Having fits!

Legends of the Dragons is giving me fits tonight. It is probably not the project's fault. I am off my game and I called it quits really early tonight. I started off by working some more on the border with the one strand of Waterlilies silk. Well, that kept knotting up on me! I got about 25 stitches done before I knew I had to quit doing that or the project would end up in the garbage. So, I started working on Wisdom, the third dragon - the one designed by Teresa Wentzler. He started giving me more fits, but honestly, not as bad as the silk was giving me... I don't mind the many blended threads. That doesn't bother me at all. What got me with Wisdom is the terrible chart. The fractional stitches are darned impossible to read!! Thankfully, Nikki, who is my SAL mate with this project, recently emailed me some necessary info she found on a BB - a list of how to read the symbols for the quarter stitches. Yikes, they are terribly done! Now, it would be easier to do this if I printed out her email, but I have not done that yet. See, I am off my game. I quit for tonight. I will print her email and put it with my chart, and hopefully next week Legends of the Dragons and I can get along better. For now, we will just accept our love/hate relationship that we are dealing with tonight - I am sure it will pass, as our relationship had been much better up until tonight :-)

Well... okey dokey - just as I thought I had some freed up time in my rotation, my linen for An Open Heart just arrived today, and Tannia gently reminded me an in email today that our SAL was set to start on 9/19.... so I am off to start another now - LOL! She wants to start on Sunday because she has a stitching get together that day - I will start Sunday too, as that is my newly freed up day....

I got a gorgeous package in the mail today from my pal Karen in Australia - she sent me the rest of the fibers I need for Taj Mahal (what fantastic colors!!), and the three new Dragon Dreams releases too - Dragon of the Deeps, There's Magic in My Needle, and To Trim a Tree! She spoilt me again! Oh my.

I got in the new issue of Stitcher's World today - it's OK, not special... I am not a big holiday stitcher, so Christmas themed issues don't do a whole lot for me.... I do like the JCS Christmas Ornaments isses as a collector's item, though... but if you like Ursula Michael, the issue does include a stunning Christmas version of her quilts on a clotheline series... very nice!

Q. Do you stitch for events like weddings, engagements, or other things
that might not last? If you have been unlucky and the two people broke
up, what happened to your stitched gift?

A. I did stitch a wedding sampler once, about ten years ago. I stitched it for one of the therapists I worked with when he got married. It was a cute Alma Lynne sampler. I haven't seen the couple in a few years, but did run into another work friend about a year ago who told me they are doing really well. So, the sampler was lucky for them, I guess :-) I am not phased by whether or not an event will last. But as an aside, I did buy a stitched sampler of Dragon Dreams' Fantasy Wedding Blessing on ebay. The seller sold it because the couple it was stitched for broke up before the wedding! I love the sampler and I figured I could use it for someone else someday - the stitcher did not put the names and date on the sampler. I would add Mike's and my names to it and keep it, but it is on aida and I prefer to stitch it myself someday on linen.

Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3 - a huge win, but at quite a cost. One of my favorite players, outfielder Gabe Kapler, got seriously injured rounding second base as he was coming in to score on Tony Graffanino's two run home run shot. Unfortunately, Gabe couldn't just have twisted his ankle... nope, he ruptured his Achilles tendon. More than likely with it being this late in the season, that is a season ending injury for him. That is a tough loss for the Sox. More importantly, though, get well soon Gabe, I hope you will be OK! (Gabe's photo is from www.redsox.com)

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden and Legends of the Dragons