Ah-HA!!

Shout out to Sandra!

She found my flower--it's a bearded iris, and it comes in the colors Spot's stitcher used almost four centuries ago.

Mystery solved.

Here is the first row of motifs:

 I got all excited because two of the motifs on the next row are birds and a lot smaller than the floral motifs.

Then I looked at the other motifs on that row. Three of them are tent stitched flowers. Humongous tent stitched flowers. I mean, REALLY BIG tent stitched flowers.

Four year project, for sure.

Meanwhile, I started my current online class yesterday. It's a three-session class from RSN on needlelace. I have samples for two of the stitches started.

Don't laugh, this is more than I generally stitch in a class.

And I love the tutor already! Her name is Amy Burt, she is encouraging, she is definitely accustomed to online teaching so her demos are clear--and she's already provided tips and techniques that I didn't get in previous classes. I am chuffed! I'm even looking forward to doing my homework before the next class, and I've never looked forward to doing homework.

But now I need to shift loads of laundry.

I definitely never look forward to laundry.

Done!

 I buckled down and finished the fourth motif on Spot last evening.

Please tell me what this flower is!

I thought it might be an iris from the outline, but once all the colors were added, it wasn't. I'm also thinking that maybe it could be a fancy tulip, or possibly an exotic plant of some sort. The 1600's were a time of exploration, but the descriptions of the animals and plants the explorers saw weren't always accurate. The various faces on illustrations of lions are a good example.

I asked Dearly Beloved what he thought it looked like, and he said a face. So now that's all I can see.

And this face has harlequin glasses on.

If you're of a certain age, you might remember those fancy glasses that ladies of a certain age propped on their noses. They especially remind me of Miss Bess. If you're here for the stitching, you can stop reading right now.

Miss Bess was a character in my hometown. In her youth, she went off to NYC to become a famous actress. Apparently she became a flapper and danced on tables with a cigarette in one hand and a gin & tonic in the other. It's said that her father dragged her home and told her she had to behave herself and get married and settle down.

She did get her teacher certification so that she didn't need Daddy's money. She also became a constant member of the local Little Theater's casts. 

By the time I was aware of her, she was up in years. She taught 4th grade at the elementary school I attended and she sang in the same choir as my father. (She is the reason that my father said that sopranos should retire at 40, with very few exceptions.) She also lived in our neighborhood so we saw a lot of her. She always wore Lily Pulitzer flowered shifts. In the winter she teeter-tottered around in very high heels. In the summer she clip-clopped around in gold slide-ons with big flowers across the pedicured toes. She wore big clunky jewelry and bright blue eye shadow. Her hair was an improbable shade of red.

She loved the sun, to the point that her skin looked like well-tanned leather. Wrinkly leather. Which may have led to the reason why she stopped teaching.

Apparently, according to the story my father was telling my mother very quietly, thinking that no small and curious person was in the area, she was "layin' out nekkid" which is Southern for sunbathing in the nude. It seems a neighbor found this offensive and called the cops. When they arrived, she met them in the door in the altogether.

And invited them in for a little drink or two.

My father told my mother that the two young police officers didn't know whether to sh*t or go blind. It was said they called for back-up.

Anyway, the result was that her teaching contract was terminated. It seems that she had lied about her age for so long that she was actually beyond retirement age, but her paperwork indicated she was ten years younger. I do not know what the resolution was, but we then saw her driving around in her convertible at all hours. And when I say driving, I mean that her foot was on the gas and she was more or less pointing the car in the direction she wanted to go.

She lost her license.

Her nephew put her in a home.

She escaped. Several times.

Nephew finally found a live-in caretaker who could tolerate and handle her, and that's the way she lived out her days.

She died when she was 97. She had a drink in her hand and a cigarette smoldering in the ashtray next to her.

Normal-ish

 I was under the weather for about 24 hours. Actually, I was totally useless all day yesterday, and I'm still moving a little slowly, but I have been able to thread a needle.

And I believe I am going to work on this flower until it's all filled in.

There are only four colors, and it's pretty much all block stitching, so I believe I can handle it.

Hopefully I will be back to full stitching ability by tomorrow because I am starting a class in needlelace. I have my threads, I have my fabric, I need to make sure I have all the needles suggested, and I need to set up my hoop on the worktable.

I also feel the need for a nap.

Filling In

 It's Sampler Sunday again and I am filling in Motif 4 on the Spot Sampler.

There isn't much to see yet. I stayed up way too late finishing a book last night so I allowed myself to sleep in this morning. I got a very late start on the day, then the Great Lakes Region of EGA offered a lecture this afternoon with Dr Lynn Anderson on schoolgirl samplers which I wanted to watch and listen to. Usually I can listen and stitch while the lectures are going on, but this one had a lot of eye candy. I spent more time with the needle held motionless in my fingers than I did moving it in and out of the linen.

I really want to get to some of the petals today so I can see how the colors actually look. I'm still thinking it looks like an iris, but maybe a tulip? We'll see. But first I absolutely have to get the leaves done. Veggies before dessert, you know.

And speaking of dessert, I am going to assemble a banana pudding before I start stitching again. I figured that would be cooler than making banana bread. Even with AC, the oven can add heat to the house. The house is hot enough. 

The older I get, the less I like summer. You can always add layers of clothes and wrap up in blankets in winter, but you can only take off so much in the summer before you start scaring the family, horrifying the neighborhood, and creating opportunities for incarceration for indecent exposure.

It's the Heat AND the Humidity

At the moment, I think I want to move to Maine, just so I could take a dip in a chilly lake. Taking a cold shower isn't quite the same.

As it is, I think the heat and the heat index and the notices about "excessive heat" are doing me in. To the point that I don't even feel like stitching, even with the AC running. 

And that is why this is the only thing I've accomplished with needle and thread in three days:

And that accomplishment occurred only because I attended three stitch-ins and worked on this potted plant during all three.

I am now going to get another cold drink and read one of the Longmire books that takes place in the winter in Wyoming where the snow is three feet deep and still coming down.

If that doesn't help, I'm going to look at summer rentals in Maine.

Hurray for Stash!

 I am taking a class on needlelace from the Royal School of Needlework, starting next week. When I received my class confirmation, the message mentioned a kit that would be sent in plenty of time prior to class.

Apparently that is a form letter that isn't edited for specific classes.

I had emailed to ask about the kit for this class since it hadn't arrived, but the kit for the class I'm taking in August had. I had no answer.

Anyway, I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, wide awake, but knew if I got up then, I'd be a zombie by 7. So, I decided to check my email on my phone and hope I'd get sleepy enough to go back to bed.

And there was a message from the RSN Eduction department, telling me the supplies I need to get for the class.

Apparently there isn't a kit.

You need a variety of needles and Perle cotton in three sizes, plus calico ( which in the US we call muslin).

So I spent the morning stash diving, looking for Perle cotton in three sizes. No idea how many skeins or balls needed, if the colors need to be coordinated (from the photo of the project, the answer is "nope."), no indication of the size of the piece of calico needed. It would appear that we are either being given a great deal of latitude in our choices or we'll find out when class starts if we chose wisely.

Here are my choices:

I have needles and I have some white cotton that is the weight of muslin. The only thing I need now are the paper covered cake wires that can be used for raised embroidery, and I think I have some of those left from the Deep Dive into Stumpwork class I took from Sara Rickards. Otherwise, I have an excuse to go to Michael's with BDE. I also need to be sure I have hoops in assorted sizes that aren't otherwise occupied.

Once again, I'm glad I've spent a lifetime accumulating stash and didn't downsize that when we had the Big Move. You never know when there will be something in one of those bins that will come in handy!

But now I really need a nap.

Frameworks

 I started to title this one "doing the boring stuff,"  but I am trying to put a positive spin on my needlework experiences.

And, yes, I'm still frogging Carmen and not feeling particularly positive about that experience, but I'm trying to persuade myself that I will be much happier when it's done and the frogged stitches replaced.

Anyway, I got the red motifs on All That Glitters outlined. From here on out, I just have to fill. I don't have to count anything, just go on autopilot.

And I decided that maybe I needed to get a little more of the border done on Sarah Ann Purdy:

I'd like to get the next two motifs on the left side of the sampler stitched, then move over to the right side and catch that side up to the left.

I really wish my lousy photography showed just how gorgeous Sarah Ann is looking! One reason I like working on 40 count linen with overdyed threads is that I get a very delicate look, but the colors are saturated and vibrant. I don't like seeing the "legs" of my crosses because I think that takes away from overall effect of the design.

And this is a small-ish sampler--it will be only slightly over 10" wide and slightly less than 10" tall when it's done--but the intensity of the colors will make it stand out.

I have the opportunity to participate in two stitch-ins tonight, so maybe this will be a good day to get some things accomplished.