Woolgathering

 I forgot to mention the online class I'm taking when I talked about the projects I've been stitching.

As of today, I have caught up with my assignments. Whew!!

I think we're going to work on leaves tomorrow, which will need to be stitched before the next class. Luckily we'll have a mid-term break--I think it's going to take me that much time.

And a confession. I have been spoiled, totally spoiled, by stitching with silk. Silk glides through linen. Wool doesn't glide.  I'm not sure what exactly it does, but it isn't gliding. It doesn't exactly fight, but it is not as pleasant as silk.

But it does go much faster than silk. If I were working this design, at this size, in silk, I'd still be working on the first week's assignment.

Everything is a trade-off.

Sampler Sunday

 No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, 

I hit the wall so hard with Carmen that I seriously thought about retiring from stitching and letting my brain get sucked out by playing games on my phone.

I regained my sanity. I really love Carmen and I want to finish her, but I think I was putting too much pressure on myself to stitch her before the end of the year. I mean, really, other than having Carmen on my MAGIC list for the Tudor Rose Sampler Guild, I have no compelling reason to absolutely have to get 'er done. And I can just roll her over until next year's list, as far as that goes. 

(MAGIC stands for My Annual Good Intentions Contract. It's a way to get things done, and you can put up to five things on the list. I put four. I've done one. Pitiful, just pitiful.)

The last time I ht the wall this hard, I was working on Martha Edlin. I got over that wall by just working on Martha on Sundays until I got so close to a finish that I couldn't put her down. So, Carmen is now my Sampler Sunday project.

I have been working on some other things in the last couple of weeks.

The embroidery for the stitching roll for the Artisan's Workbox is done.

Now it's on to the finishing part--and I'm afraid I'm playing a little bit of thread chicken. Keep your fingers crossed that I have enough of the dark red silk to put this sucker together.

I've finished both panels of the Hapsburg Lace needle book. We're going to assemble this for our January EGA meeting, so it can go on the back burner for a bit.

And if you look very closely, you may see the beginning of a tree trunk on the front cover of No Place Like Home.

It has not escaped my notice that even my smalls are complicated and fiddly. That may account for how long it takes to get anything done.

There has also been some stash enhancement, but that can wait for another day.

Fuss and Bother

I am one horizontal thread off.

 I cannot find it.

And I spent hours looking for it. 

I've decided two things:

• I can compensate, and I think I will.
• I don't think anyone will ever notice it once the sampler is done--including me--since there is a LOT going on with this sampler
• 45 count linen is the limit of my comfort level.

My other stitching has gone a little better.

I have turned the corner on one side of the sewing roll for the Artisan's Workbox.

Now, should I do the vine and leaves on the other side, or add the flowers to the side I've stitched? If this is the most major decision I make today, it will be a good day.

And I've started on the next motif in my online crewel class:

It will not take long to finish this, and I really hope that isn't one of those "famous last words" situations. However, I am putting this aside for today so I can continue with Carmen.

Even if she is causing me some aggravation.

Getting back into a routine

I was thinking the other day--the last few years, I have not been as productive as I thought I would be. Actually, I thought I would spend the majority of every day with a needle in my hand--and I did, the first year I retired.

But then I had some health issues that sapped my energy, then there was the Big Move, and, to put the cherry on top, I lost a big chunk of this year with my wrist in a brace.

And I got out of the habit of stitching. I was still going to classes, I was still enhancing the stash--instead of stitching, though, I was puttering and scrolling through my phone and playing online games. And, at the same time, I want all this stuff stitched!

So, I'm going to try to limit my time playing on my phone (OMG, it is addictive, and I don't want to be that person who is physically attached to my phone 24/7), and I'm going to start the day out stitching, and I'm going to work on what I want to do when I want to do it.

This is what I've been poking a needle into for the last couple of days:

I'm taking an online class from Sara Rickards, the same tutor who's been teaching the deep dive classes I've been taking. It's an advanced crewel class. I'm already a little behind, but I've got a rhythm going now and I think I may be ready for class on Tuesday.

Carmen still has my heart, and she's going to actually get some love this week. After all, her boring border is done, and I almost have the framework for the middle of the design finished, so I can see some progress happening.

One side of the Hapsburg Lace needle book is stitched. I have the framework for the other side done, but I'm going to save the filling stitches until our EGA meeting so I can demonstrate them there if anyone needs to see how to work them. I haven't loved working on this because the canvas is really stiff and harsh--possibly because it has metallic threads running through it. I love the design, but I am really going to be thrilled beyond belief to have this finished.

And I think I need to get back in the habit of more frequent blogging. If I blog, I stitch, and vice-versa. Therefore, I will continue to babble away about what's on my frame , , , er . . . frames.

Well, that happened . . .

I have been a busy stitcher.

And, OMG, I have the borders for this section of Carmen done! This is the part that I've moaned and groaned and whined and whinged about ever since I started this beautiful sampler--and it is a beautiful sampler despite my weeping and wailing.

I think the last time I wrote, I said I was probably just going to work evenly across the piece, the way I generally do borders on school girl samplers--just working the part of the border that meets the fun part of the design. Not that borders can't be fun in small doses--I just find it boring to do the same pattern over and over and over again.

So I am basically delighted with what I've done on Carmen the last few days.

And then . . . well, I am either the luckiest stitcher alive or it's true that God looks out for dim bulbs.

I was going to do my homework for the advanced crewel class I'm taking online, but I woke up earlier than I wanted to and couldn't get back to sleep. I had stayed up way past my bedtime reading a murder mystery--I got to the point I had to find out whodunnit and couldn't put the book down--so I was a bit too weary to think about what I was stitching.

Apparently I did something similar when I started the embroidered panel for the Artisan's Workbox. I started the design lower than I should have on the linen. 

Now, I picked this up today because I figured it would be an easy stitch--just counting and remembering when to do Smyrna crosses and when to do long arm crosses and when to do rice stitches or straight stitches. But as I stitched down one side, I started thinking that I was getting awfully close to the bottom of the linen. SO close, so very close to the bottom of the linen.

I nearly had a sinking spell.

I counted the number of stitches needed to get to the bottom of the design. I counted the number of threads I had left on the linen.

I have about four or five threads more than I absolutely have to have.

If I counted everything correctly.

I can't decide whether I want to continue with this to see if I do have enough space to finish or if I want to to scrub a floor and not think about it at all.

Adulting is HARD!

I got up an at unearthly hour and had my annual mammogram this morning.

The Marquis de Sade would have loved the mammogram machine. Quite frankly, if men had to have their dangly bits mashed between two plates on a yearly basis, there would be a much less uncomfortable option.

Then, just as painful in another way, I came home, balanced the checkbook, and paid bills.

I think I've been a grown-up for quite long enough today. 

So, I'm going to stitch.

Here's where I am currently on the Stitcher's Workbox project. I think the purple flowers might be clover.

And I'm jumping from one area to another on Carmen, which may be the best way to tackle this very large band.

I think Carmen will get some love this afternoon, then more twining leaves and blooms tonight. Or I may do something else entirely.

Whatever it is, it will not involve mature, responsible behavior.