Marching On

 I spent a week with my daughter and friends at our annual stitching getaway.

I took seven different projects with me. I did very little stitching on any of them. Apparently I can't stitch anywhere but home, and that's fine. I already knew I don't stitch well in class, so this is just more of the same. I like my nest. I was, however, enabled, I had some lovely meals out with friends and wonderful food, I went shopping at Liberty Hill Needleworks. And I was chastised because my blogging has been sporadic of late.

Hopefully that will change, now that I'm back home.

This is going to be my focus project for March, I think.

Peony is designed by the same person whose Hummingbird I just finished. This was one of EGA's online studio classes, and the videos will be available only for a few more weeks, so I need to get moving.

And this is my albatross:

I worked on the Flame Pouch while I was away. I thought it would be the perfect stitch-in project--don't have to think about anything but the color I needed to use and I could listen to conversations and talk while stitching. Just like I thought it would be a good television-watching project . . . but, while it is absolutely beautiful, I'm bored. I am sooooooooooo booooooooored!!! And I only have three and a half rows to stitch and then I can move on to stitching the smalls that fit in the carrying case with the pouch. (And putting it together, of course, but that's a hurdle to leap later.)

I have spoken sternly to myself, and I will put a thread a day in this until it is stitched.

Follow this space to see if I can be disciplined. I'm not usually disciplined.

In other random thoughts, wouldn't it be great if someone would provide ergonomic chairs at stitching events? Those straight up-and-down chairs might be great for banquets or conferences where you listen to a lecture for 45 minutes and then move to something else. For long days of needlework, they are killers! I had an office chair at work before I retired that did everything but provide massages and whisper sweet nothings in my ear. I could LIVE in that chair. I wish I had something like that for stitching away from home.

Or maybe have someone come in and provide chair massages every afternoon--just loosen up those shoulders and arms and hands and lower backs.

And, finally, my annual rant about going to Daylight Savings Time. I am against it. I will never, ever adjust well to it. You'd think that being retired would keep me from feeling the effects so badly, but since you have to deal with events and people who have to cope with it, it's still a pain.

Enough said.

Birdwatching

 I finally crawled out of my stitching slump and finished my Hummingbird in Silk and Gold.

I wish the camera showed how shiny this is--I mean, majorly shiny! And I'm also pleased with the way the pearl purl cooperated--I mean, I got the points exactly the way I wanted.  The silk shading could still use some work, but that will get better with practice.

Meanwhile, I'm getting ready to leave town for my annual escape to Williamsburg and a week of stitching with some of my favorite people. I am packing more than I will ever touch, mainly because the last couple of years I've taken only one or two projects for focused stitching.

Which meant I got bored quickly, so this year, I'm taking a ridiculous number of projects, and planning a trip to Liberty Hill Needlework on top of those, so I won't be able to get bored. 

I just hope I remember to pack my magnifiers and needles and scissors.

Look familiar?

 

Yep, Jackie's Flame Stitch Pouch, which is about all my brain has been capable of handling lately.

Maybe it's the aftermath of the Cold from Hell, maybe it's the winter that's been dragging on forever, maybe my mojo has gone on vacation to a sunny tropical isle--whatever is going on, I haven't been stitching much. The best thing that I've found to do when my mojo goes walkabout is to avoid forcing it.

So I've been watching the Olympics and old movies and reading a lot instead.

But, as I was looking at this the other night, I decided to glance over the finishing directions, and, hallelujah and praise the Lord! I found that I only need three complete repeats of the color pattern, not four! So I'm almost through with this part!!!

Also, I'm taking a couple of classes through the Crewel Work Company's Lady Anne festival this weekend, so maybe that will jump start the stitching fever again.

Which is the only kind of fever I want to have.

Long Time, No See

I have finally clawed my way back from the cold of the century. The last time I had a cold this bad, it morphed into pneumonia, so I was extra careful this time. Once it was determined I didn't have Covid, I was told to rest and get plenty of fluids.

So I took naps and drank lots of OJ and slurped up chicken noodle soup and did almost nothing else. I finally did get dressed, mainly because I was out of clean nighties. That was exhausting. Actually, the worst of it was getting a bra on: the girls had become accustomed to roaming free and didn't appreciate being corralled again.

Anyway, enough of that nonsense. I didn't pick up a needle until a day or so ago, and the Hummingbird in Silk and Gold appeared on the stand. I have started adding the tiniest of gold pearl purls around the wings. It is taking a lot longer than I hoped, but I am being very, very careful.

I have a couple of other goldwork projects I want to work on, but I'd like to get this one finished first. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll spend a little time with all three, or go off on a completely different tangent. I am setting no goals and meeting no challenges this year.

Other than avoiding another cold.

 

January 798th

Finally January is coming to an end! This month has lasted about three years, and it looks like February is going to continue the cold days and colder nights.

Yes, we did have snow in North Carolina. The area where I now live is close to the state capital, and we had a "cone" of dry air that kept us from getting the deeper snows that hit other areas in the state. I am not going to mention that the dry air might be caused by the hot air coming from the state legislature.

And I still am fighting the cold. The cold may be winning.

However, I have managed a couple of things.

I fully finished a couple of projects in the last couple of days.

I assembled the Elizabethan Rose by Alison Cole. I think I stitched it last year or the year before. At one point, I was thinking about doing an ornament a month in 2026. If I do end up doing that, this could count as my January entry. 

And then, while I was rummaging around in one of the finishing baskets, I found this:

This is Merry Cox's Flower Pin Cushion & Needle Book. I won it in a drawing from a blog awhile back. (Hi, Stasi!) I stitched the design. In 2017. Then last year, the Examplary Sampler Guild offered the chart to the members and had a class with Merry. At the time, I thought that I should pull it out and put it together. Somehow it didn't happen right that minute, but it floated to the top of the basket and I did it today. Why I didn't assemble it after I finished working the design, I'll never know.

I think I should make a rule for myself that will make me assemble smalls as soon as I finish the stitching.

We all know that I don't follow the rules very well, even the ones I set for myself. I could try to change. 

But right now I believe I will take a NyQuil and see if I can get some sleep.
 

First Finish of 2026!

Daily Reminder from Brenda Gervais is done!

 Will I do another Blessing Sampler? Maybe, but I don't think so. I had decided that this was to be the year with no deadlines or schedules, and here I am, first project of the year, worked on a deadline. So, I think I'll go back to the idea of stitching solely as my whims and pleasures take me.

At least as soon as I feel like stitching again. Those last few stitches on this project were really difficult because I have the head cold of all head colds. I woke up Monday morning feeling like my head was packed with concrete. Since then, I have been sneezing and coughing and dripping and aching. None of these behaviors are conducive to pleasant stitching. So I'll just wait this out and get back to normal life when I get back to normal health.

Yardwork

 Before the second phase of the storm hits us (and this is the nasty part with freezing rain predicted for our area), I thought I better do an update.

The house is finished, the trees are planted, the numbers stitched, and I've started on the fence around the front yard.

I truly did not think I would get the house filled in before the end of the month. I know there are a lot of sampler stitchers who love building houses. They find filling in all those walls rhythmic and soothing and peaceful.

Filling in makes me bugnutz crazy. 

That may be why I haven't succumbed to all the precious Animal Crackers designs. Don't get me wrong. I think they're adorable and I would love to have the entire menagerie in my house. The problem is that there are a lot of areas that have to be filled in. I know I would get one halfway done and then it would disappear into the bin of Projects That Make Me Feel Guilty Because They Aren't Finished But Not Guilty Enough To Make Me Finish Them. 

There are quite enough projects in that bin already.

Anyway, I am going to work on getting the fence around the front yard stitched today while hoping the power stays on and the dead tree we reported to the HOA in November doesn't decide to fall down.

This is the kind of excitement I would happily avoid.