Almost There

 I realized that I still had a bunch of details to add to the Elizabethan Rose before I sewed the petals on.

So I did.

There are supposed to be spangles on the gold framework but I looked at the photo of the finished piece and decided I didn't like them, so I left them off.

And then I was arranging the petals and decided I have a couple that are a little cattywampus--obviously the ones I did first--and I think I have enough thread to re-do them--so I may try that before this is finally stitched completely.

Meanwhile, today I think I'll work on Carmen a little bit. I ripped back to the mistake so I'm set to go. 

We come now to the end of the stitching part of this blog. We are now moving on to the latest Domestic Situation. If you are only interested in needlework, you can stop now.

Dearly Beloved has added a new snoring pattern to his repertoire.

He has several snores.n (And, yes, he has had several sleep studies and sleeps with a CPAP machine.)

The first and most common is the snort-and-snuffle snore. It is not unlike the sound a bear makes when it's rooting around for food in unsecured trash cans or Yogi Bear's pick-a-nick baskets. Or vehicles. There are reels and reels of reels showing bears destroying cars, vans, SUVs, and trucks in search of the food within. Generally that involves the partial PBandJ and string cheese the 7 year-old left in the side pocket of the back seat.

There are also reels and reels of reels of bears getting into and out of hammocks. If you need a chuckle, I highly recommend.

I digress.

The second is a sort of putt-putt sound that involves some lip action. It sounds a little like the old outboard on the fishing boat on the pond at your great-uncle's place. 

Then there is the major snore. It's a little like hearing a train from a distance, heading toward you and getting louder as it approaches--this is the inhale--and then diminishing as it passes by--this is the exhale. This one is loud and seems to last forever--quite frankly, Pavarotti would envy the breath control of this one.

And, last night, he added a new one.

It's a cross between a whistle and a kazoo.

He uttered it right next to my ear. It was very high-pitched. I hope to regain hearing in that ear as the day progresses.

And I wonder why I wake up in the middle of the night.

I Want to Stitch All the Things!!

I have piles and piles of projects I want to do.

Actually, mountains of projects.

It's overwhelming. Sometimes it's hard to decide where to start.

BDE and I were talking about this very thing last evening. We may have figured out a way to tackle the problem. 

One of my online friends has a bin of WIPs by her stitching chair. She has numbered them. Then she has slips of paper with those numbers in a little basket. When she doesn't know where to start, she pulls out a slip and works on whatever project whose number she pulled. It doesn't make any difference if it's something she wants to do or not--she refers to it as Fate's Choice, and apparently she's found that once she starts stitching, all is right with the world and she is back in the rhythm. And she's getting things done rather than starting something new.

BDE has gaming dice, so it's easier for her to roll a number. She's going to try that for a bit.

I decided to work on about a half a dozen projects in July and see where that gets me.

Mine are:

• Carmen
• Carmen's Etui (which just needs to be assembled)
• Elizabethan Rose
• All That Glitters
• The Queen Sampler

I will continue to work on the Spot Sampler one day a week. It is now being referred to as the Five-Year-Project.

Meanwhile, this is what I accomplished last night on All That Glitters--I'm starting a new motif pattern!

Fingers crossed that this works, that both BDE and I have some finishes, and we can add new projects to the list as we finish the current batches.