Actually making progress!

I'm very pleased with the amount I've actually stitched this week.  :-)  Making great progress with this side of the etui.  Just the first border and quote left and it's in the books.  I'm working from home a bit over the next two weeks as I'm not taking any time off during the holidays.  I'm hoping to keep my momentum going by finishing this side of the box and finishing off my current casket project.  I'm also hoping to get some quilting in.  I have a ton of quilt WIPs and kits that are collecting dust in my sewing room and I want to make room for more!  :-)

 

Enjoy the weekend! 

 

Queen Stitch Blues

I finished off the first side of my A Petit Sampling Etui last week.  Between the Queen Stitches and the over one lettering, I thought I would never be finished!  :-)  But I'm super happy with how it turned out and I've already started on another side. 

Making great progress on the second side (by Ellen Chester I think).  This one has no Queen Stitches and only a little over one lettering.  Normally I love over one stitching but it's too hard for me to see on the train now that I need to wear glasses to stitch.  Not enough light so I have to wait until I get home and have my Ott Light to help me see. 

I also worked a bit on my current project from my ongoing casket project.  It's the pin cushion and I'm almost at the point of this project where all I have left is, yes, Queen Stitches.  :-)  We are done with the first 18 months worth of classes and so far disappointed with what I have completed.  Nowhere close to designing my piece and even farther away from being able to do the stumpwork required.  The second session starts in March and that is dedicated to the stumpwork skills.  Hoping that will inspire me to get going on the skills needed to complete my casket.  I'm planning on taking some of my income tax refund money to buy some of the materials needed to complete the casket.  Like the foundation fabric and lining fabric and papers and a ton more of the silk threads.  I have all the tools I need at this point, lamps, wood frames and stumpwork tools so I'm good there. 

In other craft news, I started making jewerly again after I got inspired from a bracelet I puchased while in Africa from the Maasi (top crystal one).  It turns out it's done in the style of bracelets by Chan Luu.  Way cool but way out of my price range.  So I got creative and made a couple.  Way cool and super easy.  :-)  I did the blue stone one and the wrap one.  I think they would make great gifts.

 

Over the weekend I picked up a new dog bed for the pugs.  Isabelle has a huge one that they love but they just get swallowed up by it (even when all three are on it) so I've been on the hunt for an affordable, smaller one for Molly especially because she is getting up there in age (she is 10) and when the floors are cold in the winter, she has a hard getting moving when she is sleeping on the floor.  Within minutes of putting it down, Molly planted herself and stayed there for hours.  Clancy got in a little while later and the two of them are now happly sharing it (Aoife doesn't like to share and wanted nothing to do with it).  Late last night I looked down and what do I see?  Isabelle trying it out.  Silly dog. 





Cross one off the bucket list! I made the summit!

Getting to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro (19,341 feet) was one of the hardest things I have ever done.  And I thought completing a marathon was hard.  That was easy compared to this!  It was both a mental and physical challenge from start to finish.  And totally life changing.  Here I am at the summit with our head guide and first assistant guide.  Without their help, I don't think I could have made it.

 My climbing buddies - my nephew Larry, one of Larry's best friends, Scott, me, my nephew Mark and our good friend Bill - taken on our safari to Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.

 

 I was amazed at the wildlife we saw while on safari - I could have reached out and touched the elephants and they strolled by our truck.

 Almost above the clouds on day two.

And the moutain herself.  I can't wait to go back.

 

And I'm looking for a new adventure. :-)  Where will I go next?