More About the Band Sampler

Today, I plan to finish the red work section of the sampler and begin work on the satin stitched tree design in the center of the bottom row of Part I.  I have decided to stagger my satin stitches so as to make them look more like the natural striations in the bark.  There's still quite a bit to do after that: the queen stitched strawberries, the cross stitched bunch of grapes, the Jacobean floral motif, the remaining leaves on the tree and, of course, the saying in Row 3 of the alphabet section.  Even so, I feel I have made quite a bit of progress on this sampler and am confident that I will finish Part I well in advance of the publication of Part II.

On the gardening front: after several false starts in which I thought I had found the right planters on-line only to discover that websites had not been updated to match inventory and what I wanted was no longer available;  I finally found a  modular system that will allow me to construct two planters 4 feet wide by 4 feet long by 32 inches tall.  Of course, it ended costing me twice as much as I had planned.  I figure it will take four years of vegetable gardening to recover my costs but then there are all the benefits of organic food, fresh from the garden.  Priceless!  This year I will just go to the local nursery and get flats of vegetable sets.  But next year, I will plan ahead and get catalogs that specialize in "heritage" vegetables and I will start my garden from seed.  Starting from seed is much less expensive and using old time vegetable varieties tends to be so much more flavorful.  So many modern varieties  were developed with hardiness, ship-ability and insect resistance taking priority over flavor.

I'll also try to squeeze in some sewing finishes in with the Spring cleaning and routine house-keeping that is crying out for my attention.  Full time employment and maintaining a home isn't easy in the sixth decade.  I am just going to have to win a lottery and get maid service!