World Embroidery Day

Here it is, World Embroidery Day, and I haven't threaded a needle . . . yet.

But I have been looking through the massive book, Tennessee Samplers: Female Education and Domestic Arts, 1800 - 1900.

If you're a sampler lover, you may just want to invest in this one. If you want to read the histories of the girls who made the samplers, you would enjoy it. If you want to support the study of samplers and help to make it a relevant research subject for historians, you should most definitely buy a copy.

Plus, it's pure eye candy. There are amazing, clear photographs of the samplers discovered over the past twenty years.

But, I hate to admit, the thing that absolutely entranced me were some of the photos of the reverse side of the samplers.

Some of those little girls were messy stitchers.

 If you look closely--wow! Threads going every which way and ends sticking out all over the place and yet the fronts of the samplers look absolutely lovely.

I tend to be obsessive about having a neat back on my work, but, you know, maybe I could cut myself a little bit of slack once in awhile.

One Goal Met!

I have finished the first month's assignment on the Queen Sampler.

Today I absolutely have to clear off my worktable, which has become the repository for all sorts of odds and ends. I want to actually work at the table today instead of stacking things on it I can't decide what to do with. 

Mainly, I feel the need to do some finish-finishing before I start anything else. I keep thinking the elves are going to show up in the middle of the night and put all this stuff together, but that does not seem to be happening.

It's probably too hot for elves. After all, they live at the North Pole, right?

 

Pitiful, Just Pitiful

 Have you ever had one of those weeks when you have lots of ideas about what you want to do and then you don't get any of it done?

Welcome to my world.

This pitiful bit of stitching is all I've been able to accomplish this whole week. I mean, this is pitiful!

I have to say, though, there are more stitches on this than you would think since I decided to use reversible cross stitch, as Darlene O'Steen intended for her Queen Sampler.

I am beginning to regret some of my life choices.

Other Stuff

Yesterday I worked on other things while participating in a couple of Zoom meetings.

During our EGA Region's monthly stitch-in, I worked on Darlene O'Steen's Queen sampler:

 I decided to stitch it reversibly.

I had forgotten just how long it takes to work an alphabet reversibly, but now I'm committed. I may be committed by the time I finish working the sampler reversibly.

Then, during the EGA Special Interest Group in surface embroidery, I pulled out my long-neglected crewel piece, one of the vintage Elsa Williams kits in my stash.

Yes, I'm working my way through all the green stuff first.

Part of it has to do with working things in the back first, then working forward, but that's not the main reason. Green is not my most favorite color, and there's a lot of it in this design. It's a tree, of course there's a lot of green, but I was afraid if I didn't get all the leaves done, I'd never, ever come back to the piece once I stitched the pretty, colorful flowers and buds and butterfly.

So, I am trudging through the green.

So many leaves.

So much green.

Sigh . . .

Back to Stitching

I did not mean to go dark for a week. 

We bought a car.

This entailed a whole lot more time and energy than I was interested in spending. I am not a car person. Anyway, I think we're going to like it, even through it may be smarter than we are. And I hope it will be the last car I buy in this lifetime.

There was some stitching this week.

The humongous and complicated band is done. The very sweet and much less complicated floral band below it is also done. The next section has a lot of spot motifs and an alphabet and more border. I think I'm going to enjoy working on it, but I may take a day or so off to work on something else, just to shake things up a little and to keep the creative flow flowing.

I also started a new project, Darlene O'Steen's Queen Sampler. The Mayflower Sampler Guild is doing this as a SAL. However, I started it last night and there isn't enough to show at this point.

Then the mail came today and brought me the kit for the next class with Zina Kasben. 

Everything is so pretty when it comes out of the mailing box that you just don't want to mess it up by opening everything.

But then you do and there are all kinds of goodies inside, also beautifully packaged.

And Zina also sends a little gift, beautifully handstitched. Can you believe it's a button?

Such incredibly fine work!!

Anyway, I have to wait until September to start, which means I could potentially get the two classes I started earlier this year finished before I start this.

I believe I had better stitch tonight.

War Stories

First of all, obligatory stitching since this is a stitching blog:

 Soooooooo close to finishing this band and turning the scroll bars!

And now for more stories:

The first message in my email yesterday morning arrived from an English friend who sent a photo of her husband, attired in his boxers and dead-heading the flowers in their garden. Their garden has a head-high wall around it, so he believes no one can see him. However, all the houses around theirs have more than one floor, so someone could look down into their garden from the houses on either side. After all, my friend said, she can easily see her neighbors' gardens from her bedroom window, and all the houses in their area have the same type of head-high wall around their back gardens.

Her garden is absolutely glorious, by the way.

Then I had an email from another friend whose husband also promenades outside to check things when there's heavy rain, also in his boxers.

And then there was the call from another long-time friend, who was laughing so hysterically she could hardly speak. Her husband used to charge outside in his boxers to pick up the morning newspaper (in the days when you actually received a physical newspaper that was thrown somewhere in the vicinity of the front of your house in the early hours of the morning). One morning, while she was away helping her daughter with a new baby, he went strolling out as usual--and the door closed and locked behind him. 

Well the next door neighbor had a key to their house. The next door neighbor was a retired professor of English Literature. She had never married and was pushing ninety. This does not mean that she had never seen a man in boxer shorts, but the stereotype would indicate that perhaps she hadn't. Anyway, after circling his house to see if there was any way to get in--there wasn't--he went next door.

The neighbor invited him in while she got the key, asked him if he'd like a towel or blanket or something to cover himself more . . . 

And then swatted him on the behind when he went out the door.

This is just a sampling of the tales I heard yesterday. I find it interesting that all the gentlemen in the tales were in their 70's.

Is there something deep in the recesses of the male genome that precipitates outdoor boxer-wearing behavior at this age? Or do they just go feral?

Just a little on a Monday

 I started on the fill-in on the current band on Carmen.

I don't think I'm going to get in my three hours today. We had an abbreviated night  and my eyes keep crossing.

My area of North Carolina got about 7 inches of rain in just a couple of hours last night--nothing like the tragedy in Texas, but enough to cause flash flooding and weather alerts. Our corner of the building is close to a "wet-weather creek" which means that there is a trickle of water at the bottom of a ditch unless we have wet weather. Then we have a creek. Last night we had a torrent or water rushing over the banks of the ditch and covering the little footbridge that extends over the creek.

Now, how do I know about this? Dearly Beloved was going to go out on the covered part of the deck to see if there was water coming up our sidewalk. I noticed he put his raincoat on as he went outside but figured he was just going to make sure he didn't get wet since, after all, he was already ready for bed. Wearing his usual t-shirt and boxers.

What I didn't realize was that he decided to reconnoiter the parking lot and the creek. So here he is, wandering around the neighborhood in a raincoat and his boxers. Does this sound like a flasher to anyone else?

The man needs a keeper.

And, in answer to the brownie question--No, I didn't bake brownies. To make the mint glaze, I would need to find a box of thin mint wafers, which may no longer be made. They're like a York Peppermint Patty but about a fourth the thickness. To glaze the brownies, you spread those wafers on top of the brownies when they come out of the oven, The chocolate coating melts and they become spreadable.

I have tried doing this with Andes Mints, but they're too thick to melt quickly enough.

And besides, we really don't need to eat a whole pan of brownies, possibly at one sitting. They're that good.

Day of Rest

I took today off and read a book and watched Brenda and Laura on Flosstube. I also watched the rain come down--we're in the area getting storms spun off by Tropical Storm Chantal, and it has been pouring most of the afternoon and evening.

However, I did want to come online to mention that the peppermint extract seemed to work. I did not have any new mosquito bites this morning.

Of course, Dearly Beloved mentioned that he thought it would be a wonderful idea if I baked the brownies with the mint icing that I used to make at Christmas when we had ravenous children in the house who would eat them. He said he had no idea why he suddenly had a hankering for them.

 

Framework Finished

At long last, the framework for this band is done!!

I still have the flowers to do, but I'll work on that tomorrow.

Hopefully, I will be stitching earlier tomorrow than I was today. I got a late start.

I was late getting up because I have been the victim of a vicious attack. Apparently, there is a mosquito in the house. She has been waiting until I go to bed, and then she gets me, because every morning I wake up with a new welt. And the collection  I've accumulated itches.

I can avoid scratching when I'm awake. It isn't easy, but I can do it. However, when I'm asleep, if something itches, I scratch. And, as we all know who have suffered from mosquito bites, the more you scratch the more you itch.

And that mans the itching has been waking me up.

Why is it that pangs and pains are always worse when it's the middle of the night?

Anyway, I've dabbed antihistamine cream on the bites, which helps for a limited period of time. Then I read that a mild oral antihistamine could also help with the itch. So I took a Benadryl before I went to bed last night.

I didn't itch. I also didn't wake up until half the day was over.

Tonight I'm going to dab myself with peppermint extract. Apparently mosquitoes don't like that flavor. Hopefully it will work.

Or I can just say I was having Christmas in July.

Going Fourth

 We've had our traditional viewing of an old History Channel documentary, The Revolution, today, which I believe that we're now going to follow up with Les Mis. Somehow that seems fitting this year.

And I did my three hours on Carmen--with plenty of breaks. That got me to this point:

Hopefully I can finish this partial bit and that will leave me only one more section of framework. Then I can add the flowers and be done with this band.

Meanwhile, my friend Susan found out what Tomato Blood is. It's regular Heinz catsup with a special label for Halloween since a lot of people use catsup to look like blood on their Halloween costumes. Now I can't figure out if it was on sale because they're doing an early Halloween special--or because they found a couple of cases left over from Halloween in the warehouse.

Needless to say, I do not plan to purchase any.

On the Third

 I got the last large framework on Carmen stitched today--that just leaves two partial frames and a corner to set up before I add the flowers.

Hmmmm, somehow that came out upside down, but since it's symmetrical, that shouldn't make any difference. 

I was thinking as I stitched today. I believe I'm going to try to work on Carmen for three to four hours every day, and then, if my wrist allows, move on to something else after resting my hands for a bit. I've wanted to work on the Cherished Letter Case and go back to Queen Catherine's Sweet Bag and do some  finish-finishing--and there's still No Place Like Home to complete. 

I could almost set up a rotation, but if you've been following my blog for any length of time, you'll remember that I don't do well with scheduled stitching. That's why I'm not sure if I can stick to mornings with Carmen, but I do want to get her off the scroll frame by the end of the year. Three hours a day would be about ninety hours a month and that should mean an end is in sight.

Queen Catherine has another reason to get back in my hands. This arrived today.

More goodies to go with the book/box, the fob, and the sweet bag. So very pretty ...

And, in another area of my life, today was grocery day. As usual, I was looking at the store's weekly specials to see if there was anything we wanted to add to the list. I ran across a product I have not seen before. Apparently Heinz catsup was on sale this week, and one of the products they listed as "Tomato Blood."

Tomato Blood?

What the blankety-blank-blank is tomato blood?

As Dearly Beloved does the hunting and gathering portion of our life, I was in hopes that he would investigate and report back. (He does the grocery shopping because I don't enjoy touring each and every aisle of the store so that I can look at everything on every shelf. He does.)

He forgot to look.

Does anyone reading this know what tomato blood could be?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Trudging Along

I got a little more done on Carmen.

 I had hoped to get the last full framework done, but I have realized that this band is going to take more time than any of the others. Yes, it is satin stitch, but when it's satin over two threads, and there are a lot of those stitches, it's going to take the time it takes. Add to that is the count of the linen--46 count--and the shade of the thread--which is a pale neutral on a pale neutral background--and it's just going to be a drawn-out process.

That's my rationalization and I'm sticking to it.

Someone suggested just skipping this band and coming back to it later. I'm afraid I would never go back. I'd just have a sampler with a big blank in it, It was also suggested that I do something else for awhile. I did something else for awhile--just about a whole year--and it didn't make things any easier. I just need to get it done, and then lie down with a cold compress on my head.

It was also brought to my attention that the year is half over. I didn't need to know that.

So, onward and upward!

Thinking and more thinking

 I spent three hours on the phone this morning dealing with various and sundry financial things. There are times when you have to do that--today was one of those times. After that, I needed to sit in the corner and rock and drool for a bit. When I recovered, the only thing I was capable of stitching was tent stitch over one on No Place Like Home.

I still have more to do, but at least I don't have to work around numbers.

And I spent some time thinking about stitching in general and blogging about stitching.

What I concluded is that I want to continue stitching and blogging, but I have to figure out how I want to do both. If I don't stitch I don't blog. At the same time, when I'm working on only one project at a time, the blog can become very boring

I came to no conclusions, so I thought I would ask for suggestions. And I may try a few things to see if any of them work.

(Please keep in mind that I have decided I need to finish some things because the number of projects I want to stitch keeps increasing while the number of finishes seems to be decreasing. Sigh . . . )