A Very Mixed Bag

Thursday, I took a sick day because I either had the flu or heatstroke.  The symptoms were stomach and intestinal distress, light headedness, headache and nausea.  So I pampered myself indoors with a/c, lots of decaffeinated beverages and ibuprofen.   Didn't feel up to driving to work or concentrating on things like registrations and writing family catechesis programs once I got there.  So I stayed home and I  did only the simplest of activities, which included reading Catherine Coulter's new FBI thriller, Power Play, and making some light meals.  I wasn't feeling much better on Friday and repeated the pampering routine.

A highlight of Friday afternoon was the arrival of my package from 123 stitch.  It contained an additional portable stitching lamp, some clip on magnifiers [1.5x and 3.0x] and the threads I need to kit up The Dragon of the Summer Sky and The Silversmith's Shop as well as one Caron Waterlily, Blue Lavendar, that I need for The Dragon of the Winter Moon.  I still need to order the charm for The Silversmith's Shop but I'll be ordering that from a not so local needlework shop here in NY state.

I was feeling a bit better by Saturday and did get some stitching done..

I got quite a bit done on The Dragon of the Winter Moon on Sunday.  I learned something new from a blogging friend, D.B., who stitched some models for Jennifer Aiken-Smith of Dragon Dreams.  All of the Dragon Dreams dragons are female.  Just an interesting factoid I am passing on to you readers.  I have to apologize to all the dragons I have stitched in the past and to whom I have referred as male.  Yesterday, I received a skein of Marlitt white from Linda, so I will begin filling in the body of the dragon.  Linda was one of three lovely stitching cyber friends who offered to give me a skein.  Two other lovely ladies did a search for sources in Britain and Australia.  The stitching community is a very generous one.  There is always help to be found when needed.

And Monday morning, it was dry enough for me to get in an hour of stitching on the patio before heading to work.  I used the time to work on The English Band Sampler.  I worked on Band 6 and finished up the sixth block of eyelets and satin stitches and then continued on to stitch the satin stitches on the remaining two blocks.  Now all I have to do is stitch the eyelets on those last two blocks.  We are expecting thunderstorms through Wednesday but I am hoping for another dry morning or two.  Even with clip-on magnifiers, I need good strong daylight to work on this phase of Band 6.

 As to gardening: my patio pots of chives, thyme, rosemary and basil are doing pretty well.  I have already harvested my first cucumber and there are three more ready to harvest within the day or so.  Some of the eggplant blossoms have set fruit, and the tomato plants have a fair amount of blossoms but haven't set fruit just yet.  The pepper plants are not doing much of anything, which is a disappointment.  One of my flower boxes is coming along nicely but for some reason all but one of my marigolds up and died on me.  I will probably plant some peas for an early fall harvest on Thursday once the thunderstorms pass through and maybe a row or two of radishes, lettuce and carrots.  I'd like to keep the salad stuff coming.

Here is a shot of some tomato plants guarded my my garden dragon you can also see the lone surviving marigold and a pot of small lavender flowers, whose name I forget at the moment.  I picked them up at the nursery just because I thought they were pretty.  I am afraid I am not one of those expert gardeners who remembers all the botanical nomenclature and can reel off name after name with the greatest of ease.

 I am going to have to call in the landscapers again very soon.  The trees above the retaining wall are blocking the sun.  It's been three years now since I had them come in and cut away some of the lower branches.  It would seem it is time to do so again.

In this shot you can just make out a very tiny eggplant to the left and to the right, my miniature basil is thriving.

In this shot, you can see that my patio pots of chives, thyme, and parsley are doing pretty well.    To the right of the herbs are my mini-Christmas tree which has grown from one of those 12" potted trees tp it's present 2 1/2 feet and one of my tomato plants, a new variety to me, with a very un-tomato like leaf.

Cross Stitch takes to the Streets

Follow the link below to see some rather interesting if somewhat simplistic cross stitch street art.

http://news.distractify.com/culture/arts/cross-stitch-street-art/

I am not sure what I think about this.  It is amusing but it hardly does the craft justice.

A Progress Photo

Dragon Dreams' Dragon of The Winter Moon.  I substituted an over dyed Silkweaver 28 ct linen in the colorway Storm for the suggested 28ct Zweigart Colonial Blue.  This over dyed linen has a medium to light grey base with mottling in darker grey and grey blue.  To my way of thinking this is perfect for an early evening winter sky.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post I had very nearly every fiber and bead needed to kit this up already in stash.  I am just waiting on one Caron Waterlilies and one package of Mill Hill beads to complete the kit.   I might also need some additional white Anchor Marlitt rayon floss which, of course, is a discontinued line.  I am never very good at guesstimating when partial skeins are involved.  So, yesterday morning, I sent out the word via blog and message board that I'd appreciate another skein, if anyone can spare one.  So far three generous stitcher's have replied.  But if I can't get a good match, I already have an alternate solution in mind.  I'll use the Marlitt for the body of the dragon but I will use DMC Satin white for the wings.  That way any differences will look intentional and not the result of my being scatterbrained.  In any case, I have started the piece with the supplies on hand and this is my current progress.

When this dragon is done, he will be quite the glittering fellow.  There are five shades of Kreinik in this piece and two shades of glass seed beads.  Happily, I have no problem working with metallics and I love beading.  I am delighted with the way things look even at this early stage.

S.O.S.: Save our Stitchery

Oh, all right, what I really want to do is save MY stitchery but S.M.S. just doesn't have the same cachet.

I misjudged just how much Anchor Marlitt White I had in my stash and I will probably run out of the blasted stuff before finishing a Dragon Dreams project I've started.  This particular fiber is discontinued and can't be bought.

But I am hoping another stitcher reading this blog might have a skein or even a partial skein of white marlitt.

I am prepared to swap a full skein of a somewhat more exotic fiber, either Caron Waterlilies, Wildflower or Watercolours.  Your choice of silk, cotton or silk/wool blend; my choice of color.  Though, if the donor of the Marlitt states a color preference, I will try to honor it.

Leave a comment, if you can help or e-mail me.  Go to my profile to get my e-mail address.  Thanks in advance.

Random Mutterings

Very little doing on the stitching front today:

Before work, I started Dragon Dreams' Dragon of the Winter Moon.  Once at work, I used the copier to enlarge the chart.  It is difficult to read since it is printed on the grey-green card stock Jennifer Aiken-Smith had used for a while as a deterrent to copyright violation.  I also plan to spend a little time working on the piece at lunchtime.

I will place an order with 123stitch, my go-to online needlework shop, for the remaining supplies for The Silversmith Shop and The Dragon of the Winter Moon.  To get a bit of a head start, I also ordered the supplies for the companion piece to The Dragon of the Winter Moon,  The Dragon of the Summer Sky, which will be my next new start.

I double checked my Belle Soie and Glorianna stash to see if I could find a suitable substitute for the Thread Gatherer Papyrus Leaf needed for The Silversnith Shop.  No such luck.  It's a shame that I couldn't find something in quite that shade of peacock blue, especially when you consider how very extensive my fiber stash really is!

I hope to get a little more outdoor stitching done this evening after work in the soft light of evening.  The English Band Sampler is calling for attention rather insistently.  I hope it is not unbearably humid in the early evening hours.

With luck, I'll have made enough progress on both The English Band Sampler and The Dragon of the Winter Moon to warrant some photos in the next day or so.

And Now Back to the Band Sampler

I finally finished the Town Square Cafe du Monde, which was my Town Square ornament of the month for June.  It took one entire hour to stitch the 35 confetti stitches that completed the bottom of the porch under the awning.  This was complicated by the fact that at least half of those confetti stitches were French knots rather than cross stitches.  I am still not certain whether all that confetti is supposed to represent flower boxes with French knot flowers or people seated at outdoor tables with French knot heads.  Anyway after the confetti, I spent another hour finishing up the backstitching.

Then I put away all the floss for this project and kitted up The Silversmith Shop which is my Town Square ornament of the month for July.  All I will have to purchase is a Thread Gatherer Silk'n'Colors skein and a charm for this piece. While I was at it, I kitted up Dragon Dreams Dragon of the Winter Moon which is my New Start for July.  I was pleased to discover that I had all five of the Kreinik Very Fine Braid, one of the Caron Waterlilies skeins, one pck.of the Mill Hill beads and a partial skein of Anchor Marlitte white which will substitute nicely for the DMC Rayon White this chart called for in my stash.  But I will have to purchase one Caron Waterlilies skein and 1 package of Mill Hill seed beads.  I will place the order tomorrow.

The weather is perfect for patio stitching.  For the rest of the day I'll get back to The English Band Sampler.  The plan is to complete the last 45 eyelets and the remaining satin stitches to finish up Band 6.  You may well believe I will  be pleased to finish these finicky and fussy stitches.  Normally, I enjoy all specialty stitches [with the one exception of the bullion stitch which I have yet to attempt] but having to constantly slip my needle under existing cross stitches was a major pain in the rump, complicated further by the closeness of the pale fawn floss to the color of the antique ivory linen.  I hope to have some fabulous progress photos in a day or two.

It will be such a pleasure to move on to the final band of this sampler.  I feel as though the end is in sight.  I know, I know: I still have to go back to Band 3 and decide whether to stitch my name or my initials, the year or a full date, or something else entirely.  But starting the last band does signal impending closure.  This is another closely stitched band so it is questionable whether I shall finish the sampler this month or next but at least a finish in the next little while is a reasonable expectation.

Happy Fourth of July

Glory Bee's Fourth of July

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

The Errors Of My Ways

It's never a good idea to send a non-stitcher on an emergency run for some much needed floss.  But it was such a temptation to ask my husband to do so yesterday since he was within striking distance of both AC Moore and Michael's while working at the historical society.  Predictably, he came home with DMC 3022 instead of 3023, since non-stitchers never check the label on the floss, just the label on the tray ... and with #5 perle 712 instead of normal cotton floss, even though he could see it was not the same stuff, but, hey, it was in the 712 tray.

So, I decided I didn't care that the roof was supposed to be three shades of grey and filled in the empty spaces with 3022 instead of the charted 3023.  And, then, because I didn't have the patience for confetti stitching, I did some back-stitching instead.  There's still another hour or twos worth of stitching on this ornament but the end is in sight.

Reduced To A Snail's Pace

This is slow going because of the many color changes in the subtle shading of walls, roof and windows.  There are at least 6 different whites in the columns supporting the porch roof/awning and fifteen shades of grey and cream and blue and brown in the windows and walls.  I had been taking approximately 20-25 stitches in one color and then it was on to another color.  But I have now reached the point where it is only 2 or 3 stitches in a color before changing.  And the careful counting involved to make sure each dot of color is placed in the right place slows things down as well.  It is now confetti stitching and that's way too much work for an ornament!  But I am committed, at this point, and must finish it.

I finally did myself a favor and used the photocopier in my office to increase the chart to 125%.  I could barely read the symbols on the original.  I did the same thing for the symbols grid.  It is speeding things along somewhat, now that I no longer have to put down my stitching and bring the chart under the magnifier light to see what I should be stitching.  I am missing one shade of DMC for the roof, 3023, which my husband will be picking up today after working at the Historical Society.  I have always prided myself on having a complete set of DMC since it is such a staple for the serious stitcher.  It's not like I have an empty bobbin for that number; I have NO bobbin with that number.  How could I have missed it when setting up my DMC boxes?  Imagine me kicking myself around the block!

Mid-Year Assessment of Annual Goals

Every year at this time I take a look at what I had planned to accomplish over the course of the year and see how far along I am.

2014 Stitching Goals

• 01. My Own Crazy Challenge: work on unfinished class pieces from 2005-date.   No progress since I have decided to revive my joy in my stitching by just choosing only one UFO or one CC piece to add to the rotation and choose new pieces for the rest.
• 02. Complete two BAPs:  Finish The Woodland Maiden Stocking for Piper and start on a similar stocking for Rocco.  I have been concentrating on The English Band Sampler at the moment [see above] so except for a few hours in January, Piper's stocking has been ignored and Rocco's not even thought of.
• 03. Continue to work on paring down the list of UFO/WIPs going into 2014.  Well, I have been working on The English Band Sampler.
• 04. Stitch a few more Heart ornaments for the Anniversary-Valentine's Day tree.  This has been on the goals list for three years already.  Maybe this will be the year I actually manage it.  I stitched two more hearts earlier this year.
• 05. Stitch one ornament a month from the 2006 Indy Town Square SAL.  I have stitched an ornament a month for Januaty-May, am nearly done with the June ornament and have the July kitted up and ready to go.
• 06. Limit stash purchases to fabric, fiber and tools needed to complete charts on hand.  So far so good.  I have pre-paid for my annual birthday treat, the  Stitcher's Hideaway in Mystic, in October.  And I have placed a pre-order for all the materials needed for the SANQ doll.
• 07. Continue to blog regularly, aiming for every other day.  I am averaging 15 posts a month.
• 08. Make an effort to catch up on sewing and framing finishes.  Have two or three pieces professionally framed.  No progress.
• 09. Inventory and declutter existing stash.  No progress.
• 10. Change EGA membership to cyber-stitcher.  No progress.

So,  five out of ten goals mey at the mid point of the year.  Not as good as the numbers would suggest since the goals met all need to continue to be met.  And the goals unmet are single tasks rather than continuing ones.