The Nun is Done

All the nun stitch is done, along with a couple of bits that just needed to be outlined.

 Now I get to do the fun stuff. Which I will start. Tomorrow. I am totally cross-eyed at the moment.

Almost invisible

 I've been stitching off and on all day and you can hardly see a thing.

See?

I've been working on the Nun stitch for the needlepages for the Strawberry Purse and Accessories.

I can only do this for so long and then I have to move onto something else. The something else is trying to remember how to do a creditable plaited braid stitch.

I stitched a sweet bag a quarter of a century ago that had a mile or two of plaited braid. I remember that I could only stitch it in a quiet room with no distractions. What I can't remember is exactly how I did it--and before you start recommending videos and stitch guides--I've looked at just about everything the innerwebs have to offer and I'm still having problems getting it even.

I believe that it is a matter of practice, practice, practice when what I want to do is finish, finish, finish. I have a project I want to complete but I have to do plaited braid to complete it.

So back to the doodle cloth. Sigh . . . 

Three done!

 All three of the ornaments are done and ready for the tree!

And that's where they are going in the next few minutes. And then I decide what to do next.

In case I forgot to mention, I'm having a stay-cation this week. I had very elaborate plans for the needlework I wanted to accomplish and the halls I wished to deck, but so far, those plans have fallen by the wayside for other things. Like sleeping late--OMG, how much I love to sleep past 6 a.m.! And naps. Naps are lovely, too.

It is quite possible that I have been very sleep-deprived and just needed to spend this week to catch up.

Two down, one to go

 The Pineapple is stitched, the Lantern has been started.

I don't think this one is going to take too long to stitch since it's not as sollid as the pineapple or apple basket. And that is a good thing since I'd like to put all three together and hang them on the tree.

Assuming, that is, that I can get Dearly Beloved to dig the tree out and put it together and drag the ornament boxes down. I keep reminding him that, since we went artificial (and I'm still not overly happy about that), he no longer has to battle a tree stand and make sure the tree is watered. He still likes to grumble about it.

This time of year, his name is Ebenezer Grinch.

Back in the saddle again

 I totally lost my stitching mojo for a couple of weeks. Absolutely nothing in my vast stash appealed in the slightest and I couldn't even make myself thread a needle and take a stitch or two. Normally, that's enough to jump-start my desire to stitch, but not at the moment.

It may have been a mixture of job stress and pandemic fatigue, but whatever it was, it wasn't getting anything done.

Then I started looking for something else entirely and ran across the kits for some ornaments that Barbara Jackson designed for Haus Tirol in Williamsburg the last couple of years. And there is always something about the colors that Barbara uses and happiness of her designs . . . well, I started the Apple Basket on Wednesday and finished it yesterday, then dove right into the Pineapple yesterday and will finish it today.

I have one more to stitch, then I'll do an assembly line finishing and they'll be ready for the tree.

Which is going up this week-end, along with the decking of the halls. We need a little Christmas, right this very minute!

Already the middle of the month

 How did it get to be the middle of November already?

Despite the fact that it feels like time is getting away from me, I did start and finish a project:

Here's Barbara Jackson's 2020 ornament. The kit arrived a week ago Friday. I plopped myself into the wing chair Saturday morning, and had it stitched by the time I went to bed Saturday night. Then yesterday,  I put it together.

I didn't put the date on this one because I really don't want to remember too much about 2020, which seems to both drag and fly by at the same time.

There has been a little bit of other stitching going on--I've worked more on Catherine Theron's Strawberry Sewing Purse, and I've started putting together the pieces for Jackie du Plessis's Ode to Jane Austen (finally)--which has reminded me that I really need to stitch and assemble projects immediately after taking a class.

But, on with the day. I need to clear the bed in Baby Girl's old bedroom so she'll have a place to sleep when she comes home for our very abbreviated Thanksgiving. I've been using that bed for storage and a staging place for project planning, and there may be about 3 square inches of space left. I don't think she'll fit into that small a space.

Flower and Fruit

 I have been doing a lot of tent stitch this week.

The big, central flower on Rebekah French is finished, and I've outlined and started the second big tent stitch flower.

Then Rebekah went into time-out because the black silk I'm using to outline the motifs is shredding and fraying and leaving little wisps of itself all over the linen. I am aware that black dye is one of the harshest and sometimes that makes black silk more fragile than other colors, but this was getting irritating. Rebekah went back into her pillowcase for a little bit. She will return, but I want to go rummage in the stash to see if I have another skein of black that may not be so pitiful.

So I pulled out the Strawberry Purse and Stitching Accessories project, which is an online class from Catherine Theron through Shining Needle. When last we spoke, I had just finished pulling out the Nun stitch that was in the wrong place. I decided to get it back into the right place, and did, and then, since I had it out, it was easy to start the stitching for the purse panel.

I briefly--very briefly--considered going ahead and doing the Nun stitch outlines for all the pieces for the project and then decided I would go stark raving mad if I did that. Between work and the election craziness, I'm already close to stark raving mad and I decided I didn't need to be pushed over the edge.

But, I am still doing tent stitch. 

Lots of tent stitch.