Startitis strikes again

The plan was to work on sewing finishes and TW's Autumn Faerie this week ... possibly even finishing said Faerie by November 30. A trip to the emergency room with my husband, waiting from 5pm to 2am, before they decided to admit him for a 2 1/2 day stay checking out some very scary symptoms with a barrage of tests ... all turned out well, though with the least scary of all diagnoses ... very fixable, no cancer ... Well, the plan was jettisoned in favor of two very small portable stitching projects [the bookmark and floss tag pictured below] that I could take to the hospital during the beginning of the week and in favor of a very straight forward Primitive Needle chart for the rest of the week. I was just too stressed out to deal with blending and 1/4 stitches and the like. Even Thanksgiving was postponed to Sunday since I had no time for shopping, cleaning or cooking ... dividing my time between work and the hospital during the early part of the week.

I finished the Autumn Leaves bookmark from Handblessing. I used a mystery linen scrap that I had received in trade, 32 ct, overdyed with a subtle brown/grey-green color way and a Belle Soie silk called Pumpkin Carriage. The finishing fabric on the back is a recent purchase and one I will use again when converting Esmeralda's House into a wall hanging. Lately I have taken to fringing a number of my finishes ... somehow the homespun look of fringed linen just suits country-style Fall and Christmas pieces. And here is one sewing finish: a book tote for my husband. It is fully lined and even has a fleece batting inner lining to give added shape and strength. The chart is called Sailor's Jig, though how anyone would have the strength to do a jig while holding wooden oars outstretched is well beyond me!

Then there is this near-finish: an oversized floss tag. I ran out of DMC Perle 815 just before finishing the top corner of the back and the whip-stitching of front and back together. I plan on ordering some from 123stitch by phone tomorrow along with some other threads I need to kit up a Christmas ornament from the JCS 2005 ornament issue and some more Belle Soie Old Crow silk I need for the next project pictured here: Halloween Revelry by The Primitive Needle from the Sept. 2009 JCS issue. I knew as soon as I saw this piece that I had to do it. The mindless repeats in the border were just right for hospital stitching. Don't be alarmed by the very narrow selvage at the top. I intend this piece to end up as a pillow and don't need much more than a seam allowance plus 1/4" more or less to get the effect I want. Instead of using the charted WDW cotton overdyes, I am stitching from my stash of Belle Soie silks. So far the border and the cats [and all other black areas] are stitched in Old Crow and the orange areas are being done in Lasagna. Since I have a very nice deep stash of Belle Soie, I'll choose the other colors as I get up to them. Since I seem to have caught some bug or other while visiting at the hospital, I'll stick to this piece for the rest of the day. I've developed a major headache and cough and am just too tired to deal with something as complex as TW's Autumn Faerie.