Sticking Fingers in my Ears Trying Not to Hear the Voices in My Head

Which does not work. The voices are still there. All the things I need to do are screaming. Yet. I woke up at 1:00 a.m. in the midst of a hot flash and wondering if that deep dish pizza was truly going to make a reappearance in my life...

Fortunately not.

Meanwhile I fell back asleep on the couch eventually.

But that is the wrong kind of sleep. And I didn't get up till 8:00 a.m. And now my brain is fogged.

On the plus side - we're 2/3rds of the way through with driving to Fred. every day. Only 7 more days to go. We haven't had an accident yet. We've sat in at least 5 major traffic jams and umpty ump slow downs. This is why we schedule in 30+ minutes of extra driving time.

Soon I will post an updated photo of In the Midnight Hour. I've started "Mirror, Mirror." Which is intended to be a gift with the intended fabric, but a couple of color changes. Funny how in the photo the writing looks blue, but the actual color is purple. Sigh.

Why publish a photo that does not do justice to the stitched model?

Queenstown Samplers

I just happened to be at my LNS shop yesterday and got to meet Barbara Huston of Queenstown Samplers as she came in to show off her latest design, Hestera Harmer. This was stitched on 48 ct Lakeside Linen which means it's even smaller than 48ct. And there is some over one stitching! Anyway the project is beautiful. The colors are slightly muted as this is a reproduction that she was unable to view the back of and she went off the colors on the front. The Berlin work in the middle is stunning.

I bought her Sands House Sampler and Aztec Gold. And thoroughly enjoyed talking to her.

Realization

This is what hit me at 2:44 a.m. That I've got scheduled stitching on my In the Midnight Hour that should be finished for our next class on the 20th.

That I need to finish my blackwork pumpkin so I can photograph it and get it in the newsletter - ASAP. And write the description for the class.

That I have two community outreach projects due on the 26th.

And I need to finish and mail my fabric postcard by next Friday.

This was day three of not sleeping through the night. Perimenopause, anyone? Let's just say this sucks.

At least the outreach projects are on Aida and I can stitch on them at night. But not if I'm sleep deprived.

And why did I special order 4 different types of Soie in gold back in February? I have no faffing idea. And I totally rearranged my stitching stuff in March so that whatever was on top, is no more. I'm drawing a total blank on this. I vaguely remember writing down what I needed, but I have no recollection of the purpose of this request. I'm stymied.

Coincidence? I Think Not

This morning every blog I regularly read was writing about food or drink.

I think people are trying to make me hungry. So I'll add some more fuel to the fire.

Last night I found it is possible to grill cauliflower. I just cut it up, dosed it with olive oil and salt and pepper and put it in the grill pan. Takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Then I removed the cauliflower and grill some sliced golden zucchini - if you haven't seen this stuff, it's a vibrant gold/yellow. I grilled some marinated chicken breasts. Then added the zucchini and cauliflower to some boiled fingerling potatoes and doused the whole thing in yellow curry sauce. Yum.

Now to go eat the leftovers.

What I Just Read

I finished reading Sara Bongiorni's "A Year Without 'Made in China,'" the story of one family's experiment of living without Chinese made products.

She writes with some humor, but not exactly a ton of insight. I think this stems from trying to tell this story without telling too much personal information.

As the experiment went, it was difficult to avoid made in China products. I've been a label reader for years. I prefer to purchase my produce in stores that label where it originates. If given a choice between a product made in China and one made elsewhere, I'd choose the elsewhere product. I would truly prefer to buy American, but that is virtually impossible.

Given the hue and cry over lead content in Chinese products we can see that avoidance may not be a bad thing. Never mind the environmental cost to China of all this manufacturing.

For those interested in an update on her book, here's one in the Boston Globe.

And now I can go back to feeling good about my needlework purchases. Linen? Zweigart
manufactures in Germany and Switzerland. Thread? DMC - France, Anchor - made of 100% Egyptian cotton in Germany. The majority of cotton overdyeds are made with one of these two flosses. Needles - mine are made in Great Britain or France. Silks? Well - as silk production began in China centuries ago, I'm not going to forgo silk that comes from China. My wooden hoops are in Europe. My current scroll bars and stands are made in America.

I did enjoy a mini-world tour when kitting up my In the Midnight Hour. I've got 4 different metallics which are made in Italy, Switzerland, Great Britain, and America.

I wonder where the canvas comes from? I've got stretcher bars from the US and tacks from Japan.

Wow. This stuff comes from all over the world to rest in my hands for me to see what I can do with it. Amazing.

Betsy as Promised

Here is "Betsy" alongside a pencil for scale.
This is a Catherine Strickler piece under the design name of Indigo Rose.

Because I was using 28ct linen I decided to use two ply instead of the traditional one ply.
It made some things better, but some things worse. There are some holes where the needle goes
in and out seven times and with two ply, that's two much thread in one hole.
Live and learn.
But I still like it.

Anchor floss, not DMC, in the colors called for in the pattern.

How It Went on Friday

How it went is not as planned.

I had everything assembled for making fabric postcards. And the handsewing part went well. But when I added the parts that I had planned on sewing on the machine, suddenly my postcard turned into a piece of folk art, which was not my intention. No photos of my failure...

Because I'm in control of the camera.

And this experience was depressing and I didn't pick up a needle and "Betsy" until Sunday. But she's finished. Photo tomorrow.

Now I need to rethink my fabric postcard idea. I've got less than 3 weeks to execute this in a manner I can be proud of.

Stitching News Update

I'm nearly finished with one blackwork project and realized I chose the wrong color for the second to last row of this band sampler. Fortunately I realized about halfway in and that's easily corrected. I'd like to finish that today - Indigo Rose's "Betsy."

And I need to do my challenge for our EGA chapter. The president threw down a stitched postcard challenge and I received mine in the mail last Saturday. DH got the mail and thought that was interesting for sure.

I started "Mirror, Mirror" this week, but I changed the colors from Weeks to Crescent Colours and looking at them I think I need to go back and look at my red/pink choices. I'm not entirely happy with what I have.

Stitching Bloggers Question

Do you currently subscribe to any stitching publications or have you in the past? (Either in print or online) If so, which ones?

Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly is the only magazine for which I currently have a subscription. Oops. I forgot the Gift of Stitching which I get online.

In the past: Fine Lines, Needlewords, Cross Stitch Sampler, Just Cross Stitch, Cross Stitch and Needlework

I might be missing something here. Hmm. Plus I collected older magazines via Ebay, etc.

Today this is what I buy when I find them: Stitch - the British guild magazine and Jill Oxton's Cross Stitch and Beading

Plus: if they interest me - Piecework, Mary Hickmott's Stitches and New Stitches

Insert broken record here: Why can't American publishers meet the quality standards set by the British magazines?

Short Stay

Yesterday DS did not have a full 2 hour class. He only had 40 minutes as the prof had broken them down into smaller groups to teach them a computer program.

So I brought my blackwork pumpkin design that I'm going to teach in October to start the stitching on flax colored linen and I chose the tables outside the bookstore as my place to sit because it was only 85 yesterday and the humidity was down.

What I hadn't planned on was the two people who were sitting about 20 feet away from me. A French professor and a 19 year old student. For 35 minutes I was subject to a horrendous conversation as the girl is clearly smitten and was trying valiantly to impress her "older" man. It was completely pathetique. And annoying. I told my son that if as a male you need validation, I can see how being a teacher at a school with a large female population would stroke your ego.

Meanwhile, I did get a good start on the pumpkin. This piece won't take very long as it's not large.

And we eventually solved the mystery of DD missing package. Last week I had mailed her a box of summer clothes, etc. to her grandparents house so she would have something other than pants and long sleeves. But the box never showed.

It turned up yesterday afternoon on our door step. Why? because I had used a Stoli box. The stupid package was accepted at the post office. And made it all the way to Nashua by plane. When someone decided it held liquor and mailed to back to us by truck. There was even a Hazmat sticker on the package. Argh.