Done!

 I buckled down and finished the fourth motif on Spot last evening.

Please tell me what this flower is!

I thought it might be an iris from the outline, but once all the colors were added, it wasn't. I'm also thinking that maybe it could be a fancy tulip, or possibly an exotic plant of some sort. The 1600's were a time of exploration, but the descriptions of the animals and plants the explorers saw weren't always accurate. The various faces on illustrations of lions are a good example.

I asked Dearly Beloved what he thought it looked like, and he said a face. So now that's all I can see.

And this face has harlequin glasses on.

If you're of a certain age, you might remember those fancy glasses that ladies of a certain age propped on their noses. They especially remind me of Miss Bess. If you're here for the stitching, you can stop reading right now.

Miss Bess was a character in my hometown. In her youth, she went off to NYC to become a famous actress. Apparently she became a flapper and danced on tables with a cigarette in one hand and a gin & tonic in the other. It's said that her father dragged her home and told her she had to behave herself and get married and settle down.

She did get her teacher certification so that she didn't need Daddy's money. She also became a constant member of the local Little Theater's casts. 

By the time I was aware of her, she was up in years. She taught 4th grade at the elementary school I attended and she sang in the same choir as my father. (She is the reason that my father said that sopranos should retire at 40, with very few exceptions.) She also lived in our neighborhood so we saw a lot of her. She always wore Lily Pulitzer flowered shifts. In the winter she teeter-tottered around in very high heels. In the summer she clip-clopped around in gold slide-ons with big flowers across the pedicured toes. She wore big clunky jewelry and bright blue eye shadow. Her hair was an improbable shade of red.

She loved the sun, to the point that her skin looked like well-tanned leather. Wrinkly leather. Which may have led to the reason why she stopped teaching.

Apparently, according to the story my father was telling my mother very quietly, thinking that no small and curious person was in the area, she was "layin' out nekkid" which is Southern for sunbathing in the nude. It seems a neighbor found this offensive and called the cops. When they arrived, she met them in the door in the altogether.

And invited them in for a little drink or two.

My father told my mother that the two young police officers didn't know whether to sh*t or go blind. It was said they called for back-up.

Anyway, the result was that her teaching contract was terminated. It seems that she had lied about her age for so long that she was actually beyond retirement age, but her paperwork indicated she was ten years younger. I do not know what the resolution was, but we then saw her driving around in her convertible at all hours. And when I say driving, I mean that her foot was on the gas and she was more or less pointing the car in the direction she wanted to go.

She lost her license.

Her nephew put her in a home.

She escaped. Several times.

Nephew finally found a live-in caretaker who could tolerate and handle her, and that's the way she lived out her days.

She died when she was 97. She had a drink in her hand and a cigarette smoldering in the ashtray next to her.

Normal-ish

 I was under the weather for about 24 hours. Actually, I was totally useless all day yesterday, and I'm still moving a little slowly, but I have been able to thread a needle.

And I believe I am going to work on this flower until it's all filled in.

There are only four colors, and it's pretty much all block stitching, so I believe I can handle it.

Hopefully I will be back to full stitching ability by tomorrow because I am starting a class in needlelace. I have my threads, I have my fabric, I need to make sure I have all the needles suggested, and I need to set up my hoop on the worktable.

I also feel the need for a nap.

Filling In

 It's Sampler Sunday again and I am filling in Motif 4 on the Spot Sampler.

There isn't much to see yet. I stayed up way too late finishing a book last night so I allowed myself to sleep in this morning. I got a very late start on the day, then the Great Lakes Region of EGA offered a lecture this afternoon with Dr Lynn Anderson on schoolgirl samplers which I wanted to watch and listen to. Usually I can listen and stitch while the lectures are going on, but this one had a lot of eye candy. I spent more time with the needle held motionless in my fingers than I did moving it in and out of the linen.

I really want to get to some of the petals today so I can see how the colors actually look. I'm still thinking it looks like an iris, but maybe a tulip? We'll see. But first I absolutely have to get the leaves done. Veggies before dessert, you know.

And speaking of dessert, I am going to assemble a banana pudding before I start stitching again. I figured that would be cooler than making banana bread. Even with AC, the oven can add heat to the house. The house is hot enough. 

The older I get, the less I like summer. You can always add layers of clothes and wrap up in blankets in winter, but you can only take off so much in the summer before you start scaring the family, horrifying the neighborhood, and creating opportunities for incarceration for indecent exposure.

It's the Heat AND the Humidity

At the moment, I think I want to move to Maine, just so I could take a dip in a chilly lake. Taking a cold shower isn't quite the same.

As it is, I think the heat and the heat index and the notices about "excessive heat" are doing me in. To the point that I don't even feel like stitching, even with the AC running. 

And that is why this is the only thing I've accomplished with needle and thread in three days:

And that accomplishment occurred only because I attended three stitch-ins and worked on this potted plant during all three.

I am now going to get another cold drink and read one of the Longmire books that takes place in the winter in Wyoming where the snow is three feet deep and still coming down.

If that doesn't help, I'm going to look at summer rentals in Maine.

Hurray for Stash!

 I am taking a class on needlelace from the Royal School of Needlework, starting next week. When I received my class confirmation, the message mentioned a kit that would be sent in plenty of time prior to class.

Apparently that is a form letter that isn't edited for specific classes.

I had emailed to ask about the kit for this class since it hadn't arrived, but the kit for the class I'm taking in August had. I had no answer.

Anyway, I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, wide awake, but knew if I got up then, I'd be a zombie by 7. So, I decided to check my email on my phone and hope I'd get sleepy enough to go back to bed.

And there was a message from the RSN Eduction department, telling me the supplies I need to get for the class.

Apparently there isn't a kit.

You need a variety of needles and Perle cotton in three sizes, plus calico ( which in the US we call muslin).

So I spent the morning stash diving, looking for Perle cotton in three sizes. No idea how many skeins or balls needed, if the colors need to be coordinated (from the photo of the project, the answer is "nope."), no indication of the size of the piece of calico needed. It would appear that we are either being given a great deal of latitude in our choices or we'll find out when class starts if we chose wisely.

Here are my choices:

I have needles and I have some white cotton that is the weight of muslin. The only thing I need now are the paper covered cake wires that can be used for raised embroidery, and I think I have some of those left from the Deep Dive into Stumpwork class I took from Sara Rickards. Otherwise, I have an excuse to go to Michael's with BDE. I also need to be sure I have hoops in assorted sizes that aren't otherwise occupied.

Once again, I'm glad I've spent a lifetime accumulating stash and didn't downsize that when we had the Big Move. You never know when there will be something in one of those bins that will come in handy!

But now I really need a nap.

Frameworks

 I started to title this one "doing the boring stuff,"  but I am trying to put a positive spin on my needlework experiences.

And, yes, I'm still frogging Carmen and not feeling particularly positive about that experience, but I'm trying to persuade myself that I will be much happier when it's done and the frogged stitches replaced.

Anyway, I got the red motifs on All That Glitters outlined. From here on out, I just have to fill. I don't have to count anything, just go on autopilot.

And I decided that maybe I needed to get a little more of the border done on Sarah Ann Purdy:

I'd like to get the next two motifs on the left side of the sampler stitched, then move over to the right side and catch that side up to the left.

I really wish my lousy photography showed just how gorgeous Sarah Ann is looking! One reason I like working on 40 count linen with overdyed threads is that I get a very delicate look, but the colors are saturated and vibrant. I don't like seeing the "legs" of my crosses because I think that takes away from overall effect of the design.

And this is a small-ish sampler--it will be only slightly over 10" wide and slightly less than 10" tall when it's done--but the intensity of the colors will make it stand out.

I have the opportunity to participate in two stitch-ins tonight, so maybe this will be a good day to get some things accomplished.

Another Good Mail Day

 I have absolutely got to stop cruising the innerwebs late at night.

It was another good mail day:

On the left, the kit for a class I'm taking through the Royal School of Needlework at the end of the summer. Yes, I have already opened the box. Yes, I have already reviewed the directions. Yes, I think I could stitch it without the class, but Kate Barlow always has a tip or technique that elevates your skill level, so I will wait.

I am a little concerned, though, since I have another class set to start next week, also from the RSN--and that kit hasn't been mailed yet, nor do I have a materials list. I am wondering if the wrong kit was sent before its scheduled time and the other hasn't been shipped--so I wrote to ask.

And then the Strawberry Sampler from Liz Matthews. I was absolutely NOT going to buy any more schoolgirl sampler charts (other than Country Sampler's Threads in History kits) this year. I was not. I solemnly swore to myself I have enough to keep me busy.

But this one has all the things that I like, like motifs rather than alphabets. And no big honkin' house.

I succumbed.

And, I am not surprised I succumbed.

Neither is anyone else.

A Tisket, a Tasket

 Three pretty little baskets!

I'm still in the midst of trying to bring order into chaos on my worktable, and I think I'm making a bigger mess than I had when I started.

I had to stop for a little and actually stitch something to maintain my sanity, so Sarah Ann Purdy wound up on the frame stand--and I have three little baskets in the center of the sampler.

I wish the picture showed how vivid the red and white are against the linen--they glow!

Back to arranging--I do get a break this afternoon when we have one of our EGA region stitch-ins, and I think that All That Glitters is going to get some love then.

On to the Next

The next motif on Spot is outlined and ready to be stitched.

 It's a little like coloring in a coloring book, once you get the outlines set, just with needle and thread instead of crayons.  Now I wonder when graph paper was invented.

Does this look like it might become an iris?

Anyway, this may be the only stitching that gets done today. I have domestic duties to attend to, and my worktable to organize since it has parts of four different projects strewn across it, meaning I can't do anything with any of them until order is restored in the kingdom.

That's one thing I have apparently lost since I retired. I used to be a paragon of organization. My desk was a marvel of efficiency and I was on top of all my work obligations at all times.

Now I flit from one thing to another, but I've decided that it's past time to give up on trying to schedule my stitching and just enjoy the journey.

My two cents for Monday the Thirteenth!

Whew!

 I finally got all the highlighting and missing stitches worked into the third motif on the Spot Sampler.

This is the point at which my eyes said they had had enough and weren't stitching any longer. So, after a week, I talked them into getting this done. And done it is. I think that, so far, this flower had the most aggravating shading. I know it doesn't look like it, but it was the most aggravating for me.

There is one more flower for this row and the top of the sampler will be stitched.

For some reason, it feels as if I can get the top two rows done, the rest of the sampler will be easier. 

Obviously, I am deluded, since the more complicated techniques start after the top two rows. Maybe I'm just tired of tent stitch over one.

That makes more sense.

Potted Plants

I thought I was going to get a lot stitched today. After all, I had two lectures on needlework to listen to as I stitched, and that usually means a lot gets done.

Nope, the lectures were fascinating and the photos of the work were engrossing, and I just put down my needle and made no attempt to stitch. The first was with Theresa Baird, who designs the samplers for the original 13 colonies--she just published the one for North Carolina and it is nothing short of amazing. It was interesting to hear about the inspirations for each sampler she's done so far and how she got started in designing.

The second was offered through EGA's lecture series and featured Isabella Rossner, who talked about needlework in times of crisis and chaos. The lecture covered a thousand years of history, starting with the 1066 Norman invasion of England and ending with Covid, including stories about the English revolution and the Great Plague as well as the sorrowful situations arising from incarceration.

So I got my intellectual stimulation for the week, which I decided I really needed after trying to remember if I had applied shampoo once or twice while showering.  Have you ever noticed that some things are so automatic that you don't quite notice whether you did them or not? Or am I showing my age and decrepitude?

I finally got a couple of pots stitched on Sarah Ann Purdy:

I used to be a stitch-the-whole-border-first sampler maker--you know, eat your veggies and then you can have dessert. However, I finally figured out that it was less boring and more interesting to work sections of the border while I was doing the insides. That way I could check the placement of both border and interior against each other. And hopefully have less frogging to do.

And, yes, I'm still frogging Carmen. I will be frogging Carmen until the next millennium.

Meanwhile, in other news, I realized that today is the 15th anniversary of Stitching Foolishness. I never planned to be blogging for 15 years but here we are.

And I plan to continue blithering on.

and now for something completely different . . .

Stitching a sweet little strawberry border can be very soothing.

 Sarah Ann Purdy 1844

The Scarlett House

Country Sampler's Threads of History Club project

Slow Start on Another Good Mail Day

I have done today's ripping.

Sigh . . . it has definitely taken the wind out of my stitching sails.

However, today was another good mail day. I got my fabric order from Hoop & Frame:

 I love 37/38 count Legacy Linen, and Hoop & Frame has a nice selection. They also ship quickly, which is always nice. Anyway, I invested in a yard each of Cloudburst, which is a pale bluish-gray, and Lady Baltimore Cake, which is a creamy off-white. 

Now I just have to get over the funk that Carmen threw me into and decide what I want to stitch today.

( I think I may try stitching first tomorrow, then put in my hour on frogging Carmen, and see if that helps my stitching mojo.)

Disaster Strikes

 I came downstairs with a song in my heart. Little did I know that song was going to turn into a dirge.

The plan was to work on Carmen today.

Until I realized that the cartouche in the center with all the letters and numbers was in the wrong place. It is not centered. It took me three days to stitch all those numbers and letters. I do not enjoy stitching numbers and letters. It also meant that the sideways bird was in the wrong place, and there wasn't room to stitch the next motif.

I did not throw things. I did not say dirty words. I ripped out most of the bird. And I decided on a plan of action.

I am going to spend an hour a day ripping out and restitching until I'm back to where I was when I realized the error of my ways. 

Just an hour.

Then I can stitch on something else.

Today wasn't a total disaster. There was good mail, Barbara Jackson's George & Martha scissors rest arrived.

This was a project offered by the Shining Needle Society. I wish they just had an automatic sign-up for Barbara's online classes because I always want to do them.

And I finished the blue and gold motif on All That Glitters and started the framework for the next set of red and gold motifs.

This puts me almost to the halfway part of the stitching for this project.

And it's stitched in the correct spot.

Adding to the Pile

 I woke up grouchy and grumpy and head-achey this morning. I decided almost immediately that threading a needle would not be a good idea. Dearly Beloved decided that maybe he would go ahead and get the car inspected this morning rather than waiting until Friday so he would be out of the line of fire. That was a wise decision.

Generally, a bad mood can be cured by a regimen of stitching, but today having a sharp, pointy object in my hands was not the remedy I needed.

So I rummaged through the stash--the fallback when I'm in a Mood.

I pulled a couple of kits out of the stash that have been calling to me.

Betsy Morgan's "This One's for Betty" has been aging in the stash for 20 years. I think it was offered by the long-lamented Swan Sampler Guild. This is one of the Betsy projects that's been jumping up and down and waving at me. The other is the Sweet Bag that Inspirations published a couple of issues ago. I decided that Betty had been waiting long enough, so the kit is in the pile by my chair.

Sarah Ann Purdy 1844 was one of the 2025 Country Sampler Threads Through History projects. It's my favorite kind of schoolgirl samplers--mostly little motifs, very few letters, no big honkin' house. It's in the pile, too.

I believe that I may work on All That Glitters in a little while since my mood is gradually improving.

Or I may iron the linen for both new projects and sew them to scroll bars.

Or I may just sit in the corner and growl.

It's a Bird!

 After dealing with a bad case of the blahs this morning, I finally (with the help of Dearly Beloved) got a table-top frame holder set up and Carmen saw some love.

And, yes, the bird is flying sideways.  The design is worked around the center cartouche. Literally around it.

I have been asked how I'm going to hang it. Actually, I think I may hem stitch it and use it for a runner.

If I get over the blahs and get to stitching. (I think it's the heat.)

I Just Can't

I have one color left to add to this posy on the Spot Sampler. Just one color that needs to be stitched into random spots and used to outline others. Just one more color and the motif will be finished.

And my eyes have said "Enough! No more!"

I just can't.

But here is where I am:

I'm still in the mood to stitch, so I think I'm going to put All That Glitters on the stand as soon as I gaze off into the distance for a little while. 

Maybe a long while.

And the Fourth is Here

 We have had a quiet Fourth. I thought I would stitch all day, but all I did was a bit on All That Glitters.

I spent more time thinking about projects that I want to start. Of course I did, the minute I announce that I am going to focus on specific projects and get some things finished, the little devil on my shoulder starts whispering about all the goodies yet to begin. I have four or five projects from Tricia Nguyen I want to do,  a couple of Betsy Morgan's that have been calling my name, and a Rae Iverson project that's been aging in the stash. This doesn't include Jackie du Plessis' designs, which I'd already set up on my mental list of things to do sooner rather than later. And then there are a couple of Sherri Jones' workshop projects I'd love to finish. Do you see the problem?

The only thing that stopped me was the thought I'd need to sew linen to scroll bars.

And in other news: tonight we watched PBS's. special Fourth programming, coming from Williamsburg and celebrating our 250 years together. You may have noticed Williamsburg is one of my very favorite places on earth, and their production was just how I wanted to celebrate this very special anniversary of our country. Hopefully PBS will stream it somewhere if you missed it--it was well worth the time spent watching.

It made me hopeful for the next 250 years.

Back in the Saddle

 Carmen is back on the frame stand.

Most of the mistakes that sent her into time-out have either been corrected or compensated for. At least, I hope they have. And the scrolls have been turned and I've started on a new motif (it will be a bird).

I have realized that I'm going to have to set this up with a different frame stand because the one I'm using is more like a trestle, and it is killing my back. This does not make for pleasant stitching, nor can I stitch for any length of time without unkinking my back. Yes, I know I should be doing that anyway, but every 10-15 minutes is a bit excessive for 5 minutes of stitching.

Somehow, I shall overcome.

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.