This post should have been published yesterday and with photos but we have a semi-annual ritual here at chez Doherty called the befouling of the printer/scanner connection which occurs in late spring and mid-autumn when the window unit air conditioner located immediately behind the computer desk is installed and removed. Together, my husband and youngest son preside over this ritual designed to drive me absolutely, positively crazy. I have checked all the obvious connection points and have had no success in getting the printer/scanner to come back to the land of the living. And, of course, the high priest of chaos, aka my husband, is a safe 40 some miles away blissfully ignorant of the gnashing of teeth going on at home. Happily, I will be too tired to be aggravated and aggravating by the time I see him late this evening at which time I will ask him, ever so politely, to see what he can do to get us up and running again.
Only 11 more weeks in the year, only 10 more weeks to Christmas. I'd best get busy on some of my annual and some of my Christmas stitching goals.
I am still catching up on my Bride's Tree SAL Christmas ornaments: when I originally decided to join this SAL, I came up with the notion of stitching all the ornaments in the Quaker style. It was very easy, at first, to find appropriate charts. Now that I am well into the project it is a little less so and I find myself either designing an ornament from scratch or tweaking an existing design till it meets my needs. If any readers of this blog know of Quaker charts for the various remaining monthly themes, I'd greatly appreciate a comment leading me in the right direction.
June: the Quaker Fruit Basket. Finished stitching and assembly: 10/15/10. See 10/15 post for photo.
July: the Quaker Fish. My own design. Started on 10/15/10
August: the Quaker Rose. Kitted up 10/15/10. I'll be using a Workbasket complimentary chart for this: Quaker Flower, stitched in Sister Scarlet and Tortoise Shell Belle Soie silks ... to make it more rose-like.
September: the Quaker Teapot. I found a baseline chart for my general outline in an old copy of Stitcher's World. I plan to decorate it with a large Quaker motif on the side and maybe stitch a small round motif for the knob on the lid. I'll use motif's from my Workbasket Quaker Sampler ... after all, isn't that what samplers were designed for: recording and preserving motifs to be used in other works? All very doable.
October: the Quaker Pinecone. Still looking for an appropriate chart. I may have to design one of my own. Hope to have this done by the end of the month, bringing me up-to-date on this SAL.
November: Quaker Angel or Church. I am leaning toward the angel option and still looking for a Quaker chart.
December: Quaker Santa. There is a chart available from Workbasket that I'll have to order on Monday. Another easy fix!
The final installment of Linda's RR, due to arrive 9-15-10, finally arrived on 10-15-10. So I quickly found a suitable chart in an old Stitcher's World magazine, an excerpt from a larger chart called Liberty Parade, which was a similar in size and style to the other pieces stitched. I got to work on it very quickly in the hope of mailing it on Monday. I look forward to receiving my own piece back but expect it to be delayed as well since the person two spaces back in the rotation fell a month behind leaving the person immediately before me in the rotation behind time as well. Anyway, this last installment was soooo outside my normal frame of reference [cartoonish animals], it forced me to pull out my stash of old magazines in the hopes of finding something suitable ... with the side effect that I not only found a chart for the RR, I found a chart to adapt for one of my Bride's Tree SAL ornaments, rediscovered some issues of Stitch that bear a second or even a third and fourth reading, and I came up with the perfect November monthly giveaway: a magazine grab bag. What could be better on a cold winter's afternoon, then a pot of tea and a stack of magazines to peruse? I call that a stitching Grand Slam and all because of Linda's RR. Many thanks to Linda!!! The piece was finished Sunday evening and will be mailed this morning.
On the Halloween front, I did a bit more stitching on Winifred Witch by M Design's. I am slowly becoming reconciled to using green floss for a witch's skin tone, expecially when the design is funky and fun ... though on more formal designs, I still prefer natural skin tones. When I get to the over one section [the eyes] on this 32ct linen, I'll be totally dependent on my magnifying lamp.
Stash Enhancement. I've made up my list and I've checked it twice. On Monday, I will order the afore-mentioned Workbasket Quaker Santa chart and all the fibers I'll be needing for the rest of my ornaments: be they Christmas, Halloween or Thanksgiving. I'll place my order with Stitchery Row since they seem to be the most diligent when it comes to mailing the same business day.
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