WEATHER OUTSIDE: FRIGHTFUL...FIRE: DELIGHTFUL. YEAH, YEAH, I GET IT.

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear and I ha-rumphed my way around the house in anticipation of an all day TeeVee session over at Aunt Chrissy's. Just as the day was about to go sideways on me, a gift arrived from a dear stitchy friend (thanks again, Mr. E!) and I was off and running.

That big-a** TeeVee is EXACTLY what they said it would be, and I sat in Aunt Chrissy's living room for a full nine hours and seventeen minutes with my mouth hanging open and the drool a-flowing as we watched movies and such and I gawped my way into a full-blown headache. We both laughed as we suddenly noticed things in movies that we had never seen before...like faces! and colors! and actual real live scenery!

Who knew that our old TeeVees were so bad?

Now I just need to exercise some serious pocketbook restraint and not run right out to the Best Buys and get one for my very self. (I've decided to try a little patient financial planning this time rather than the "Oh, go buy it now and think about it later" philosophy that's gotten me through life thus far.) We'll see how long THIS lasts, especially since Stewey has decided to spend the morning on the telephone with his little cousin, demanding that every detail of the wardrobe choices of the ladies of The View be explained to him in exquisite detail. So far, there's been a lot of disappointment on this end, since all Bosco seems to be able to come up with is "shirt" and "shoes" and not one bit of other fashionista detail.

I finished the background on the Funky Santa. Before I forget...I had a question as to the designer. The canvas comes from Maggie and Co. and the actual designer is Mr. Frank Bielec His Very Self. Don't know who he is? Well, he's the lovely gentleman on that home designing show where neighbors trade places with one another and then wreck all kinds of havoc on one another's domiciles. (He's the one with the glasses). And yup, he is a needlework designer too! Don't you just love that?!

So here's how the background looks from a close-up perspective:
I really struggled with those circular areas, but Aunt Chrissy assures me that my choices look fine. At first I thought about affixing crystals (thanks for the kind offer to loan me your thingie, Miss Jane), but somehow I came up with a Fyre Werks/DMC memory thread concoction that I think looks kind of cool. What say you?

As for last evening's stitching, I started on the beard and immediately thought bargello:

Why bargello, I have absolutely no idea, but I'm thinking that the moustache will be stitched in Fuzzy Stuff or Whisper so that it stands apart from the beard. How the heck I'm going to capture that squiggly outline is beyond me, but I've got some grey Very Velvet and I'm not afraid to use it.

We're still under a heavy snow advisory here, so that means that Stewey and I will tuck into the blankets early this afternoon and I'll have to think about clearing him a little path on the back patio for him to consider before stepping out for a potty visit. I think we were supposed to get several feet of snow, but so far, only a few inches have fallen. Oh well. There's always tomorrow.

I hope that your week is off to a roaring start!