I love fall when it's not raining

It's a dreary rainy day here in Ohio and I'm feeling a little blue.  Made a mistake that may affect some customers and I always take those mistakes so seriously.  It's just that the mistakes were so stupid and unnecessary!  It isn't brain surgery, but still...

I haven't even felt like stitching for the past couple of days and I was on such a roll and excited about doing some quick Christmas gifts.  Hopefully by tomorrow I will come around and be the happy self I was a few days ago.

Thanks to everyone who offered me bits of the burnt orange thread I was looking for.  I appreciate it so much!  Lee, who was in town for a day, brought what she had and it was just right.  Thanks again Lee!

This is a little Mary Garry sampler I started this past summer.  The fabric is Weeks Cappuccino, thread is GA weathered barn.  

I love the color of this fabric, but not so crazy about the feel of it.  It is very soft and my stitches don't look nice and neat.  I had forgotten to start at a vertical thread and it was kind of bugging me, but I stitched up a bit to the side starting on the vertical and it didn't seem to make any difference.

There are some other Mary Garry charts I'd like to get my hands on but man, the prices on EBAY are ridiculous.  I did pick up a couple at very reasonable price, but they are not my favorites.

As some of you know, I work retail.  No, it wasn't my chosen career or a calling, it just happened.  At this time of year, it is retail hell.  I am constantly amazed by to what lengths people will go to save a buck and how little control some people have over their finances.  And in this sour economy, businesses have decided that they can make do with fewer employees, especially full time employees.  That means everyone gets very overworked and stressed, and when you think you can't do one more thing, they add on even more responsibilities.  I'm not talking about my own responsibilities necessarily, but when higher ups are stressed, it all trickles down to the rest of us.

So much for economic recovery and hiring more employees.  Big business has found they can just "make do."

Unsuccessful quest

I was unable to find a match for the Gentle Arts burnt orange thread at Just Stitching in Strongsville but I did find some other goodies.  I'm not going to tell about those for now as I plan to use what I bought for gifts.  Needless to say, I spent way more than what a skein of thread costs!
 
It's frustrating that dye lots are so different!  The dye lot I used is so bright and cheerful and the new one is so muted and much more brown than orange.  I don't understand why there isn't more consistency in the dye lots.  I don't mind subtle changes but I think this is kind of ridiculous. 

new dye lot on left

color as depicted on Gentle Arts website

Enough complaining!  I forgot to mention in my last post that I was a winner of a subscription to the Gift of Stitching E-zine that Barbara offered as a give-away.  I have my eye on some of the projects in my first issue.  Thank you ever so much Barbara!  I am thrilled to pieces.