*steps up to the mic, taps it once for testing, and then clears her throat to get started*

Hello, one and all, distinguished stitchers. It is time, once again, for the State of the Stitching. You'll be pleased to know that I have lots of progress. You won't be pleased to know that it's on only one thing mostly, and that I forgot to upload a picture of something else I finished.

The Starts/WIPS pile:

This quarter involved only one new start. I have a good friend who is going to have a baby in August (well, his *wife* is having the baby, but you know what I mean) and I was compelled to start a baby sampler for them. The details of which I will not share with you at this time. After all, I know he reads this blog from time to time, and I don't want to give away the surprise element.

Now, onto the WIP pile...Desiderata ceased to be a WIP and is now in Restart status. All I have to do for that is cut the fabric - something that I have been putting off and putting off simply because I have good intentions and then get distracted. So, hopefully sometime this quarter I'll cut the fabric and restart the project. I'd really like to get working on it since it's such a wonderful piece.

Guardian has made some leaps and bounds since last we saw it. The last time anyone saw Guardian, it had some woeful progress - I'd earned it a border, and a little more of the dragon. In fact, it looked something like this. But I've had some time to spend on it, and I've indulged my drive to finish the darn thing. I think it's because it's that time of year that I usually take on a model job, and I'm compelled to get as much done before that lands in my lap. Of course, the model may be delayed slightly this year and there's no pressure, but I won't tell my psyche that if you don't.

So, prepare to be impressed with progress! The latest picture of Guardian is here. Yes, that is backstitching that you see... and there is some sparkle in the water, not your eyes tricking you to some very light spots or hints of bad photography. Not impressed? Oh well, *I* am impressed with my progress and that's what matters to me.

And that's really it for the WIP Pile.

Finishes:

Oh yes, this was a quarter for finishes!

First off, I finished the Shimmering Mermaid. Finally. That was early in the quarter, so many of you had already seen it on the boards. I was so happy to have it done, and now it sits and waits for a frame while we figure out where it will reside in the house. I suspect the final destination will depend on how I frame it, so for the time being, it sits.

Oh, you want to know what it looks like, right? It looks something like this, but with darker, richer colored fabric. I wish I could photograph that fabric halfway decently, darn it, so that the gorgeous color just glows.

Shortly after that, I finished the Knotwork bookmark, but sadly, I forgot to upload the picture of it. Never fear, I can share that picture later on or something if you're really interested, but since it was the choose your own color sort of thing, I'll probably submit it on the TWBB and folks will see it there. But I apologize for not having my picture. You will be pleased to know that it's already in service and has temporarily resided in no less than 3 books so far.

The one new start for the quarter also became a finish. Again, not sharing a pic yet. But I will the minute I ship it off to it's new home, all framed up and pretty. That was the last finish chronologically for the quarter, but not the last finish.

Just before that I finally finished Whiskey Creek's Tooth Fairy Box. I'd never worked on perforated paper before, nor had I made a box like this, so it was a learning experience as well. I'd started the box last year on the trip to Vegas for the big worldwide TWBB get-together/family vacation and put it down when I got home, proceeding to work on anything but. Then B decided to have a loose tooth that was threatening to fall out at any minute and I started working feverishly on the box. Unfortunately, I didn't finish before the tooth fell out, but B waited until it was ready to be able to use it for the submission to the fairy.

Our Tooth Fairy loves to give those gold Sacajawea dollars, and this box was just the right size for it. Unfortunately, the box doesn't allow the Tooth Fairy to leave notes anymore, because it's too small for them. But I'm sure that where there's a will, there's a way. Heee.

Goals for the year:

Thankfully, because I stated them in this blog, I didn't lose them in the big EzMess. So far, we've had finishes that I said I wanted done - Mini-H, Shimmering Mermaid, The Phoenix. There's a baby on the way that I wanted to stitch something for, and that got finished too (all I need is the baby's birthdate, and that's still a month away).

The Dimples RR is done, and my piece made it home for a short bit, and then shipped back off again to someone who couldn't stitch on it during the round. Hopefully I'll have that back soon, and can work on it and get it on the walls.

I've made significant progress on Guardian - I may actually even finish him this year, which wasn't a goal, but it could easily be.

I have not, however, done anything to put together a "kit" to start stitching a Christmas stocking for DH, and I don't know if I'll be able to finish one in time. We'll have to see.

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So there you have it - the Q3 State of the Stitching. I'll update progress mid-quarter perhaps if anything in the state has changed - I know more of you like to hear about my stitching, as requested in a blog a little while back, so I'll make an effort to mention it here and there a little bit more.

Until then... Happy Stitching!