resurfacing, with lots to share

Oh, what a week it’s been! Nearly everyone here at Chateau Chaos came down with a stomach bug and some of us still aren’t feeling 100% but we’re all at least feeling better than we did.

Because life doesn’t stop just because you feel awful, a lot was going on during our Sick Week.

The international movers came and took all our good stuff away. (Ugh, I lost the picture of Arden amidst the boxes!)

I finished and posted my Christmas exchange (and my partner has received it). The stitching part of the exchange was pretty skimpy because I just didn’t have any decent finishing  materials and my creativity had fled the scene, so I tried to make up for it by packing in lots of other goodies. Chris assures me she’s happy with it, but I always have such performance anxiety with these things! (This is the Vautier freebie I mentioned recently, btw, stitched in HDF Gandy Dancer silk on HDF 36 ct linen.)

I finished a UFO. This darling design, Fair, Kind, True,  is by Deborah of Midsummer Night Designs. I’ve stitched it on a high count of Lakeside Linens Tallahassee Teal using Paper Roses premium silk by Vikki Clayton. I suspect it will reappear around our wedding anniversary in May, hopefully transformed into something lovely.

I also finished A Winter’s Nap by Erica Michaels. I had to make a few changes to the suggested colors, as they didn’t show up on this ivory banding. The banding was a total PITA to work with and I’m not satisfied with the coverage, although in the end it doesn’t look as bad as I’d feared it would.

And I finished Beth Twist’s adorable A Partrige, A Pare & A Turtledove design. I converted the called-for DMC to HDF silks and stitched it on 36 ct Cream HDF linen. I also corrected the spelling because the deliberate misspelling glared out at me and detracted from my enjoyment of the design. I love this one and plan to keep it.

And last but far from least, we celebrated pakjesavond. It was a quieter affair than usual with fewer gifts, less noise, and Max’s absence was keenly felt, but we had fun anyway.

To catch up on mundane matters, my computer is d-e-a-d. Niek’s taking it work to try to salvage the lost data, but it’s a serious PITA because of course I don’t know all my passwords, usernames, etc. and emailing is a nightmare from Niek’s PC. I haven’t spent much time online due to the frustration of nothing working like I want it to, and of course because I’ve felt sort of craptastic all week.

Niek’s work visa came in and he’s now able to enter the US. He’s booked tickets for himself and the pets and will arrive in time for Christmas. Hooray!

The upcoming week will be filled with the kids’ going-away parties for school and extra-curricular groups, and I’ll hopefully see a last couple of friends (fingers crossed!). I’m cheating and buying treats for the kids’ parties, but I figure this one time it’s okay not to go homemade all the way.

Thanks so much for stopping in to visit with me!

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