So far, so good. I am swimming along at work (have counted to 10 a few times, but yesterday didn’t hit my self-imposed swear limit, so getting better) and at home. Great amusement is had by the adults of the house, removing critical pieces of the children’s equipment like laptops they try to hide at night…I am also upping the “mean mum” stakes in expecting the boys to monitor their own cell data useage – they do not have the password to the WiFi! Oh, this is fun!

On the stitching side, I am hitting my goals and then some. For the first week of the year, the StitchMaynia 12 Days of Christmas SAL continued, so I worked on the Hands On Design chalkboard Christmas, completing the first trilogy with Be Merry & Believe:

This week is my Magazine SAL week, as hosted by Heather Stitches on Facebook (that link is to her blog, BTW). Because the 12 Days SAL finished on the sixth, I started this piece a bit early, but I have a finish. This is Country Cottage Needlework‘s  Merry & Bright from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament 2010 issue (as I brought myself the DVD via 123 Stitch in December, I’m planning an ornie for each of this SAL’s entries). I’m planning on a cube finish with present buttons added:

I did not use the threads recommended (Stitch From Stash, people!). If you want to copy, I did this 2 over 1 on 25ct ivory Lugana with the following DMC changes:

• the circle is 3364
• @ is 347
• the square is 434
• the dot is Kreinik 032
• and the half circle is 895

And as that took me only 3 days, I pulled out one of my existing WIPS, Arezzo. All that 1 over 1! Add on Nora’s doctor’s scrawl of a chart, and it can be heavy going. I find it takes me a few moments to adjust even tho I have blown the chart up and use a high-lighter. I have frogged the error that caused me to put her away and made a lot of progress over about 4 hours. I don’t know the original stitcher of this version but she did a beautiful job. Me? I’m plodding along:

And at work, my focus is to finish the stitching part of the second variation of Mill Hill Fireflies. I’ve sorted out the blue thread, and expect to have this ready to bead for Saturday: