Trying to Focus

Hi all! I've got a short and sweet update today since I've been trying to focus on just a couple projects this week. Hope you all are well and staying healthy! Work has decided to extend our quarantine another few weeks, so I'm doing my best not to go stir crazy. :)

First, I have to show off my progress on Luna. I've really been neglecting her since my move last summer, so I've been trying to do some focus stitching to help reach my goal of finishing the row by the end of the year. I haven't shown her since the end of January, but I didn't get much done in February either. But here she is now:

Not bad, eh? I managed to finish off 4 full columns and 2 half columns in the last 6 days. I think all the confetti in the lace part of her dress killed some of my joy for this project, but after powering through that, I had some very easy stitching all the way down her arm. And I really do like the patterns in her dress, so maybe all that frustration was worth it. :) I'm still not caught up to where I should be, so another week of focus is in her near future.

I had planned to spend a lot of my quarantine stitching working on various projects to help catch up or even finish a couple things. I managed to do that for about 3 days, then began going through stash (for inventory purposes) and pairing charts with fabric, then going through what I'd already kitted, etc. etc. You get the idea. Finally I broke and had to start something, so I decided to start Shades of Red by Northern Expressions Needlework:

I think I kitted this up in 2015, and I had planned to start it immediately, but then kept pushing it back.  It's one of those I've had on my mind every year since then, so it's no wonder I finally caved. And now I'm obsessed. This is my first geometric design, and it's really addictive. I love all the motifs and the way the design builds on itself, weaving all the different bands together. The colors are fantastic too; just two colors of Belle Soie silk, Tulip and Cranberry. I'm stitching it on plain 40ct Cream Newcastle, which has a nice creamy yellow tint that's impossible for my camera to capture. I'm still torn between continuing on this or going back to all my other pretties. We'll see.

That's all for now. I'm trying to resist making any more starts, though it's really hard. Hope you all can find some tranquility in your stitching. Stay healthy! Until next time!