I've been having withdrawals from my sewing machine lately... it seems that all of my current projects are by hand.  The upside is that I get to work with loads of color in thread, like these beauties in Perle Cotton, size 8.

I always have a big project and a small project going at the same time.  It's nice to have options, you know?  My small project is those Christmas stockings... Christmas in July!  Each stocking will feature an embroidery work on linen and stripey piecing in the focus color, inspired by these stockings by Meringue Designs.  The other night I stitched up my first Christmas stocking with the only embroidery patch I had done (which happens to be the one for my stocking).    I so enjoyed the fast and rather haphazard piecing.  Small projects are such instant gratification!  So, I got this far when I realized I couldn't finish... because I still have to embroider my name before I stitch up the seams.

My big project (the Fairytale Patchwork quilt) is stuck in hand-quilting limbo.  Since I had so much trouble machine quilting, I ripped out my messy lines and settled on decorative hand quilting.  Just today I finished gathering supplies (after oh-so-much running around town!).   Here we are all ready for the first stitch!

Ok, less typing, more stitching.