Last class and home again

 I'm home again, after a very, very long day of travel. I am not sure why the trip home always seems to take so much longer than the trip to the destination, but I was beginning to think that road would never end.

But before we set out for the drive home, I had one last day of class.

The Artisan Workbox was not like any class I've taken before. There were no written directions, so we jumped right into actually working on the component pieces for the construction of the etui that will live in the box. 

This is a slit for a pocket. I also have a model pocket that will be attached to this piece and the beginnings of the internal structure of the etui and a pin cushion. I also have pages and pages of notes and loads of photographs, but I'm thinking it would be a very good idea to work on this one right away while I understand what my notes mean.

Don't remind me that I say that with every class I take.

Yet another class

Today I lined a box with a lovely silk for the sides and a rich velvet for the bottom.

I almost got the pin cushion that will live on the inside cover of the box stitched, and I learned how to make the pockets that will fit inside the needlework case. 

This was a very productive day, quite unlike my usual time in class where I rarely stitch and never get anything done. 

I could get used to this!

Morning, Glory!

It's cold and rainy here at Ocean City, but I actually stitched in class! Wonders will never cease.

I also ripped because I can't count and follow a chart at the same time in a class, but it's all fixed and everything is fine now.

And I indulged in a bit of retail therapy. Aside from replenishing my needle supply and replacing my broken clip & flip magnifiers and picking up a skein of AVAS I need for a sampler project, I found this:

I saw this design by Ellen Chester on Facebook the other day and thought it looked like it would be fun to stitch and a good travel project. And then I decided I would really rather stitch it in silk, and Salty Yarns has a nice supply of Gloriana, so BDE and I had a color consultation and I'm going to work it in this. It's a little more muted than the original colors, but I think it will be fine.

There are two more days of class and two more projects to add to the pile of things I want to do right this minute. (I need more minutes.)

And, interestingly, Dearly Beloved has been checking off items on his Honey-Do list while I've been gone. I am beginning to wonder if I should leave him alone more often. He seems to be much more industrious when I'm not around. Hmmmmmm . . . .

 

A very, very, very fine house

 At the moment, it doesn't look so very fine. Actually, it looks as if it barely survived a typhoon.

This is the paper mock-up for the etui from the class I've been taking with Jackie at Salty Yarns for the last couple of days.

I am assuming (and hoping) it will look more like the photo on the front of the instructions.

Both BDE and I have been coveting this project since I first saw the photo of it, and finally, it is within our grasp--plus, I have decided that the pattern for the pin cushion that goes with it would be absolutely adorable worked in gold metallic thread with green and red silk accents as a Christmas ornament.

So many stitches . . . so little time.

And I have three more classes during this trip. BDE may have been more realistic and is only taking one of them.

Or she has realized that she is going to get all my stitching stuff anyway, and has the patience to wait.

Leafing Out

 The next band of Carmen has these lovely, lovely leaves.

This pattern forms a framework across the band. I would love to get that done today, but I am doing the pre-trip laundry, then I'm going to start packing for this week's gallivanting with BDE to Salty Yarns for classes with Jackie. I continue to stalk Jackie.

Besides, the minute I make stitching plans, something always interferes. Therefore, I am NOT planning to stitch leaves today between loads of laundry and organizing stitching supplies.

Slowly, slowly

I have been stitching, very slowly and somewhat painfully at times, but, quite frankly, I'd rather stitch with some discomfort as opposed to not stitching at all. There are just too many pretty things in the world that I need to stick a needle in to waste time!

And, I am thrilled to announce, I have finally finished the part of the border that surrounds the first band on Carmen.

Now I have options.

I could go ahead, while I have the border pattern in my head (more or less), and work the border areas for the next band. Just to get them out of the way, you understand.

There is a little zigzag interior border that I could zip through.

Or there is a new band pattern, a lovely new pattern, that I can't wait to stitch.

Do you even have to ask? I'm going to start the new pattern today. 

Radio Silence

 

This is Ethel.

She is supposed to keep my wrist stable while it recovers from being hyperextended when I tripped up the stairs. She is also supposed to stop me from re-injuring myself.

I can stitch with her, but it's slow and awkward. Hopefully, though, she will do her job quickly and efficiently.

In other news, I just had the recent Covid shot, recommended for people over 65. Every other one I've had has left me tired and vaguely achey. This one did me in--unbelievable fatigue and chills and fever--and to top it all off, I had a dizzy spell and keeled over. Luckily I landed on the best padded part of my anatomy, but I have a rather large bruise. And I have bruises elsewhere as well, so I am stiff and sore.

These times do try us.

Hopefully I will have something of a stitching nature to show in the near future.

The Haul

 An apologetic employee of the Post Office appeared with my box from Inspirations today, 

I have decided I am not allowed online when I am too ill to stitch. It's dangerous.

Here's the Betsy Morgan sampler I mentioned.

Lovely Gloriana silks, lovely linen, all colors I'm drawn to and patterns that will be fun to stitch--what a joy!

And, because this Deep Dive into Whitework class I'm taking has pulled me into loving that particular branch of needlework, with all its offshoots, again:

Tiny little pictures of projects worked in white on white don't show up well, but I have a Richelieu Lace piece and two Schwalm pieces, one of which can go on the rack on the antique golden oak washstand that was the first antique we bought we were newlyweds. I already have a couple of Barbara Kershaw's finger towels hanging there, and I think this will be a nice addition.

I only need 36 hours in the day.

More frustration and aggravation

I get into trouble when I don't feel like stitching, and I didn't feel like stitching while I had that horrible cold. 

What I do feel like doing is wandering around the innerwebs looking at needlework. And I wandered to Inspirations magazine's site, and I ordered a Betsy Morgan kit.

Which the PO said they delivered today in the parcel box at our neighborhood mail box.

They did not. 

And trying to navigate the PO site is also frustrating and aggravating.

We'll see what the PO says. If the results are anything like the issues we've had getting mail forwarded from our old place to our new address, I have a terrible feeling I'm SOL.

Frustration and Aggravation

 Who would think this tiny piece of linen could cause such angst?

There are supposed to be 99 Nun stitches across the top. I have counted four times and had four different counts. And no two counts agreed.

I believe I will do something else for the rest of the day.

April 3

When the kit arrived several weeks ago, I fully intended to start this when the first class was posted on April 3.

 Instead, when I finally pulled myself out of bed at the crack of noon today, I worked on this:

I didn't sleep well last night (which is why I ended up staying in bed all morning). First I was too hot, so I turned on the ceiling fan. Then I was too cold, so I pulled up a blanket. Then I seemed to have too many arms and legs for comfort because I couldn't get any of them situated in the right place. I finally got up and read for awhile, then sat and stared at my worktable and all the baskets and bins around it, and decided I have too many things started and not enough things finished.

At that point it was after 7 in the morning and I was finally tired enough to sleep.

But other than the four classes I'm taking in a couple of weeks at Salty Yarns, and the other online and guild projects I've agreed to do, I am not starting anything new.

I think I see the problem.

Hundreds of Hours . . .

Awhile back I was wandering around the website of one of my favorite designers. I found a project I liked, and read the description.

Which included the phrase, "hundreds of hours of stitching pleasure."

Hundreds of hours.

Well, that's intimidating to think of.

But I'm beginning to believe this border is going to take hundreds of hours.

It's a pretty border, and it adds a lot to the piece, but I'm not sure it's going to be hundreds of hours of stitching pleasure. There's a lot of stopping and starting, and of course, a lot of repetition.

And this is why I tend to prefer band samplers and spot samplers. They don't have borders.

One of my stitching buddies once said that band samplers were just rows and rows of border patterns. I stuck my fingers in my ears and said, "La la la la la" very loudly. 

But I shall persevere, if for no other reason than to move to the next band of this sampler guilt-free.

Back in the Saddle Again

 Carmen has not been out of her pillowcase for almost a month.

That was rectified yesterday.

I stitched more of the vine, the stems, the leaves, and the buds yesterday. I do believe the border for this monster sampler is going to do me in, but I think I would rather stitch it as I go instead of waiting until all the fun stuff is done. It does add a burst of color--I did, briefly, consider leaving it out and stitching this as an adaptation--and I decided it needs it. If I could just get all this section done so I can move on to something more interesting to stitch, I think I would be a happy camper.

Meanwhile, I woke up this morning, realizing that a third of 2024 has flown by and I have not accomplished anything that I had planned for the year. I have nine months left. If you can make a whole human being in nine months, surely I can get a sampler and a few UFO's to the finish line.

Again, not as planned

 I came away from Black Swan Studio and Sassy Jack's energized and ready to stitch all kinds of wonderful things. I had also decided to start my spring cleaning with a vengeance.

But I woke up Saturday morning feeling vaguely achey, and my head was stuffy. Pollen, of course. Every time I stuck my head outside while in the mountains, I sneezed. Tree pollen is one of my triggers, and there are a lot of trees in them thar hills.

By Sunday, I had to admit I have a cold. A horrendously bad cold in my head, and that meant I have been a lump of misery and totally useless this week.

Maybe not totally useless. I got the Nun stitch worked around three of the panels for House on the Hill.

But definitely not the exciting, colorful stitching I planned.

I would like some cheese with this whine.

Black Swan Studio

 I just got home from the inaugural session of Black Swan Studios, a collaboration between Jackie du Plessis and Kimberly Young, the owner of Sassy Jack's Stitchery.

In a word, WOW!

Jackie reproduced a sampler from Kim's collection, then added smalls based on motifs found in it along with a pocket that displays many of the most familiar sampler motifs. Kim organized and kept everything running smoothly. And every day we had special gifts from both Jackie and Kim. Of course, Jackie's presents were needlework-related, while Kim's reflected artisans from the area. (Keep in mind that Weaverville is just next door to Asheville, NC, a Mecca for artisans and artists of all kinds.)

And look at this gorgeous kit!

The best part? They kept the group a reasonable size, and encouraged cooperation and creativity. We had time to stitch and to ask questions and experiment. So many workshops try to cram as many people as possible into a ballroom, elbow-to-elbow, to the point that you feel more frustration and irritation than enjoyment. Been there, done that, don't want to do it again.

And if this sounds like stitching heaven to you, they are offering an encore session for this project in late October. I understand it will then be retired, the sampler is an exclusive to this event.

And, by the way, I did have another class before this, along with the Flower Cart:

Just look at that beautiful carrier! It's a little sister for Tsubaki, a project I did several years ago. They use similar motifs and the same color family to make a beautiful set of accessories. And, not to enable or anything, Jackie and Kim have decided that Tsubaki will be offered next March for the final time, then it will be retired.

So what am I working on today?

Laundry.

Never-ending laundry.

And making a grocery list so we'll have something to eat tonight.

Actually, I am doing my best to continue with my focus projects: Carmen, Harmony, assembly of previously stitched projects, my online whitework class, and House on the Hill. Apparently I can't be monogamous, but I can try to focus.

But the new stuff is sooooooooo tempting.

Everything is Blooming

 This lovely box of goodies

is going to turn into this:

I am in the North Carolina mountains, taking classes from Jackie du Plessis, sponsored by Sassy Jacks. Today's class is called "Fresh Flowers."

I had a wonderful day, spent with a dear friend I have missed so much since the Big Move. It was a delight having the chance to catch up with her, doing something we both love.

And can you believe that I actually managed to post a blog while going to a workshop? Wonders may never cease.

Salvage Mission

 I managed to salvage the Eternal Flame Huswif from total disaster.

Don't even ask what the disaster was. It involved mis-cutting something, and that is all I want to say about the matter.

Other than it was a learning experience.

I thought I was getting too old for learning experiences. At least I hoped I was. Apparently not.

Anyway, here's the inside:

And, here's the outside:

And, here it is, all rolled up in its handmade box:

Now I feel invincible. If I could pull this out, then maybe I could do a decent job on another assembly project.

Thinking like that is going to get me into so much trouble . . . 

Bumping into Walls

 Daylight Savings Time started and I have a toothache. If dreadful things come in threes, I'm waiting for the third one to hit.

Oh, wait, it did. I mis-cut the pockets for the needle roll I'm supposed to be putting together. I think I can salvage it, but that may be a delusion caused by sleep disturbances. It's bad enough to lose an hour of sleep for some misguided plan to give us more light in the evenings (despite 20 years of sleep science telling us that we need to have the sun where and when it's supposed to be, otherwise our circadian rhythms get all screwed up)--but to have a tooth implode is something above and beyond necessary.

All will be well--maybe not with the finishing--but I am on antibiotics for the tooth and my "old" dentist can work me in for a probable root canal on Monday.  And, luckily, that is the break day between classes with Jackie du Plessis at Sassy Jack's. Instead of getting to stitch with my buddies, Dearly Beloved and I will be heading to my old stomping grounds. I am busy making lemonade out of lemons, since we figured if we leave early enough, we can have lunch at our very favorite Japanese restaurant before the dentist sees me.

And I have done a little bit of stitching.

This is going to be a pocket for Merry Cox's House on the Hill project. 

It has been aging in my stash for 25 years.

25 years.

Two and a half decades.

That's definitely long enough. 

Do not even mention plans, or rotations, or schedules of any sort. Once again, Epic Fail with programming my needlework.

Fear of Failure

 I've started finishing, and I am filled with fear and trepidation.

Tell me about a technique I've never done, and I'm right there at the head of the line to try it. Show me something that needs to be ripped out, and I have no problem. Well, maybe I have a problem, but I do it because it needs to be done.

Show me something that needs to be put together and I have to take a deep breath before I take the first step. I'm so afraid I'm going to mess it up that I will look for all kinds of excuses to avoid it. Today I went to the grocery store with Dearly Beloved and read the EGA magazine, NeedleArts, from cover to cover.

But if I want to have stitching toys, I eventually have to assemble them.

So, I'm taking that deep breath.

More Happy Mail

 I seem to recall saying I was going to stitch from stash this year. Maybe I meant I was going to stitch from stash next year . . . 

Because another goody arrived in today's mail.

I signed up for this class, A Hummingbird in Silk and Gold through EGA last year, but it was postponed because of problems getting the materials. Everything has come in now, and the materials kit was in today's mail.

OOOOHHHH, just look at all the little packets of gold threads and the jewel tones in the silks!! Makes my heart go potty-pat.

My heart is going to have to wait for a while, though. The class isn't starting until April 3.

Patience, must have patience.

All in a Day's Work

As you may have noticed if you've read this blog for any length of time, I do love me some Barbara Jackson projects. A new one arrived while I was in Williamsburg, you may remember from yesterday's post.

Today it is finished. In fact, it is finish-finished.

This may be a new land-sea record. At least, for me.

 The finishing directions haven't been posted yet, but I believe they will be the same as the Little Pilgrim hornbook from last year, which I also stitched. I need to put this one back under the weight--one side is not exactly sticking down so I may need to push a wee bit more glue under it and set the brick back on it until it decides to cooperate.

Now I need to decide what other kind of trouble to get into.

That was the Week that Was

I'm home again.

As usual, I took the laptop with all good intentions to blog while I was gone. As usual, I didn't. And, as usual, what I thought I was going to accomplish, I didn't.

No more plans.

I planned to stitch in the stitching room all week. Instead, I caught up with old friends' lives, made new friends, laughed a lot , went out to dinner, and poked at my projects a little. I hit snags on both projects I took to work on, figured out one, gave up on the other until I was home and could get over my snit, and shopped.

This is the little bit I did on Carmen. 

 Bless her heart, little Carmen didn't space the berries and leaves consistently, so each one has to be counted. And counted again. Talking and laughing are not conducive to accurate counting.

And remember how I said if the class project was supposed to come my way, it would?

It did.

Amy Mitten was the teacher for this class, and she had a couple of extra kits. Yes, I know I was going to stitch from stash this year. I am weak.

And then I cam home, and there was happy mail.

This is the kit for Martha Edlin's ornament--just look at those luscious colors! And don't forget, Tricia is offering a wonderful online class on Martha's life and needlework for the low, low price of $15, $5 of which goes to the V&A. It is an amazing piece of research that changes the way we should view the lives of women of her time.

And last, but definitely not least, another hornbook from Barbara Jackson. This will go with last year's Littlest Pilgrim hornbook. Actually, I may frame that up and stitch on it a bit today.

After I finish unpacking and doing laundry and dealing with re-entry and deciding what to cook for dinner.  In short, back to my regular rut.

Happy Place

I am in my Happy Place.

Every year at this time, I join a group of stitching friends in Williamsburg for a week. It is a wonderful, enabling, energizing group of people, and I look forward to it all year.

I decided I was not going to take a class this year. (Having seen the projects now that I'm here, I am kicking myself for making that decision. Oh, well, as with all the projects I love and don't have, if I'm meant to have it, it will come my way somehow.)

I planned to stitch all week in the aptly named stitching room.

After two days, I have the green vine for the border across the top of Carmen.

And I've started the next drawn thread band on Love that Red.

It is quite possible that I could have accomplished more stitching in my nest at home. However, a big part of this event is seeing friends I see only here, once a year. And, of course, seeing which projects they brought and hearing about what they've been working on and have been up to since the last time we saw each other. And there are new people, here for the first time, to meet and greet and become friends with.

All in all, a perfect week.

Frustration

I am never, ever going to make plans when it comes to my stitching again.

Never. Ever.

I was going to post daily progress. That assumes that some needlework is accomplished every day.

Unless, of course, being a major klutz gets in the way.

I was carrying laundry upstairs and caught my toe on the edge of the first step. I fell up the stairs, which is better, I suppose, than falling down the stairs, but it meant I twisted my back, whacked my right shoulder on the stair rail, and came down on my left wrist, bending it slightly more than it should perhaps be bent. Nothing is broken or sprained,  just twisted, bruised, and sore, but twisted, bruised, and sore enough to make plying a needle uncomfortable. I was out of commission for a couple of days.

I finally felt like threading a needle, and I finished the one tiny border I had been working on. If you look very, very closely, you may be able to see it.

 I am leaving on Saturday for a week of stitching with my friends in Williamsburg. BDE is going, too, so it's very definitely a girls' week. Tomorrow I pack, and decide what projects I want to take.

But no plans, or goals, or decisions about the future of each project will be made.

I may have learned my lesson.

Day by Day

I have been working on Carmen for the last couple of days. I know, it isn't in the rotation plan, but after looking at the calendar for the next couple of months, it's going to be hard to keep any kind of schedule. So I'm going to reboot again after my trip in April and we'll see how things go between now and then

As usual, I always think things are going to take much less time than they actually do. My friend Rachael posted her daily progress on her latest casket on Instagram, and I've decided to try to do the same on the blog as I work on Carmen. If nothing else, I may become more realistic as to what I can do in any given period of time.

Does this mean I'm going to be monogamous? I don't know if I will succeed, but it's worth a try.

So here's where I am as of this evening:

 Let's see where I end up at the end of the day tomorrow.

Real Life

When I retired, I thought I would spend the whole day, every day, with needle in my hand.

HA!

This past week, I have had my own doctor's appointment and accompanied Dearly Beloved to two of his. DBE had car issues, so I have transported her back and forth and back again, from one garage to the service department at the dealership to home to work, etc. Luckily her car is now repaired (I hope).  And we know what's going on with Dearly Beloved and can move forward with a plan.

However, in the minutes between medical people and car people, I have managed to finish Flowers & Berries. (Keep in mind I thought I would get it all done on Saturday afternoon and this is now Thursday.)

After a trip to the grocery store this afternoon, I may, quite possibly, have a couple of days I can stitch.

But I am not planning on it.

Ring Around a Rosy

 Well, actually, they would have been called pinkes or carnations, but I couldn't think of a blog title with carnations in it, so you got ring around a rosy.

Despite thinking that I would not live long enough to get all the rice stitches done, I persevered and am happy to report I survived. I just have to stitch a different flower in the center and stitch in the date and this band will be done.

According to the rotation I set up for myself, I should be doing some assembly today and tomorrow. However, I have only one big band left and this can go in the finished column. As I am the boss of me, I believe I will make an exception.

Actually, I'm thinking I should just set aside one week in the rotation just for finishing. By the time I set up everything--ironing board, sometimes sewing machine, various threads and other finishing materials--it's about time to put it all away.

It's a thought . . . I will mull over this.

Drowning in Rice

 I am going to be stitching teeny tiny rice stitches for the next millennium.

When I pulled Flowers & Berries out of the basket, I had the thought that there wasn't much left to do and I could potentially have a finish this week.

HA!!

The big red petals on the eight flowers in this band are worked in rice stitches.

Over two threads.

Each of the four tie-down stitches is worked over one thread.

One thread.

Granted, I like fiddly little things, but . . . .well, I have no words.

At least I can report that the two motifs for this week's online white work class have been completed with little to no angst.

But now I have to go back to rice stitches. Many, many rice stitches.

Life gets in the way . . .

 Sometimes life gets in the way of stitching, which means life gets in the way of blogging.

But there were a few things accomplished.

I decided this is the week to pick a random project to work on, so I pulled Flowers & Berries out of the basket.

I'm enjoying it, now that I have all those double running "ropes" stitched. I'm going to start working on the flowers that fill four quarters tonight.

I did a wee bit of finishing over the weekend, and when I say a wee bit, I mean a wee tiny bit.

The Orange Coast Sampler Guild decided to disband this year, a sad, sad occasion, but there comes a time in many organizations when there is no one who can take on leadership positions. As a parting gift, members were sent this pin keep, one of Cathe's creations from Needle in a Haystack. It's hard to see, but the logo for the guild has been etched in the surface. The kit included the felt for the inner part of the pinkeep and the thread to attach the front and back discs, so I put it together.

Hey, it's little, but it's a finish!

I get it now.

 I think I understand how rotations can work. I really want to continue with Carmen, but I have to put her away for a bit.

Here is where she was as of last night:

I am not where I thought I would be. I went gallivanting with Dearly Beloved on Wednesday--this meant an excursion to Wally World and a lovely, romantic lunch at Burger King. When we got home, I fell into a book and didn't dig myself out until almost bedtime. That was not the original plan, but sometimes you need to climb out of the regular rut.

Today I have half a dozen things sitting on my worktable. I am going to start assembling one of them, once I decide which one to work on.

I should probably just close my eyes and grab.

Brain Blank

 When I was setting up my stitching plans, I totally left out my online class.

Galloping senility.

Anyway, Tuesdays will now be my class day. That still gives me two days before and two days after for each focus project.

Today we did eyelets. My first round eyelet came out more like a square than a circle, but the second one is fine. We also did square eyelets, diamond eyelets, and freeform eyelets--the latter requires flexibility and randomness--and I'm not so great on random. Anyway, here's this week's classwork:

Before class, aside from baking a loaf of banana bread, I finished the first corner on the first band for Carmen and started one of the dividing bands, mainly because I wanted to get an idea of how wide the average band will be. Actually, I don't think there will be any average band sizes, based on what the charts look like, but I had that idea right before bed last night without looking at the rest of the charts. I looked at the charts after I started the dividing band.

And about that banana bread . . . Dearly Beloved, as I may have mentioned before, does the hunting and gathering thing. In other words, he just loves to go to the grocery store where he wanders the aisles, every single one, and looks at everything. This would drive me crazy--I want to get in and get out--so we do not grocery shop together. However, this means that the man brings home bunches of bananas that would fill King Kong. 

I know there's a method in his madness. We cannot eat all of the bananas before they get really, really ripe. I don't care for mushy bananas. Dearly Beloved loves them because that means I am likely to make banana bread out of them. There is a method in his madness.

And he thinks I don't know what he's doing.

New Plans

 I'm a member of the Western Reserve Sampler Guild, a group of amazing stitchers. Rose is one of the most amazing--she stitches beautiful samplers and gets more done in a year than almost everyone else I know. She had mentioned that she uses a rotation system, and I asked her how she set it up.

Keep in mind that I've tried a number of rotations and failed--and I mean Epic Fails--with all of them.

Rose works on a different sampler each week in the month. She has five going at the moment. She works in each one for its assigned week. On the last day, she packs up that sampler, and sets up the next so it's ready to go when she wants to start stitching the next day.

I'm going to try something along those lines. 

My week is going to be Sunday through Thursday. Because I am tired of moving the finishing baskets from one spot to another, I'm working on finishing on Friday afternoons and Saturdays until I get some finish-finishes completed.

My schedule is going to be wonky for February, March, and April because I have three trips planned, but otherwise, at the moment. I'm working on Carmen and Harmony, then I'm going to have a miscellaneous week--that's when I will pull one of the four projects out of the basket that are close to completion and work on it. I'm not assigning just one because I know having that flexibility may just be the thing that keep me going on this rotation.

Anyway, this is Carmen's week. And this is where I am at the moment.

Notice that little zigzag line along the perimeter? That took most of yesterday. As just one more example of how everything takes much longer than I think it should, I figured I'd have it knocked out in a couple of hours. Multiply that by--well, never mind, it's an embarrassing amount of time.

Wish me luck. I REALLY want to get some major projects finished this year instead of my usual scattershot approach which results in loads of UFOs and very few FFOs.

Rebooting

 I've decided I need to reboot the year. January has been a wash-out in more ways than one, with none of the goals I wanted to accomplish actually accomplished.

The medical people are tweaking my thyroid meds again, since the change instituted in September when they lowered the dosage lowered it too much. That is probably a major reason why my get-up-and-go got-up-and-went, taking my stitching mojo with it.

On the positive side, so far I've managed to stay current with my online whitework class. Granted, we've only had two classes, but I'm looking for a win here. 

And I have finished the first motif on Carmen.

My photography does not do it justice. I am so very, very pleased with the way it turned out, mainly because I managed to do it on 46 count linen AND I managed to divide a strand of Soie Perlee into three strands without creating a tangled mess and losing my mind in the process.

I think I need to spend today organizing myself and deciding--again--what I really want to work on and how I want to tackle it. The pile of UFOs is getting higher, and I need to get some things finished and out of that pile.

Wish me luck!

White Stuff

 No snow, but more whitework.

This week's whitework class motifs. All three motifs are the same four-sided stitch--the placement creates different lacy effects. How cool is that?

And a couple more bands on Love That Red. I think the bottom one is way cool, actually.

If I work at it, it is possible that I could finish the stitching for Love That Red this weekend. This would mean that I'd have to be a monogamous stitcher for a few days. I don't do monogamy well. Other than in my almost 48 years of marriage, of course.

That's enough monogamy for anyone!

Just in Time

 Just in time for tomorrow's online class, I finished last week's two motifs and got ready to stitch tomorrow's.

I will really be glad when I can wash away the blue marking pen. For one thing, if this is a fine point, I'd hate to see a regular or thick point. For another, the ink seems to spread through the linen fibers and blotch.

Obviously a first world problem.