Happy New Year!

I did not make it to midnight last night, so the ceremonial dumping of the ort jar occurred around eleven. It is now completely empty, waiting for this year's bits of thread from whatever I decided to work on.

I've been thinking a lot about my stitching plans for 2019 and have made the following resolutions:

• I resolve to stitch at least five minutes every day.
• I resolve to make no lists, set no goals, but to stitch on whatever makes me happy at that moment.
• I resolve that there will be no rotations of any sort. I fail at them anyway, so why bother?

I was thinking about the annual New Start on New Year's Day, but then decided I would have a New Restart on New Year's Day.

And so, today, I have released Hannah Thornbush from her pillowcase and will restart her.

Here is where she is at the moment:

I went through the stitching basket yesterday and pulled out some things that I'm not feeling the love for and stashed them away. Then I went puttering around in the stash and pulled out some things that I was drawn to, brought them downstairs, and added them to the basket. I don't know when or if I'll work on any of them, but I'll have things handy when I feel like making a change.

Can I tell you how liberating it is to go into the year with no lists, no feelings that I "have" to finish anything? I may be getting over that first-born-girl-child streak of perfectionism and need for control, finally, at this advanced age!

Final Finishes of the Year

I've had some time off--I may have mentioned that--and I've been putting things together--which means that I have two final finishes for the year.

All the bits and pieces of the Shady Bower/May Your Hands set from Tricia Nguyen are complete! It's taken years and years, from the time I started the stitching until the final finishing, but it's done.

The four pieces I've finished in the last three days.

The strawberry emery, which has no emery. I've fooled with emery before, and it likes to escape, and it makes a mess, and it's hard to clean up. Since this is strictly decorative, it's just stuffed.

The inside of the needle book.

The inside of the scissors case (like, duh, there are scissors there!)

The inside of the pin pillow book, with a pretty thread winder.

It pretty much took forever to get all this assembled, since I ignored the directions for machine stitching and did them all by hand. In the process, I think I drew enough blood to supply a MASH unit. However, I felt like I had more control over the process, which means that I'll continue to use my hands rather than the sewing machine. And that means that I need to figure in what feels like as much time to assemble the smalls as it did to embroider them.

I also went back and finished the carrying bag for the Merry Cox Sweet Little Blossoms set, so I can call that a finished set, too.

I still have a day and a half before I go back to work to get into some kind of needlework trouble. I believe I'm going to go stash diving and see what floats up.

Happy Boxing Day!

On the day after Christmas, I went back to work.

I have to work tomorrow, too, but then I have to burn off my last vacation days before the end of the year, so I'm taking Friday and Monday off--with New Year's and the week-end, that will give my five days in a row.

I could get used to that.

Anyway, I got Barbara Jackson's ornament for 2018 stitched yesterday.

Notice it is not put together.

It's going in with the last few years' ornaments. With any luck, they'll all be on next year's tree. Along with the ones I assembled this year, put in a very safe place, and didn't find until last night. At least I know where they are now.

Until I forget again.

Twas the night before Christmas

Or maybe late afternoon, and we are having a very good Christmas.

Our family get-together was Saturday, with food and presents and lots of laughter. The Saint and Baby Girl joined Dearly Beloved and me for the day. Baby Girl spent the night--more food and laughter. It was a lovely, lovely week-end.

And then, today, presents arrived!

All the way from England, a beautifully wrapped package.

Which contained this kit from the Crewel Work Company

The contents were presented beautifully.

And included a personalized note--nice touch!

It's to accompany these smaller, related kits, which had arrived in time for Saturday's festivities (so I opened them then!)

And, yes, I did order my own Christmas presents for under the tree since Dearly Beloved asked me to. He wanted to get me a project or projects and didn't know what I'd want, so asked me if I would mind ordering my own. Between his budget and my slush fund, I went just slightly berserk.

With working and cooking and cleaning and celebrating and recovering from celebrating, there hasn't been much time to stitch in the last few days.

But, I have put the thimble nest together for the Shady Bower/May Your Hands project.

And I decided this morning that I would spend today and tomorrow working on this year's ornament from Barbara Jackson for SNS.

We're having a quiet evening and plan for a quiet day tomorrow--so Merry Christmas and Happy Stitching!

Almost Christmas . . .

It's only a few days until Christmas and we are completely into the Christmas Crazies, with packages to wrap and cookies to bake and the last minute dusting and vacuuming and de-cluttering to do.

And, of course, a Christmas ornament to stitch.

I couldn't stand it, I had to work on it, so I jumped right in. No basting (I may be sorry later) and not nearly enough tacks, so everything is slightly cattywompus. I do not believe it will make it to the tree this year, but at least it will be stitched. As soon as I go upstairs and find another box of tacks--I can't take the cattywompus aspect any longer.

Assuming, of course, that I don't succumb to temptation and start this:

Nope, not going to happen--I'm going to get Dearly Beloved to wrap it up and put it under the tree. That means I can shake it but I can't open it.

At least, not until Christmas.

Technology thought it won

So I decided to work on more of the smalls for the May Your Hands/Shady Bower set on Sunday afternoon.

The directions for the waxer pocket called for the use of a sewing machine.

So I hauled it out, filled a bobbin, threaded it up, and tried to sew.

There were instant problems. The bobbin thread kept kinking up and breaking. I wound another bobbin and tried rethreading the machine. I rethreaded the machine twice, and I was following the manual's directions for that, I wasn't assuming I knew how to do it.

There were words and phrases uttered that are inappropriate for the Sabbath.

My mother and both grandmothers and every great-aunt I had used to say that anything you sewed on Sunday you'd have to pick out with your nose or teeth when you went to the Great Beyond. I always thought they said that because sewing was a necessary task, not a pleasurable pastime.

They may have had something.

I packed up the sewing machine, looked at what needed to be done to make the waxer pocket, and decided to do it by hand. After all, if I haven't learned something from all the finishing tips and techniques I've learned from Jackie du Plessis and Betsy Morgan, then I've wasted a lot of time.

And here is the completed waxer pocket:

I've read over the directions for the other bits and pieces, and decided I'm going to do them all by hand. Yes, it may take ten times longer than zip-zap on the machine, but I know I can do it and will probably like it better. There's a fancy pocket on one of the pieces that may require some finagling, but overall, I do believe I will be happier with the final result.

Take THAT, technology!  This is one thing I don't need you for!

Long Time, No See

Just when I had decided to make every effort to blog more often, the Mac required an organ transplant.

So I was basically without internet access at home for a week. I believe it was more difficult for Dearly Beloved--after all, I could get online at work occasionally. We are now up and running again.

It has been an eventful week.

Monday night I baked a cake to take to the EGA Christmas party scheduled for Wednesday night.

Tuesday night I made the glaze and glazed the cake.

Wednesday I did not go to the EGA Christmas party because Mother toppled out of her wheelchair and clonked her head on the edge of a table. We broke all land/sea records getting to the emergency room--which is normally about a three-hour drive for us--only to find she had been treated and released. So we went to her retirement home to find her with a goose-egg on her forehead, stitches in the goose-egg, a wide band of adhesive tape wrapped around her head to keep her from removing the stitches on the goose-egg, and a soft, woolly cap on top of all of it to keep her from picking at the adhesive tape. She had a rather rakish look. She now has a seat belt on her wheelchair.

The Saint and I are definitely sure that she is going to outlive both of us.

Thursday night was the office Christmas party.

And Friday night I collapsed in a heap.

There has been some stitching.  On Saturday, I hitched up the granny panties and did some finish-finishing.  I now have a pin pad and scissors fob from the May Your Hands/Shady Bower set of smalls Tricia Nguyen taught a number of years ago:

There are only five more pieces to assemble. Only five. Oh, dear . . .

And, here and there, I have found a few minutes to stitch:

I should be working on Barbara Jackson's annual ornament. Instead, I picked up her Pineapple project and got involved in that. I think it has something to do with bright, happy colors in this during a week that's been grayer and gloomier and rainier than absolutely necessary.

Keep your fingers crossed that this week will be a little calmer.