All the grass is planted

and the sheep is fleeced and The Shepherdess is ready to be finish-finished!

I'm fairly pleased with the shading in the grass, much more than I thought I would be. I do have a couple of hints on working that part, if you're doing this class with Barbara through Shining Needle.

First of all, thread up several needles with various shades of green thread, even the ones you don't think you'll use. You may surprise yourself--if you lay the thread out next to a stitched area, the one you think is absolutely horrible may be exactly what you need to make that section pop.

Secondly, take pictures as you work. This may sound weird, but the camera will show you things your eyes don't see when the work is right in front of you. I hadn't planned to have so much of the lighter greens in the lower section, but without them, the whole area was just . . . boring.

I have read over the finishing directions and think I can do what they say.  Of course, since I'm still on cough syrup for this cough that is never, ever going to go away, I am in an altered state of consciousness. With that in mind, I may wait until Barbara goes over that section in the online class.

Yard Work

I'm still planting grass in The Shepherdess's lawn:

I had a dream of getting the grass finished before I went to bed tonight. The only way that will happen is if I stay up until tomorrow night.

I don't think so.

I think I'll resume the yard work tomorrow, bright and early. Or bright and not-so-early. Sleeping in sounds so much more attractive than planting grass. I will say I'm much happier with the shading in the yard--so far--than I was.

Covered in SABLE

Ordinarily at this time I would be heading out for my ANG chapter meeting. However, as The Plague Cough has worn me down to a mere shadow of my usual self, I'm staying home and going to bed early.

(I am just about ready to resort to my Great Aunt Maggie's cough remedy:  Bourbon, sour apple honey, and lemon--family lore states that she also added a little bit of kerosene but I'm not going there--it would flat take out a cough and leave you limp in its wake. As a small child, I remember holding my breath to avoid coughing and thereby avoid the cough remedy. It didn't work.)

Meanwhile, Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy has ramped up in the last couple of weeks and I want to stitch on everything immediately if not sooner.

This online class, also through SNS, started today:

I can never resist a Jackie du Plessis project and wouldn't it be amazing if I actually stitched and finished one during the course of the class!

Judy O'Dell of the wonderful frame stand is offering a needlebook class online with an unusual technique involving crayons and threads. As Baby Girl has all the family art supplies, I may need to raid her stash for once to be able to stitch this.

I've been craving this class from The Binding Stitch for years, literally years, and Marcia offered it online and I signed up.  I rationalized it to Dearly Beloved by telling him that these opportunities don't come along very often and one should grab them as quickly as one can.  He replied that I seem to have a lot of opportunities that I have grabbed. I am ignoring him.

And then there's Catherine Theron's Strawberry Needle Roll. I believe this may become my travel project, assuming I ever stop coughing long enough to go anywhere.

The Shepherdess has not been abandoned. I've decided to sneak up on the problem area in the grass by working the other side of the yard first and gradually working my way towards the part that caused me angst and agony.

But for now, I'm medicating and resting. Blech!

Tearing out the grass--and my hair

Here you see what I've accomplished in the last two days of stitching:

I had a vision of the way I wanted to shade the grass on The Shepherdess. Obviously that vision was the product of the codeine cough syrup I have been sipping in a vain attempt to control the nasty cough I have as a reminder of The Plague.

When you look at something while you're stitching it and say, "That ain't right" and you keep stitching, when you put the project down and walk away from it, still saying "That ain't right" and you come back to it and put in another thread, and when you wake up at 3:22 a.m. saying, "That really ain't right"  you know it's time to rip it all out.  And that you should have followed your first instincts, when it all started to go wrong, instead of forging on ahead.

So tonight I came home from work and ripped out.

I am re-evaluating the shading on the grass.

However, if my poor example doesn't scare you off, please be aware that, as of today, this project is available as an online class through Shining Needle Society. I have been singing the praises of SNS since its inception--after all, what is better than taking a class in front of the computer screen while wearing comfortable clothes, i.e. nighties or sweat pants. If you're not on the mailing list, email Kate Gaunt at KateGaunt@aol.com for the information.

Kate, who runs the operation, wrote some very kind things about my blog and me in the intro to the class, and she and Barbara Jackson, the designer and teacher of this delightful design, have asked me to be a guest in the class.

I can't decide if they need a class clown or a stellar example of what not to do, but I'm looking forward to it.

Blue Skies, nothing but blue skies

Well, maybe a little more than blue skies--the sun has rays and the other bird has legs and a beak:

Now I'm going to see how much grass I can plant. The sooner I get it planted, the sooner the sheep will get his fleece.

Then again, the new Longmire book from Craig Johnson has arrived. I may read instead of stitch. That is, of course, if I can grab it before Dearly Beloved runs away with it.

Morphed

That nasty cold?  It morphed into bronchitis. I have been to the doctor. I have drugs.

The drugs seem to be helping. A little. But one of them interferes with my stitching time since it causes my eyes to just drift out of focus periodically. This makes it very difficult to get the needle where it's supposed to be.

Despite that, I finally managed to finish the embroidery part of "Can't See the Forest".

And now I believe I will stare at the TV.  Or sleep sitting straight up in my chair. Or stand in the shower and see if I can steam my head open.

And now you know about my exciting week.

Memories

I've lost two of my favorite people in the needlework world in the last few days, and I have spent some time this evening thinking about them both.

Diane Clements was a needlework artist extraordinaire, whose exacting and precise Reticella lace also inspired a desire for perfection. I was lucky enough to take two face-to-face classes from her at EGA National seminars, and have used the techniques she taught there in many other projects. It was an honor to have her as a teacher.

And I have lost a friend whom I met through our mutual love of needlework. Sharon Kohler was a member of both of my local EGA and ANG chapters. She was an exquisite stitcher and a supportive friend--actually, I think she was one of the first, if not the very first follower of this silly little blog. She always had a smile on her face--and once you got to know her, you found out about her wicked sense of humor. I enjoyed sitting in meetings and workshops with her and I loved seeing her completed projects. She, too, was an inspiration.

There are some people who just make you happy to know that they're in the same world with you. Diane and Sharon were perfect examples of this, and I will miss them both.