Hermitting on the 4th

The older I get, the more of a hermit I become.  Yesterday was a day of catch-up housekeeping. a goodly amount of DVD watching, grazing on leftovers rather than cooking in this heat and a bit of stitching.  No visiting, no town concert or fireworks display, no family picnics; in short, none of the activities that typify the 4th.  If this summer continues to go the way it has been going, my air conditioner and I are going to have a very intense [and expensive] relationship.  How odd!  I used the words hermit and relationship in the same paragraph.  Somewhat anomalous but I am sure you get the idea.

JBW Design's Tree Sampler

Here is just one photo of what I accomplished.  I fully intended to work on  Aury's 2012 Quaker Heart, which I downloaded in the morning. Since I have stitched the previous ones [as noted in yesterday's post], it seemed only right to start the latest one on Independence Day.  But as I was rummaging around for a scrap of pale blue 32ct linen just the right size, that I knew I had, I came across this quaint little JBW Design's Tree Sampler that was already kitted up.  As you can see, it is not too terribly hard to divert my attention.  For all its seeming simplicity, this is a fussy little piece because of the three color changes in the lettering.  Rather than drive myself nuts with counting between all the letters of the same color, with all the potential for errors and miscounts and consequent frogging, I have been using short lengths of thread and just stitching the letters a row at a time.  This is working up a bit too large for an ornament, on a scrap of 28ct over-dyed linen, so it will have to be finished as a small seasonal pin pillow.  The border is a little brighter than designed since I substituted Carrie's Creation Sassy [left over from some charity stitching] for the softer rose called for in the chart.  Pinks have never been among my favorite color ways.  So, the three partial skeins of Carrie's Creations pinks left over from those old projects have been languishing in my "odds & ends" bag of stuff that I am too frugal to throw away but don't love enough to store with the real stash.  I keep this bag in my current stitching bag and it is the first place I check when kitting up small projects like ornaments, bookmarks and pin pillows.  I am an old time Use it up, Wear it out or Do without proponent.  I can see how a more muted pink might work better here but, still and all, I rather like the effect of the bright one.  And, as a bonus, I have finishing fabric in the very same shades of pink that will work quite nicely for the pillow finish.