Too much "real life"...

...not enough stitching! The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy, so I haven't done much stitching; I was a bit surprised to find I completed as much as I did when I went to take some photos.

I added a sign to my second Any Town Tiny Town building (a photo of the original shop can be found in this post):

And I found another great local shop that I think will make a really cute addition/substitution:

Once the sign on the shop was done, I worked on Hands on Design's N is for Narwhal, which is just adorable!

I've made a start on Penguin Pair, will then work on Puffin Party and hopefully make an attempt at the finishing once all six are stitched:

I had to spend a few nights in a hotel, so I took a Mill Hill ornament kit with me since working on a small piece of perforated paper is so simple:

I think I'll probably just finish this before I go back to Penguin Pair, since it's over half completed. Hoping to get back to my normal routine soon; I'm such a creature of habit that disruptions of any length are difficult for me to deal with.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Blackbird has been released

It's always exciting to see a model that you've stitched released, but this is the one I had just started when I found out that I needed surgery to have a large (9 lbs.!) tumor removed last November, so it's bringing up quite a bit of the fear and uncertainty that I was feeling back then. It's funny how much of a stitcher's life is wrapped up in their work, how some pieces will always bring certain memories to the surface. There's still uncertainty because the doctors can't give me a definitive diagnosis (they're leaning towards it being benign, but they can't state that with 100% confidence), but I hope I'm here long enough to be able to look at this piece in a much more peaceful state of mind many years from now!

This is what Nora has to say about her design process on this: "It's meant to be like she's rising from the forest floor and the different patterns represent the complexity of her nature."

So here she is, in all her glory, MD188 Blackbird:

New Mirabilia model coming soon

I'll have photos to share of MD188 this coming Thursday, but I just wanted to make a short post showing the two Any Town Tiny Town replacements I've been working on for most of last week:

I'm still deciding whether to add a sign to the purple building. The business is called Schmalz Landscaping, but the sign is separate from the building so if I add it then it will look different from the photo, but if I don't add it then it doesn't necessarily convey that this is a local-to-me shop so I'm torn.

Now I need to wait for the chart to come so I can see if these will work with the rest of the design and decide if more tweaks are needed. I'm afraid they might be a little too big and/or detailed, but as I'm the only one who has to like it I guess there's no problem.

I'm also debating whether to try to chart the Little Chute Windmill, as I think it would be a fun addition to my Tiny Town:

I'm not sure if I could get this short enough or narrow enough, but it would be pretty cool if I could...

I'll be back this Thursday, so until then have a great stitchy week!

Tiny Town number 7 is done!

We had a beautiful day here in Wisconsin yesterday, so I sat out on the patio and spent a few hours finishing Seaside Tiny Town. I added the Seaside Frill to the center (the little parade figures), and I think it is just as cute as can be:

I had to take a picture outside because I thought it was funny that the floss colors were so similar to my patio furniture:

This was stitched using the recommended CCW and WDW threads on PTP Wren Newcastle linen; I would have to say that it is my current favorite of the Tiny Towns so far. I think I'll wait until the Any Town Tiny Town comes out in July, stitch that one up and then send the three latest releases to the finisher.

Speaking of the Any Town Tiny Town, I've been working on charting my LNS to replace the shop that is in the chart and I think I'm ready to start a test stitch today; this is what I've come up with so far:

I have a couple of blues to try for the siding, and a couple of grays for the roof, and I need to pull some greens for the plants but I'm pretty happy with the general appearance. I've also been working on the flower shop, though it might still get some tweaks before I sit down to stitch it:

I'm also planning to get to work on the next three Polar Plunge charts later this week; the N is for Narwhal chart will be released as a pdf in just about 19 minutes from now, and it will probably be the first one I stitch:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!