October has been a very hectic month. My son celebrated his tenth birthday, had his yearly doctor visit, and has had trips to the orthodontist. The braces come off October 28! So only one more visit to go until for now. After all of his baby molars fall out and the adult ones come in, we get to start “phase two”. Jim and I have also been busy making Halloween costumes for the kids (but he won’t let me say what they are until after Halloween; he is paranoid about someone stealing his great ideas!) So the stitching has been a bit slower than usual. I did get a good deal of the sky done, as well as Joseph and part of a shepherd in the Nativity scene. But it hit me today that Christmas is just over two months away. When you figure in the time needed to actually assemble the stocking, I figure I need to have the cross stitch done exactly two months from today to have it ready in time for Christmas morning. I still think I can do it, but it will be pushing it. I can’t wait to get this done so that I can get on with a new project. Summer Ball will be the one I start immediately, but I also have my eye on this one from John Clayton’s Elegance series:

It reminds me so much of Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice, I just have to stitch this one as well. I already have the chart, but have not kitted it up yet. The only problem is, I cannot find a suitable lady to accompany this chart. John Clayton has such a large range of designs, but none of his ladies are in the Regency period, at least not that I can tell. Perhaps after stitching this one I will have to just chart my own?

I would love to get Summer Ball done in one year, but I am not going to push myself so hard that I start to dislike stitching it. I also want to get the deer in the woods finished for Jim (I really started to hate working on that one, so it has been put away for quite some time) and Peacock Tapestry has also been set aside for longer than I would have liked. As they say, so many stitches, so little time!

XXX
Carrie