I think I can do this . . .

The Boo Club, that is. I actually have the top two rows of border stitched, and some of the letters of "Spooky."

I was delighted when I got home last night and walked into a house that smelled of garlic in the most magical way possible. SO had made yummy dinner for us: chicken, peas, and macaroni and cheese. I left the mac and cheese for him. I am on a diet, and mac and cheese is not on that diet. And I am realizing I LIKE veggies better than the starchy fatty side stuff. They don't make me feel like sludge.

But I'd kill for a burger . . .


Anyway, hockey was on last night, so we watched that. It's nice to have a hometown team that is good, though I am not sure if they are really my "home" team, since where I live is more in the Baltimore area than the DC area (I'm not kidding you, most of the people I work with have NO idea where my county is located, other than vaguely waving west--I live in the north, but this is a small detail-- and saying, "it's over that way and you live in the country.") But, when a team other than the Redskins does well, I support them.

And the Caps disappointed us. Though Varlymov (I don't know if that's spelled right, I was stitching, not paying attention to spelling) did a heck of a job keeping the shots on goal out, the other guys played sloppy. 7 penalties. Ovechkin wasn't even doing that good. Accckk. They had better suck it up and do better. We need something good out of our sports franchises.

But I stitched. And I like these Boo Club charts. I didn't realize they were so big, til I actually started stitching. But it's nice. It's a nice change from the detailed stuff and the afghan. The thing I think that I like the most is that it's a good stop and start project; no major counting that can't be interrupted, and the individual little words will be good finishes. And I realize that I WANT to keep working on it. I can not put it down! That is huge considering it intimidated me like it did. I think I actually glowered at my boss when he came to see if I was doing OK at lunch (we moved to a new office and it's taken a little getting used to), but I was STITCHING. Happily. With hand-dyed products. And I have to keep going, in case I lose momentum. And enthusiasm.

I probably won't have this finished for Halloween. I've got too much to do between now and then, and, with the hand-dyeds, this isn't exactly a summer, take to the beach type project. I already know it's going to be a wallhanging. So that means I should start going through my stash to look for fabric to use, right? I think I have Halloween fabric . . . I think.

I am formalizing my game plan for my year of stitching freebies project. I have decided to hold off til January so that it follows calendar year, not the theatrical year it would have followed had I started after the fair, like I originally planned to. It just makes more sense, and I can spend the 4 post-fair months finishing UFOs. I should be able to put a good dink in those. I realized, with chagrin, last night that I was supposed to finish the Dimensions geisha for SO last fall, then for Christmas, then in February, and she still is sitting in a bag, waiting for her tree to be completed. I am now into my 9th year on this project This is getting to be ridiculous. She will be finished before Halloween. I swear it.