcase out tomorrow and get a start on it.
I was hoping to at least have all of the specialty stitches on Little Tuscany Mandala complete before I leave, but I'm not quite sure I can get them done in the next couple of days. It would be really nice to just have the beading left to do at the retreat, because with the room being open for a total of 38 hours, I'm pretty sure I could get this done! Here is where I am as of last night:
Monday, June 23, 2025
Coming down to the wire
I was feeling pretty good about being able to finish my Chatelaine before the retreat in just over two weeks, but then I was asked to stitch the larger Friendstitch model again (they are offering two colorways, one more muted and one brighter) and now I'm leaning towards thinking I won't get it done. But maybe I'll be able to finish it at the retreat, which would also be kind of cool, so it's all good. After my last post I did decide to move into the center and do the cross stitches there, then I started the back stitching and specialty stitches, moving from the center outwards:
Monday, June 9, 2025
One month from today...
...I will be flying to Charlotte for the Chatelaine retreat, and I am really looking forward to it! Last week I went to the DMV to get a Real ID, so fingers crossed that it doesn't get lost in the mail. 🤞🏻
I ended up finishing the second Friendstitch model a week ago yesterday, which was a few days earlier than I had thought, so I've been back to working on Chatelaine's Little Tuscany Mandala for the past week:
Monday, May 26, 2025
A bit more progress
Between my last post on May 12th and receiving two models for Friendstitch on May 15th, I was able to complete another "round" on Chatelaine's Little Tuscany Mandala:
Monday, May 12, 2025
It's finally spring!
We have finally had about a week of gorgeous spring weather here in Wisconsin, which has really boosted my mood lately, but it has also cut heavily into my stitching time. I am back to walking every day, which takes almost two hours by the time I walk the dogs and then go back out for more on my own, and now I'm trying to spend at least three or four hours every day doing the deep cleaning that I neglected all of last year. Once the cleaning is caught up, I need to get outside and finish some of the yard work that I didn't get to last fall and then get my flowerpots planted and the patio furniture out of the garage. All that to say that I might not have much stitching to share for a bit while I get my home (and life!) back in order.
I returned a Heart in Hand model last week, so what little stitching I did do was on Chatelaine's Little Tuscany Mandala:
Monday, April 28, 2025
Round and round I go
I started Chatelaine's Little Tuscany Mandala a week ago yesterday and this is my progress as of last night:
I like that this one is small enough to start with the outer border (stitch count is 119 x 119) and work my way in to the center, as it will seem to progress more quickly as I get further along. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy watching these designs come to life layer by layer, and I love the way the colors look on the black Belfast so far:
Monday, April 21, 2025
Reset button
I've been home from Tulsa for just over a week now, and this past week I have felt better than I have since the end of January 2024, when my mom's health really started to decline. I spent most of last year in crisis mode and forgot what it felt like to live my "normal" life, so I've been struggling to find that normalcy again. Taking the trip turned out to be really good for me; getting completely out of my usual environment and having a weekend with no responsibilities to anyone, human or animal, just felt so relaxing. I know I'm not done with the grieving process, but it feels more manageable now and I am very thankful for that.
I did end up finishing Hands on Design's Botanical Bee before I left for the retreat and had ordered some finishing rounds from HOD so that I could work on fully finishing them when I got home. I don't enjoy the process of finishing and I don't have a large stash of supplies, including backing fabric, so I decided to use the fabrics I had used to stitch the designs. That seemed like it would have been a bit too plain, so I decided to stitch something on the backs and this is what I came up with:
I finished stitching the backs Saturday afternoon and was able to get them laced before I went to bed:
Yesterday I sewed them together and I now have two new FFOs!