Experimenting

So far, no Joe the contractor. ARGH. But the bathrooms are clean and I am ready for the week. School is still on winter vacation so no Dylan today.
I scrounged around and found some muslin so I could try the embroidery on the Home Sweet Home etui. I'm not great at embroidery. I took the class "Succulent Strawberry" from Barbara Jackson and learned a lot about doing embroidery correctly. So I put the 40 count lambswool backed by muslin in a hoop and tried stitching a flower that is for the back of the tape measure just to see how it went. I am fairly pleased. I need a darker tracing pencil. The one I have has pink lead. One that has blue lead would be much easier to see. I look at a blog called "The Unbroken Thread" and I have seen how she does her embroidery. I've seen her do the split stitch and padding stitches and then satin stitch over top. She does such a nice job. It seemed dumb to stitch with just one strand of silk floss but the results are fine and smooth. So I'm happy. That means I feel confident enough to start the front of the house. I don't have the called-for threads but I can make do. I need to make a run to the fabric store as I can't find any more muslin.
I put the sleeves in the smocked dress. I need to finish the smocking part as the rest of the dress is pretty easy and quick to finish. I still don't like it but I am determined to finish it anyway.
I put some more words on the Winter's Cottage. If I concentrated on it all day (not likely)I could come close to finishing the back.
I never did get those thank-yous written. Today is the day!!!
I keep pulling stuff out of the Unfinished Drawer. Today's lot includes a Just Nan design. I like Just Nan even though she changes colors with every stitch. I heard one person call it "confetti stitching" and that's about right. I think the butterfly one is a Sweetheart Tree, then there are chicks in an egg shape.
I've got my fingers crossed that Joe shows up and we can get this floor done already!
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