Slowly growing grass...

...on my sampler.  (Not the stuff outside - it's been a pretty wet summer and it's growing fast!)

This week I've been filling in the grassy area at the bottom of Blessing.  I'm leaving the areas to be filled in as strawberries empty.  In the last post, you'll see that I started the strawberries on the right side, but I wasn't happy with how the stitch was covering, so I took them out.  I also thought that particular stitch (upright cross) would be more easily worked if I didn't have to count it quite so carefully.  By doing the grass around each berry, now I just need to fill in the blank spaces.  It seems I'm continually trying to take the easy route these days!  Works for me - at least I'm stitching.

Sampler progress

No, not that sampler, the other one. Since Hannah Thornbush wasn't cooperating with me, I decided to pick up the How Great the Blessing sampler from my recent class with Catherine Theron. I've made some decent progress on it in the last week or so, getting in a little over an hour each night after Erin falls asleep.

The picture on the right is where my Blessing stood after the weekend class. Here's what I've been able to accomplish since then:

Wow! Looking at the older picture makes me realize just how much I've accomplished: the trees up top, the vines at the bottom and the sides (with lots of leaves on one of them), the blue parts of the vases, and an "A". Oh - and the personalization. Yes, I've dated it. I'm hoping that will keep me motivated to finish it this year! :-)

***************************
Erin update: As of last Thursday, Erin is on cast #3. This was the scheduled cast change to allow for growth, and she did really well, now that we've figured out what medicines work for her in combination with the anesthesia.

I took a couple of pictures of cast #2 for posterity. In case any of you were wondering about it, here's one. Note the heart cut out of the tummy area. It helps with breathing and digestion, not to mention occasional belly pokes!
One week earlier, Erin came home from Grandma's in a great new outfit. Thanks, Aunt Sharon! It may just be due to Erin's cheering that the Yankees swept the Red Sox starting that day!

Yes, I'm here

You know you've been slacking on your blog posting when your (non-stitching) boss tells you she's tired of seeing the same picture every time she checks your blog.

Sigh.

I haven't been posting much because I haven't been stitching much. By the time I sat down to Hannah Thornbush (maybe for 1/2 hour every other night), I was so tired I'd quickly start making mistakes. Add that to the carpal tunnel flaring up again when I work "in hand", making it painful to finish my first temari (which would work up really quickly if I didn't hurt after only 5 minutes), and you get nothing much that's blog-worthy.

Except, of course, for Erin, who's now 6 months old. She wore her fancy dress for her "official" 6 month pictures.