I Failed at Stitch From Stash....Again

   Yes, I failed again!  I really thought I was up for the challenge this time but it was, once again, not to be.  I went crazy after market at the beginning of March but I thought it would be okay.  Last year, there was a skip month and I thought I would just do that, make March my skip month, and move on from there.
   Turns out there is no skip month this time. And I was so out of bounds with the spending anyway that I would have had to not spend another penny for the rest of the year to make it legit!!!   So,  I am just spectating now and feeling a lot less guilt about my inability to turn a blind eye to all the fabulous stuff I see out there.  Let me just say that Facebook is not my friend!!
   I have just about recovered from my terrible illness with the exception of the cough.  I am tired of it and apparently so is DH because he made mention of how long I have had it, several times!  I am back to my normal routine and then some with the impending nuptials and with the wedding only 2 weeks away, things are heating up fast!!  I need to do a really good spring cleaning with all the out of town guests we will have but I haven't been able to talk myself into that just yet!! LOL!
   I did manage to get the sampler I was stitching for my friend's birthday finished and it was only about 10 days late.  I was disturbed by the fact that it was late but what can you do?? I don't think things would have gone any more quickly had I stitched while ill and under the influence of drugs!
   She received it yesterday so I can show it here now.  This is Isabella Wood by Lindsey Lane Designs.

40 ct Weeks Cocoa with the listed threads

   It was a fun piece with lots of different stitches, some of which I changed and some of which I moved around to suit myself.  I didn't feel too guilty about this since the instructions did say it was an adaptation.

This center section of strawberries is supposed to be all Queen stitches.  I've done Queens on 40 ct before and it is hard!!!  Those little cross-bars don't have enough room to lie straight so they crowd the space and look crooked.  So I only did the top strawberry in Queens and changed the others.
  Finding stitches oriented in the right direction was the first challenge.  But I persevered and managed to work it out and not have to repeat the same stitch on more than one row. The stitches I used, in order, were Queen, Tied Upright cross, Four-sided, Diamond eyelet, and Diagonal Rice. Very fun and I'm glad I did it this way!
   While I was working on the above sampler, I saw a post on Facebook of Hannah Pepper that someone had converted to the muted colors of the original sampler.  I saw that and a light bulb went off in my head!!  I started Hannah January 1st as my New Year's start and had barely started it before I began having color issues with it and set it aside.  Now, I have made a conversion to over-dyed cottons (which is what the sampler I saw was stitched with) and have restarted this sampler.  I haven't had a lot of stitching time lately but will try to get enough done to be able to post a picture soon.  I am loving it so far!!!
   Well, that's about all for now.  The kids are home this weekend to finalize some of the wedding stuff and we will be celebrating DS2 birthday which was yesterday.  Busy, busy times but the stitching is keeping me sane, I think!

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