Alice, is this Wonderland?

"But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."

"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, or you wouldn’t have come here.” 

Well, Lewis Carroll pretty much sums up my purchasing strategy when it comes to needlepoint.  Needlepoint anything: canvasses, tools, books.  If you are going in the water, why not jump in feet first? 

This sets up an admission!  I purchased another canvas and guide and threads this week.  I am waiting to receive Ruth Schmuff's Mystery Class , Aquamarine the Mermaid.  I have no idea why I am so taken with the project.  I was clicking around on the internet (damn you, Al Gore) and I came across her.  Like a siren directly out of Homer's Odyssey, the song bemused me and I found myself running ashore.....or at least running to the email to order the canvas and kit.  Like all good sailors, I convinced fellow mate, Laurie to crash into the rocks with me!  We are excited to get the package ~ hopefully this week!

In the meantime, when I have not been purchasing canvasses, I have actually been stitching.  I have worked on three of the Funky Fantasy Flowers.  I am finished with Felicity .  I have the first two parts of Farrah completed ~ now I need to find some beads before I can move forward.  Yesterday, I started Fiona.  I made a lot of progress.  I am not doing any of the backgrounds until I have them all finished and I will choose three greens to use for the backgrounds on the various canvasses.

Fiona

Felicity

Now, I am pleased to announce that I have made some stocking progress as well.  I am finished with the background and I am working on the rabbits at the bottom of the canvas.  Judy Meyer and I had Laurie Walden give us a long and short class.  I am not sure that I have the hang of it, still.  But, I will press on with the rabbits!  I am at the point, now, that I am making progress again that I will try to push through and get to end of this project!  It is about time!

In regards to my painfully slow progress on the stocking for Henry, I again resort to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland ~The Mad Hatter to Alice,

"You used to be much more....."muchier".  You've lost your muchness."

May I??

Apparently, I am going to post once a month!!  No, I promise to do better!  I had a great trip to Memphis for some stitching at Amy's shop with Laurie, Mary, & Pam.  We had some time to catch up with Jill and that was great fun!  We also had an EPIC night at Flight that included Amy amusing us with her old fashioned whistle......we all laughed and laughed....not sure how our fellow guests received it!  Of course, there was some Gus's World Famous Chicken; not to mention a few martinis!

Laurie and I had Amy focus on the Funky Fantasy Flowers that we bought ~ it inspired Jill to go home and purchase the set for herself ~ why does that delight me so much??  Amy had some great ideas for interesting techniques and stitches for the flowers and I think we ended up with guides for all but three of the canvasses.  Laurie and I have already knocked out one each, and we are anxious to see Jill's first floral fantasy flower!  Pam worked on a Ewe and I house (most of the time) and took the final few stitches in her John Johansen Pig ~ it is amazing.  Mary worked diligently on one of her Ewe and I house scenes.  Laurie, Mary, and I all got to pick up our Tudor's canvas and first kit.  That was fun also!  As usual, we had a great time and look forward to the next time we can get away and stitch together!

As I mentioned, I finished the first of the flowers from the Funky Fantasy Flower series.  I am waiting on the background as I want to coordinate the background on the series when I get to the end, I think.  They will be different shades of green.  Here is the website photo of the series.  I will post a photo of the one that I completed tomorrow!

Funky Fantasy Flowers

Was so excited to get two more of my eggs back from Pam.  I am happy with the way that they turned out!  I really loved stitching "From Russia with Love"!

I have finished with the first kit of The Tudors series.  It was the "Anne of Cleeves" section.

So, I think we all know what this means ~ yes the dreaded stocking must hit the System 4 yet again!  Pam tried to kick start me this week by offering to add some of the nebulous boughs on the background.  Hopefully, I can work up the effort to hit it hard!  No promises!

Sleep well, gentle readers, may visions of canvasses dance through your heads!