There hasn't been much time for stitching but I'm trying to squeeze it in whenever I can. I've been working on Quakers and Quilts a bit and It's Cold Outside. I'm too lazy to get Q&Q out for a photo update but I did get around to getting a shot of It's Cold Outside this afternoon. It's coming along pretty well even though I had some frogging to do on one motif. The red overdyed thread wore off on the fabric a bit where I had to frog but luckily most of it is covered and you wouldn't know. Sorry for the wrinkled fabric in the photo :)
I haven't been doing much stash shopping - I am picking up the rest of the Christmas Rules charts from Lizzie Kate - seeing Edgar's finish finally put me over the top and I had to get them after resisting all last year. Then of course I fell in love with LK's Halloween Rules and now I'm getting those too. I don't like getting into those series where you end up paying a lot for the complete set of patterns but I just couldn't help myself. At least you get the button trims along with the patterns so that makes me feel a bit better about it. I also got a couple of French samplers I've had on my list for awhile - one is a pattern of Mont St Michel which is an ancient monastery on a teeny tiny island in the English Channel off the coast of France. I went there once upon a time on a trip to Europe and stayed overnight. It is packed with tourists during the day but at night it is only the people who are staying over in the small hotels and very peaceful. There is one tiny 'street' where there are small hotels, souvenir shops and restaurants and then the monastery up on the hill. If you ever get a chance to visit it is well worth it. The other pattern is a French alphabet sampler with a border of violets. You don't find violets much in samplers and I love them. The alphabet letters I probably will replace as they are sort of 'spindly' being mostly backstitched. Then I picked up the latest copy of JCS - I usually don't but I love pink rubrum lilies and had them in my wedding bouquet so I couldn't resist picking this up. Another "someday" project!
I'm not going that crazy over the Market reports this year - I will pick up Ann Grant from Theresa at Shakespeare's Peddler but that's about all that is really calling to me. I'm a bit relieved not to have to buy a lot more patterns this time! I'll leave you with a snapshot of the doggies - sleeping while I worked at home today. They love it when 'mommy' or 'daddy' is home all day with them instead of at the office! They have the life.......
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| Abby and Buster snoozing |