Catching Up

I'm on vacation!! Like everyone else, you'll ask, "Where are you going?" Well, most likely, home! Oh, I may go to the beach for a day or two, but no reservations or real plans for that, yet. I LOVE being at home, and doing projects around the house, when there's time. I don't particularly care for doing 'weekend' projects that have to be done in a rush to get all cleaned up before going back to work on Monday.

Yesterday I worked on my latest cross stitch project. It's the cutest Halloween graph I think I've seen... Monster March by Glendon Place. Did I make a mistake deciding to do it on black? Maybe - it's quite hard to see, but I do think it's going to be great! I'm not the fastest stitcher, but it's coming along. Want to see the progress I've made? Here are my DMC threads...

... and here is the fabric on a scroll that my DF, Cora's (who taught me to cross stitch) hubby made for us many years ago!

As you can see, it's just started, but hopefully before Halloween it will be finished. If I had to guess, I'd say it's about 1/4 finished.

The last time I went blogging, I learned about Orts. Some people say they're Old Ratty Thread, but the other definition is small bit or leftover scrap. I suppose it's a bit of both, but I knew I had to have one. With some of the clearing out, I found a bowl that would be just right for my Ort.


What else? I saw the cutest pillow the other day that I thought would go with my new decorating plans, but didn't want to pay what they were asking (trying to be frugal with the new decor), so I picked up some fabric while Hancock's was having their sale, pulled some from my stash, and it turned out like this... No, it's not exactly like the one I saw, but it is unique! I'm still working on the slipcovers, as you see a little here, as the urge strikes ;-) I also recovered a bolster to match the base cover ...

and am working on another one. I wasn't quite sure what color fabric I wanted to use, so I went to the closet to find a form, but all I had were square and rectangles. There was an old pillow there that had been used for sham stuffing at some time, so pulled it out and rolled it up, took the quilting baster and pinned it together ...

Voila - a bolster. Isn't it nasty looking? I was working on putting a muslin cover on it, and the thought struck -- why not use the muslin as it is 'intended' and make a Crazy Quilt cover?

This was at about 3:00 a.m. this morning, and it was time to stop.

Did I show you how the sofa started out?

...and here's how it's coming along

How about the stool that goes with the vanity?

... I have some ric-rac to go around the seam line, but I'm not sure it's the right color ...

Here's the end table that I've refinished...

It's one that I got at the Re-Habitat store. It has a glass top that fits into the opening on the top, but it's not in there now. And the coffee table? It's the next refinish project.

And so... you see where my vacation leads. Hopefully it will get done, but still here I sit. And I'm going back to BlogLines to finish seeing what you've been up to.

I took a few shots of the vacated bedroom and my craft room, but I'll wait until progress is made before I show them. Yuck!!

Say hello when you have a chance! I know summer is a busy time for all.