Stitching Over the 4th

   Hope you all had a wonderful 4th!  Ours had some excitement for a while since all eyes were on Arthur and where he might be going. But we only had some thunderstorms and heavy rain overnight and frankly, it didn't even wake me up.  If The Hubs hadn't told me it had stormed, I probably wouldn't have known!!
    Son #1 was home for the weekend and although we didn't see too much of him while he was here, I think he had a good, relaxing time.  I don't know how me manages to live in a semi for 6 weeks at a time.  I would be stir crazy and seriously, the bathroom or lack there of, would be a real issue for me!!  He went back out yesterday and he says he isn't going to stay out for so long this next time but he said that last time so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
   I did manage to get some good stitching time in while hurricane watching, etc.  I put in my weekly stripe on One Nation.

Technically, I haven't done the one for this week yet so I think I will pick this one back up after I finish this post.
   Most of my time was spent with Summer at Hollyberry Farm.  I have really enjoyed working this piece but that house is huge!!  I changed some more of the colors (Surprise! Surprise!) but I did  manage to get the upper floor in and more of the border down the left side. Love that Lancaster red!!

  I have been admiring the Randje per Week group on Facebook for quite a while now.  It started in January and is half way done now so if I was going to join in I really needed to get a move on!!  I ordered the banding a couple of weeks ago and it had come in so I started working borders after I finished the work above.

I'm working it on 32 ct banding with Needlepoint silk and I got all of this done in a couple of evenings.  I wasn't sure about the coverage in the beginning so the first few bands are done in Smyrna cross.  I may work some of the later rows in different stitches too, just to keep things interesting.  Another color comes in a little further down the design as well. This is the first ten rows and I think this week row 52 was released.  So, if I can put 5 or more rows in each week, I should be caught up in no time!!
  Once I had my fill of stitching borders, I got out the piece I needed to pre-stitch for a class my sampler guild is having.  We had someone sign up late so I gave my kit to her and just pulled supplies out of my stash. So, mine will not look like everyone else's.  Add to that, I changed some of the colors... and moved some of the colors around to other places, more of some, less of others.

Please excuse the shadow. I think it's my hand!!

The linen in the kit was cream, which I did not have a scrap of in 32 ct so this is either natural or flax, I'm not sure which.  It is for a Sandra Sullivan finishing class and although smalls are not usually my thing, probably since finishing is my nemesis, I signed up anyway to help out the guild.  And if it turns out terrible, I am going to see the Finishing Fairie at the end of the month and she will fix it for me!!!!
  To wrap up this report, I pulled the Blackbird SAL piece back out.  I had been thinking about it for a while so I knew I wasn't totally done with it. Plus, I am really trying not to make any more UFOs and it is a sweet piece, someone will be happy to get it as a gift down the road. So I tried the darker color for the large (supposed to be eyelet but I'm doing Smyrna) alphabet and I think I like it. I know I like it better than before!!

  So, there you have it.  I have managed to stave off the summer stitching slump so far.  I feel like I am really making some progress on my current rotation.  I have a gazillion more to finish and probably 10 times as many to start but I figure if I don't get hit by a bus tomorrow, I'll at least have a chance of making a dent in my ginormous stash!!  I have seen a lot of people selling off their stash lately, I don't think I am ready for that yet.  I'm still adding to mine (OMG!!) and get excited when new charts come out. Just ordered 2 new ones from With Thy Needle and Thread this morning!!!

Hope you're enjoying your stitching as much as I am,  Laura