Missed it by THAT much!

I couldn't quite finish Nativity Tiny Town last night, though technically I guess I did finish it because the Nativity Frill is a separate chart and that's the part I haven't completed. I have to say that I wish the wise men had been designed a bit smaller so they didn't appear quite so disproportionate, but I understand they were made that way because they needed to "fill" their own design space if stitched separately.

I'm hoping to send this one and two other completed towns to a finisher to be made into drums soon, and once it's in drum form, I think the size difference will not be quite so obvious.

This should be finished later today, and I'm still not sure what I'm going to work on next. My guys are travelling this week, so I have the house to myself and I'm planning to get some spring cleaning done (though it's snowy and windy outside right now!), so I probably won't stitch very much this week.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Taking shape

Nativity Tiny Town is progressing well; the top of the manger is the halfway point, so I should pass that sometime this week as long as I can at least stitch for an hour or two each day:

I'm in love with the critters and can't wait to get to the camel; I really hope Cecilia does an animal tiny town at some point because her animals are just so cute!

Hands on Design's Ladybug Picnic arrived a few days ago and I have all the threads now, so I've picked fabrics for it and Botanical Bee:

Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind if another option comes to mind and I like it even better than one of these!

I really need to start thinking about starting a Chatelaine design soon if I'm going to have any appreciable progress by the time the retreat comes around in July. I was going to start Rose Lights, but now I'm thinking about Little Tuscany Mandala. I've had the supplies for years now, and it's small enough that I could probably get quite a bit finished by July:

Just this past weekend I signed up for another retreat, this one in April at The Silver Needle in Tulsa with Amy Bruecken and Weeks Dye Works. I'd been toying with the idea of going for a while but had decided not to, and then the deadline to sign up passed about a month ago. Recently I saw Amy mention on FB that this would probably be her last class, and I regretted that I would never have a chance to meet a designer whose work I enjoy so much. Then last Thursday I got The Silver Needle's newsletter and they said four spots had opened up due to cancellations, so I called the next day and signed up! We will be dyeing linen, thread, wool and velvet to make this project (or something similar):

I'm very excited for meeting Amy, working on the project and being able to look through the shop, and it's really nice to have something fun to look forward to in less than a month now.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Unexpected good mail

Last Thursday night I finished Heart in Hand's More Any Town Tiny Town, so now I only have six more towns to stitch to get caught up! 🤣

It's stitched on PTP Demoiselle Belfast with the recommended over-dyed threads. I was planning to use petite beads for the stained-glass church windows, and then I decided I'd also use them for the theater marquee:

I'm using the same fabric for Any Town Tiny Town, which I'm stitching again as charted since my previous version was personalized with some local buildings, so Friday morning I put the fabric back in the Qsnaps and was ready to go. Then the mail went and I got a surprise package from Cecilia with some of her Market releases, including Nativity Tiny Town, and I had to change my plans and start that right away! I stitched a little bit Friday night, not much on Saturday since I had to make a trip to my LNS for a few of the threads, and not at all on Sunday, so I'm not very far along, but I'm hoping to make good progress this week:

The fabric is Zweigart's Stormy Night Newcastle linen and I'm using the recommended over-dyed threads. I think I'm going to add the wise men to the far right of the design, since they're traveling from afar.

These are the other charts Cecilia sent:

It was so nice to receive a pleasant surprise, as I'm having a hard time dealing with some of my mom's affairs. The USPS has still not correctly forwarded her mail to me after four in-person attempts since December 16th and I feel like I'm living out the definition of insanity--doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. One of her tax forms never got to me because of the mail issue, so now I'm stressing about that because of the time factor...ugh! So, a gift of stitching was much appreciated, both for the charts themselves and for the kindness behind them.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Almost time for Market releases

As a stitcher, this is an exciting time of year with Nashville Needlework Market happening this coming weekend. The older I get and the larger my stash gets, I find myself not adding a lot to my wish list, but I will be getting a few of the Heart in Hand releases. The one I'm most excited for is Nativity Tiny Town, and the corresponding Frill:

Cecilia is also releasing Bumblebee Etchings, of which the bee is my favorite part:

I did stitch the skep for her on 20ct linen over-2 with pearl cotton #5, which she had finished as a pillow that is just as cute as can be:

Another design I'm looking forward to is Ladybug Picnic by Hands on Design:

Last year I had picked up Cathy's Botanical Bee at a retreat but hadn't gotten around to stitching it yet, so last night I pulled it out and went through some fabrics looking for a couple that might work for these designs:

Once I have all the floss I'll make a decision, but I'm hopeful that at least one of these will work for each piece. I've commented on Cathy's FB post that I would love to see a firefly in this series, so maybe that will strike her fancy and happen in the future.

I'm currently still working on Heart in Hand's More Any Town Tiny Town and passed the halfway point once the tree to the left of the toy store was done:

I'm hoping for a finish this week, then I'll decide what I feel like working on going forward. Murphy finished his pain meds last Friday and seems to be back to normal, so I'm hoping to get back down to my craft room soon so I can finally do some more stitching on Mirabilia's Merry Merry.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!