A WIP Report

Yesterday, I did a bit more work on The English Band Sampler.  I managed to put in about an hour on this before heading out to work and another hour after work.  The cross-stitching outline in this satin stitch band is going far more slowly than I had hoped.  Even though my summer hours get me home from work at 3:00pm, I find I am not doing much stitching in the evenings.  What with errands and keeping up with the housework, all I want to do is collapse round about 5:00pm.  Having a full month off spoiled my pacing.  I am so ready for retirement, it isn't even funny.  Oh, well, just four more years unless the wretched politicians play still more games with full eligibility age for Social Security.  I have been contributing to that fund since I was 16 with only an 8 year hiatus when my children were too young for school.and I would very much like to start drawing a return.

 Lunch hour stitching was back on goal as well: I picked up the Mystic Smalls stitcher's pocket from the 2007 Stitcher's Hideaway in Mystic, Ct.    Of course, one doesn't get much done in an half an hour but at least the piece is back in the rotation.  All I managed to stitch were the satin stitched waves on the last panel.  Still, it felt good to be working on another item from my Class Project List.  I am rather excited about getting back to this project.  It's a Thea Dueck  [Victoria Sampler] piece and my very first attempt at Hardanger.  The one thing I am putting off, though, are the two spider web roses in ribbon embroidery in the panel with the vines between the two stitchers.  All my previous attempts at ribbon embroidery have been hit or miss.  Sometimes perfect and sometimes dreadful and nothing in between.  I am also a little worried about continuing the blanket stitched edging of this pocket  ... it's been so long since I started it I am concerned about matching the tension.  I haven't done any hardanger stitching since I put this down and fear I have forgotten everything I learned.

On Tuesday, I played chauffeur for my husband and took him to the surgeon's office for a pre-op consultation.  I spent nearly two and a half hours in the waiting room and put the time to good use by finishing up the WDW Charcoal outline stitching in the top border of The Primitive Needle's The Needle.  I am getting a bit tired of all this Charcoal stitching but it is very nearly done ... just one more floral motif to do.  While this piece isn't actually on my August goals list, it makes a great travel piece at this point.  Few color changes and lots of regularly repeating motifs mean that there is seldom a need to consult the chart.   I even remembered to bring my flippable magnifying lens that fit over my regular glasses.  The right tools for the right job: a bit of magnification is always useful in the soft light that is typical of waiting rooms.