It's that time of year

 About this time every year I have a really hard time concentrating on large designs as I'm constantly thinking of all the things I need to do to get ready for the holidays, and this year has been no exception. So I have mainly been working on small projects and enjoying some small finishes. The one exception was Cinderella Castle which I spent some time on last week because there was a SAL in the Disney cross stitch group on FB. The metallic floss in the fireworks is not the most fun to work with, as well as the counting being difficult on the dark fabric so I could only take a couple of days of it, but I did make some progress on them.

Before:

After:

Those fireworks are going to take a while, but on the plus side once they're done working on the castle will feel wonderfully easy!

Last Friday the final part of the Victoria Sampler free SAL was released. The base was charted with an outline and the words "Gnome Sweet Gnome", but I decided to stitch it filled in and with the year on it--a memory of one of the weirdest years I've lived through! I wish I felt like finishing this into an ornament to hang on the tree this year, but since I still have to put the tree up I probably won't get to it this year:

The other small piece I worked on was Boo to You! by Lizzie*Kate, which I stitched on PTP Haunted linen using random colors from stash:

Finally, I just stitched yesterday's square on the temperature SAL--hard to believe we're almost into the final month. I've enjoyed working on this, but I'm definitely ready to be done with it in a month:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Another mitten and a snow globe start

 A couple of weekends ago I stitched one more CEC mitten, Tartan Scottie, which is found in leaflet 348:

I used the same Silkweaver solo on opal Belfast that I used for the Cardinal Mitten, as it was just big enough for two. There is a freebie chart called Sophia's Scottie Mitten that is very similar to this one; it has a bit of a different pattern in areas, calls for a few different colors and it doesn't have the cardinal. Maybe someday I'll stitch it just for the fun of comparing the two!

I swore I was going to be good after this one and stop taking the weekends off from the Rosewood Manor model but then another design called to me and I used most of Saturday working on it. Victoria Sampler has a group on FB and they are currently releasing parts of a free SAL every Friday; this Friday was part 3 and these two cute little gnomes appeared and I just really wanted to stitch them! The chart shows them in different colors, but you are supposed to choose your own so I decided to make the male a Santa gnome (he's not charted that way):

The fabric is PTP Crystal Shadow, and I love how the sparkle looks like snow in the globe. The outline of the base has been released, but I'm going to wait to see the entire part before I stitch it--maybe this Friday.

The temperature SAL has had some ups and downs lately, being below average for a while then wonderfully above average for a week and now right around average:

It's been a while since I've done an update on Roxie, so I am happy to report that when she went to the vet just over a month ago she was down to 33.5lbs and is now right around her ideal weight. This morning she was stretched out sound asleep on the couch, but of course as soon as I tried to get a picture she woke up and raised her head (which is why one ear is flopped over -- and her tail started wagging!):

I originally thought it would take 15 to 18 months to get her to a good weight, so it was a nice surprise to get it done in just about 10 months.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

A serious addiction!

 It turns out that the little mittens by Cross Eyed Cricket are even more addictive than I thought they might be, and I spent this past weekend stitching another one. This is If a Mummy Wore a Mitten (in leaflet 350), stitched on a Silkweaver Belfast solo:

I think he's so cute, but maybe a little sad, too. I have another mitten, Tartan Scottie, ready to go, but I probably need to spend more time on the Rosewood Manor model for a while. It doesn't have a set deadline, but I'd like to have it done (or at least almost done) before a new Wichelt model comes either next month or in January so I'd better buckle down and get it done!

The temperature SAL is now 5/6 complete and I am looking forward to seeing it finished in a couple of months:

The past couple of weeks have been colder than normal--the average runs in the low to mid-50s but it's been closer to 39F. I looked at the forecast for the week this morning and saw several 60F+ days ahead, so that will be a welcome change (if it actually happens!).

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!