MONDAY, MONDAY FOLLOWING A STUDIO SUNDAY

I decided to spend a little time up in the studio yesterday afternoon.  It should have been time spent doing laundry or cleaning the house, but the last time I checked, the Queen had better things to do than come to Hoosierville to critique my homekeeping skills.

(At least that's the conversation I had with Little Mr. Fussypants this morning when he kvetched about not having a freshly laundered smoking jacket and cravat to wear after his morning bath, and that he wanted to know when I was going to learn that tea must always be served piping hot from a lovely china teacup and not, as it was, sloshed into a Clearance Bin PetSmart bowl with a "Here ya go" for good measure.)

Damn dog.

Anywhoose...progress continues on Long Spring Panel.  I am stitching this in the evenings while watching West Wing, so all I have to say about it is: Martin Sheen and Laura J. Perin for President!

(Wouldn't the world be a better place with a stitcher in the White House?)

I played with threads for this one.  If you remember, Miss Joy at House of Stitches found the perfect lilac linen for this, and I wanted the colors to do it justice.  The linen is Sprite cashel, and the colors I pulled are: Crescent Colours Purple Aster, Amethyst, and Antique Lace; Gentle Art Red Plum and Berry Cobbler; and Weeks Dye Works Taffeta and Moss.  This will probably be more of an April stitch for me,  since I am thinking about going with a purple/flowery theme for that month, but I had fun pulling the colors.

I think that this is the piece I will do once Long Spring Panel is complete.  In my head, this was originally going to be another winter tree, but upon further inspection, I realized that the little crocheted do dads that come with the chart have green in them.  They are, therefore, more bud-ish than snowflake-ish, so I am going to stick with the same brown thread for the trunk and branches that I used on the companion piece, but I'm going to switch to green as an accent color rather than the wintery blue.  

Now all I have to do is hope that Carolyn Manning will design a summer tree and then an autumn tree and my dream of having four of these will come true!

What can I say?  My dreams may be small, but they are lovely once realized.

That's it for today, kids.   I am off to the market for provisions for the week.  It's smoothies, sandwiches, and salads all the time around here, so it really shouldn't be too much of a chore.

That laundry and housecleaning, though, are another story!