Finishing

 I finished my pin discs. This is the original kit.

Then this is the same pattern stitched over two instead of over one.

Which one do I like better? I like them both.

I was able to walk outside with just a few sprinkles of rain. Our crocus’ are beginning to bloom.

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Nashville

 I got my Nashville preorders!

 

I was confused when I saw this in my order. I’m not a sampler stitcher in general. This is not something I would order. What the ? Then I went back to my Etsy order and realized that I ordered a pin cushion pattern that came from this sampler. Then I thumbed through the book and in the back was the pattern I wanted.

Now this is the pattern I wanted. I don’t know where I messed up. Whatever.

I was able to walk outside today. Rain is coming soon.

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Happy Mail

 I got two packages yesterday. My Amy Mitten kit came! 

Lots of colors of floss.

Lots of stuff in this kit:

There are 87 pages of directions, diagrams and charts. Wow. The slips are worked over one on 40 count. I’m going to try and see if I can do it with my extra strong glasses. Amy Mitten always makes the most interesting projects!

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New Start

 I decided to work on one of  Jenny Adin-Christie’s button kits. They are small. How hard can they be?

Well, I’m having some problems. It is challenging to embroider on organza. You would think it would be easy to just sew on a few sequins. The ones I’ve sewn on look awful, messy. I’m going to take them off and try again but use a different way of sewing them on.

The drawn thread part is going well. It will go behind the organza.

I worked on this while I watched the Oscars last night. 

My Nashville Market order is out for delivery! Happy mail today!

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Snow!?

 This is what we woke up to today. This is out backyard.  This is what spring looks like in my neck of the woods. Snow! 

I decided to try the little strawberry design over two on 37 count linen and compare it to the half cross version.

I much prefer the over two full cross one. You can see the shading of the strawberry better. I didn’t want it to be too big. I want it small enough to be a pin keep.

I was waiting for my Amy Mitten kit to be delivered yesterday but no such luck. Maybe today. I got an email that my Nashville stuff has been sent. But it is in Cedar Rapids at the moment. Next week should be a Happy mail week!

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Quick

 Quick would be a good word in a Wordle puzzle. Don’t you love a quick project? I got a small kit in the mail yesterday and couldn’t resist starting - and finishing it.

A lady in my sampler guild made the kit. I love to stitch strawberries and this was very cute. It is all over one. I want to try it over 2 and see what it looks like. 

DH just bought me some vitamins at the store. I opened them up took off the top seal and pulled out the cotton in the bottle. This is how full that bottle was. The tablets barely come up to the bottom of the label.

The bottle says there are 60 tablets. I guess I shouldn’t complain as there was a buy-one-get-one-free deal.

It is raining again today. Back to walking inside.

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Thursday

 I’m off to a doctor’s appointment in a few minutes. I got the Stacy Nash kit in the mail yesterday. 

I love the little wax bee.

I wanted to try a corner just to see how it looks. I changed out the linen for some Sotema linen that I bought in Italy. I like it. I wanted to make sure the Weeks Dye work threads showed up well on it. 

It’s fun to start something new!

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Anticipation

 I am waiting for lots of things in the mail. One of them should come on Friday. That one is the latest Amy Mitten kit for making slips. I think it is called Blossom Etui. Then I’m waiting for a Stacy Nash needleroll kit. It’s been mailed. I am still waiting for the Nashville Market stuff I ordered. The Crewelwork May retreat kits have also been sent from the UK. I envision the mailman walking up to my front door with a stack of boxes. Like I need more stuff!

I got another side done to Betsy Morgan’s Holbein Hexagon Etui. Making progress! 

It was supposed to be all one color but I made the flower in different colors. Just now I noticed that the guy on the right’s face is wrong. The eyes are up one stitch too high. Why didn’t I noticed this while I was stitching it? Crazy, I’ll have to fix it. I already entirely restitched the other guy when I used a color that didn’t show up. Oh well, it’s an easy fix. I think these guys are called “boxers”.

I am back to walking inside as it is raining today. 25 laps around the living room, dining room, kitchen and mudroom.

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Four of Six

 I’ve got four of the six sides stitched on Betsy Morgan’s Holbein Hexagon Etui.

I’ve had to substitute some colors. I keep all my leftover threads from Betsy’s kits so that helps. Designers have favorite colors that they like to use. Since Gloriana threads are hard to come by, it is handy to have these leftovers.

We woke up to the beeping of heavy machinery backing up this morning. Ugh. And they haven’t even built anything yet. They ate still doing the prep work with water, sewer and electrical stuff. I am waiting to see if it will be large apartment buildings or houses or what.

Colder today. I’m getting spoiled by the warm weather and it is hard to go back to cold - and rain.

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Done

 I finished the Jacobean Moth by Nicola Jarvis.

Above the head. Is a shadow of his (her?) antennas. There is a line drawn for the antennas but the directions do not talk about how to finish the lines. I think it is assumed that the stitcher will make a slip out of the moth and mount the stitching on a different ground fabric. I tried to erase the lines but it didn’t work. 
I am delighted that the moth looks Ike it is supposed to look. I have a couple more things I want to try to get rid of the lines. I’ll iron them and see what happens. Then I can use some soap and water and see what that does. I may have to make a slip out of it.

It is supposed to hit 70 today! I’m waiting for it to warm up up a bit before going walking. It’s spring!!

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Mistakes

 When I was looking for something else I ran across a partially finished pinball. It was a kit from Williamsburg, I think. One side was done and the rest of the kit was MIA. 

After listening to a lecture on pinballs, I wanted to finish this. I remember that the pinball ring from Williamsburg was a couple hundred dollars. No way was I going to buy that. But during the lecture I heard about an Etsy store that sells them. So I went to the site and ordered one. Boy, did I mess up. 

I didn’t mean to order the white one. I wanted the black and silver one. That was my first mistake. 

Then I didn’t even think to check what size it was. Turns out that it is much too small to hold my stitching.

The ring is a little less than 2 inches in diameter.

So what to do? Well, I guess I’ll make it into a round pin cushion with some velvety looking fabric

You win some and you lose some. 

It is raining today so I walked inside. 

Have a nice weekend.

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Done

 I put in the last stitches into Isabella’s Heart. It turned out great. I’m not sure how to finish it off. I’ll have to think about it for awhile. 

The colors are a bit brighter than what shows in this photo. I love the linen and have another cut of it for a future project. 

It is another warm day at the chateau. I walked earlier since we are expecting rain later. 

Spring is coming!

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Mercerie Bouton

When I was Zooming this weekend a lady ar our guild meeting a lady showed her little cabinet that she had mounted some stitching on. It wasn’t a fancy cabinet (made in China). But I thought it was an interesting idea to put stitching on the top. So I found it on Amazon and ordered it. It came the very next day. And I decided to put it on the side table next to my stitching chair. I had a bunch of stuff in a small plastic container that I transferred to the cabinet. Then I put some stuff on top of the cabinet.

 The drawers sometimes get stuck. I’ve given up the idea of putting stitching on the top. But it is very handy.

It is a lovely warm sunny day. Perfect for walking. 

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Body of Work

 I got the body done on the Jacobean Moth.

Now the moth is going to change dramatically when I do the dark band around the wings. I hesitated before doing the body because I was afraid I would mess it up. Many designs require coverage with stem stitch. I haven’t tried doing full coverage with that stitch. So I’m interested in how the dark bands will work out. 

I walked in glorious warmth this morning. My grandson would love to watch all the heavy equipment across the street.

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Almost Nearly

 I’ve made good progress on Isabella’s Heart by Modern Folk Embroidery.

Essentially, I have just the bird in the corner to go. I bet I can finish that today. It’s wrinkly but I’ll iron it when I am done. 

It was warm enough to walk outside this morning. Most of the snow is gone and the sidewalks are clear. I’m getting used to daylight savings time. DH is off to the grocery store. I got notification that the needleroll from Stacy Nash is in the mail. I think Amazon is getting faster. I ordered some stuff on Saturday night and it was here on Sunday. How do they do that?

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Zoom

 We had a class on pinballs for our guild meeting. Here is the kit pinball.

The piecing papers I ordered from Etsy came on Saturday. I was able to put the second pinball together.

I really like how it turned out. 

The miracle in these photos is that they were taken with the pinballs on the footstool that goes with my happy chair. Usually the footstool is piled high with all matter of stitching items. How long will it stay empty? I suspect it won’t last long.

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Three of Six

 I finished stitching the third panel of the Holbein Hexagon Etui by Betsy Morgan.

It is cold and snowy today. But tomorrow there will be a warm up. The warm-up is supposed to last all week. Yeah!

I have a zoom class this afternoon and another one tomorrow. My paper pieces are in the mail and I should get them today. 

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Jacobean Moth

 This is where I am on the Jacobean Moth.

Now on to the body. Don’t worry, the head will look less striped when the cross hatching is over it. Now if I can do a nice job on the lower parts.

It is Friday and it is snowy today. We’ve had about three inches of snow and may get some more. Needless to say, I walked inside today. A half an hour of walking will get me to a mile. I’d like to do more but I have limited energy. Don’t we all?

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Dangerous Words

 My dangerous words are: I have an idea! Coming up at our guild meeting is a lesson on making a pinball. I got the little kit in the mail and wanted to try it. It turned out nicely. But I wanted to put my own spin on it. I have had a Brightneedle chart for years. I bought all the floss called for which is Anchor floss. This is a good thing because I don’t get out much. 

It has many sweet small designs. I want to make a pinball using these motifs.

So I stitched up some of the designs and found some pretty material to use on the other pentagons in the pinball.

 I ordered some quilt piecing papers but they haven’t arrived yet. They are coming from one state over yet it is taking a long time to get here. I got two sizes so I can use what fits best. I tried printing a template of pentagons but they were so pixelated that I couldn’t accurately cut them.

We’ll see how it all turns out. 

I walked inside today because my IPhone wouldn’t charge. DH insists that I have my phone with me in case anything happens and I need help. It seems to be charging now but the charging icon is yellow instead of green. What does that mean? I have no clue.

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Isabella’s Heart

 This is how far I am on Isabella’s Heart.

It’s going well.

I was able to walk outside this morning and go my regular route. Construction is continuing across the street.  They are putting in water and sewer. 

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Two of Six

 I finished the second side of the Holbein Hexagon Etui by Betsy Morgan.

I’ve been stitching the sides that I like best. I substituted the color of the hands. It is supposed to be white but I didn’t like how that looked so I changed it to a brown shade (Gloriana Oak).It is great to have a side of stitching that can be done in just an afternoon. 

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UGH Snow

 It is snowing. We are so over snow. We want spring! Now! I walked inside this morning. I get more steps in when I walk outside.

I got happy mail. A kit I ordered from Crewel Work  Company came on Saturday. It is a crewel kit. I don’t usually do crewel work but I liked the design. 

The kit is very nice and organized with large diagrams.

There is also a large photo of the project. You can see exactly what the piece should look like. That photo can answer many questions. I was wondering how the design would look if I stitched it with floss instead of wool.

It doesn’t look hard. I am tempted to start the chain stitch border but I have some things that need to get done this week for Zoom classes. 

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