Starting on the Man

The thing I like best about cross stitching is seeing how the design develops.  I get obsessed with stitching just a bit more to see how it looks.  The American Sampler is like that.  I just want to put in another part to see how it looks.  I put in the Lady's mouth and took out her nose.

  Now I don't know that she needs a nose at all.  She looks much better.  I would like her arm that is holding the bird to show up better so I might see how just a bit of backstitching might look.  Now I have finished the house.

Next comes the Man.  He has a tree by him too.  I am happy with how this is turning out.
I ironed the Cartouche yesterday and it looks much better.

This is the stitched version I am thinking of making instead.  I think I'll change the thimble from blue to a blue/grey/silver version.

I tried something entirely new yesterday.  I bought a roll of paper piecing.

Then I followed the directions (put two fabrics right sides together) and sewed on the lines.  I thought I would end up with a larger square.  I ended up with a bunch of one inch squares.

It worked very nicely.  But what do I do now?  Maybe I should make more squares using different fabrics before I try and put them together.

As I was trying to sew these squares, I got so disgusted with all the junk on my sewing machine table getting in my way.  So I unceremoniously dumped it on the floor.  When what to my wandering eyes should appear?  My old camera battery!  I had been looking for that.   Now I have one more pile of junk on the floor.  ARGH.  Story of my life.
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