A Few Photos

While my husband's attitude has been generally quite good considering no one seems to know what is actually wrong and all the doctor's seem to be in "ruling out" mode, he hasn't wanted me to bring him books, crossword puzzles or cards.  He jokingly claims he just wants to mope.  He has watched a few football games on the TV and has enjoyed visits from his sister and from our youngest son, but that seems to be the limit of his ability to concentrate.  And while I have been spending the days with him just talking or watching him rest when he is able, my hands have been free to stitch.  So I have a few photos.

 Saturday, Bill wanted to rest most of the day and we had most of the lights close to the bed turned off, so I needed to work on something very simple.  The perfect solution was these simple Japanese Kogin Christmas ornaments.  The Christmas Tree pattern and the diamond motif are charts from a Phyllis Maurer class in ethnic stitching that I took back in 2006 at a CATS festival.  I worked both designs on ivory evenweave using Caron Wildflowers Black Watch for the tree ornament and alternated Caron Wildflowers Black Watch and HDF Dragon's Blood on the diamond motif ornament.  I stacked the diamond motifs to make a larger ornament which I think will make a very elegant flat finish ornament especially if I add matching cording and a tassel.  I have the perfect silk for a backing.  There is supposed to be a small cross shape stitched in the very center of each diamond but I thought if I finish this as an ornament I'd use some pretty beads instead to add a little shine to the project.  But I am also thinking of an alternative finish: adding a straight stitch border and making this into a biscornu and using a single diamond motif to make a matching fob.  If I do that, I'll go back in and stitch the cross shapes.  I could stitch a bottom using the same motif stitching only the outer diamond and using the remaining space for numerals for the current year or for initials or even for the word N-O-E-L.  It would make a nice gift for a stitching friend or a sweet addition to my basket of smalls.  What do you guys think: flat finish ornament or stitching accessories?

On Sunday, I headed over to the hospital after Mass and stayed from lunchtime till about 8:30pm.  Bill was in a livelier mood and we had all the lights on, so I was able to work on a linen project and picked up Thy Needle from Primitive Needle.  All I managed was adding the color WDW Chives to the mosaic tile border ... very hard to see in this photo since the color of the linen is so similar to the color of that floss.  I am not at all sure what I'll be working on today, depends on available light which in turn depends on Bill's needs, so I'll be bringing an evenweave project and a linen project.  I suppose I could dig up a 28ct linen project but I don't really feel like taking the time to kit up something new this morning.  I'll have to go to work for a little while before heading to the hospital at lunchtime again today.  And I wanted to get a little laundry done this morning as well, I have been falling behind on everything.