Catching up...

I haven't had a chance to get on here and update, so I am a bit behind. I haven't actually worked on my main project at all. I feel terrible about that, but I am not surprised as I have been busy with a lot of other things.
I have gotten the last badge finished for the West Kingdom cloaks. Thank goodness! I did both devices with split stitch as the main background and I used chain stitch and stem stitch for details and outlining. I think it will put up with wearing and some abuse. We shall see :)
I have also gotten the lace started for my friend's wedding and I have about 5 inches done so far. I had to do a repair already as I had a baby pull one of the bobbins and break the thread. Oh well... I have tied in a edge and center gimp using Caron Watercolors in a green variegated. Her colors are green, white and blue, so I will use blue ribbon to attach the lace to.

One of the main reasons I am behind schedule is that I have spent the past month helping my daughter's Girl Scout Troop get ready for "Thinking Day". This is a yearly event where the girls focus on learning about scouts from other countries, and the challenges that can be faced by scouts and the world population in general. Our country focus this year was Kenya, so we made painted shields, learned a hymn is Swahili, and even made some Irio (good Kenyan food!) for the girls to try. Our troop covers all ages from Daisys (kindergarteners) all the way to Seniors (high schoolers) and we tend to try and keep our activities open to all activity levels as we also have some special needs girls as well. It is worth every minute of time away from my projects to help the girls learn something new and have a great time :)
My daughter Genni painting her shield :)

(added later...boy...) I also forgot to mention that it was my month to teach a class for our needlework guild. So on top of everything else, I had to assemble 20 Sashiko kits and handouts for a class in this particular style of Japanese embroidery. It is cool stuff actually, and it is pretty simple, but very striking. Here is a cool site to get a basic overview of how to do it http://www.purlbee.com/sashiko-tutorial/. I get most of my supplies at http://www.shiboridragon.com/sashiko.htm ....there you go :)

So anyway, I do have a lot to catch up on and time is starting to get crazy. My intent is to actually get the smocks mostly assembled by the end of next week, and get the blackwork cuffs strongly started....we all know what intentions are good for... :P