Bordering on Insanity

I said I wanted to get the leaf-and-vine border for Catherine Theron's Morning Has Broken stitched while I had a four-day week-end.

And I did.

Much to my surprise, I managed to get the long-arm cross and saw tooth borders stitched in as well. By the way, the vine-and-leaf is not plain ole cross stitch--it's actually made up of Smyrna crosses.

Now I get to do the fun stuff in the middle!

However, for what's left of today, I'm going to deck some halls and fa-la-la.

I will say, I don't like it when Thanksgiving is this late--there's simply no time to enjoy the season when you have so few days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I don't care if the malls and other public areas had Christmas decorations up before Halloween candy was off the shelves--we have a policy of decorating only after the Thanksgiving feast is digested.

A stitching Thanksgiving

I was thinking about today's blog and listing all the things I'm thankful for--like a warm home, food to eat, a job that supports my habit, modern conveniences like electricity and indoor plumbing--and most of all, Dearly Beloved, the Big Kid and his wife, Baby Girl, and the Flash--but then, I thought, we're all grateful for family and quality of life. And this is a stitching blog.

So here are the things in my little needlework world that I'm thankful for today:

• Progress, again, on Morning Has Broken. These are the two center cartouches in the vine and leaf border, plus a little of the sawtooth border which goes around the whole thing. If I plop myself in the wing chair for the next few days and really work at this, I can get the whole border done and then can spend my time filling in the fun parts.
• Enough stash to last several lifetimes, so boredom will not be an issue any time soon
• Inspirations to try techniques new to me, found online and in magazines and books. This is truly an amazing time to be an embroiderer.
• In-person guilds and online communities of embroiderers, all of whom have something to offer
• Brilliant teachers and designers who constantly challenge and encourage with exquisite projects and techniques
• Online classes that make it ever so easy to learn
• Blogging, which has reconnected me to an old friend and brought me a new one who is just as addicted to all this as I am!
• And my mail carrier, who delivers goodies that make my stitcher's heart go pitty-pat and my stitcher's fingers itch to pick up my needle.

Yesterday, my mail carrier brought me two wonderful new projects:

Peace on Earth, this year's ornament from Barbara Jackson. 

I stitched her "Merrily, Merrily" last year in time to get it on the tree. That's the goal for this year as well. Class starts tomorrow!

The materials for Jacobean Splendour, a cyber workshop from Alison Cole.

I've wiped more drool off the keyboard after viewing Alison Cole's website than I care to admit and I'm really excited to start this class as well. Periodically, I take my life in my hands and pick up a sharp needle, and this is one of those times. I will keep you apprised of my progress. I should perhaps buy stock in band-aids.

The needlepoint ornament series has not been forgotten. As we have already had our family feast, it's just Dearly Beloved and moi for Thanksgiving today, so I thought about setting up my assembly line on the kitchen table and starting.

The finishing directions call for use of a hot glue gun.

A klutz should never be allowed near a hot glue gun.

I rummaged around to find my Allene's thick tacky designer glue--the one in the pink bottle--since it holds as well as hot glue and doesn't run the risk of blistering my fingers or other parts--only to find that  I have a virtually empty bottle.

If you think I'm going to risk life and sanity diving into the post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy for a bottle of glue, you need to rethink. Instead, I'm planning to stitch until it's time to sling the turkey breast into the oven. And then I plan to stitch after dinner. And then I plan to stitch tomorrow. And the next day. And the next . . .there's a LOT to be thankful for!

Trudging along . . .

I did not mean to neglect the blog for a week, but it's one of the busier times at work for me. After spending the whole day staring at a computer screen, the last thing I've been able to do is stare at one again when I'm (finally, at long last) home.

In fact there have been a couple of days when I've arrived home, done the dinner thing, plopped down in the wing chair, and stared into space--or at the TV, which may be the same thing--until bedtime. It's been a little disconcerting.

That doesn't mean I haven't stitched at all. I've done a little . . .very little . . .especially considering that I'm currently working on little Christmas ornaments.  This is what I managed to do since the last posting.

There are two more in the series, but I had to stop stitching yesterday. Tugging the heavy metallic thread through the canvas was making my fingers sore--I am such a fragile flower!

I'm beginning to feel that linen is calling me. After all, I've now spent a couple of months playing with canvas. Morning Has Broken has come back downstairs, and I dug around in the stash until I unearthed Ann Lawle from Scarlet Letter. I think I'm going to stitch on samplers through the long Thanksgiving week-end.

After braving the grocery store this morning to get our Thanksgiving Day provisions, I'm not going out in a crowd on Black Friday, for sure!

Sleigh Ride!

And another ornament--and again, it took only two evenings to stitch.

There are supposed to be snowflakes behind the sleighs. There used to be. I stitched them in and decided that my sleighs looked like they were dancing on dotted Swiss. It just looked a little too busy.

Why does it take longer to take stitches out than to stitch them in?

Anyway, this is going with the other one for a grand finish-finishing when I get a few more done.  The canvas for the next ornament is already on the stretcher bars and ready to go. And it's supposed to be a gray, gloomy week-end, so it will be perfect for stitching.

Gettin' my Fa-la-la on!

Two evenings--that's all this took--just two evenings!

After I got the center motif finished--and remembered how much I despise working with Frosty Rays--this was a delight to stitch.

I was thinking about going ahead and finish-finishing, but then I came to my senses. I have seven more ornaments in this series, and it makes a whole lot more sense to wait until I get a few more stitched. Then I could do an assembly line finish of a bunch of them at one time.

(And this is absolutely not a way to avoid finish-finishing. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

Doin' the Hokey Pokey

Dearly Beloved was both amazed and amused when I tottered from my chair and performed the Hokey Pokey this afternoon, with gestures, lyrics, and complete movement. I will never be on Dancing with the Stars, but it was definitely a happy dance.

In the Mood Blue is done!

I've been asked about the thread used for the "B's."  The blue one is worked in a metallic thread. The others are worked in AVAS and an overdyed silk. The strands were gently persuaded to lie parallel to each other by use of a laying tool. I've been thinking that they perhaps look a little too heavy and blocky, so I've been thinking of taking them out and either changing the alphabet or using only two strands to make them airier. I'm going to set this somewhere where I can look at it from a distance and see if it still bothers me enough to redo.

However, it's all beaded and bordered and I'm ready to go on to something else.

As I'm still in a canvas mood, I'm going to work on some Christmas ornaments that I found in the stash. They're part of a series designed by Tony Minieri. I stitched the first two years ago and then was distracted by something else. It's time to get a couple more done--I'm not going to say I'll get the whole series finished before this Christmas.

It's a good thing I had decided to do Christmas ornaments since my dear, faithful, and aged Grip-It frame stand has lost its grip. It's had a hard time holding up its head for awhile, but I could prop the edge of the stretcher bars on the arm of the chair and we could muddle along. Now the head  will only tighten up on one side, which meant that occasionally the frame would plunge to the floor, startling me and causing Dearly Beloved to wake with a start. Excuse me, he was not asleep on the corner of the couch, he was simply "resting his eyes." The man has the most rested eyes in the fifty United States.

Anyway, he has been tinkering with it for the last couple of days while I've been stitching away on In the Mood. He's swapped out screws and sanded things and fiddled with the joints and finally pronounced that it was beyond aid.

Somewhere there is a back-up stand, disassembled and in a box, that I can use for awhile. I'm leaning towards getting a K's Creations stand eventually, but that will likely wait until next year.

Meanwhile, I'm off to set up a new canvas.  Don't you just love starting new projects?

Lace and embellishments

Nope, I didn't stitch all of this. Most of it is a piece of lace that has been stitched down to the canvas, then held down by embellishing stitches.  It was a pain to do, and yes, I'm going to fix that corner with the loose thread as soon as I post this.

I wish we had had step-by-step photos showing the best way to stitch this. Actually, there are several areas where this kind of instruction would have been extremely useful. Most of the online teachers provide that level of information and it really helps when you're not in a face-to-face class.

On the domestic front, we now have a dishwasher that is installed and functioning. I almost kissed the plumber who hooked it up--then I almost kissed the dishwasher. I managed to restrain myself, but it was a close thing.

I may love to stitch things from the 17th century (the current project notwithstanding) but I definitely love my modern conveniences!