January Just Nan SAL Check In

First of all, thank you for all the well wishes on the weather here! Two inches of snow doesn't usually shut down the city, but two inches of ice almost certainly will. I've had many people who lived for years in the North tell me that they can't deal with ice, either, LOL! =)

Today is the first check in for the Just Nan Stitch Along, hosted by Zeb at Keep Calm and Cross Stitch. I thought I had a lot of Just Nan pieces hanging out in my stash, but you should see some of the lists of the others participating! Makes me feel quite sensible for once. ;) You can see a lot of eye candy by visiting this month's check-in page here. Zeb is kindly hosting all the blogless stitchers' check-ins.

As for me, I mentioned earlier that it felt like a victory just FINDING Lady Scarlet's Journey and all her pieces-parts that were scattered all over. So, I didn't get that much stitching done on Part II.

But it seems my own "journey" to track down all the supplies is not over, since the first color I wanted to stitch with wasn't to be found in the container with the other threads! If only I'd leave myself a note when I steal from one project to stitch another....

A "Great" Way to Kill 9 Hours

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Yeah. So THAT happened.

Notice all the cars on the left whose brake lights AREN'T on? That's because they've been abandoned. And the only reason there's free space on the road is because we just made our way past a couple jackknifed tractor trailers, and the road there is a solid sheet of ice. Anyone not in our lane eventually slid over to the left.

In case you haven't heard, Atlanta experienced extreme gridlock last night (and today) due to unexpected snow volume. As a Southern city in a Southern state, we don't have a lot of snowplows lying around gathering dust, so when the weather forecasters say most of the storm is going to hit South of the city, what equipment the state does have is deployed there. And then when the storm actually hits the metro area, in the middle of the day, and EVERYONE leaves at once so the salt trucks can't even get on the highways, and all the tractor trailers don't have snow tires and spin out, you end up with people stuck on the highways overnight.

We were "lucky" and got home by 1am. I considered telling you the whole epic story of Michael's three hour journey to get me from five miles away, our hour quest to find an open restaurant (FAIL), and six hour journey to travel the fourteen miles home. But really, do you want to read all that? No! Let's look at some pretty snow instead!

I was hoping to add a snowman to this view, but of course my office, although closed, "encouraged" us to work from home, even though everyone had not even made it home! They're going to be open tomorrow, even though the Georgia Emergency Management Agency has issued a civil emergency message requesting that everyone stay off the roads until noon. I'm extremely disappointed in my company! I'll be working from home again.

At least I have plenty of cookies to keep me company.

Walnut Crescents, courtesy of the Cookie A Sock Club. My next shipment arrives next week...squee!

JiffNotes
I'm just happy to be home. +10 Geek Points for getting the top graphic reference. =)

January Smalls Check-in

Today is check-in day for the 2014 Smalls SAL...and...you guys, I actually finished the (very small) small I set out to make!! It's the first Dragonlet of Dragon Dreams' 12 Dragonlets of Christmas. And I shall show you, in a stunning display of the magic of backstitching!

Before:

Cute blob, eh? There's a tree, but what's going on there??

After:

D'awww...it's a cute lil' dragon trying to fulfill his daily fruit requirement! I love how my wacky French knot makes the partridge look vaguely alarmed...like he's super glad the dragon's not ALSO trying to get his protein for the day.

IHSW Results

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This past weekend was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, and although I didn't *technically* hermit, I did get a good bit of stitching done.

Friends were in town, so the three of use doing a SAL on Spring Garden Gate got some work in...here's where mine stood at the end of the weekend.

It seems like things went so fast once those crazy faux bullions were done!

The same three of us (plus one more) are working on a Rosewood Manor seasonal Quakers...two of us are doing Summer, one is doing Spring, and one is doing Winter. I finished the first motif...

I'd normally start in the center, but the pattern "insisted" that we start in the top left corner. I did make a change so that the flowers were blue...they were supposed to be orange, but orange and I don't get along. I spent a lot of time stitching every other color in that motif, so that I'd be able to "stand" the orange once it was amid the other colors, when I finally realized no one was making me stitch this thing exactly as charted! I'm much happier. =)

I finally managed to track down the elusive Lady Scarlet's Journey!

I didn't actually DO anything to it, but it felt like a victory tracking down the piece, charts and fibers, which were in three separate places (none of which were located where I thought they'd be).

I did make a small start on my small for the month, but there's not much to see yet. (Small start...heh.)

I have to show off my Christmas present from DF Teresa (finishing provided by DF Jean):

Isn't this the coolest cuff?? There are a couple more peacocks on either end. I'm a lucky girl. =)

JiffNotes
We came, we stayed, we stitched.

Theme-a-licious February is...

Fantastical Fiction February!

What kind of fantasy creatures inhabit your Works in Progress? Or perhaps some fictional characters have leaped from the pages to your needles? Let's stitch on projects inspired by imagination.

This theme comes to us courtesy of Shebafudge! Well, her suggestion was "Fantasy February", but I thought I'd "embellish" it a little. =) Now, you have over a week to plot out your plans before our check-in on February first. Shebafudge, please email me your mailing address so I can get a prize in the mail to you. =)