I'm peaking in, since I do get the digest and see that Joan has mentioned my name. I know that Joan intends to enter the foxgloves bell pull at her county fair. I would hope (but suspect it might not work out) that she could enter her hollyhock bell pull at the same time; I might persuade her to hold off and enter both at the same time next year.
I've been working on a couple of Mirabilia designs - Stone Roses (just beads and ribbon work left) and Lady of the Flag (just a bit of a hair color change, then backstitching and beads left); I set both aside to stitch Marie Barber's blue and white floral teapot, which is also almost finished, with just a few more cross stitches and backstitching to do.
I've been dealing with dry eye for the last couple of years, so I have some really awful days during which I can't do much of anything - except pour the drops in and cover my eyes with warm compresses. Some days I can read, even if I can't stitch. (Have you ever noticed that you do not blink as much while stitching as you do during other activities? It's true.)
If one goes by the interstates, I'm about 270 miles from Joan. It's also cold and snowy here. Bismarck had 6 or 7 consecutive days of subzero highs this month, and we've been getting plenty of "nuisance" snowfallss, which are snowfalls of under 2 inches; our HOA has a snow removal contractor come in to clean driveways and sidewalks when we get 2 inches or more, but it's up to the individual homeowner to clean up anything less than 2 inches. Ugh. I have a backache from shoveling today.
Arliss
Nice to see at least a *bit* of action here again!
What is everyone working on? I am doing a foxgloves pattern: https://www.thestitchery.com/itemdy00.aspx?T1=TB3629
I'm nearly done...have all the green done and am working on the few bottom flowers. I'm actually stitching it for Arliss (former member of this group), who has trouble stitching on black. I've also started (but have set aside for the duration of the foxgloves) their hollyhocks kit
https://tinyurl.com/yxrnzv5p which is for me.
These are kits from Europe (Riolis) and use an acrylic/wool blend, which has been a dream to work with...it's pretty soft stuff and the colors are really vibrant.
And (to keep this on topic) they are supplied with plenty of floss. 
Joan in very snowy ND!