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I definitely got the quiet, relaxing summer I hoped for back in May. I think I may have gotten a little too much of this particular type of summer, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Here are some of the few things I accomplished in the last few months:

• Failed my self-assigned summer reading
  To be fair, it was a very ambitious summer reading list, especially as I don’t read as much as I’d like to anymore. I didn’t fail it altogether, though. I did reread all seven of the Harry Potter novels, read three quarters of the complete works of Sarah Dessen, and read two of the books in Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series. I just didn’t read any of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares or A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
• Did lots of crafting
  Those of you that followed my blog this summer will know about my various ventures into crafting. Sewing, knitting, cross stitching… I dabbled in lots of it this summer and have a lot of finished products to show for my work. It was definitely a way to increase my summer productivity!
• Actually began writing a novel
  Longtime readers of this blog will remember a few casual mentions of “my novel” here and there. This summer, I finally got around to actually writing it and even launching my online writing portfolio, amandaosborn.com.
• Failed to find a job
  I talked about how it sucked to be unemployed in May, and unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a job for the summer due to the increasingly poor job market. However, being unemployed this past summer wasn’t all bad. I made conscious efforts to not spend money unless absolutely necessary, and I was able to spend time doing things I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to, like crafting and writing.
• Experimented more with cooking
  I’ve always loved cooking, and for a portion of this summer, it was my job to do the cooking and making sure no one in my house starved to death. I had lots of successes, like my seafood paella, red velvet cake, and mac and cheese. I had one disaster where a carrot cake turned into a carrot souffle… but I’d rather not talk about that :P

Since completing my Celestial Gathering cross stitch I’ve started a new cross stitching project, this time one of a Parisian flower shop.

Cross Stitching a Flower Shop

It’s a refreshing change to stitch on a white canvas again (Celestial Gathering was on a dark navy one). I started working on the bottom half of the piece first. The bottom half is comprised of the storefront as well as some miscellaneous decorations around the store. You can see the blue framework of the store, and I’ve already filled in the top four windows as well as the store sign at the top. The open front door is also visible, and I’m slowly working my way through filling out the longer bottom four windows.

It’s coming along quite nicely, although I’ll be taking a break from cross stitching soon – it is rather strenuous on the eyes!

After some “sneak peaks” here, here, and here, I am proud to announce that my Celestial Gathering by cross stitch project is finally complete.

Celestial Gathering by Cross Stitch

The sun, moon, planet, stars, and borders were all done in a cross stitch, while the constellations, galaxy, and other background detailing were done in a half cross stitch. Outlining was done in a backstitch, and the little dotted stars were done with French knots.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but damn, this looks amazing.