The starting bug

With the finish of Sunflower House I got the starting bug once more. Actually I don't think I've ever got rid of it but I've managed to keep it at bay! However it took over in full force. What to do, what to do? As you can see from the picture above, Halloween was calling to me. This is Jardin Prive's  Quaker d'Halloween . You can't see the fabric very well in this pic but it's a very soft 28ct linen by Kiwi Illusions called Kauri. I'm trying to use up some of the fabric in my stash and loved this one when I dug it out. It doesn't show up all that well but it has a very nice mottling to it. The only problem I found with it was that the black wasn't covering very well at all so I switched to using 3 strands rather than 2. I don't like stitching with three but it covered much better and I'm happier with the looks of the piece now. This one seems to be stitching up fairly quickly. I've only worked on it for an hour or so on Saturday and then for a few hours on Sunday.

Earlier this week I managed to finish off the stitching on my gift to a fellow blogger and all that remains is the finishing. Today I also completed the finishing on my exchange piece. For the life of me though I can't find the trim that I want to use on it. I've searched everywhere for it. I had it out to show to a friend and it seems to have gone missing since then. I want to get this piece mailed off so if I can't find it in the near future, I'll be substituting with something else.

The only other stitching I have to show you is my Canadian version of LHN America. I dug this out again yesterday. I was determined to finish off the stitching on that house. As you can see, I got it done plus a little bit more. Once the fence was stitched I discovered that it was up one line too high. There was no way I was going to frog things out and start over! So the fence now has one extra plank added to the bottom of it.

I'm hoping to stitch a bit more on this one this evening at my Tuesday SAL. I'll also be taking a former coworker with me tonight. Karen has been trying to get out and join us for some time now but she is one busy lady with a young family that keeps her otherwise engaged! Finally she has a free evening so she'll be picking me up and joining us tonight. This coming Saturday I'll be hosting an all day SAL at my home for all of the Tuesday group. So far I think there are about 12 who are able to make it out here to our home in the village. It should be a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to it.

One other new start has been calling out to me this week and that's Paradis Perdu by A mon amis Pierre. I ordered silk conversions for this one and settled in to get started on it last week. I've already run into a roadblock. The silk conversion for DMC 934 is just too dark. I'm using Vicky Clayton Hand Dyed Fibers and the conversion they list looks more like black than the darker green. This one is used for a good portion of the foliage in the design so I frogged out what I'd put in and checked my stash for a substitute. No luck! I'd love to stick with a silk for this colour rather than going back to the DMC. Is there anyone out there who can tell me what is a good conversion for this colour?

Startitis seems to be taking hold firmly because I also have Plum Street Samplers Gobble all ready to go. I'm trying to hold off until I have my LHN Canada done but with Canadian Thanksgiving coming up in less than three weeks, I'd really love to start this one. Not that I'd ever have it finished by the holiday but it would definitely put me in the mood!

It' been a very busy week past for us. My DH and I spent a good portion of our time in the city last week. Bob gave an organ recital this past Sunday so rehearsal time occupied a lot of our time in the city. While he practised, I ran errands and went shopping. I managed to grab this picture while I was running around. Our church is in Chinatown in Ottawa which this past year put up a beautiful arch to announce your entry into the area. The arch is 12 meters tall and 12 meters wide. A team of 26 Chinese technicians and artisans came from Beijing to assist in the construction, decoration and painting of the arch. The blue panel in the arch has Chinese characters which say "Ottawa Chinatown". Five special metal coins were embedded in the arch as a tradition to bring blessing. The oldest coin was discovered in the Tang Dynasty with over 1000 yr history!  The lions on either side of the arch guard the gateway into Chinatown.

In the picture you can see the church where Bob plays, which is in the background and is almost dead centre in the arch.

That about covers everything here for now. It's turned out to be a lovely afternoon so I'm going to head into the gazebo for a little bit of stitching before Karen picks me up for the evening. Have a good week!