An update on my recent stitching

Ok, yes, I am very delinquent in updating my blog. It's been over a week! On the plus side, this is the first of two posts today.

I have been working a tiny bit on some of my ongoing projects, but some of my stitching time is being taken up by two other endeavors:

• Kissing Pillows. These are small (~5" square) pillows with a cross-stitched front and a patriotic fabric for the back. They are given to troop deployments so that a soldier's loved ones can kiss it, and the soldier takes it with him or her. They also works the other way around, too. The soldier can kiss several and give them to family members (especially children). That way both sides will have a remembrance and a kiss from their loved ones who are half a world away. The project was started by an EGA member in Texas, and each pillow must have a very specific cross-stitch design on it - the words "I love you" in a heart with two stitched stars. So far I've stitched 1-1/2, and have several more to do. Check out the above link for a picture.
• Stitch Samples. Designer Jane Zimmerman will be coming out with a new 2-volume encyclopedia of canvas stitches in early 2008. A request for sample stitchers was sent to one of my email groups. I replied, and a package arrived last week with instructions, floss, and a 10" x 10" piece of canvas. So if you pick up this new book next year, look for my stitching on pages 164 and 174!

In case you're wondering, I'm not counting these against my challenge. I figure the pillows are gifts, and the samples aren't really a project - they're just... samples!