Stitching 2010: 2 x 5200, no 310

Remember this guy? Now he has eyes. I sewed on a couple of Mill Hill Beads instead of stitching them. Says Kreinik Krab: "Here's looking at you, kid."

And the whole project--done, done, done. A good start (or end) for the first day of the new year. ("July," by Prairie Schooler, stitched mostly with the recommended DMC fibers, one over two, on 40 ct Legacy (I think). Kreinik added on-the-fly, along with two beads. I'm going to be doing more on-the-fly substitutions--it made it extra fun.)

I am quite unremorseful about my stitching habits, which are messy and undisciplined. I acquire stash and charts willy-nilly, kitting up as I go. Who knows what I might want to do on the second Tuesday in July, when a new start calls to me? Today I had a Michaels 25% percent off coupon, good for the entire order instead of just one item, so I took myself off to Michaels, where I kitted up 8 designs I've been contemplating for New Year's starts. At this point, skeins of DMC at Michaels are 35 cents, and my coupon brought them down to 26 cents. I got 145 skeins of DMC after standing at the rack for ages, kitting up one design after another. (Woe to the guy behind me in line calling to his wife: "Let's get in this line, Honey; she only has one item!" I filled him in on the fact that the cashier would scan each separate skein label for inventory purposes, so he and Honey found a new line.) I noticed the store was sold out of the Christmas red and greens and for some reason, although there were multiple slots for it, there was no 310. Put your hand up if you don't know what color 310 is. Now I can understand being sold out of the Christmas colors, but why a run on black? Fortunately there was plenty of white in all its variations, blanc and 5200.

Here's one of the charts I kitted up: Silver Creek Samplers' "Holy Moses." It's 128 stitches by 575 stitches high, and I'll be using Lakeside 40 ct in buttercream I think. This has been a hard design to see online; here is a shot of the top and bottom of the design, in case you've been wanting a closer look. I'm not 100% sure I'll start it immediately, because I also kitted up LHN's "America," The Sampler Company's "Yellow Birds Sampler," Hillside Samplings' "Hillside School of Handworke," The Cricket Collection's "All Through the House," The Vermillion Stitchery's "The Wisdom Sampler," Carriage House Samplings' "Patchwork Cats," and a 1989 Stoney Creek design called "Ice Boating." I'm going to Kreinik the heck out of Ice Boating, with its starry night sky, snow, ice, evergreens and bright houses. It'd be the perfect Christmas stitch!


Pink: "I can't believe I just heard her talk about stitching for next Christmas."
Elvis: "zzzzzzzzzzz......."