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.

Another Finish and Circling Back

I'm a little behind on my Ornament-of-the-Month idea, but I finally assembled my choice for February. Betsy Morgan design Christmas Treats for Inspirations magazine. I stitched the design last year, and finally put them together today.

Since I finished Elizabeth Hall 1771, I needed another evening project. So Darlene O'Steen's Queen Sampler came out of her pillowcase.

I've started the double running for the Queen's band. 

Peony is not completely out of the picture, I will probably go back to that project Monday. Meanwhile, I believe I may work on a different sampler on Sundays. I just have to decide which one. I was sort of saving Carmen for summer stitching, and I'm tempted by another project entirely for Sundays.

We'll see what happens when I sit down to stitch tomorrow.

And a Finish!

 Nope, not the Peony, which is in time-out after being totally uncooperative. Instead, Elizabeth Hall 1771 is done!!

She's a tiny little sampler, only about 6" x 7".  I think I may have a frame that would fit somewhere in the stash. I've pressed her once, but it looks like she needs another go with the iron.

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to work on getting a few more things out of the finishing basket and I may dig into the WIP basket while Peony is considering her misbehavior. 

But first, I need to make a grocery list so Dearly Beloved can do his hunting and gathering thing. As I have mentioned before, he loves to tour the grocery store. And it gets him out of the house!

Gilding the Peony, Part One

I've started putting the gold threads on the Peony. This is colored couching:

 Colored couching is exactly what it says--you hold down pairs of metal threads with colored thread.

And I have discovered I can only do a limited number of hours focusing on shiny metal thread before my eyes cross. So, I'm planning to work on this slowly and deliberately and do a little every day.

Which means I have more time to work on Elizabeth, who isn't shiny at all. I've started working on the lettering:

This is the adaptation part of the sampler--cross stitch instead of eyelets and tent stitch instead of over-one crosses--and I don't think Elizabeth Hall would object at all.

It may be a long week

I think I'm going to need a root canal, but can't see my dentist for another week. I'm  a wee bit uncomfortable and my sleep is disturbed. However, I am armed with Ambesol and Aleeve and hoping better living through chemistry will get me through.

This also means that my stitching has been affected, especially the goldwork that requires focus and concentration. I'm trying mind over matter. It would be wonderful if my mind would cooperate with this.

There has been some small progress on both projects, despite the aggravation.

Gilt leather has been applied. No blood was shed, but the air turned a little blue.

The big center motif and all the little bits and pieces are complete on Elizabeth Hall. The verse is the next step--and there is yet another adaptation.

The capital letters in the verse and the attribution are supposed to be worked in eyelet stitches. Over one thread in each direction. 

Have you ever tried to cram 8 stitches into the middle of a fairly tightly woven 40 count linen? I crammed four in and the linen was already bulging--so those were carefully and very slowly frogged. I thought about doing Smyrna crosses, then decided that a plain old cross over two would do just as well. So, second adaptation. I won't tell--well, actually I already have--but as it can't be seen from the back of a galloping horse, I don't care.

I am going wild and crazy in my old age.

All Tied Up

 I really, really, really don't like doing soft string padding.

I still have one section to do. I am procrastinating. If it weren't for the fact that I get to start working with the shiny stuff once I get the stem padded, I might continue to procrastinate.

As it is, I thought I wouldn't be able to do it until I got some more beeswax, which is used to help the soft strings to stay together. Luckily, BDE had a massive block and was willing to bring it to me after work Friday. As she is not interested in doing goldwork (apparently one crazy person in a family is enough--not my words), she didn't think she'd ever use it, so it's now mine.

Elizabeth Hall, however, has seen some progress:

I think I can get another chunk of this done tonight.

After I spend the afternoon stitching sticky string down.

A day off

Best laid plans . . . 

Yesterday I was going to finish the felt padding on Peony. That didn't happen.

I stayed up way too late because I fell into a book and couldn't make myself climb out. Not a problem, I'm retired, I set my own hours, but I was planning to get up after sleeping a decent 8 hours. Meanwhile, Dearly Beloved had a very early doctor appointment, so he was setting his alarm clock and planning to get up about three hours before me.

Dearly Beloved is deaf as a post without his hearing aids. He has to recharge them every night, so he can't hear much, if anything, from the time he goes to bed until he gets up. This includes most alarm clocks.

So, we found an alarm clock with an incredibly loud alarm. Incredibly loud. I mean LOUD.  Luckily, Dearly Beloved is also one of those people who can usually wake himself up right before the clock goes off. 

Usually.

Unfortunately, he didn't do that yesterday. The alarm went off. I think I completely levitated off the bed and landed with an adrenaline rush that can only be equated with being chased by a dinosaur. However, he got up, turned off the clock, and tottered off to take a shower.

However, he didn't actually turn off the alarm. He punched the snooze alarm instead of the off button.

I had just managed to get myself situated again and was dozing off when the damn clock went off again.

I levitated again. I was trying to crawl across the bed to turn the clock off when it vibrated itself off the dresser and onto the floor, where it continue to motivate itself halfway under the big chest of drawers. Meanwhile, I was lurching out of bed, trying to capture it before it went completely under the chest. 

I succeeded, and turned off the alarm.

Dearly Beloved, of course, was in the shower and heard nothing of all this. He was surprised to find me wide awake and vibrating.

I was determined to get enough sleep to function, so I eventually went back to sleep but never slept well. I woke up with a headache, and decided that fiddly little stitches were beyond my capabilities. So I finished the book I had been reading.

That meant that today I finished the felt padding on Peony:

 And I managed to finish the alphabets on Elizabeth Hall:

Tonight I get to start a flower or a leaf or something, but NOT a letter or number.

I have made an executive decision, too. There's a lot of cross stitch over one thread in the verse on this sampler, as well as the attribution and date, but I am working on 40 count linen. If I try to do cross over one, I'm going to distort the linen--so I'm doing tent stitch instead. It's an adaptation. I seem to do that a lot.

Now if I could just adapt to Dearly Beloved's alarm clock . . .