More frustration and aggravation

I get into trouble when I don't feel like stitching, and I didn't feel like stitching while I had that horrible cold. 

What I do feel like doing is wandering around the innerwebs looking at needlework. And I wandered to Inspirations magazine's site, and I ordered a Betsy Morgan kit.

Which the PO said they delivered today in the parcel box at our neighborhood mail box.

They did not. 

And trying to navigate the PO site is also frustrating and aggravating.

We'll see what the PO says. If the results are anything like the issues we've had getting mail forwarded from our old place to our new address, I have a terrible feeling I'm SOL.

Frustration and Aggravation

 Who would think this tiny piece of linen could cause such angst?

There are supposed to be 99 Nun stitches across the top. I have counted four times and had four different counts. And no two counts agreed.

I believe I will do something else for the rest of the day.

April 3

When the kit arrived several weeks ago, I fully intended to start this when the first class was posted on April 3.

 Instead, when I finally pulled myself out of bed at the crack of noon today, I worked on this:

I didn't sleep well last night (which is why I ended up staying in bed all morning). First I was too hot, so I turned on the ceiling fan. Then I was too cold, so I pulled up a blanket. Then I seemed to have too many arms and legs for comfort because I couldn't get any of them situated in the right place. I finally got up and read for awhile, then sat and stared at my worktable and all the baskets and bins around it, and decided I have too many things started and not enough things finished.

At that point it was after 7 in the morning and I was finally tired enough to sleep.

But other than the four classes I'm taking in a couple of weeks at Salty Yarns, and the other online and guild projects I've agreed to do, I am not starting anything new.

I think I see the problem.

Hundreds of Hours . . .

Awhile back I was wandering around the website of one of my favorite designers. I found a project I liked, and read the description.

Which included the phrase, "hundreds of hours of stitching pleasure."

Hundreds of hours.

Well, that's intimidating to think of.

But I'm beginning to believe this border is going to take hundreds of hours.

It's a pretty border, and it adds a lot to the piece, but I'm not sure it's going to be hundreds of hours of stitching pleasure. There's a lot of stopping and starting, and of course, a lot of repetition.

And this is why I tend to prefer band samplers and spot samplers. They don't have borders.

One of my stitching buddies once said that band samplers were just rows and rows of border patterns. I stuck my fingers in my ears and said, "La la la la la" very loudly. 

But I shall persevere, if for no other reason than to move to the next band of this sampler guilt-free.

Back in the Saddle Again

 Carmen has not been out of her pillowcase for almost a month.

That was rectified yesterday.

I stitched more of the vine, the stems, the leaves, and the buds yesterday. I do believe the border for this monster sampler is going to do me in, but I think I would rather stitch it as I go instead of waiting until all the fun stuff is done. It does add a burst of color--I did, briefly, consider leaving it out and stitching this as an adaptation--and I decided it needs it. If I could just get all this section done so I can move on to something more interesting to stitch, I think I would be a happy camper.

Meanwhile, I woke up this morning, realizing that a third of 2024 has flown by and I have not accomplished anything that I had planned for the year. I have nine months left. If you can make a whole human being in nine months, surely I can get a sampler and a few UFO's to the finish line.

Again, not as planned

 I came away from Black Swan Studio and Sassy Jack's energized and ready to stitch all kinds of wonderful things. I had also decided to start my spring cleaning with a vengeance.

But I woke up Saturday morning feeling vaguely achey, and my head was stuffy. Pollen, of course. Every time I stuck my head outside while in the mountains, I sneezed. Tree pollen is one of my triggers, and there are a lot of trees in them thar hills.

By Sunday, I had to admit I have a cold. A horrendously bad cold in my head, and that meant I have been a lump of misery and totally useless this week.

Maybe not totally useless. I got the Nun stitch worked around three of the panels for House on the Hill.

But definitely not the exciting, colorful stitching I planned.

I would like some cheese with this whine.

Black Swan Studio

 I just got home from the inaugural session of Black Swan Studios, a collaboration between Jackie du Plessis and Kimberly Young, the owner of Sassy Jack's Stitchery.

In a word, WOW!

Jackie reproduced a sampler from Kim's collection, then added smalls based on motifs found in it along with a pocket that displays many of the most familiar sampler motifs. Kim organized and kept everything running smoothly. And every day we had special gifts from both Jackie and Kim. Of course, Jackie's presents were needlework-related, while Kim's reflected artisans from the area. (Keep in mind that Weaverville is just next door to Asheville, NC, a Mecca for artisans and artists of all kinds.)

And look at this gorgeous kit!

The best part? They kept the group a reasonable size, and encouraged cooperation and creativity. We had time to stitch and to ask questions and experiment. So many workshops try to cram as many people as possible into a ballroom, elbow-to-elbow, to the point that you feel more frustration and irritation than enjoyment. Been there, done that, don't want to do it again.

And if this sounds like stitching heaven to you, they are offering an encore session for this project in late October. I understand it will then be retired, the sampler is an exclusive to this event.

And, by the way, I did have another class before this, along with the Flower Cart:

Just look at that beautiful carrier! It's a little sister for Tsubaki, a project I did several years ago. They use similar motifs and the same color family to make a beautiful set of accessories. And, not to enable or anything, Jackie and Kim have decided that Tsubaki will be offered next March for the final time, then it will be retired.

So what am I working on today?

Laundry.

Never-ending laundry.

And making a grocery list so we'll have something to eat tonight.

Actually, I am doing my best to continue with my focus projects: Carmen, Harmony, assembly of previously stitched projects, my online whitework class, and House on the Hill. Apparently I can't be monogamous, but I can try to focus.

But the new stuff is sooooooooo tempting.