Just like Christmas

 When the mail arrived yesterday, it was just like Christmas around here. I almost decided to pull out the tree so I could put the packages under it.

I got three--three!!!--sampler kits I had ordered. I'll show you the others later this week.

First of all,  A. Carter from The Scarlett House. I saw this on a shop site in the last week or so. I told myself I absolutely was not going to add another sampler kit to the stash. I was not, no way, not gonna happen.

I did. I couldn't remember where I had seen the sampler, but when you dream about stitching something, you just about have to order it. 123 Stitch had it, and they ship very quickly.

And then I sewed the linen to scroll bars and started it last night. What can I say? I am weak in the face of temptation.

It is possible that I need an intervention.

Dilemma

I finished the flower on Spot that I've been laboring over on Labor Day.

So then it was time to work on something else.

And herein lies the dilemma.

I want to do All the Things. And I want to Finish All the Things. And therefore, I spent most of the day picking things up and putting them down and moving things from one stack to another and back again.

Schedules and plans and rotations don't work for me. Neither does the carrot-and-the-stick method, like if I finish two projects, I can start a new one.

I may just write down the names of this pile of projects on little slips of paper, put them in a basket, and get Dearly Beloved to pull one, and I'll just work on that for today. At least I'll be making progress on something!

The Wall

 That's what I hit at about 8 p.m. last night.

I could not force myself to put a single, solitary stitch in this flower at that point.

Granted, I had been working on it all day. And there are 1,296 stitches per square inch.

Just writing that made me weak in the knees.

Anyway, I was planning to work on Heartsease today and maybe later do a few more stitches in the stem, but Lucy Worsley's "Queens and Kings" book arrived on the doorstep and I may have to fall into British history instead.

Striped Flower

 I was so close to getting this flower bud(?) stitched before I went to bed, but eyes and hands decided to stop working at about the same time. So, I'll finish that part today.

I'd like to say I would get the leaves and stems finished as well, but that's a lot of teeny tent stitches over one, and I think I would be overly optimistic.

And, speaking of being overly optimistic, I saw this project finished on Cathy's blog and knew I had to have it. Pdf from Lucy Beam was in my hot little hands before you could say "Lucy Beam."

I should probably substitute "Needlework" for Cross Stitch since I fall down a lot of stitching rabbit holes, but this may suffice.

Sampler September

It has occurred to me that this is Sampler September and I have yet to stitch on a sampler. I have also been remiss in keeping up with Sampler Sundays. This must be corrected!

So yesterday I pulled Spot out of her pillowcase and started a new motif:

 Because I had green in my needle after doing all the outlining, I just kept on stitching some of the sections that also use that shade. I think, though, that I may work on the flower today and save the green fill-in for the counted thread Special Interest Group (aka SIG) that EGA sponsors on Sunday.

Or maybe I'll work on Heartsease today.

Or maybe I'll go back to bed for awhile. I woke up after about five hours of sleep and couldn't get settled again, so I just got up. I'm drowsy now, so maybe I can get the rest of a good night's sleep accomplished. On only five hours, I'm not safe to be around.

Spoiler!

 If you order the Frostings boxes from Tricia Nguyen at Thistle Threads and want to be surprised, go no further.

If you want to see what's in there, here it is:

The new colors in the range were introduced in the last Frostings box. This one has those colors in other types of thread.

And there are metal threads and trims of all sorts and tiny little metal bits and pieces that can be added to your embroidery--some were used on the last Christmas Tree ornament project that is a free download on the Thistle Threads site.

So, I'm going to play with threads today.

Over one?

 Remember when I said I didn't want to start either of the projects I pulled out of the stash because of all the over-one stitching?

I think that may have been just yesterday.

And this is what I ended up doing:

These are the bits that will make up the waxer pocket on Betsy Morgan's This Ones for Betty. Do you see the motif on the right? 

That pretty, delicate, little design with the hearts and leaves?

Over one.

And I stayed up hours past my bedtime to finish it, so today I feel like I have been hit by a truck which then backed up and ran over me again.

I don't think I will work on Heartsease today. Actually, I may go back to bed.