Well, that happened . . .

I have been a busy stitcher.

And, OMG, I have the borders for this section of Carmen done! This is the part that I've moaned and groaned and whined and whinged about ever since I started this beautiful sampler--and it is a beautiful sampler despite my weeping and wailing.

I think the last time I wrote, I said I was probably just going to work evenly across the piece, the way I generally do borders on school girl samplers--just working the part of the border that meets the fun part of the design. Not that borders can't be fun in small doses--I just find it boring to do the same pattern over and over and over again.

So I am basically delighted with what I've done on Carmen the last few days.

And then . . . well, I am either the luckiest stitcher alive or it's true that God looks out for dim bulbs.

I was going to do my homework for the advanced crewel class I'm taking online, but I woke up earlier than I wanted to and couldn't get back to sleep. I had stayed up way past my bedtime reading a murder mystery--I got to the point I had to find out whodunnit and couldn't put the book down--so I was a bit too weary to think about what I was stitching.

Apparently I did something similar when I started the embroidered panel for the Artisan's Workbox. I started the design lower than I should have on the linen. 

Now, I picked this up today because I figured it would be an easy stitch--just counting and remembering when to do Smyrna crosses and when to do long arm crosses and when to do rice stitches or straight stitches. But as I stitched down one side, I started thinking that I was getting awfully close to the bottom of the linen. SO close, so very close to the bottom of the linen.

I nearly had a sinking spell.

I counted the number of stitches needed to get to the bottom of the design. I counted the number of threads I had left on the linen.

I have about four or five threads more than I absolutely have to have.

If I counted everything correctly.

I can't decide whether I want to continue with this to see if I do have enough space to finish or if I want to to scrub a floor and not think about it at all.