A Few Changes

I started Winter Rose Manor on January 1st. I got this far by the 3rd. I usually start my pieces in the centre and work out.

I've been doing a lot of stitching on this since I finished the other model I was stitching. Yesterday when I was stitching the gate, I noticed that a couple of hinges were missing on the right side. That side of the gate is on the far left of the next page of the pattern so could have been inadvertently missed.

I added stitches where the red 'x's are to make it match the left side of the gate. This morning, Barb questioned how the gate would open and maybe the absence of those stitches were where the gate opens. My thinking was to match both sides. But if one is uncomfortable doing that, they could eliminate the stitch at the bottom of that same column and just stitch in the middle (where the lower red 'x' is) for the latch.

I also wasn't happy with the lack of contrast between the wings and bodies of both cardinals. If I were to stitch this again, I would stitch the male cardinal's wing with Cayenne instead of Mulberry, As I had already done the wing in Mulberry, I simply re-stitched one cross on top of the Mulberry stitches with Cayenne thread. The two threads for the female cardinal are Sage and Putty. The dye lots that I had were so close I couldn't see any contrast so I decided to do her body with Palomino instead. 

I'm happy with my changes, including the decision to substitute Khaki Mocha for Roasted Marshmallow (white flower pot) and Bella Rosa for Conch (house colour).

As much as I enjoy stitching models, I am very happy to be back stitching my own projects. I haven't started any other new ones but have some percolating in my mind.

The past 5 days we've entertained more people at home than the last 3 years of COVID. Last Wednesday was a stitching day with Barb, Poppy and Jeanette. Then on Saturday we had a stitching afternoon at Barb's while her husband was out of town. Yesterday Skip's brother and wife and nephew and wife came for a visit, and today I hosted the Monday morning stitchers. 

Skip and I have been really enjoying having fires in the fireplace most evenings, especially when the temperatures have started to drop below zero. After dinner we get a fire going, watch news and a couple of YouTube vidoes, Jeopardy, then more YouTube videos, something we've PVRd, Netflix, or Amazon Prime. I stitch during most of that so I get a good 3+ hours of stitching in every evening.

Last week I took advantage of an introductory deal for Hello Fresh - a meal kit delivery service. I picked three meals with 2 servings each. They were delivered exactly on time and packed very well with the meats on the bottom with an ice pack (bag of frozen water), and the rest of the ingredients all measured out. The recipe cards had great photos and the recipes were very easy to follow. 

Two of the three we enjoyed:

The meals did not disappoint. I now have three new recipes I can add to my limited rotation. The regular prices are much more than I would want to pay but there is no shopping to do, no waste (except for the packaging), quick preparation, and easy cleanup. The quality of the enclosed ingredients was excellent. A person living alone could order the 2-serving kits and have a complete meal a day or two later instead of having to purchase more than can be reasonably consumed. I highly recommend trying Hello Fresh or some other meal kit delivery service trial.