So very close

 I have spent the whole afternoon filling cross stitches in one of the hills at the bottom of Rebecah French's sampler. The whole afternoon, and there are still more to go. I think having to stop and fill in tiny little compensating stitches around the design has significantly slowed me down.

But there's only a little more of this hill to fill . . . 

Maybe if I stitch a little longer tonight, I can get it done before Sampler Sunday ends.

I did not thread a needle yesterday. I played games on my phone and talked to The Saint and Baby Girl and puttered around the house and nary a stitch was stitched.

I also baked a loaf of banana bread, which leads to an Old Married Couple story. If you just came for the stitching, stop here.

To make banana bread, you need to mash up the bananas. The easiest way to mash bananas is to use the potato masher, which is what I was doing when Dearly Beloved wandered in. Lord knows, I might be doing something fascinating that he could miss if he isn't there to observe.

So, he asked what I was doing. I said I was mashing bananas. But, he said, you're using the potato masher. I replied that in all my years of cooking and baking and wandering through kitchen supply stores, I had yet to find a banana masher, so I was using the potato masher. He felt the need to say, "But it's a potato masher." At which point I mentioned that if he ever wished to taste my banana bread again, he would remove himself from the kitchen and not worry about which utensil I was using.

I feel that I should send this to the guy who writes "Pickes" for the comics.

More on Finishing Friday

 Maybe I should say Frustrating Friday.

I had almost finished sewing the lining to the needlebook when the linen I was attaching the lining to started to fray. And I do mean fray.

I had been a little concerned about the number of threads outside the edge stitch, and I should have listened to myself. When the threads starting pulling out just from stitching through on the last side I needed to attach I came very close to having a sinking spell. This would have required lying down with a cold compress and I had other things to do.

All I can say is Stitch Witchery is my friend.

And the needle book is assembled.

This will likely never be used for its intended purpose, it will be put on display at Christmas, so I'm not horribly concerned about the fraying and the fix.

It would be logical to go ahead and assemble the tray. The only problem is that I need to make new templates. After I had stitched the first piece of the tray, I realized it came out bigger than the template for the bottom of the tray. This has happened before--just because a linen count says it's 32 or 36 or 40 or whatever, there are enough variations in thread thickness and linen weave to throw that count off slightly.

So I'm going to photocopy the finished pieces and make my own templates.  Just not today. Today Carmen is calling and I'm going to work on embellishing instead of assembling.

I'm ignoring the fact that Carmen will eventually have to be assembled.

Finishing Friday

 Yesterday, the notification  for this year's ornament from Barbara Jackson through Shining Needle Society popped into my inbox.

Well, of course I had to order it, and then I thought it would likely be a very good idea to assemble her Christmas is Coming Etui before the ornament kit arrived. So I got a start last night.

So that leaves the needle book and the tray that holds everything. I need to read through the finishing directions again.

And, who knows? This may precipitate a flurry of finishing.

Don't hold your breath.

Zigging and Zagging and Filling In

 After I came home from my sampler guild meeting last night, I was inspired to stitch. That's the good thing about belonging to a stitching group--it's very motivating when you see the beautiful things others have stitched, and it makes you want to stitch more!

So another zigzag row is done, and now I'm filling in some of the surrounding areas.

This may be all the stitching done around here. I've been awake since about 4:30 this morning and I'm beginning to drag. It's a cloudy, gloomy, rainy, cold day--perfect to snuggle under the blankets and nap. I believe I will do that, especially since I can't seem to focus my eyes!

Zigging and Zagging

 The second panel for Carmen's Etui has been started.

As much as I want to continue with this, I have a bunch of adult things I need to do this afternoon. Among other things, I need to calculate how early I need to start supper.  There's a Carolinas Sampler Guild meeting tonight, and this will be the first meeting since February, 2020, that I could attend. We all know what happened to the rest of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. Our first meeting of the year (September) was cancelled because of issues accessing our meeting place. I was in Weaverville, getting ready for Jackie's class on Carmen through Sassy Jack's when the second one (October) was scheduled. I am more than ready to get back into the rhythm of a "normal" year.

One Done

 The first panel for the body of Carmen's Etui is stitched!

The sheen from the Soie de Paris is just amazing, and the photo doesn't come close to showing it.

However, there is a little rough spot on the end of one of my thumbs, and I've had to be very careful as I stitch. No matter how much sugar scrub I use, and how much hand cream I rub in, I can't seem to eliminate that spot. So I took out an emery board and sanded my thumb this morning.

Dearly Beloved wanted to know if I were planning some nefarious deed, and removing my fingerprints in preparation. 

November? Already?

 How did it get to be November already? And the countdown to the holidays? Time does fly when you're having fun, I guess.

And I've had fun.

Yesterday, Rebecah French had a little love.

This little hill is supposed to be worked in cross stitch and, you may notice, there are flowers growing on it. I have a feeling that Rebecah probably worked all the cross stitches first, then embroidered over them. Instead, we're working the outlines of the vines and flowers and cross stitching around them. To work the reproduction, though, it would have been hard to determine where to place the flowers, unless, maybe, you traced the designs on tissue, basted it on top of the cross stitch, and worked through both. I'm not sure which makes more sense to do, so I'm following the directions as written.

Today I'm working on Carmen's Etui, and I am loving this project. I think I may spend most of my stitching hours this week on this:

Filament silk is a little pesky to work with because it will snag on air, much less the slightest rough spot on your hands--but, oh, the sheen! I wish the picture showed it better. I just want to stroke it. I am avoiding that, because as sure as I touch it, it will find the one rough spot I haven't sugar scrubbed off. I am exercising restraint, but the temptation is great.

And, now, on to another topic. For many years, when blogs were the thing to do, people tried to write every day in the month of November. I have done it myself. Last year didn't make it--I think I wrote four posts the whole month. This year, I think I'm going to take a deep breath and dive in. If I blog, I have to stitch to have something to talk about, and I have a lot I want to stitch.

So on with November!