A finish and a much anticipated start

I finished my Autumn Acorn Sampler last night, and started my first ornament for the Bride's Tree SAL. I am already behind, but I think that I can get that finished and the February ornament done quickly.

My first major Hardanger finish turned out pretty good. There are some mistakes on it. I screwed up--geez, I don't even know how to describe it, but when you form your Kloster blocks, I didn't get the direction started right. I am not fixing it. It takes a lot for me to say that, being Miss Perfectionist. But I am not fixing it. It's done. It was not an easy project. I think I did OK on the needleweaving, and my dove's eyes are alright. I want to work on getting my tension a little better so I can wrap the bars tighter, because mine are bulky, but I need to find someone who does Hardanger to ask, and, for as helpful as my LNS staff is, I don't think they do a lot of hardanger, so are not the best to ask. I don't know who IS proficient at Hardanger, though, at least not around here. SO asked what I wanted to do with it. I told him I am not sure. Money is a little tight right now, and I haven't gotten my W-2s from my part-time job yet, so it's not gonna be done any time soon. I am leaning towards a pillow for the finishing. That is simple, it's fairly inexpensive, and I can store it when it's not autumn.

I think I was able to do this because the Super Bowl sucked right up until the end last night. Even the commercials for the most part stank. I liked the Clydesdale one, but the Careerbuilder ones were heinously disgusting. Especially the one where the woman's heart came out of her chest. WTF? It was so offensive that I am seriously considering taking my resume off their website. NONE of theirs were good. And the game went so slow . . . but it was good for me. I got stitching done.

I am enjoying the ornament I am stitching. It's from the 2007 ornament issue, by Julia Lucas (thank you Jennifer for pointing out that one). I found the perfect piece of linen in my stash, too. I am going to leave off the Welcome part. I am not giving it to anyone, so I don't need it. I don't think this should take that long to get done.

I also got my new stash from Marilyn's in the mail. The piece of linen I bought for half price to do Veggies on is PERFECT. The colors look gorgeous on it. I can not wait to start this project, but I am going to wait til at least March. I am resolving to get a couple great finishes this month on some UFOs. I have so many things in my stash that I could finish without a lot of effort if I just sat down, focused on finishing them and followed through. But there is something so alluring about playing with bright new floss that playing with something I already started doesn't give me. I should get over this. I could save so much money by just finishing stuff, LOL.