Back stitching!

I finished the March Inky Dinky SAL block from Sanman yesterday. This time the snowman is surrounded by clover leaves. Pretty quick stitch, it was. I'm still plugging away at the trees on the right hand side of the center panel of Sleepy Hollow. They're done in Weeks. Either I got pale skeins of the colors she used, or rinsing them affected them, but the colors of the trees aren't popping like I'd like. Though, to be honest, my issue is probably that I hate doing large area of colors in overdyeds more than anything else. I know, that is wierd considering the ring pillow is monochromatic in GAST, but I think the difference is just that, in the latter, it's one or two blocks, maybe 10, where the trees are just large blobs of color. And crossing each stitch takes SOOO MUCH time. I am plugging away though. I have five more lines of carrot to do, and maybe 20 of the yellow. Trust me, I'll be happy dancing when that is done.

I realize I'm letting my freebie stitching fall to the wayside for now. I fully intend to get back into that as soon as I get that center panel and the ring pillow done. I know now that it would be impossible to stitch up all the freebies I wanted to get done this year, but I have to say this is, midway through the year, really been an enjoyable time. I knew for sure I'd have already cheated and done things that weren't free, but so far, except for UFOs and those LHN Ornaments, all I've done is free stuff. And the urge to stitch retail charts is not as bad as it was. I haven't felt trapped or that the things I'm doing are any less "worthy" than their retail counterparts. I'm glad about that. It's been a refreshing revelation.