Yes!

It was a very long day yesterday.

I didn't get home til quarter to 11. After work, I went over to Mom's to get my fair entries ready for the state fair, so she can take them over today. (Remind me, I need to make her a huge pan of Chicken-stuffed Shells in reward for this). My aunt (the fabulous finisher of my afghan) was up visiting, and they had gone out to dinner, so I had to sit around and wait til they got back, because my entries were locked in my mom's car.

The biggest part of getting ready for the fair was measuring things. The county fair doesn't use the same system as the state fair; county measures with frame, state design only. I think the state fair rules are a bit more logical, since it should be stitched area judged against stitched area. I do admit the frame issue with the county fair is why I tend to stay away from mats, since they add width and, in addition to the frame size, they can make a medium piece have to go up against large things it shouldn't be up against.

And I got to read the judges' comments on my stitching. I pretty much agree with all the comments except the fifth place ones. They didn't like my ornament because I didn't finish the back of the paper stocking. HUNH? That wasn't in the instructions on the ornament in the magazine, who would be lifting up the paper stocking to look at the back? OK. They also didn't like the finishing on the sachet, but I did my best. I can't do more than that.

And of course we spent some time laughing and talking. I don't get to see my aunt much, which is bad because she's fun to spend time with. I did find out my brother's GF has apparently seen a ghost in my parents' rental house. My aunt believes her because of some experiences that she had in the house. I am not so sure. I said it was probably my grandmother coming down, but my aunt didn't think so. I don't know; SO has to go fix something in the house this week, so I told him to watch for it, but he's probably at greater risk from my brother's dogs than the ghost.

So I didn't have time to go through my stitchy mail. 3 packages were waiting for me! I opened them before work today.

The first was from 123Stitch, and had two huck towels in it. I wanted to make sure they would work for my cat project, which I discovered is actually called Millenium Cats, by Pam Kellogg. They do work! Woo hoo. I have some ideas for how they will be. I hope it works out how I imagine it. And, when I ordered them, I couldn't resist buying By the Bay's Tidal River, which I now see is a series, PS Fall Fields (it had a fox and a squirrel--I have a horrid, insatiable weakness for foxes and squirrels), and SB Halloween Night. I figure I was being pretty good.

I also got the newest issue of WOXS, sent to me from my friend Kathy in England. It has a wonderful Charlie's Ark calendar. I am very drawn to them--I think they would make great birth announcements. There's a nice horse design in there by the guy who did the mural on the ceiling of the Georgia Aquarium. And one of Brooke Nolan's angels. I've been eyeballing these angels, but really want to see how hard they are to do before I spend money on them. So that's a great thing to see.

Lastly, a month or so, I got a mailing for the 2010 Cross Stitch and Needlework Calendar. It had a great Halloween design in it, and a picture of a squirrel. They were offering it for $11.98, and then you can get the future ones. Well, I paid $26 for last year's calendar. I liked the squirrel and the Halloween design. And there was a Nora Corbett that's nice. why pay full price for something I'll end up buying anyway, when I can get it at a reasonable price? So that came and was waiting last night. It was $15 with the shipping. Not too bad. I am itching to do that Halloween design, but at least I have it now!