In Full Retreat

Despite the Demolition Derby on the interstate yesterday as we drove to Williamsburg, we (finally) made it, safe and sound, and I am in full needlework retreat mode.

To commemorate, we added another lovely tool from the gifted hands of Racheal Kinnison:

We had some fun goodies in our goodie bags:

There's a sweet kit from Catherine Jordan and the perfect pincushion with fleece from Catherine's sheep.

And today I got a band completed on Frances Burwell.

If you peer very closely, you may be able to see that there are cream-colored motifs between the dark blue ones.

The instructions tell you to work the cream-colored ones first. It didn't take me too long to realize I could not see what I was doing. I literally could not see the cream-colored thread against the cream-colored linen.

This is not good.

However, since I think I brought almost every practical stitching tool I own, and a few impractical tools as well, I realized that I had stronger magnifiers with me.   And, Hallelujah, with more magnification, I could see the cream-colored thread against the cream-colored linen, and I was able to continue with the band.

Unfortunately, I could also see the errors I had made when I started out.

It has occurred to me that if I couldn't see them without 2 1/2 x magnification, most people couldn't seem them with their unadorned eyes, so I did not rip out all that work.

I'll just wait to see if the guilt and my perfectionistic tendencies make me change my mind.