Goals, Goals, Goals....

I am still at it again tonight... this band still has a bit of a way to go :-) Geez, I promise I will photograph this outside in daylight someday so you can see the actual color of this gorgeous fabric (which looks like stone... browns and grays....). But it seems every time I take the photo it is about 11 PM and I lay it on my kitchen table, turn on the lights, on goes the flash... and voila! Another overexposed photo - LOL!
I will review my August goals today, and post my September goals -
August Goals
1. Finish Petal Fairy SAL with Karen K. - yes, Happy Dance!!
2. Continue to work on Mermaid Heaven SAL with Jenn and Amy - yes, almost finished the first page of the chart
3. Continue to work on Earth Angel SAL with Jenn - yes
4. Continue to work on Legends of the Dragons SAL with Nikki - yes
5. Restart Catherine Agnes SAL with Karen V.- no, I still have not gotten around to this, and hope I am not disappointing Karen by not getting on with it, because I know I am disappointing myself
6. Continue to work on Angel of Love - yes, managed to get one evening in
7. Finish Story Time - yes, Happy Dance!!
8. Continue to work on Miracle Butterfly SAL on NTBB - yes
9. Continue to work on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow - no, none at all this month
10. Continue to work on 17th Century Irish Garden - yes, it is now my 'at work' project and is beginning to move along well
11. Continue to work on Celtic Band Sampler SAL with Dani and Katrina - yes, and lucky Dani and Katrina finished theirs this month :-)
12. Continue to work on Little Wings - no, sadly, did not fit this in at all this month...again
13. Start Resting Butterfly when Petal Fairy is finished - no, totally changed this goal... started stitching Convent's Herbal Garden instead
14. Start House Samplings at work when Story Time is finished - no, totally changed this goal too and decided to finish 17th Century Irish Garden at work first...
***I rejuvenated an old UFO this month, though - Lanarte's Girl with Cat
September Goals
1. Finish Celtic Band Sampler
2. Finish Miracle Butterfly
3. Start Celtic Winter SAL with blogging pals
4. Continue Mermaid Heaven SAL with Jenn
5. Continue Earth Angel SAL with Jenn
6. Continue to stitch on Convent's Herbal Garden
7. Continue Legends of the Dragons SAL with Nikki
8. Continue to work on 17th Century Irish Garden at work
9. Continue to stitch on Girl with Cat
10. Continue to stitch on Angel of Love
11. Maybe start Garden Spots Sampler with Jo, just have to check with her to decide on a start date
***I anticipate that with wanting to finish two projects this month, Houses of Hawk Run Hollow, Little Wings and restarting Catherine Agnes are not going to happen at all... :-(

Q. What do you use to hold your fabric while you stitch? A hoop, a Q-Snap, a scroll frame, something else, or do you stitch in hand? Have you always used just the one thing or have you tried one or more of the others? Which do you like best? Why?

A. A little bit of most of these.... I started out using a hoop when I was very young, but that actually kept me from stitching much... I did not like (and still don't) how it leaves such deep round creases in the stitching. I prefer a Q-Snap overall, but also recently started using scroll bars within the past year... for some projects they work well. I learned the hard way, though, that you cannot add beads and then turn the scroll. The beads go all askew. Ouch! And, sometimes, if the project is small enough, I will stitch in hand. But I do much prefer a firm tension on my fabric and therefore find Q-Snaps to be the best option for me... and with all the extenders you can buy now they work for just about all but the tiniest of projects. I know they make really small Q-Snaps, and I have one, but boy do I get hand cramps when I use that one.
Well.... I got in my Monthly Bits fibers today from Stitching Bits & Bobs... and if I am not mistaken, their value is less than what I paid, so this month didn't go too well at all... a small size skein of Gloriana silk in Bellagio, a skein of Needle Necessities floss in 116, a skein of the new Northern Lights silk in Iris Blue, and a skein of this new Divine Threads rayon floss (??) in #27.... I checked the envelope twice thinking I may have missed something in it... but no, this was it this month. I wonder what happened. SB&B is usually quite fair... oh well, will consider it a boo boo this time around.

I also got in the fantasy charts I had posted - so I will ship out that two that were spoken for in the next day or two - so you two ladies can watch your mail for your choices soon :-) And, I got in the order with Tropical Dream and Waterfly (which included DD's new Evening Fairy freebie from Charlotte - which I am extremely excited to have received)... and I got in the silks from Victoria Clayton for Garden Spots Sampler... when it rains, it pours, I guess - pretty much everything I am waiting on came in at once :-) This is good, because I have spent the day being angry and sulking about the rising gas prices. (I see no need for the ridiculous hike and it is hurting many people I know... including me, as many of my patients are letting me know they cannot afford the gas to come to therapy as often any longer).... so how did I cheer myself up? Sigh... I got this really pretty fat quarter of opalescent belfast from SMF... their September Colour... called Midnight Sparkle, which Mindy describes as close to DMC 823 with sparkle... like a midnight sky. Cool!

Oh, and some very, very good news! Another LNS does not actually close after all!! I got a newsletter in the mail today from Enchanted Stitcher up in Somersworth, NH. They are re-opening at a new site, sharing space with a shop called The Poppy Seed...and will continue to do phone and internet orders! Woo Hoo! Nice to see the shop was saved!

Red Sox 7, Devil Rays 6 :-)

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden at work, and Celtic Band Sampler...hmmm... three days in a row with this combination.... will tomorrow make four?? :-)

Oh goodness, what a nice thought... one more day to go and then four days off :-)