Another Good Mail Day

 I have absolutely got to stop cruising the innerwebs late at night.

It was another good mail day:

On the left, the kit for a class I'm taking through the Royal School of Needlework at the end of the summer. Yes, I have already opened the box. Yes, I have already reviewed the directions. Yes, I think I could stitch it without the class, but Kate Barlow always has a tip or technique that elevates your skill level, so I will wait.

I am a little concerned, though, since I have another class set to start next week, also from the RSN--and that kit hasn't been mailed yet, nor do I have a materials list. I am wondering if the wrong kit was sent before its scheduled time and the other hasn't been shipped--so I wrote to ask.

And then the Strawberry Sampler from Liz Matthews. I was absolutely NOT going to buy any more schoolgirl sampler charts (other than Country Sampler's Threads in History kits) this year. I was not. I solemnly swore to myself I have enough to keep me busy.

But this one has all the things that I like, like motifs rather than alphabets. And no big honkin' house.

I succumbed.

And, I am not surprised I succumbed.

Neither is anyone else.

A Tisket, a Tasket

 Three pretty little baskets!

I'm still in the midst of trying to bring order into chaos on my worktable, and I think I'm making a bigger mess than I had when I started.

I had to stop for a little and actually stitch something to maintain my sanity, so Sarah Ann Purdy wound up on the frame stand--and I have three little baskets in the center of the sampler.

I wish the picture showed how vivid the red and white are against the linen--they glow!

Back to arranging--I do get a break this afternoon when we have one of our EGA region stitch-ins, and I think that All That Glitters is going to get some love then.

On to the Next

The next motif on Spot is outlined and ready to be stitched.

 It's a little like coloring in a coloring book, once you get the outlines set, just with needle and thread instead of crayons.  Now I wonder when graph paper was invented.

Does this look like it might become an iris?

Anyway, this may be the only stitching that gets done today. I have domestic duties to attend to, and my worktable to organize since it has parts of four different projects strewn across it, meaning I can't do anything with any of them until order is restored in the kingdom.

That's one thing I have apparently lost since I retired. I used to be a paragon of organization. My desk was a marvel of efficiency and I was on top of all my work obligations at all times.

Now I flit from one thing to another, but I've decided that it's past time to give up on trying to schedule my stitching and just enjoy the journey.

My two cents for Monday the Thirteenth!

Whew!

 I finally got all the highlighting and missing stitches worked into the third motif on the Spot Sampler.

This is the point at which my eyes said they had had enough and weren't stitching any longer. So, after a week, I talked them into getting this done. And done it is. I think that, so far, this flower had the most aggravating shading. I know it doesn't look like it, but it was the most aggravating for me.

There is one more flower for this row and the top of the sampler will be stitched.

For some reason, it feels as if I can get the top two rows done, the rest of the sampler will be easier. 

Obviously, I am deluded, since the more complicated techniques start after the top two rows. Maybe I'm just tired of tent stitch over one.

That makes more sense.

Potted Plants

I thought I was going to get a lot stitched today. After all, I had two lectures on needlework to listen to as I stitched, and that usually means a lot gets done.

Nope, the lectures were fascinating and the photos of the work were engrossing, and I just put down my needle and made no attempt to stitch. The first was with Theresa Baird, who designs the samplers for the original 13 colonies--she just published the one for North Carolina and it is nothing short of amazing. It was interesting to hear about the inspirations for each sampler she's done so far and how she got started in designing.

The second was offered through EGA's lecture series and featured Isabella Rossner, who talked about needlework in times of crisis and chaos. The lecture covered a thousand years of history, starting with the 1066 Norman invasion of England and ending with Covid, including stories about the English revolution and the Great Plague as well as the sorrowful situations arising from incarceration.

So I got my intellectual stimulation for the week, which I decided I really needed after trying to remember if I had applied shampoo once or twice while showering.  Have you ever noticed that some things are so automatic that you don't quite notice whether you did them or not? Or am I showing my age and decrepitude?

I finally got a couple of pots stitched on Sarah Ann Purdy:

I used to be a stitch-the-whole-border-first sampler maker--you know, eat your veggies and then you can have dessert. However, I finally figured out that it was less boring and more interesting to work sections of the border while I was doing the insides. That way I could check the placement of both border and interior against each other. And hopefully have less frogging to do.

And, yes, I'm still frogging Carmen. I will be frogging Carmen until the next millennium.

Meanwhile, in other news, I realized that today is the 15th anniversary of Stitching Foolishness. I never planned to be blogging for 15 years but here we are.

And I plan to continue blithering on.

and now for something completely different . . .

Stitching a sweet little strawberry border can be very soothing.

 Sarah Ann Purdy 1844

The Scarlett House

Country Sampler's Threads of History Club project

Slow Start on Another Good Mail Day

I have done today's ripping.

Sigh . . . it has definitely taken the wind out of my stitching sails.

However, today was another good mail day. I got my fabric order from Hoop & Frame:

 I love 37/38 count Legacy Linen, and Hoop & Frame has a nice selection. They also ship quickly, which is always nice. Anyway, I invested in a yard each of Cloudburst, which is a pale bluish-gray, and Lady Baltimore Cake, which is a creamy off-white. 

Now I just have to get over the funk that Carmen threw me into and decide what I want to stitch today.

( I think I may try stitching first tomorrow, then put in my hour on frogging Carmen, and see if that helps my stitching mojo.)