Radio Silence

 

This is Ethel.

She is supposed to keep my wrist stable while it recovers from being hyperextended when I tripped up the stairs. She is also supposed to stop me from re-injuring myself.

I can stitch with her, but it's slow and awkward. Hopefully, though, she will do her job quickly and efficiently.

In other news, I just had the recent Covid shot, recommended for people over 65. Every other one I've had has left me tired and vaguely achey. This one did me in--unbelievable fatigue and chills and fever--and to top it all off, I had a dizzy spell and keeled over. Luckily I landed on the best padded part of my anatomy, but I have a rather large bruise. And I have bruises elsewhere as well, so I am stiff and sore.

These times do try us.

Hopefully I will have something of a stitching nature to show in the near future.

The Haul

 An apologetic employee of the Post Office appeared with my box from Inspirations today, 

I have decided I am not allowed online when I am too ill to stitch. It's dangerous.

Here's the Betsy Morgan sampler I mentioned.

Lovely Gloriana silks, lovely linen, all colors I'm drawn to and patterns that will be fun to stitch--what a joy!

And, because this Deep Dive into Whitework class I'm taking has pulled me into loving that particular branch of needlework, with all its offshoots, again:

Tiny little pictures of projects worked in white on white don't show up well, but I have a Richelieu Lace piece and two Schwalm pieces, one of which can go on the rack on the antique golden oak washstand that was the first antique we bought we were newlyweds. I already have a couple of Barbara Kershaw's finger towels hanging there, and I think this will be a nice addition.

I only need 36 hours in the day.

More frustration and aggravation

I get into trouble when I don't feel like stitching, and I didn't feel like stitching while I had that horrible cold. 

What I do feel like doing is wandering around the innerwebs looking at needlework. And I wandered to Inspirations magazine's site, and I ordered a Betsy Morgan kit.

Which the PO said they delivered today in the parcel box at our neighborhood mail box.

They did not. 

And trying to navigate the PO site is also frustrating and aggravating.

We'll see what the PO says. If the results are anything like the issues we've had getting mail forwarded from our old place to our new address, I have a terrible feeling I'm SOL.

Frustration and Aggravation

 Who would think this tiny piece of linen could cause such angst?

There are supposed to be 99 Nun stitches across the top. I have counted four times and had four different counts. And no two counts agreed.

I believe I will do something else for the rest of the day.

April 3

When the kit arrived several weeks ago, I fully intended to start this when the first class was posted on April 3.

 Instead, when I finally pulled myself out of bed at the crack of noon today, I worked on this:

I didn't sleep well last night (which is why I ended up staying in bed all morning). First I was too hot, so I turned on the ceiling fan. Then I was too cold, so I pulled up a blanket. Then I seemed to have too many arms and legs for comfort because I couldn't get any of them situated in the right place. I finally got up and read for awhile, then sat and stared at my worktable and all the baskets and bins around it, and decided I have too many things started and not enough things finished.

At that point it was after 7 in the morning and I was finally tired enough to sleep.

But other than the four classes I'm taking in a couple of weeks at Salty Yarns, and the other online and guild projects I've agreed to do, I am not starting anything new.

I think I see the problem.

Hundreds of Hours . . .

Awhile back I was wandering around the website of one of my favorite designers. I found a project I liked, and read the description.

Which included the phrase, "hundreds of hours of stitching pleasure."

Hundreds of hours.

Well, that's intimidating to think of.

But I'm beginning to believe this border is going to take hundreds of hours.

It's a pretty border, and it adds a lot to the piece, but I'm not sure it's going to be hundreds of hours of stitching pleasure. There's a lot of stopping and starting, and of course, a lot of repetition.

And this is why I tend to prefer band samplers and spot samplers. They don't have borders.

One of my stitching buddies once said that band samplers were just rows and rows of border patterns. I stuck my fingers in my ears and said, "La la la la la" very loudly. 

But I shall persevere, if for no other reason than to move to the next band of this sampler guilt-free.

Back in the Saddle Again

 Carmen has not been out of her pillowcase for almost a month.

That was rectified yesterday.

I stitched more of the vine, the stems, the leaves, and the buds yesterday. I do believe the border for this monster sampler is going to do me in, but I think I would rather stitch it as I go instead of waiting until all the fun stuff is done. It does add a burst of color--I did, briefly, consider leaving it out and stitching this as an adaptation--and I decided it needs it. If I could just get all this section done so I can move on to something more interesting to stitch, I think I would be a happy camper.

Meanwhile, I woke up this morning, realizing that a third of 2024 has flown by and I have not accomplished anything that I had planned for the year. I have nine months left. If you can make a whole human being in nine months, surely I can get a sampler and a few UFO's to the finish line.