A Few Setbacks

Well, it's been one of those weeks again, where things just don't go as planned. (I have a lot of those, I know.) Haven't been feeling well since Wednesday. Don't know if it's the weather or stress at work, but it really affected my stitching Thursday and Friday, so Scale didn't get as much attention as I would have liked.

As for drama this week, lets see: First there was the mouse in my kitchen Wednesday night (second time this year); Second, my neighbor's apartment caught fire early Saturday morning, and while I was very fortunate in not getting any damage to my unit, I did get an apartment full of smoke. That was not cool, since my apartment is full of fabric, but it could have been a lot worse. Thankfully, it was a fairly small fire, and the firemen got here really quick.

So I guess I should get to the stitching, right? Okay. Last week I pulled out my R2 Silhouette, which I did work on last year but never posted any progress pics here. In fact, it appears I didn't take any pics of this at all last year, and of course, I forgot to take one before I started. So, here's a pic taken after Monday's session, and the final pic for the week:

I started this week working on the satellite and the foliage around it. My goal was to get the middle scene done, and I think I got most of it in. Now I can focus on getting the legs finished next time. I'm looking forward to the shape of trees forming as I go. :)

Since there wasn't much progress on Scale, I'll save her for next time and show you another of my wips that hasn't seen the light of day in a while.

Two years ago, my mother bought me a Riolis kit I just had to have for my birthday. I really love the scene, but I've barely worked on it at all. Partly because of the fabric (stiff aida), but mostly because of the chart. It's a large full color chart with lots of similar symbols, and the result is like some psychedelic painting that hurts my eyes. Recently, I've put the fabric onto a new frame (an Elbesee Easy Clip frame, great for stiff aida) so I decided to have another go at the chart. It's still difficult, but since I've resigned myself to not highlighting (it just blends right in) and am now using black marker to blot out what I've stitched, I actually made some decent progress today. Again, I don't have a "before" photo, but I worked mainly on the gentleman's cravat and shirt sleeve:

This was only my 5th day on this project, which is really shameful, but I think I've worked out my blockages with this pattern. I would have stitched more, but my right arm is bothering me quite a bit. (It's always something.) I guess what I really need is a bionic arm! Then I could get some decent stitching done. ;) Until then, progress is really slow on this one, but seeing part of the pattern take shape is really galvanizing. I can't say I'll be working on this all the time, but it's not going to sit in a corner and collect dust without getting touched, so I'll call that a win. :)

And on my Temperature charts, I now have three months done!

I was really bummed to have to break out the dark blue for the first of April. It hasn't been this cold in April in a really long time, and it's snowing again today! Hopefully that will change soon. Until then, I'm still waiting to use my orange. :)