Progress Report

This is a drive-by post. Half the flowers are now outlined and I've started on the other half.

And I'm signing off before I'm distracted by the innerwebs and looking at what everyone else is stitching. The nose is to the grindstone and the needle is flying. Well, maybe not flying, but it's moving toward the goal.

Powering Through

It occurred to me last night that I was no longer feeling the Zen from the repetitive motifs in Briar Rose.

I got to this point and decided I really, really, really needed to pick up another project to alternate--sort of a carrot and stick approach. If I do two flowers, I can then work an hour on something else, for example.

So I went looking for something to alternate with this--not that there is any lack of something to do around here, but I wanted something that would be a very strong carrot.

I thought of three different projects that I want to do sooner rather than later.

The first one needs to be sewn to scroll bars. None of my available scroll bars are long enough and I'm not about to take something already sewn to bars off--it's too much of a pain to sew the linen on to even consider that.

The second one I'd like to work on stretcher bars. I found the ones for the length, but guess what? The shorter ones I need, with the right notches in the right places, are involved in Briar Rose.  So that's not going to happen.

The third project was an online class. Because I rarely work on online classes while they're going on, I print out the lessons and put them in notebooks until such time as I'm ready to stitch.  The kit was already downstairs in the sooner-rather-than-later pile, and I remembered seeing the notebook on the online class notebook bookcase. So that's where I went.

I take a lot of online classes.

The bookcase is jammed.

In attempting to pull out the notebook I thought was the one I wanted, there was . . . for lack of a better description . . .an explosion--and another notebook crammed in the case erupted from the shelf.

And landed on my foot.

I now have a puffy foot with a cut across the top and a rather impressive, technicolor bruise forming.

And I've decided just to power through on the posies until they're all done.

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

I really wish I had gone ahead and cut out the board and silk for the box that holds the drawer that I made in class with Betsy Morgan on Saturday. I just did the bits I needed for the drawer.

I had a goal. I wanted to get the drawer put together, and by golly, I did. At that point, class was pretty much over so I left and took a nap. Then I thought about how much I could have done that evening if I'd cut out everything else I would need to cut out.

Well, thought I, I'll just do it as soon as I get home again.  I knew it wouldn't happen yesterday. Baby Girl and I had decided to go home a slightly different way--we decided to detour by Williamsburg and have lunch and run by the printer's shop to see if they have patterned paper I could use for a couple of projects (they did---that will be seen at a later date).

This would have been absolutely brilliant if everyone on the east coast of Virginia had not decided to go to Busch Gardens Sunday morning. Seriously. It took over an hour to go less than forty miles on a major highway, yet as soon as we got to the exit for Busch Gardens, the traffic vanished in a puff of exhaust.

So we had lunch, then we headed back to her house, which again took longer than usual because of  road construction. Miles and miles of one lane open on the highway. Sigh . . .

This morning we both slept late, so I got a later start than I thought I might. But there was still the afternoon--I'm not going back to work until tomorrow so I had hours.

I also have the dullest X-Acto knife in the Carolinas, perhaps the entire Southeast, quite possibly the continental United States. I found this out very soon.

Then I found out that Dearly Beloved at some point had "borrowed" my long quilter's ruler and managed to get something dark and sticky on it. He scrubbed it off for me. He also scrubbed off some of the markings.

I have lost the will to go on with this project on this particular day. I think it may be safer to make a list of things I need, cut out the 40% coupon for Michael's, and stop there on my way home from work tomorrow.

So I'm going to do some more on Briar Rose. This is where it is at the moment:

I really need to get cracking on this--Jackie is offering a new class on Shining Needle and enrollment started today. And of course I have to sign up for it. Because I need another set of smalls and because I'm going to live to be 385 to get all this stitched and put together.

Drawers and other things

Baby Girl and I have arrived at Salty Yarns, and I have spent the day in class with Betsy Morgan.

And I have a drawer:

Eventually, it will fit into the case that makes up "Can't See the Forest for the Trees."

Picture this: The embroidery is finished. The drawer is assembled. All I now have to do is assemble the case that the drawer slides into and make a scissors fob. This is all incredibly do-able in the very near future. The very near future.

But not tonight. Tonight I am kicking back to work on Briar Rose a little more. I can only handle so much finish-finishing before my head explodes.

As I discovered before, a workshop at Salty Yarns is about as laid back and relaxed as it can be. I know that Sara, Mary, and Sally have been working behind the scenes to create this setting--and boy howdy, do they succeed beyond anyone's expectations.

Baby Girl and I are housed in one of the apartments this time. We have a sitting area and a full kitchen. We have two bedrooms so we aren't rooming together. There is a chair that I want to take home because it is a fantastic stitching chair. Sara provided a fantastic lunch today, and there was a lovely reception last night. I could move in and never leave--remember, there's a fully stocked needlework shop downstairs.

But at the moment, I believe I am going to crawl into my extremely comfortable bed and take a nap.

Life is good.

Funny Flowers

While I've been waiting for the washer to stop chugging and the dryer to stop spinning, I've been filling in petals on Briar Rose.

Some of the petals are green due to the overdyed silk pattern. I thought about removing those sections. I also thought about trying to do some sort of color manipulation so all the flowers in one position had one color pattern and all the flowers in another position had another color pattern.

And then I looked at the overdyed silk and I love all the colors in it and I like the way they flow from one to another and I decided that I could live with random.

Never thought you'd hear me say that . . . maybe I'm getting more flexible in my old age.

Nah.

By the way, I am heading back to Salty Yarns this week-end. First leg of the trip is to Baby Girl's tomorrow, then we will head to Maryland Friday morning for a Saturday class--then we reverse the process. I am taking the camera and laptop. I do not know if either will come out of their cases, so if I am incommunicado for a couple of days, that's why.

And, enabling report:  Amy Mitten is offering a new set of Casket Toys. I am doomed. I have already signed up. I need to stitch faster.

But now I need to finish packing.

Strewing Posies

A couple more flowers have bloomed on Briar Rose:

This should be boring, since I don't do repetition well. But it's not. I'm not sure why. It may have something to do with the fact that I've figured out the most efficient way for me to stitch each flower. It may be because I have reached that sweet spot where I don't need to refer to the chart. It may be that I'm in need of a Zen stitching experience. Or it may be that I don't have the brain to handle anything other than repetition.

I need my brain--I'm getting ready to go back to Salty Yarns this week-end for a workshop with Betsy Morgan. Yes, I am taking another workshop with Betsy--deja vu all over again. And I need to think about packing, and need to decide if I'm going to take my traveling project that has yet to see a stitch, or if I should just go with the flow of more and more posies.

Going with the flow sounds good at the moment.

What doesn't happen

This is what my traveling project looked like before we left to visit The Flash.

This is what it looked like by the time we got home yesterday.

Obviously I didn't have much time to stitch.

I did get a little stitched last night between certain Domestic Diva activities that had to be accomplished.

I've started the roses around Briar Rose. I work a few outlines, then go back and fill in the petals. This is going to take awhile, I'm afraid.

The stitching portion of this blog is now over and onto a grandchild story.

The Flash informed me that he was going to be through with kindergarten very soon, and that he was going to first grade. It soon became obvious that he thinks that he will finish with kindergarten on Friday and begin first grade the following Monday. I do not envy The Big Kid or The Big Kid's Wife, who will have to deal with his disappointment.

They have already figured out a number of activities for the summer for him, since a busy Flash is a happy Flash. I just don't think they've realized that they need to have something major planned for the Monday after school ends.

I'm glad I'm a couple of hundred miles away for the first and only time since he was born.