Lovely Mail Day

 It was quite a lovely mail day.

The most recent project in the Queen's Attire series from Amy Mitten arrived. It is quite likely I will start working on this as soon as I hit publish.

And I treated myself to a needle minder from Rachael Kinnison, who also creates the beautiful annual Christmas ornaments. You can find information on both at her website: https://ladysrepositorymuseum.blogspot.com

And why am I not continuing with the border for the piece of Gardenesque,  you ask?

This is where it currently stands:

You will notice that it is missing all the border stitches I showed you yesterday. That is because I spent yesterday evening removing them, and that is because I counted incorrectly at the very beginning, which threw the border off by two stitches. You'd wouldn't think two threads could possibly make that much difference. It did. So it had to come out.

When I told Baby Girl that I was taking out backstitches worked over one thread on 36 count linen, she said she recommended burning the piece to ashes.

While tempted, this is a kit and I don't have any extra linen to replace it, so it had to be ripped.

And that is why I'm probably going to start something new tonight.

Happy World Embroidery Day!

 It's World Embroidery Day, which I had planned to spend working on my Tudor embroidery class.

We had a slight change in plans due to a family emergency. Everything is fine, now, and it's not my story to tell, but we left home in a bit of a hurry, and I grabbed what I thought was the project bag for the Queen stitch needle book. That project requires no counting and is easy to work on when other things are going on.

Instead, I grabbed the project bag for Gardenesque, which does require some counting and is worked over one thread.

I've been pecking away at the finishing required for the drawer that slides out of the wooden basket and had worked some of the outlines for the accessories for the set. There hasn't been anything to show, so I haven't. But I do feel the need to blog today, and this is what I have.

I think I need to set up a go-bag for impromptu trips and hope I don't need it.

At a standstill

 The third motif in the Tudor Embroidery class has been pricked and pounced.

I was worried that the gray pounce I had wouldn't show up on the black velvet but it did with no problems. What I should have worried about is finding the white watercolor paint and the teeny brush I bought so I could connect the dots. I put them in a very safe place, otherwise known as the portal to another dimension.

So, tomorrow, after I have lunch with former co-workers to celebrate a birthday, I'm going to go buy another cake of white water color pain and another teeny brush so I can start working on this motif.

More radishes, er, strawberries

This is NOT what I was planning to stitch today.

I was planning to prick, pounce, and paint the design for the next Tudor motif. While waiting for the paint to dry, I was going to chart my name for the Stitcher's Envelope. Then I was going to couch some gold twist to the Tudor motif.

As always, plans don't work for me.

Dearly Beloved was unwell and was up and down all night, which meant that I was up and down with him.  This was the second night in a row that I haven't slept well, so I was a little bleary this morning. Yes, I know I'm retired, but once the sun is completely up, I can't go back to sleep right away.

I decided that pricking, pouncing, and painting--all of which require a steady hand--wasn't going to happen, so I got out the graph paper and the alphabet chart and started charting. I screwed up the first letter of my first name. Twice. I figured if I kept going, I'd end up charting my name as Arabella von Stinkyface, so best not to continue.

So, I wafted the dust cloth around, and decluttered my corner (and that was a monumental but brainless activity) and did two loads of towels.

(Why do we always act like laundry is a big deal? All I did was put the towels in the washing machine and twist a couple of dials and punch a button. Same with the dryer. Folding towels is nothing. I didn't have to haul water from the well and heat it over a fire, then scrub the towels on a washboard with lye soap I'd made myself. I didn't have to haul more water to rinse the lye soap out, and I didn't have to hand wring the towels out to get rid of the excess water. I didn't have to hang them on a clothesline to dry--although I do love the scent of line-dried linens--and I didn't have to dash out to bring them in before the afternoon thunderstorm started. So why do we complain about laundry? I digress.)

Anyway, by that point I was ready to plop down and stitch on something, and this is the easiest project in the stack, and I did say at one point I'd like to finish it in a reasonable amount of time--so out it came. And if I can keep my eyes open, I can fill in the rest of the Queen stitches before I head to bed.

And, for some reason, these motifs look more like radishes than strawberries to me. 

two down, three to go

 I finished the second motif from the Tudor Embroidery class today.

It's an interesting technique, but I'm not sure I will ever use it again. Now that I've said that, I will find fourteen different places I could use this.

And I finished another "ribbon" on the Stitcher's Envelope.

The next step is to turn the scrolls and flip everything upside down. And I need to chart out my name so I can stitch it on what will become the inner flap of the envelope.

Ugh, charting and stitching letters. I don't think I'll do that tonight. 

Happy Mail Day

 Today was a very good mail day.

This month's button shipment arrived from Jackie du Plessis--more pretty buttons to use on future projects as well as the directions for a little bonus kit.

And then this:

 The supplies for three more accessory pieces for "Home Sweet Home" arrived from Inspirations.

I bought the original book and kit for Home Sweet Home ten years ago. It went on my list of retirement projects. Who knew that the year I retired that a new edition would be published, with more things to stitch?

So rather than getting the second motif for the Tudor class finished today, I've been diving into the stash to unearth the supplies for yet another project I want to work on right away.

If I just put one stitch into everything I have piled up to work on right away, it would take me two weeks and three days to get through all of them. That is a conservative estimate. I suppose this means I should go stitch on something so I can start something else.

So I will.

Close but no cigar

 Sigh . . . I ran out of cording before I got the last couple of motifs outlined.

So, I will make a little more cording tonight so I can finish this motif tomorrow. I thought about finishing it tonight,  but I have spent all the time I can, bent over the slate frame, for today. My back has announced it's done, or I will be done in. I listen to my back when it's adamant.

And I have been asked about the results of the Great Fly Escapade. The Evil Wee Beastie was dispatched, sent to its reward, gone from this world--in short Dearly Beloved smashed it with the fly swatter. In fact, he smashed it so hard, he broke the handle of the swatter. Granted, the swatter is the one we had when we got married, and apparently 45-year-old plastic can become brittle. 

In fact, when my father was helping us move into our first apartment, he told us we needed to take that plastic thing back and get a "real" fly swatter, one made with a wire handle and wire mesh swatter. This thing, he sneered, will never last.

As usual, Daddy was right.