Cute little things

The executive decision was made that I need large blocks of time when I'm doing finish-finishing, so that means I won't be working on assembling any other parts of Fair Maiden until the week-end. In the meantime, I am working on the accessory pieces that go with Fair Maiden.

Jackie designed five or six smalls to fit in Fair Maiden. Last night, I started with the smallest one, a case for the scrimshaw thread winder.

I sort of went back and forth on the date. 2013 is charted and that's the year the class was taught. Obviously, it's 2015, and the year I'm stitching.  When Annie's Attic bought the magazines and the event from Hoffmann Media, they changed the name. Since 2013 was the last year the event was called Christmas in Williamsburg, I decided to keep it as 2013.

There are flowers that match the ones on the Etui to be stitched, and that's what I plan to do next.

By the way, several people asked about reversible cross stitches when I was working on Mary Attwood (and she needs to come out of her pillowcase soon). SNS just announced they are offering a class on that very thing, taught by Catherine Jordan. Catherine is a phenomenally creative teacher, and she has designed a set of coasters which teach reversible cross stitch.

In the interest of full disclosure, this is one of the rare classes I am not taking from SNS. I'm getting enough practice with reversible cross stitch on Mary Atwood. My brain might explode if I added another project involving that particular skill set at this point in time!  However, if this is something you'd like to dabble in--and you decorate for Halloween--you may want to look into it.

If you're not on the Shining Needle Society (SNS) mailing list, all you have to do is drop Kate Gaunt a line at KateGaunt@aol.com. She'll sign you right up. Please don't worry--your mailbox will not be filled with junk. You'll only receive notifications when classes are offered.

Engineering, Phase III

I've managed to get the lining stitched to the back of the front piece of the etui, and connected the side piece with its inner chamber to the front piece.

I'm glad I did the connecting part with daylight--it made it much easier to see those tiny stitches!

The next stage requires attaching the pocket to the back piece of the etui, then sewing the lining to the back piece, and then (I think) attaching the back piece to the side piece. Then I need to assemble the other side pieces and the drawer that slides into the other side of the etui and the lid, and I have to twist some cords and make some tassels and get all of those bits and pieces attached to this assembly.

The thought of all of this makes me want to lie down with a cold compress on my head.

Engineering, Phase II

Way back in March, I started working on the assembly of the Fair Maiden Etui.  I did OK at first, then had a major measuring malfunction, and then allowed myself to be distracted by other things that would also need assembly.

Today I said to myself that I really need to get some of these lovely things put together so I could actually enjoy them.

The pieces for Fair Maiden were still strewn about my finishing table, and I decided it was time to pull up my Granny panties and get something done.

So here is today's accomplishment:

I'm trying to figure out how to ease that ripple in the silk out a bit, and I am not even halfway through with the finishing, but I think I'm going to find something small and easy to do to stitch on for a bit.  And it's going to be something I don't have to put together!

Off the Social Merry-go-round

We are officially back to our normal rut.

In betwixt and between the running about this week, I have stolen every moment possible to work on Briar Rose. I am delighted to announce the embroidery is complete!

What I wish the pictures would show--and won't, since I'm taking them late in the evening with artificial light--is how much the center stitches set off the pattern. They make the whole design come alive.

Nope, even a close-up doesn't do the centers justice.

Oh, well.

For those who may be curious, we survived the social whirl.

The Baby Boomer Health seminar basically recapped everything that's been published in the last five years on keeping ones faculties into ones doddering old age:  30 minutes of exercise a day, avoiding white flour and white sugar and white rice, constantly looking for new things to learn, maintaining social relationships, eating a Mediterranean diet, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Then we segued into the infomercial, in which the presenters attempted to sell us a variety of "supplements" to "enhance" the gains made by doing all the things above. We did not succumb to the snake oil sales pitch.

Last night I went to ANG. It was good to see people again since I've missed the last two meetings. 

And tonight we had a very early dinner with former neighbors. It was a delicious meal. Unfortunately we were regaled with an organ recital, the term two of my great-aunts used to refer to public discussion of ones health and the condition of ones innards.  Dearly Beloved said he now knows more about the wife's personal situation than he does about mine, and we've been married for 38 years and 364 days.

And, yes, we celebrate our 39th anniversary tomorrow. At present, the plans consist of pizza and cake. After this week, an evening at home sounds delightful.

Social Butterflies

The blog may be going dark for a few days. We have a social engagement of one kind or another almost every night this week, so my stitching time will be limited.

This is not normal for us. Usually we go strolling merrily along in our rut. Occasionally we peek over the edge, see something we'd like to do, and clamber out. Then we plop back into the rut.

But this week is different.

Tomorrow night Dearly Beloved has us signed up for a Baby Boomer Health-and-Wellness seminar.
Wednesday I have an ANG meeting. Thursday night we have a dinner date with former neighbors who retired and moved to Florida--now they're moving back. Friday is our 39th anniversary. I have no idea what we're going to do to celebrate that. After this social whirl, we may just get a pizza delivered and call it a week.

Watching Paint Dry

I'm filling in petals. Many, many petals.

At least I'm halfway around. If I keep to the current pace, it takes about half an hour to fill in each flower, so I have about six hours of work left to do. Then the centers are stitched, and then I can lay this aside until the finishing directions are posted.

There were plans to do some finish-finishing this week-end, but Domestic Diva Duties have interfered. I really wish some brilliant person would invent an automatic dust rag. I'd be first in line to buy one.

Date Night

Dearly Beloved and I had a date night.

We went out to dinner early since Dearly Beloved doesn't like to deal with crowds. Then we went to Michael's for a new ruler and X-Acto Knife. Then we went to the grocery store to pick up the two things that we forgot to put on the list. And we were home before dark.

Pretty wild and crazy, huh.

I have worked the flower outlines almost all the way around Briar Rose.

I almost rejoiced in my progress until I realized that I now have to go back and fill in all those blank petals.

I keep telling myself progress is progress.

It isn't helping.