Ever feel like a project is cursed?

After Christmas I was able to send back the models that were currently in the house (two Nora Corbetts and a Meridian Designs), so it was time to relax with my conversion of L&L Enchanted Alphabet. The little girl was all done, so stitching letters with a single variegated thread should have been super easy, but once again all was not well...

When I first started this project it was because I had bought the fabric and was looking for a good design for it, and EA looked perfect. Then I chose a great floss from The Thread Gatherer, which mimicked the colors of the flowers painted on the fabric and made it look like the letters were also growing in the garden--so far, so good.

Then the troubles started: first, after stitching three letters I became very concerned that I wasn't going to have enough of the limited edition floss to do all 26. Cece at TTG agreed to try to reproduce the floss, but earlier this month she returned the skein and said she couldn't do it. After a bit of panic, I went through my collection of Waterlilies and found a floss that was close enough that with some careful cutting of the "good parts" I would be able to make it blend. However, I did finish 13 complete letters and a small part of the 14th with the first skein of floss, so here's hoping that the remaining letters aren't any larger and that the second skein will be enough for all of them.

The second problem was when the white pinafore landed squarely on a patch of painted flowers, which made a large pink splotch in the white. A few buttons alleviated that problem enough that I can live with it, though I'll always see that splotch:

The third, and probably worst, disaster is when I realized that the 32ct fabric that I bought was in fact 28ct. On 32ct I was going to have 2" borders at each side, which was a bit tighter than I usually like but worth it to use this piece of fabric, but on 28ct I was now going to be over an inch short of fabric on the right side--ack!! After another bout of panic I sat down with some charting software and played alphabet Tetris until I was able to come up with an arrangement that fit all of the letters on the right side. I also rearranged some of the letters on the left to try to even out the two sides and so that I could fit the little bunny in the design:

He's now in front of the little girl, instead of behind her (and he has a fluffy white tail, though it doesn't show up very well!):

So, I now have eight more letters to do, and I am obsessively keeping track of floss as I go, so wish me luck!

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful New Year, filled with all of the things that make you happy!

Can't settle down

This time of year is always stressful, as aside form the usual chores of cooking and cleaning you add in shopping for and wrapping presents, and putting the tree up and decorating. This is my husband's busiest time at work, which involves a LOT of travel, so it falls to me to "do" Christmas at our house. I'm always relieved when December 26th rolls around!

Speaking of my husband travelling, I have to share his latest "adventure": he was about an hour into a drive to Cleveland when a high-speed chase came up right behind him, and just as the driver of the car being chased came even with him the police threw down road spikes and all four of hubby's tires were flattened at the same time. He had to cancel the trip for that evening, but his customer enjoyed his story about the reason for it!

Here at home I'm having a bit of a hard time settling down with one project; the extra time needed for holiday preparations means stitching time is curtailed, and I seem to spend the time I do get waffling around from piece to piece without actually getting much done. I did finally decide on some buttons to use on Enchanted Alphabet, to help blend in the pink spot on her skirt:

Then I thought that maybe a smaller project would keep my interest, so I started Mirabilia's Portrait of Antique Vines using some Silk'n Colors to change out the pinks. Here is what the original looks like:

Here are the greens I'm using:

And here's the latest progress:

I was actually doing pretty well sticking with it, but then Joan Elliott released a new design and it really called to me; it's called Fairy of the Wind:

I ordered it last Monday as soon as it came out, and received it Friday afternoon. After a weekend of stitching here is what it looks like:

I'm changing a few of the colors out to make it a bit softer, so hopefully that will work out the way I see it in my mind; always fun to play!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week (or at least enough stitching to stay sane at this busy time of year)!