Catch Up

All last week I felt as if I was running late.   Normally I catch up at the weekend but this weekend was not normal.   First up I had all day Saturday at a Trade Show -  not my scene and among all those sales people, who was interested in those who pay the bills?

Under the shadow of the Sky City Tower in the central city, our function was held in the Convention centre and I was rather taken by these panels along the entrance corridor.

As shows go this was nothing extraordinary -  the Sellotape stand had these "people" constructed of 15 large rolls of packaging tape for each body!

We wandered through the various booths,

collected lots of goodies (my colleague Sue got more than others!)

and I got very tired.

I did sneak out and do a few chores in the middle of the day which made a nice break.
Little Sister was up staying for the weekend so there was more talk than stitching.
I made some progress on Kelly's Growth Chart -  the Lion's paw is the bottom so the end of this is in sight.  

Then yesterday the mailman brought me two kits

Alison from Scholehouse for the Needle is amazing to deal with and her carefully packaged parcel brightened my boring day at work.   Of course last night I succumbed to temptation and started one.
Only the tacking out mind you and my poor tired eyes found 35 count linen hard to see.   But I am looking forward to the silk thread and the new techniques to be learned.   The little tassel is a detached buttonhole strawberry - so very cute.

However, I will go no further than this as on Sunday my "Hardanger Stitch A Long" starts and I want to be able to devote my energies to that.   I've chosen 28 count Cashel linen for the hardanger so won't need to worry about failing eyesight!   I'm hoping to learn nine different filling stitches and am looking forward to starting.   You can see a picture of what will be stitched here although I don't intend to stitch in that colourway.
Of course this means that the Papillon SAL will have to be put to bed for a while  -  despite the best of intentions I do not succeed with rotations and function best on a one-at-a-time basis.   Even though I say that,  I have four pieces in progress at the moment.   But the HDHBEM and I are having a weekend away next month and I intend to devote that time to completing one WIP.
Hope you all have a great week.