Stems and Veins

 I got a very late start on Sampler Sunday today, and this is all I have to show thus far.

I had hoped that I would get all the outlined areas filled in today but, unless I stay up all night--and that would run into Sampler Monday, which isn't a thing (yet)--I don't think that will happen.

However, I did spend a delightful hour with a lecture sponsored by the Great Lakes Region of EGA. The people behind Relics in Situ talked about raised or dimensional embroidery of the 16th and 17th centuries. OMG, the close-up pictures they showed were phenomenal! The things the embroiderers of that time could accomplish--simply amazing! And, yes, I know there are people who do the same sort of work now, but what really amazes me is the tiny scale of some of the artifacts. It all makes me want to get back to that sort of work, if only to see if I can get my arthritic fingers to produce something resembling it.

Stay tuned for that.

That may have been written with tongue in cheek.

And on to another topic that rose to the top of my brain in the middle of the night:

What has happened to Maynia?

Do you remember when people started a new project on every day in May? Is anybody still doing that?

Or is that the reason there are now so many WIPGO programs to help people finish their started projects?

Inquiring minds want to know. I'd love to hear what you have to say.

The Merry Month of May

Whew! April is over! It was a very tiring month for me, but I am feeling more like myself and think my stitching mojo is coming back.

(However, in the Aging-is-NOT-for-Sissies category, I rolled over last night and threw out my back. These times do try us. Icy Hot patches actually do help, although the aroma can also clear out ones sinuses.)

Anyway, I have done a little on Stacy Nash's Liberty for All sampler.

 Not quite to the halfway point, but close.

I also started assembling Jackie du Plessis' Carmen Etui yesterday, but at the moment there isn't enough put together to make sense.

And tomorrow is Sampler Sunday, and I'd like to get the leaves on the second motif filled in with tent.

I should probably mention that this is more stitching in three days than I have done in the last three weeks.  Let's hope I can keep the momentum going!

Poorly and Puny

 When my elderly relatives felt a little under the weather, they would say they were "feeling poorly" or "a little puny."

I was under the weather last week, thus there was virtually no stitching. There was a lot of gazing off into the distance and napping. I felt poorly and I was a little puny.

It just occurred to me that I am now the elderly relative. 

Anyway, I feel much better now, and yesterday I did the backstitch for the second motif on The Essamplaire's Spot Sampler.

Today I am going to reorganize the work table so I can start doing some final finishing on a project or two.  And if finishing doesn't do me in, I'm definitely on the mend.

One Down, Forty-One to Go

 Sampler Sunday resulted in one finished motif today.

Other than the straight stitches for the veins in the leaves, this is all worked in tent stitch or backstitch. And I made a major mistake--I decided to see how many stitches it takes to do a square inch.

1, 225.

That's a lot.

And there are forty-one more motifs on this sampler.

I'm glad I decided that this would take a couple of years to stitch if I work on it only on Sundays. It may take three years, but I'm trying to be optimistic.

I also worked on one of my Fourth projects, Clara 1876, during the past week:

I had several Zoom meetings this past week, and Clara was perfect stitching--lots of fill-in. I just wish she didn't look quite so confused.

Fingers are crossed that I can make some headway on Peony this week. I didn't have the bandwidth this week to focus on goldwork after the long, long trip home. I read somewhere that travel is tiring because you're constantly making micro-movements as you ride, whether in plane, train, or automobile. I must have been making some macro-movements as well as all the micro-movements. Or maybe I'm just getting old.

There and Back Again

BDE and I went to Salty Yarns last week for classes with Jackie du Plessis.

And this is what I took:

 I've loved all of these Case Studies, and this one may be the most dramatic of them all. And it opens up and there are some really unique pockets inside. This is on the top of my list to start.

Unless this one comes to the top of the list:

This one is so cool! It has a drawer that pulls out for storing treasures. Maybe it's on the top of the list.

And here's the third class I took:

Bedazzled fruit (actually glittered cotton forms) in their own embroidered basket--actually, this is not on the top of my list at the moment. I painted the cotton forms in class but didn't want to glitter until I got home. And I think, rather than a basket of fruit, I may turn these into Christmas tree ornaments. Any glittering, however, is going to happen when I have on old clothes and can set myself up a workstation on the deck. That way I can sweep the excess glitter through the boards of the deck and not have it all over the house.

Glitter can take over the world.

We drove back yesterday--it was a beautiful day for a long drive--but we got in too late for me to work on my Sunday Sampler. Today I'm unpacking and unloading and reorganizing and deciding on a stitching schedule of sorts because I have so many pretties that I want to do right now!!!

And on to another topic which has been irritating me: Once again, I can't respond to comments on my own blog. Please know that I read and appreciate every single one of you who takes the time to read and react to my babbling.

Spring Green

 It's getting green outside my door, and it's pretty green in my stitching corner at the moment.

Yesterday I filled in the leaves and stems on the Spot Sampler:

Most of the motifs on this sampler are worked in tent stitch over one--and that's why it's probably gonna take me a couple of years to stitch. That doesn't include the detached elements for some of the motifs. 

Can we say labor-intensive?

Today I finished the outline for the twining vine on the Queen Sampler:

The inner sections of the vine will be filled in, but I think I'm going to work the big flowers on either side of the center first.

They're worked in Queen stitch. I do not believe I have worked a Queen stitch since I finished RST last year.

Hopefully I have recovered from that trauma by now!

Happy Easter on Sampler Sunday

 Happy Easter! Everything here is blooming and pollinating--and another cold front is moving in. 

But on to happier topics.

My Sampler Sunday project is going to be the Spot Sampler, reproduced by Margriet Hogue of The Essamplaire.

It's got to be almost 20 years ago (YIKES!) that I took this class from Margriet when Jeannine held her sampler workshops in Williamsburg. At the time, I was doing a lot of proof stitching and model stitching with deadlines and so I put it aside--and then I got distracted by something else--and it sank into the stash.

But just because it was out of sight didn't mean it was out of mind. I kept thinking about it, time and time again over the years, but something else always seemed to take precedence.

I've been taking stock lately. I realized that I have been spending way too much time doomscrolling on my phone. I've also realized that I have way more to stitch than could be attained in five lifetimes. I have four online classes that began at the beginning of this year that I have yet to start, plus half a dozen from last year and the year before that I should finish. And I am not getting any younger. If anything, time seems to be speeding up.

So, I have made a bucket list of stitching projects that should take priority. I've also decided to set my phone on the other side of the room from me so I'm not tempted to pick it up. I'm keeping several stitching projects close at hand so I'll be tempted to thread a needle instead.

I should probably not mention that I'm heading to Salty Yarns on Wednesday to take three more classes from Jackie du Plessis. I can only stand so much discipline, and then I crack, so I'm giving myself permission to take advantage of things that will be available only for a limited time.

But, back to this sampler. I figure it's going to take me a couple of years of Sundays to complete it, so I'd best get started.