Slowly, slowly, slo-o-o-owly

 I'm stitching a bit, very slowly and with lots of breaks.

It's making a little bit crazy. But at least I'm stitching.

Here's where we are on Carmen:

That bit at the bottom of the motif on the right is going to have to come out because I can't count. What can I say, it's been a Monday all day.

This band has been a problem for awhile. I stopped on it when I discovered I was a horizontal thread off and couldn't find it. It's one of the bigger bands, and it's one of the least interesting to stitch, IMHO. And now I have to rip.

I'd be tempted to put it in time out, but I'm afraid I might never go back. So I will persevere, painful though it may be, in more ways than one.

The current alternative project is also moving slowly, mainly because it's tent stitch over one and there's a lot of it.

This is the bottom of one of the pockets on No Place Like Home. This isn't the most interesting thing to stitch, either, but it has to be done.

I think I need to just put my head down and get all of this done so I can get back to the more enjoyable bits and pieces of these projects. I have too many UFO's and WIPs because I got bored or frustrated or both, but I still want the finished projects.

So, along with patience, I need to learn perseverance in my old age.

Super Duper Mail Day

It was a joy to go to the mailbox today.

The Queen's Needlework Tool Kit--the most recent entry in Amy Mitten's Queen's Attire series--landed in my mailbox this morning.

The kit is packed with simply delicious goodies--velvet and brocade and metal threads and little bits and pieces of lovely stuff. I feel simply regal looking through the contents of the package.

And the current issue of Inspirations arrived.

I would really, really love to stitch my way from cover to cover in this issue.

Actually, I would really, really love to stitch, but my wrist is still acting up. I am on anti-inflammatories and hopefully that will help because I am starting to climb the walls. And Dearly Beloved has started tiptoeing around me. 

I must be patient, I must be patient, I MUST BE PATIENT!!!

It's not a pretty picture around here.

 

Rounding a Corner

I decided I'm going to start having Sampler Sundays again, mainly because Carmen has been glaring at me for months and months.

After spending some time readjusting to working on 46 count linen--the last couple of projects I've worked on have used 32 count, and believe me, there is an adjustment these aged eyes need to make--I filled in a corner on the band I was last working on.

 I'm still off one horizontal thread somewhere. I cannot find it. It is a mystery. However, I've decided I no longer care about perfection--at least on this band--and I am moving on. I will compensate as best I can. And if anyone can spot the oopsie--well, at this point, I no longer want to know.

This means, of course, that I will have forty-leven people pointing out exactly where I went wrong.

49 Years Plus 1 Day

Dearly Beloved and I celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary yesterday. We had a low-key celebration--take-out Chinese and a technicolor performance by Mother Nature, who brought a thunderstorm with high winds. Actually, we have a large limb leaning against the privacy fence around the deck, and smaller limbs and lots of pine cones on the deck itself.

I am drawing no comparisons with our marriage, although there are some who might.

Meanwhile, I have been resting my wrist for most of the week. Despite that, there has been some stitching done. Very little stitching, but some.

One thread at a time, and the lettering for No Place Like Home is finished. I do like the little brown fox. And, yes, the spiral trellis has yet to be done. I'm going to wait to add those until I cut the pieces apart and can work that in hand.

I had planned to do a lot of finish-finishing this week, but sadly, the only thing that is assembled is the sausage pincushion for Carmen's Etui. And we did most of that in class.

BDE says it looks like a corn dog in fancy dress. I am withholding comment.

Before it gets any hotter, I'm going to pick up branches and sling pine cones off the deck, then sweep up what's left. Quite frankly, staying married for 49 years was excitement enough for yesterday.
 

Should Have Put It Down

Last week I was taking a blackwork class from Carolyn Standing Webb. I mentioned that I could not put the piece down.

I should have.

I inflamed the tendon in my wrist that caused all the problems last year, so most of this week has been spent icing and elevating and compressing and resting my hand.

However, there has been a little bit of stitching. A very little bit, but some stitching.

 I started the hillock that the birds are standing on. This is where I was when I realized that I hadn't left room for the gold chips that are also supposed to be included.

Obviously, I will not be ripping out.  I decided that I could find a beading needle  which would fit between the French knots, and a hemostat I can use to pull the needle through, and use them to add some gold chips to the surface. I am rationalizing that a little bit of bling goes a long way.

And I've been doing a strand of thread on the lettering on No Place Like Home every day, which is about as much lettering as I want to do anyway.

My wrist does feel better today, so I may try to do a little more lettering. The more I do, the faster I'll be through with this part.

Or I could take a nap, which actually sounds very enticing.

Cannot Put It Down

 Second day of class and I literally could not put the piece down.

So here's the upper left corner of the front cover of the box/book from the set. And it was addictive.

I don't know if it's the fact that this is a new project or whether it's the design or just the fact that I love Tudor/Stuart embroideries and this is definitely inspired by that period, but I may be addicted. As in, I would love to stitch all night and all day on this.

However, my wrist is beginning to hurt and I have learned the hard way that's a sure sign I need to do something else.

So I'm going to do something else and try to avoid temptation.

Ch-Ch-Chains

(If you get the song reference in the title, you're like me--old as dirt!)

I am taking a wonderful class online through EGA with Carolyn Standing Webb. It is called Queen Catherine's  Book, Sweet Bag, and Pyn Pillow, and it's an exploration of blackwork designs like those popular in Tudor times.

I started the Pyn Pillow:

Carolyn, who is a fantastic teacher and the most patient person in the world, suggested we start with the flower in the middle. I am contrary. I've also dealt with the interwoven loops, or chain pattern, that make up the border. I decided to get the pain over with as soon as possible. So I did, and it is reversible and worked in double running and I think I lost only about 23% of my brain cells in the doing of it.

If you aren't familiar with Carolyn and her work, please go to carolynstandingwebb.blogspot.com. It is total eye candy.

I mean, total eye candy!

Still plugging away

In the evenings, when my brain doesn't need to think but my hands need to be busy, I've been working on more Nun stitch for No Place Like Home

 So the second piece is now outlined. I have to work a vine adorned by spiral trellis berries, then a whole lot of letters to finish this section.

Instead of doing that, I will probably iron the linen for the virtual class I'm taking for the next three days. Then I need to sew the linen to scroll bars.

I think I'd rather stitch letters.

Lovebirds?

I have spent a very long time today stitching wee tiny birds with filament silk.

I am assuming that they're supposed to be lovebirds since they're on the Cherished Letter Case. Actually, I think they look like pheasants; So I thought I would look up pheasants to see if they are monogamous birds who mate for life.

Mr. Google says nope, not monogamous--the males are more like roosters and go after all the females in the flock indiscriminately.

So then I wondered if there is a bird actually called a love bird, and there is. It's a little, brightly colored parrot.

And then I went, OMG, I am old. I keep reading articles that talk about retirees taking up birdwatching like it's almost a developmental stage of aging and here I am googling bird pictures and descriptions. If I go out and buy binoculars and a birding guide, you'll know I'm doomed.

Spangles and more spangles

 I realized last night that it's been almost a month since I worked on one of my Zina projects, so I set everything up before I went to bed. That meant that the minute I got downstairs, I could read over the directions for the next step and do it.

Spangles and beads make a sparkly flower, and I have four of them now.

I wish you could pick up sparklies with a camera. Somehow it just doesn't come through. I have to say that I am very, very happy with the way these flowers look.

The next step is stitching the lovebirds in the center of the design. I'll start them tomorrow morning.

I have another class coming up at the end of this week. I think I may unpack the box this afternoon and get the linen mounted so that will be ready to roll on Thursday. I'll show that in the next day or so.

So many stitches!

Done and Done

 I finished assembling the two Thistle Threads ornaments yesterday.

Now I have to straighten out the worktable and put up the leftover threads and decide where to stash these until it's time to put up the tree. Actually, I think I need to start a new ornament box because the box where my hand-stitched ornaments live is full to the brim. That may be a good Sunday afternoon project.

Or maybe I'll take my book out on the deck and read because the sun is finally shining--in short, it's not raining today!