A little more

 Today's Tudor bit involved couching lizerine around each leaf. It was very fiddly, and that was just the outer edge.

After everything else on this piece of linen is stitched, all of this will be cut out and sewn to velvet. When that happens, the center vein of each leaf will be added.

This is not the only thing I've been working on, but seeing nun stitch after nun stitch after nun stitch is like watching grass grow or paint dry. When I finally get it all done and the stuff in the middle done, I'll take a picture.

Back to the Tudors

 Apparently I was inspired by my new Tudor book. I worked on attaching the gold plate to the leaves that will be appliquéd to velvet later.

I am experimenting with the coverage of the couching stitches over the gold plate. The top leaf has fairly heavy coverage, while the bottom one has very little. 

The problem is that the photo doesn't show how bright the plate actually is. In real life, it's very shiny and almost overwhelming.

In addition, all those raggedy-looking edges around the outside and up the center will be covered with another, very bright gold metallic thread. As a result, I'm leaning toward to heavier coverage with the couching threads to tone the plate down a bit.

I realize that Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were all about the bling, but there's already a lot of that on this project.  I think I'll set the frame across the room and see how it reacts in lamplight and early morning sun, then make a decision.

New book

There has been very little stitching for the last couple of days, and therefore I had very little to say. I did pull out a project from the stash that I want to start, and another that will be on the slate frame as soon as the Tudor project is done, but as far as actually stitching, nope, didn't happen.

But I did get a beautiful book today:

Sorry for the blurry photo and bad light-- it is a glorious book with paintings and reproductions of Tudor clothing and examples of actual Tudor garments. And it is now available in paperback, so it's much more affordable.

Tonight I'll settle down with a book rather than a needle.

 

Best Laid Plans

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I am not making plans.

And, of course, I had planned to finish the flowers on this part of Rebecah French today. I didn't. I got about half of them done:

 And that is because my sleep was interrupted last night, not once, but twice.

I'm going to be a cranky old lady, so if you're here for stitching, you can stop reading right now.

There is a young man in our neighborhood who is admirable in many, many ways--good student, hard worker--and his goal has been to save up enough money to buy a car he could drive during his senior year in high school. He has worked very hard to meet this goal, which was made even harder with Covid cutting off so many job opportunities for so long. This meant that he worked two jobs this summer.

And he bought a car. Actually, what he bought was a motorized, rolling vehicle to carry a major stereo system, with emphasis on bass speakers. And this thing rolled into the neighborhood at midnight last night. Dearly Beloved, who had taken his hearing aids out, thought it was thunder since the windows were rattling and he could feel the vibrations.

And then, the kid rolled out this morning at 6:30 to go to one of his jobs (gotta buy gas, you know), and apparently, he needed to wake himself up so he cranked up the stereo again. And this was quite the shock to the system on a quiet Sunday morning.

His parents have come to every door and apologized--it seems the stereo was a surprise to them as well--and we have been informed that this will not happen again. Dad mentioned that the title is in Dad's name, as is the insurance, so he has leverage.

Considering the bags under his eyes, we believe that Dad will carry through.

The Boring Stuff

 Sometimes you have to get the boring stuff out of the way before you can do the fun stuff.

On the accessories for the Stitcher's Envelope, that's the Nun stitch.  All of them are outlined in Nun stitch.

I do not enjoy working Nun stitch.

On the scissors sheath, I stitched the design almost all the way, then did the Nun around it, then finished the design.  I've decided I'm going to work the Nun stitch first for the rest of the pieces. Otherwise, they won't get done in a timely manner, meaning any time soon, or perhaps even in this decade. Lesser things have derailed projects.

So, this is where I've started. And will continue. And I am liable to be cranky, so I beg forgiveness in advance.

Of course, tomorrow is Sampler Sunday, so I'll have an excuse to procrastinate schedule the other sections for later in the week.

A unicorn

 In one of the cross stitch groups I belong to, a unicorn is that chart or pattern or kit or design that is (usually) out of print or so rare that it's as elusive as a unicorn.

I have several unicorns I'd love to find, and last week I found one:

Fenwick is a kit from Elsa Williams that is probably forty or fifty years old. I always loved the design, but never had the chance to buy it when Elsa Williams products were in existence. But--aha!--it appeared on the Bay of Evil, and I spent way too much for it, but it's now in my possession.

I've always said that if I'm meant to have something, it will eventually come my way--even if it takes decades to arrive!

Lack of Industry

 Today was supposed to be a Tudor day.

After yesterday, I didn't feel like doing anything that required focus or concentration. Actually, I was thinking about being a slug, but I did pull out the Stitcher's Envelope. So the borders for the second half of the scissors sheath are done, and I started the nun stitch that will be part of the finishing.

 And then the mail arrived, and I have more temptation--temptation that I hope will be motivation to get some more of my WIP's and PhD's done before I start something new.

I discovered Nicki Franklin's The Stitchery through an article in Victoria Magazine an issue or so ago.  She offers lovely, small designs stitched in soft, faded colors. And one of the designs I found on her website was "No Rabbits Allowed", inspired by Beatrix Potter's Mr. MacGregor's Garden. My fingers moved of their own accord, and it was ordered.

I really planned to stitch my stash in retirement rather than add to it, but some things are just too enticing to avoid!