OES and ASCA

I picked up Old European Sampler again and am making a little headway on it, as you can see:

For some reason or another, I'm having trouble keeping momentum going on this one.  I think the main problem is that I'm falling out of a cross stitching phase and into an embroidery phase.  This happens once in awhile.  The other problem is the colors -- and yes, I did choose them all by my lonesome.  Blues are not my favorite (this goes back to grade school and 8 years of navy blue plaid uniforms -- yuck!  To this day I run screaming if I see navy blue plaid) but I really like the blue/brown combo I picked.  It's just that the colors don't hold my attention while stitching all those x's --- Zzzzzzzzz.  I've got a few different stitches in there but apparently not enough to keep my interest.

However, I will finish this piece because it's going to be so pretty and I will be really happy with it once it's done.  I know this.

I also worked on the beagle puppy but forgot to take a picture - duh.  Basically, I stitched more of the basket, so not much interesting going on here.  I still haven't picked a collar color.

Keeping with the beagles but going off stitchy topic a little here, the dogs and I were at an ASCA (Australian Shepherd Club of America) agility trial over the weekend.  Since when did you get an Aussie? you ask.   Ummm, never. I reply.  ASCA allows all breeds, including mixed, to enter their agility trials.  This was only our second ASCA trial.  We had an excellent time and since all the dogs are in the novice (beginner) class, we had lots of qualifying runs (Qs).  Willow (10 yo beagle) had the most runs (4 each day) and got 6 Qs out of her 8 runs and her first ASCA title (woohoo!).  Shasta (4 yo beagle) ran twice and Qd both times.  River (8 yo papillon) had only one run and Qd it (he can't handle the heat so I only entered him one day in the morning).  Stormy (13 yo semi-retired little brown dog) had 2 runs and Qd both of them (way to go old man!).  Marcy (50-something yo human) ran 13 times and was (is) exhausted!

May your week be filled with laughter, stitching and puppy kisses.

A young Stormy flying