Barely breathing but here . . .

Ughh! Worst cold in 5 or 6 years!

I can't say I am actually recovering yet, but today it seems like today, it has stopped getting worse anyway. I guess that is something!

I haven't made much progress. You would think if you were sick you would have more time to stitch, but it didn't work out that way. I was too sick to even do that!

Before the cold I made a little progress on Peace in the Country. (click to enlarge).

(Sorry about the shadow. I can't seem to get rid of it).

I finally got out of the grass which is something anyway! I finished up the lady and added another sheep. Then I went back up to fill in on the hills that I hadn't finished.

After that I did the orchard. This part was murder! The trees were all backstitching with lots of counting for the different directions on the branches. The leaves were all lazy daisy stitches, and the apples were all French knots!

Then I worked a little on the border to give myself a good reference to start the angel.

I finished up the angel wing and did a tiny bit on the hair and dress.

I will be happy to finish this one up. It seems like I have been working on it for a very long time!

On the rug, I finally finished up row 52 today. This row took a lot longer than it should have due to the cold.

Still here in the grass . . .,

but atleast now I have a little man and three sheep to keep me company!

I also have half of the woman's dress done there. Soon I hope to be out of this grass! It is driving me crazy! There are very slight changes to the color with blended needle and half stitches that are very time consuming.

Still working on the rug. Very slowly ! Here is a picture of the end of row 51, beginning of row 52:

. . . and so it goes.

I am always thinking of the next project, more correctly the next 6 projects!

One that I have always wanted to do is The Old Aviary, which appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly.

This is an expensive project. The design is laid out over 4 issues of the magazine. There is a large piece of 40 count linen required, and all the silk threads! Pricey!

I decided to use part of my gift certificate from Petra to purchase the magazines. Down Sunshine Lane had three of them, and I got the remaining one on ebay.

I have a lot of odd silk threads in my stash and I wanted to use them if possible. The pattern calls for Soie d'Alger and Silk 'n Colors. The Soie d'Alger, I can match fairly easily, but I have not been able to find any conversion, anywhere, for the Silk 'n Colors.

I do not necessarily need an over-dyed silk. The single color silks are just fine with me.

Does anyone know of a match for Silk 'n Colors: Latte (9710), Old Lace (111), and Spring Blush (9711) ?

Of course if you have the colors, it is easy enough to make a substitution, but with just the description, it is tough.

I would love to hear from anyone else who is working on this. Of course, I am a ways off from starting this project, but it would be nice to have it kitted.

What a Surprise!!!

Just imagine my surprise when I read in Petra's blog that I was the winner of her birthday drawing!
Then the next day I got an email that my prize was a $50 gift certificate for Down Sunshine Lane!

Well, it is safe to say that I am over the moon about this!
Thank you sooo much Petra! I am just thrilled!

I have already spent over an hour pouring over DSL's website. Quite the fortunate dilemma I will have trying to decide what to pick!

Time for an update

February so far still has us in the grips of winter. This morning the temp was about 15F. Brrrr!

I know that doesn't sound cold to my Canadian friends, but we are used to it being about 10-15 degrees warmer here!

Here is a picture of my dwindling woodpile. My poor hedge in the background is completely eaten by the deer!

We started out the winter with what I thought was more than enough wood, but now, only halfway through the winter, we definitely will have to order more. Somehow the price keeps going up and up! I don't quite get that. It is quite high now. Last time I ordered, I couldn't find a cord for less than $200 (unstacked).

On the stitching front, I have made very slow progress on Peace in the Country. It is very slow-going with a lot of color changes and backstitching. I am really tired of working with greens! I will be glad when I can move on to the angel.
Now, on to the ever-growing rug!

I haven't worked on the rug for the last two days. I have had to scrounge for more wool. I searched all the local places with no success. I put out a call to my local freecycle. No luck! I finally decided to use some of the pieces in my stash that I previously decided not to use. I will have to find a way to make it work, (just like they did in the old days)!

Here are some pictures of my progress:

Completed row 46, beginning row 47

Completed row 47, start of row 48

Completed row 48, start of row 49

Completed row 49, start of row 50

Completed row 50

I know these are boring pictures and they don't give you an idea of the rug size, but the rug has gotten incredibly heavy. It is very hard to move around. The only way I can work on it is to have it folded over.

Here is a background picture of the tiny dining room:

You can't tell from the picture, but the other side of the rug falls down to the floor.

Quite the mess eh?!