So close

 So, I'm doing the fun stuff on the basket bands.

I had planned to do everything for the first band, then move on to the second--but by the time I finished the first band, I had the leaf and stem pattern memorized and it just seemed easier to keep going. I really wanted to have the second one finished before I went to bed, but it was getting toward midnight and my eyes were beginning to cross. Rather than make a mistake that I'd have to frog, I went to bed.

I was going to work on my whitework class today, but I need to make a decision as to whether to use the practice netting for the finished piece or to use the teeny-tiny-wee-little conservation netting that requires me to use the Dazor as well as my usual magnifiers to see it. I think I'm going to rationalize that this is a learning piece so it's mainly to get a feel for the technique.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Deadly Dull and Boring

My poor blog has been sadly neglected of late, but I've been so deadly dull and boring that I hated to inflict myself on the world.

I have been stitching, but what I've been doing has not been particularly interesting to anyone but me.

I mean, this is going to turn into something lovely, but right now . . . meh.

These are the side bands for the Shaker carrier for Merry Cox's House on the Hill. I've been working on the nun stitch outlines, which involve 772 nun stitches total for the two bands.

772 nun stitches.

Think about that.

I'm trying not to. DBE said I should never have added them up because it would make me run screaming into the night. I didn't do that, but I became very tired of nun stitches, to the point I'm going to avoid them for as long as I possibly can.

I'm also working on my online whitework class, and, hallelujah, I am all but caught up with all the motifs.

Naturally the one I have left to do is close to the most intense and time-consuming one of the whole class. I may not be around much this weekend while I deal with it.

After that, I hope to be back to more colorful and interesting things to stitch and see. I don't think I can stand to be deadly dull and boring for much longer.

 

Seeing Double

 I decided I need to work on something with color today, so it's back to House on the Hill. I finished the pieces for the scissors fob and the pin keep.

Obviously, the sides of each are identical.

All I have left to do before assembly are the bands that go around the interior of the Shaker basket. They are also identical. I'm glad I like this flower motif because I have to do it a whole lot more times.

Aged and Decrepit

I didn't mean to let a week go by without a blog post. Age and decrepitude got in the way.

It's been a week of doctors' appointments and a trip back to my hometown to have a permanent crown installed. I had to take a couple of days to perform some very necessary Domestic Diva tasks, and I've been trying to catch up on my online whitework class with varying degrees of success.

And then, last night, I rolled over and threw my back out. If that isn't an example of being aged and decrepit, I don't know what is!

Plus, just to emphasize my age, today Dearly Beloved and I celebrate our forty-eighth wedding anniversary. Forty-eight years . . . first of all, I'm not sure how that happened, and even more, how did I get old enough to have a forty-eighth anniversary? (We have already planned to celebrate with take-out Chinese because we're just that exciting.)

But you come here for the stitching, and here is the little bit I've done that isn't whitework.

needle book, Merry Cox's House on the Hill

This is cause for celebration--it's the last bit of this set that has lettering.

Dearly Beloved just came in with another Icy Hot pad to apply to my back. Ah, romance in the golden years!

 

A little out of proportion

 I don't think there's any way to change this, . . but . . . 

It took about 8 hours to do the prework to set up the motif that would be embellished.

And less than two hours, during class, to embellish.

The embellishment is the fun part.

Isn't that always the way? It takes forever to get ready for the fun stuff, and the fun stuff lasts no time at all.

Another piece down

 The second piece for House on the Hill is completely stitched.

It helped that the Kindred Spirits Sampler Guild had a stitch-in yesterday, so I knew I had a good two-plus hours I could devote to stitching as well as socializing, even if it's through a computer screen. Actually, two of the members just returned from what sounds like an amazing trip to Europe, getting to see samplers in many venues. That was fascinating, and the time flew.

And then I had some momentum with my stitching, and just kept going until  finished. 

You may notice that there are two dates on the piece. I've committed to getting this done in 2024, so that date is with my name. And the project was started at Christmas in Williamsburg in 1999, so to give a nod to that timeline, I had to include that year as well.

Now it's on to the side bands--this all fits in a Shaker basket, which I may have forgotten to mention, and there are side bands that need to be stitched.

But today I need to do the homework for my whitework class so I'll be ready to do that tomorrow. I have a feeling the homework will take a good chunk of the afternoon.

I am not complaining. Getting my homework done is my excuse for avoiding the dust rhinos.

Change of Plans

I know I said I was going to work on the Hardanger course.

I changed my mind.

I decided to work on the lettering for the poem for Merry Cox's House on the Hill. I may have mentioned a time or a thousand that I don't particularly care for stitching letters. I would be thrilled if someone gave me a Bristol sampler and I would treasure it, but I will never, ever stitch one. However, although the letters are worked over one, they're done in tent stitch so it's going fairly quickly.

And I do love the flowers, which will be mirrored on the other side.

I think I may spend the rest of the day on this. I was up early and walked before it got hot and humid so I feel very virtuous and worthy of a reward.

That's my rationalization and I'm sticking to it!

First Attempts

So I've done the first three motifs in the Hardanger Fillings class with Jane Ellen Balzuweit. I definitely have some tension issues, and I noticed some errors in the stitching, but I am not ripping out anything. I keep telling myself this is a learning experience, and it is a notebook course--so maybe leaving the mistakes makes sense. After all, sometimes it helps to see what you shouldn't do as well as what you should.

And looking at them here--this should keep me humble!

We had the second class this morning, so I'm going to spend the afternoon working on those motifs. Who knows, if I decide to ignore the dust rhinos and the laundry, I might be able to go ahead and get next week's homework done. 

Not quite Technicolor

 It isn't quite Technicolor, but it's much more colorful than white on white!

I'm working on the second pocket for House on the Hill, a Merry Cox design I started at Christmas in Williamsburg in 1999.

1999.

That is twenty-five years ago!!!

I do believe it's past time to get this one done. It has been aging in my stash quite long enough.

Anyway, I've decided I need to work on things that are more difficult first thing in the morning, and things that are simply fun to stitch in the evening. House on the Hill is most definitely fun.

Monogamy Not

 I've been trying to be a fairly monogamous stitcher so I can catch up with two of my online classes.

I decided that monogamy is not for me. 

Again.

Anyway, I finished the motif I was working on yesterday when I hit the wall.

This leaves one class motif and three homework assignments. I only have to have one of the homework assignments done before next Tuesday, so I am giving myself permission to take a couple of days off from this project.

I do need to watch the tape of last Saturday's Hardanger class and do the filling stitches on those samples. I'm going to do that tomorrow morning so I'll be ready for this coming Saturday.

Meanwhile, I'm going to rummage around in the basket by my chair and see what I have that isn't silk or metal.

Or involve white threads.

Snow Blindness

I hit a wall today. Too much white. SOOOOOO much white I was beginning to feel like I was suffering from snow blindness.

Since I live somewhere that hasn't seen an appreciable amount of snow in years and years, I have no idea what snow blindness would look or feel like, but, anyway, I had to stop tonight before I finished yesterday's last motif. I did get the other three done, and I did stitch one of the motifs from a class several weeks ago, so I suppose I have made progress.

 This is called beading, and it involves making more holes in perfectly good linen. Actually, it looks like a weird caterpillar to me.

And this is where I stopped for today. Actually, I kinda like doing this type of drawn thread, and there's a lot of it on Love That Red, the sampler from Jackie du Plessis I was doing before my wrist misbehaved. And, yes, it's in the pile of things that I want to get back to as soon as I catch up with this class.

If that day ever comes.

Hardanger Homework

 I have stitched the homework for the class I missed last Saturday, and for the class coming up this Saturday.

I need to watch the tape of last week's class to do the insides for the top three. Hopefully, I can get the bottom three finished in class this week.

Meanwhile, in my online whitework class, I now have to finish today's lesson, work the two motifs from previous classes, and do three homework assignments.

There's going to be a lot of white fabric with white threads in the next few weeks. I have a feeling that once I get caught up, it's going to be technicolor all the way.

Catching Up

I decided I had better spend my stitching time catching up on the online whitework class I've been taking. Today I finished the homework I needed to have done before tomorrow's class.

 I still have two motifs to stitch from previous classes, and I have two more homework assignments for future ones.

And I need to work on last week's Hardanger class samples and get the homework done before this Saturday.

I thought I had left deadlines and homework assignments far, far behind me. Maybe this is what's meant by second childhood?

Just a little early?

 I'm supposed to rest my wrist until tomorrow, but BDE and I went to our local EGA chapter's stitch-in this afternoon, and, well, I cheated a little.

I stitched.

It felt wonderful, even though I couldn't count to either four or five or apparently read a chart.

I persevered and have this to show for about 90 minutes of sloooooooooowly stitching.

This is the beginning of the first motif in the online class I'm taking in Hardanger filling stitches.

And I'm not going to do any more. I am going back to resting until tomorrow. Maybe.

Oh, it feels so good to stitch again!

Progress Report

 I finally got to see the hand specialist, who discovered that I may have had a hairline fracture that was about a millimeter long in my wrist--it had healed but may have precipitated or aggravated the tendonitis--and he then stuck a needle in my wrist.

That may not have been the most painful experience of my life, but it was right up there.

Now, in my ignorance, I thought I would get the shot and come home and stitch. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I am now in Brace #3, for those keeping track of my brace wardrobe, which I am to wear 24/7 until Monday. I really can't stitch with this one. On Monday, I can stitch for short periods interspersed with longer periods of rest when the brace goes back on, and I have to sleep with it. This will last for 2-3 weeks.

So basically, I will lose half a year of stitching time.  Blankety-blank-blank-blank!!!

And, of course, today I have two online classes. Yes, scheduled at the same time.

On the left are the supplies for a class that EGA's Cyberstitchers chapter is offering on Hardanger filling stitches. Jane-Ellen Balzuweit, who is one of my favorite teachers, is offering it over a six week period. It is being taped, so I can watch the tapes later.

On the right is the design for Tanya Bentham's underside couching class, one-day only and that day is today. I've done some underside couching in goldwork, and found it takes both hands sometimes to pull the couching thread through, so I don't even dare to cheat and do that. But since it's only today, I plan to watch the presentation and hope I remember how to do it.

And, of course, next week I have my online whitework class. I was planning to be all caught up before class on Tuesday.

As usual, I should never make stitching plans.