A finish and a start

I took a vacation day last Friday and discovered later that afternoon that I had left my digital camera at work! Yikes! I worried all weekend if it would be there on my desk where I had left it. All was well this morning.

But that meant I could not take a picture of my two finishes from the weekend. On Friday evening I finished my first block of The Village of Hawk Run Hollow. It took me three weeks. The good news is the most time consuming blocks is finished. The bad news is, well, these blocks take forever to finish! :-) I'll post a photo tomorrow.

On Sunday I finished Autumn Arbor from the Drawn Thread. I love how this turned out and it only took me a week to complete. Winter Arbor will be next. Followed by Spring or Summer, based on whichever linen I buy next. I need a piece of Lavender Mist from Zweigart (spring) and a piece of Light Mocha also from Zweigart. I'll set up an auto search on eBay for them. I need to start saving a little money for my projects.

A charge from Needlecraft Corner hit my debit card this morning - my new Blackbird Designs' Loose Feathers are on their way to me! The new one #21 Garden of Life, should be arriving as well as two from last year that I ordered, Evergreen and Summer House. I'm already to start on Garden of Life - I ordered the floss last week and it arrived Saturday and I'm planning on using cream 32 count linen. Nothing fancy this time around as I have a yard of cream linen laying around. And it's already paid for! And judging by the amount charged, my Needle Necessities Overdyed Floss for my Marquoir ABC Bleu & Rouge are on their way also. I sure hoped I choose well. I picked the colors off their website and not in person. Drema helped me of course and I don't think she would steer me wrong. So I'm all set for the Marquoir piece as well. Only three weeks to go for the first installment. :-) I can't wait to start this HUGE piece.

Since I'm planning on starting Garden of Life as soon as it arrives, for my train rides this week, I chose an old Shepherd’s Bush piece, Violets, one of the flower folios. It’s been in my stash since 1990. I’ve already completed buttercups and bluebells. I should have this completed by the end of the week. Here is my first progress photo – not much to show because the first row of these pieces always involves a ton of counting. The flower band is always the slowest also because of all the color changes and the backstitching. I'll still be working on this part tomorrow I'd bet for sure.