I have been happily stitching away on both my PhD project and my travel projects and thought I would post a few updates. 

I'm getting to the point that I getting antsy to finish the first page of pattern of the PhD project - though it still doesn't look like much considering it is just a wall.

I also have made some progress on the "Pray without Ceasing" travel project I've been working on at Stitch & Bitch.  

I'll probably finish the skin this week - thank God, there is only so much flesh tone stitching I can take and be able to start the shirt.  My goal is to be able to finish it up while at Baby Pastor School the week of the 23rd. 

Works in Progess

About a week before Christmas I finally started on my PhD project, granted I got all about 20 stitches in before Christmas.  However this pass two week, while my parents were visiting, most evenings we would spend some time sitting around the table working on our various stitching.  Well really my mom would fall asleep on the couch but my dad would work on his project and I got some stitching done on my PhD project. 

Someday it will look like this: 

But for now it looks like this:

I've only had one problem thus far.  The chart has what I'm dubbing normal colons, overweight colons and obese colons (really bold and super bold).  I didn't realize this and ended up stitching about 100-150 obese colons were the overweight ones should have been.  If the colors were close I would have let it be but the obese is a dark grey and the overweight ones are a light blue.  And of course I didn't notice this until I had already stitched about 10 other colors so I couldn't just stitch backwards.  Oh well.  Now I know to be careful with colons.  

Otherwise I'm loving how the stitching is working up.  The colors are beautiful and on 20 count fabric the stitches are nice and full with none of the fabric showing through. 

But since this project is so huge, it is only for home.  So the other week when I was headed to Stitch and Bitch I realize that I didn't have a project to bring with me.  So I went through my stash and found a project half done in my stash.  It is probably close to 10 years old and I don't remember working on it at all.  So this will be my travel project for the time being. 

Here it is before Stitch & Bitch last night. 

Sick, and still sick

Almost 3 weeks ago now I started coughing, at first nothing bad, just a minor cough every once in awhile.  But then it started to become more persistent and deeper, more in the chest.  And I spent pretty much the entire second week of Advent at home, in my pajamas, coughing with bronchitis.

While being sick during Advent as a pastor is never a good thing, I have been lucky that with bronchitis I was pretty much just coughing and tired but no sinus, nasal or stomach issues.  And my congregation has been wonderful in picking up some slack I've had or allowing other duties to not be pressing.

But being sick does have some advantages.  I've lost about 5 pounds and with all the coughing I've been doing my abs are probably the flattest they have ever been.   I was also able to finish my youngest niece's Christmas stocking in plenty of time to get it in the mail so she will have it on Christmas Eve.

I've also officially started my PhD project with the first 200 or so stitches done in one tiny corner of my canvas.

And now 3 weeks after those first few coughs and less than a week till Christmas, I'm still coughing, I'm still tired and my voice sounds horse.  Each day I'm feeling a bit better though I'm exhausted each evening.

Meanwhile I have a new appreciation for Advent waiting.  As we are awaiting the Christ child to be born and Christ to come again, I'm waiting to feel better.  And just like how Christ comes in our hearts, it is not a sudden thing, I know I will not wake up one day and instantly feel better, instead each day my faith grows stronger, each day Christ comes more into my heart and each day my bronchitis is getting a little better.

Bob is Gone...

...and I'm home alone.

Bob, my husband, left for France last Monday evening where he will be there off and on for 3 years while he works on his PhD.  Meanwhile I'm still in Connecticut, getting used to my new norm.

My lovely dogs seem to have gotten more obnoxious about waking me up in the morning when Bob is not here, so they have pushed me out of bed earlier this past week than I have gotten up in the past with Bob at home.  Which has given me a bit of a routine which makes the day go by quickly-ish.

I've also been busy with meetings, home visits and seeing friends this past week so when Sunday afternoon came and I was free for the rest of the day, I hid in the home office and needle-pointed and watched TV.

Before Bob left, I decided that I needed my own PhD project, and Edwin Longsden Long's painting Babylonian Marriage Market seemed like a great fit. The final product will be about 4 feet by 2 feet (aka HUGE!)

But I haven't been able to start it just yet, first I must get some Christmas stitching done.  So this week I've been working on a smaller project for a swap partner on Ravelry which needs to go out in the mail by December 7 and then I'll try and get a Christmas stocking done for my youngest niece before Christmas actually comes.  But my fingers are itching to start my PhD project so hopefully I can finish up those stitches quickly.