Deadly Dull and Boring

That's me.  Since the last time I wrote, this is all I've managed to stitch on Mary Otter. Or anything else.

In my defense, I did have to work late three days out of four this week, and I had an EGA meeting on the other night.

Ironically, I never get anything stitched on guild nights, no matter what guild it is. I talk about stitching, I look at stitching, I get excited and inspired by stitching, but I don't get to actually stitch.

And that brings me back to Mary Otter.

She is one big, beautiful girl.

And she is a model for a designer, which means she takes priority. After her teaching career ends, she'll come back to live with me, but until then, she really belongs to someone else. So I need to put the pedal to the medal and the nose to the grindstone and sharpen the electric needle and avoid any other cliches and get 'er done.

When I first looked at her photograph, I thought I might be able to stitch her by Halloween. After getting the charts, I thought it would be closer to Thanksgiving. Now, after really studying all her details, I think it might be Christmas.

Which means that Mary Otter will be about the only subject of the blog for awhile.

So, I can talk about Mary for the next three months.  Or I can let the blog go dark. Or I can let you, Dear Readers, weigh in.

What say you?

Friends and Family

Not much stitching to report this week. Mother had another episode which is not unexpected when you're almost ninety, and we had friends from Key West in town, waiting to get the all-clear to go home. Mother is back in rehab for a few days, and the Floridians are wending their way home as of today.

And Mary Otter has had a few (very few) stitches:

After the past week, I really, really, really need to have some quiet time with needle in hand.

And that is exactly what I plan to do all day tomorrow.

September Strawberry

I've started stitching Mary Otter.

It is a very good thing that I like stitching Queen stitches because the entire border is made up of Queen stitch strawberries.

I have not counted to see how many there are.

I don't believe I will do that.

There and Back Again

I was not planning to go dark for so long--but with my sore finger, stitching was not on the agenda for almost a week.

Actually, as I was packing for my expedition to Salty Yarns, Dearly Beloved asked (somewhat plaintively), "You are going to get to stitch while you're gone, aren't you?  I think that will put you in a better mood."

Cranky?

Me?

Cranky?

Obviously the stress-relieving qualities of time spent with needle in hand cannot be overstated.

Anyway, Baby Girl and I took off for Ocean City for a relaxing week-end. She wandered around on the beach and boardwalk. I took another lovely class with Jackie du Plessis.

This is what I hope to eventually approximate:

It is called Tsubaki and the picture does not do it justice.

This is what I managed to stitch:

On the bottom are the pieces for the scissors fob. On top are the first two outlines for what will become the thimble cozy.

Now, what I'd love to tell you is that I am going to work on this project until it is completely done.

Not so much.

Because the materials for Mary Otter are staring at me and I am going to put a stitch or two into that first. Actually, the plan is to work on Mary in the evenings and Tsubaki on the week-ends.

And we'll see which one gets to the finish line first.

(As usual, the hospitality at Salty Yarns and the Lankford Hotel were unsurpassed. It's become my favorite venue for classes.)

Labor Day Stitching Report

Friday night I stayed up way too late to get the second chamber of Frances Burwell's sampler filled in:

I love this pansy--something about the red petals really liven up the sampler.

After two days of fiddling with teeny tiny pieces, Afternoon Leisure Basket is complete:

In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that there's a missing piece. There should also be a darling velvet strawberry. There is not.

I very carefully cut out the piece of velvet to make the strawberry's body. I stitched the seam exactly where I was instructed to stitch it. With great care, I turned the body right side out--and the whole seam shredded.

All I could do was stare at it for a minute or two.

So I very carefully turned it wrong side out again and did yet another seam, and then I overstitched the second seam, and then, holding my breath, I again turned it right side out.  

The only problem is that instead of having a nice, plump strawberry, I now have a skinny, shriveled up strawberry that the cap doesn't fit. I am mulling over the best way to handle this--I'm thinking I'm going to have to get another piece of velvet and start over.

And here we are on Labor Day. We have a holiday from work, and you'd think that I would have had a threaded needle in my hand all day.

Not so much.

I cut a chunk our of my left forefinger with the rotary cutter late yesterday afternoon. This is the same finger I sewed on the sewing machine about 20 years ago. This hurt almost as much and certainly bled a lot more.

As I do not wish to leave excessive amounts of DNA in any project--what am I saying?--I don't want to leave any DNA in any project--I am avoiding needlework until my finger gets better. So, I'm doing some preemptive packing for the coming week-end and a workshop at Salty Yarns.

Assuming Hurricane Irma doesn't interfere.