Hello Shepherds Bush, Goodbye Stash Budget

The title pretty much sums up the sort of trouble I got into this week...

Yesterday LMS, LBH, and I headed for Shepherds Bush.  LMS had a list of Shepherds Bush patterns or kits she was after, and I'm always good for a trip up there.  LBH decided to come along to see what it was all about.  She doesn't stitch and was pretty sure that her money was safe for the trip.  So off we went!

We didn't make it past the front vestibule before we were picking out flosses. SB was clearing out their old Needle Necessities flosses for cheap, so I picked up some pretty pink and purple flosses to do something with. I'm sure I have some cute monochromatic freebies around here that will suit the flosses just right. I also had to get one of the little Namaste sewing cases. I've loved these since I first saw them, and caved this time around. And then I picked up a little floss pallet and corner gage that are a new to me item with the SB logo on them. Cute! And practical.

The three Country Cottage Needlework patterns were on my list of things to look for and buy while I was up at Shepherds Bush. They had them, of course.  Plus I picked up one of the ornaments from Little House Needleworks 2011 series. Had I stayed with these four patterns, I would have been on budget for April...

But then I wandered around a corner, and there was the cutest model stitched up of the above pattern. Adorable! I need it! SB had the pattern and flosses all kitted up, and I went and hunted down the sky fabric to go with it. Their model was stitched on a neutral, but I was feeling something a little more colorful.

The flosses on the orange fabric were also on my list of things to buy. This is going to be this years Christmas present for my two SIL's. I already had the pattern and the orange fabric. I just needed to lay out the flosses and see what looked the best. It turns out that this is the same color of floss that I used for my boot when I was stitching on Something Wicked. I think this is going to be the project that goes with me on the Cruise and Italian adventure in June. It's simple, not a lot of flosses are needed, and small. I just need to go cut out my fabric, zig-zag the edges, and I'll be good to go.

And finally, whilst wandering around and poking into all the corners of the shop, I saw the cutest pumpkink ornament all made up in the Halloween section. I had to have this pattern too! It will be the perfect ornament for the SIL's for Christmas of 2013. I don't think I'm thinking too far in advance... Anyway, SB hah the fabric all cut out for this and I pulled the specialty flosses. There are a couple of DMC's that I need to get out of my stash, and these are ready to go! (There are three cuts of fabric because I stitch one for myself when I'm doing the one for them... This is why I have more Halloween ornaments than Christmas ornaments, even though I like Christmas better.)

LMS found the patterns and flosses she was looking for, and LBH was tempted into picking up a beginners lean how to stitch kit. I think with a little influence we might get LBH to be an addict too! Although it will be hard to get her away from that scrapbooking addiction.

On the way home, we stopped by a beading shop. LBH was looking for double spacers for a watch band project she is working on putting together. She make LMS and I a really pretty beaded watch band for Christmas this past year. I looked at everything but managed not to buy anything. I kept thinking I'd blown my budget at SB and now there really was no more money to spend on fun stuff.

As I was putting all my new stash away, I came across the Garden of Love pattern.  I bought it when I saw everyone else on the A Year of Smalls blog working on it.  I didn't really like it on the neutrals that were shown, so I just bought the pattern and the flosses.  I pulled Garden out and went to my drawer of fabrics and started to sort through them.  I found a nice bit of linen, Peach Whisper, that was left over from another project a few years back.  Ooooh, pretty!  All the flosses show up nicely on this, and the color is nice and very mottled... Even though it's looking very washed out in the photo. I think I'm going to get this one set up to work on when I'm not feeling up for Flower Power.

I made some good progress on Christmas ABC's this week. Although I did give the caroler one row too much of hair, and didn't figure it out until I was stitching the scarf. So out came the scarf and face so I could take out the extra row of hair. Two days of stitching in, one day of stitching out... Just a few quick stitches and I'll be able to move the hoop. I'm thinking there will be two or three more weeks on this before I have it finished up... and knowing how I tend to underestimate things, that really means four or six weeks.

Here is Flower Power. I stitched a lot of green the past couple of weeks. I've got all the daisy leaves and stems done, and have gone as far as I can with the stargazer lily leaves and stems. I'm working on back stitching the daisy bits, and after that I think I'll put in the butterfly before moving onto the pink lilies. There is still a lot that needs to be done before I can even start to think about being finished with this section of the pattern. I turned the flash off on my camera when I took the picture. That seems to have solved the problem of it being too pink, but the photo is a little grainier than normal. Maybe one of these days I'll figure it out.

And here is the Heirloom Nativity Sampler. I'm closing in on finishing up this band of white lace, and then it will be a section of angels and snow. I will have reached to top of the sampler when I get to that point. Hurrah! I've completely forgotten when it was I started this thing! I'm thinking it was back in 2010. But that's okay given I only work on it on Sunday. I already know what my next Sunday project is going to be. It's the nativity by Stoney Creek. But I have a year or so (probably) before I need to start gathering up flosses and fabric and what-not for that one.

I had one non-stitchy related adventure this week. On Thursday evening my left eye was irritated, so I took out my contacts but that didn't solve the itchy-pokey feeling in my eye. I went to sleep thinking that whatever it was would be washed out overnight. Friday morning, and my eye was still irritated. Off I went to work and while there the itchy-pokey became more painful, so I called up the eye doctor and made an appointment to come in right after work.

At the eye appointment the doctor did see that there was a spot that was irritated, but didn't see anything that would be causing the irritation. He suggested numbing my eye and then swabbing out the area, I agreed to it, and that's the procedure that took place. I was pretty much up for anything that made the itchy-pokey-pain go away. When looking at the swab, the doctor could identify some odd fibers that came out. Neither of us had any idea where they came from since I just work in an office type environment and hadn't been around construction sites or any such thing. He gave me some various types of eye drops and said as soon as the numbing drops wore off I wouldn't be so sure about swabbing being the right thing to do. Boy he was right!! I was irrigating my eye with the wetting drops as soon as the numbing drops wore off!

I will say that on Saturday my eye felt a lot better, if not a bit dry, so more wetting drops was the order of business. As I was getting ready for my adventure to Shepherds Bush, I looked at my mascara... It contains little fibers that stick on your eyelashes to make the longer. Ah-ha! I've discovered where the eye irritation is coming from. No mascara for me until I can get over to Target on Wednesday and buy some new stuff. Stuff without lengthening fibers.

I hope you have a great week!
Hugs and Stitches,
Kay