working on deadlines

the entry for the Fire Mountain Gems Swarovski Crystal competition went into the mail yesterday afternoon

this is the picture I used -- in an 8 1/2 by 11 size

in that format it shows the detail and the colors really well (thanks Alison for confirming what I thought!)

so now we wait to hear

last time I did this they sent me a letter and asked me to mail them the actual piece because I had made the finals

I'm really not expecting that this time, but it's good to keep entering competitions to get the feed back
the quilting is done on this

and the binding is on

still need to press and get the hanger done (I'm using a piece of a tree branch as the "rod" across the top with loops, but the branch needs to get sealed first)

and I still need to stitch on the little leaf charms in the corner

two more of these to do -- and the holly ones to finish too

and I have about a week to get this all done in

what was I saying about not working right up to the last minute deadline -- yeah, right

my sister saw my comment about being unhappy with the first mitten I had done and sent me an email with a "new and improved" pattern

the pattern is very specific about measurements for each part of the mitten so the proportions of the mitten look right for each and every size -- and the sizes are much more specific than S,M,L --

I started this mitten last night (in this pattern you knit the thumb FIRST -- no knitting up a whole batch and going back to the thumbs!!)

when I got to this stage I decided it was a "keeper" and ripped out the other one entirely so I can reuse the yarn to knit the other mitten to go with this one

oh, and this is also a project with a deadline

one of these days I might actually get back to working on projects just for the art of them -- I still have trees and blue planet and the out of Africa series ----- maybe after the charity auction is over

{sigh}