Named and Dated

Well, I have managed to get the rest of Ann Lawle's name stitched in tonight.  And I've started on the dividing band--all Montenegrin--and the alphabet--all cross stitch.

There won't be much of interest to see on this band for a few days. I will most definitely need to alternate this sampler with something else just to keep myself awake.

(Apologies if you like stitching letter after letter after letter. I don't, even though I appreciate the graphic beauty of different fonts. And that is why I will never stitch a Bristol sampler, no matter how much I admire them and would love to have one hanging in my home.)

Stitching in "Februar"

Just by coincidence, the band I'm stitching on Ann Lawle this month was originally worked in February of 165-something. We seem to be missing the last digit in the year and the last letter in the month.

I've also decided I need to call the Overly Ambitious list the Ridiculously Overly Ambitious list since I've now added yet another project to it.  Not only do I have Sweet Heart of Mine on the list now, I also have decided to join the SAL for Ellenor Wycks. I think she was the first SL kit in my stash and apparently I've been "saving" her for some reason. The SAL may be it.

And this means that I really need to get off-line and stitch between the commercials on the Super Bowl. No, I'm not really watching the game. Dearly Beloved has it on.  He is disgusted. And I'm still waiting for this year's most memorable commercial--haven't seen it yet . . .

Back in the habit

For the last couple of weeks I've been out of the habit of both stitching and blogging. This must stop immediately. I have missed both.

I will say it's hard to string two thoughts together after working a ten-hour day but I am going to do my best--that work schedule is going to last for another couple of weeks at least so I may as well  figure out how to deal with it.

Anyway, I had planned to do a lot of needlework both last night and today. Best laid plans, which will be rectified immediately.

I am straying a little away from the Overly Ambitious list for a bit. SNS recently offered Barbara Jackson's Sweet Heart of Mine set as an online class. Oh, said I, that's in my stash. I took that class last year at the last Jeannine's Gathering of Embroiderers that offered classes. And seeing it again, with the colors and motifs that I love and that Barbara puts together so well, started me thinking about it. Then, I needed to have a small piece that will travel easily since I have an upcoming week-end with Baby Girl. So out it came.

Plus it's February and the design has a heart in the middle so I can justify it as a Valentine.

When it comes to needlework, there is no one who can rationalize as well as I.

 

This is all I got done in class last year. We spent a lot of time in class basting so I didn't get to do as much of the pretty stuff then. Now I can enjoy doing the pretty stuff. And I am. Starting now..

Snow . . .

I'm not stitching tonight. I'm watching it snow.

This is a rare event in the part of the Carolinas where I live, so I'm going to sit and enjoy the quiet as it falls.

I'm also going to go find another blanket. It's bloody cold!

Going around in circles . . .

All forty-eight spiral trellis petals are stitched.

Every single one of them.

I still have to stitch the centers and outline each and every petal with a darker blue, but that will wait until I get this back on the scroll bars. And getting it back on the scroll bars will wait until the cramp in the hand that was holding the linen relaxes. And I get the linen pressed. Which means getting the iron and ironing board out. And as long as I have all that out, I should get some finishing finished since I'm at the stage on the finish-finishing of a small project from last year that requires pressing.

And I do have three other projects on the Overly Ambitious List that need to have fabric pressed so I can mount them properly. I had planned to do all that this week-end.

But I spiral trellis'ed instead.

I'm Done

I am done with winter.

Completely and totally done.

The cold is making me creaky and cranky. And we don't even have pretty snow to look at. We just have cold.

(For those people who have had enough snow, remember that I live in a place that goes for years without any appreciable snowfall. For those of us who have always lived in this part of the country, snow is magical and special and we indulge in it with almost giddy delight. If we had more, we'd get grumpy about it, but we don't. And we're so delighted by it that we call a snow day when we have less than an inch on the ground. Of course, we tend to get ice to go with the snow, so that may not be such a ridiculous idea.)

There is more of the arctic air heading our way.

To compound the crankiness, I have not threaded a needle in four days, much less poked said needle into any sort of fabric.

I had to go out of town on a work trip. By the time I did what I went out of town to do and had dinner and got back to my hotel room, it was getting late and I was tired. At that point, about all I could manage was a shower and an an early bedtime with my book. It didn't help that I was not sleeping well or enough, so that by the time I came home again, I was really wiped out. Then I had to have some tests of a medical nature this morning. I was poked and prodded, stressed and scanned, and then I was imaged. After that, I had to go to work, to discover that in the three days I was away my voice mail, inbox, and desk had exploded. I am convinced that my assistant hides things until I leave my desk and then dumps piles of assorted stuff all over it.

So, yes, I would like some cheese with this whine.

Taming the Trellis

When last we visited Morning Has Broken, I was having problems working the spiral trellis that forms a dozen flowers in the border.

I have been doodling on a bit of linen, off and on, since then. And finally, finally, I've been able to do a few reasonable spiral trellises.

I stitch everything on a frame of some sort. Everything. Generally I prefer either stretcher bars or a scroll frame although I will pull out the Q-snaps or a hoop for a smaller piece. I like the linen or canvas or fabric drum tight simply because my stitches look better worked that way.

Except now. I absolutely had to take the linen from the scroll frame to work this stitch. I suppose this is the exception that proves the rule.

And now I need to slog on. I need a total of 48 spirals. I have 7. That means I have 41 more to go.

I really wish I hadn't counted.