Hoop De Do!

My Morgan lap stand hoop came today! It's great for doing punch needle because it holds the fabric drum tight and the stacked hoops (7" and 10") keep one from stabbing oneself whilst punching.

In anticipation of its arrival yesterday, I traced the pattern onto my fabric (weaver's cloth). As the punching is done from the back and shows on the front, the pattern needs to be backwards on the fabric.

It's "Lilac Garden" by Michelle L. Palmer and was printed in the Spring 2018 edition of Punch Needle and Primitive Stitching magazine. I have a digital subscription which entitles me to 4 new issues and one year of back issues for a mere $24 US.

 The original pattern measured 4" x 7" but I didn't want to make it that big. A) that's a lot of punching, and B) that's a LOT of floss. I reduced it to 80% on my printer which brought it down to 3 1/4" x 5 3/4".

I got this much done in just a couple of hours this afternoon.

This is what the front looks like. The word 'Lilac' will be better defined once I get the background filled in.

I already have planned how I'm going to FFO it (finally finish).

The PNPS magazine has both punch needle and cross stitch patterns. I think the subscription is a really good deal as there are no shipping costs, no hard copy to store, and because it's digital, it is much less to produce and distribute. I've had no trouble printing the patterns on my printer once they're converted to .pdf format.

I've also been getting a lot done on my Kathy Barrick "Bird's Eye View".

I turned the horse into a donkey by making the ears longer but my stitcherly friends tell me the tail is too long for a donkey so I'll pick out those stitches and make it a bit smaller. I rather like the definition of stitching on 40 ct fabric and using only one thread, I don't need to 'railroad' to get the thread to lie flat.

I need to get my 'Cinnamon Stars' by Plum Tree Samplers kitted up and ready to take to our stitching retreat next week. I like to take lots of projects to the retreat so I don't run out of things to do. There may be another punch needle project to take as well. That reminds me, I still have the Drawn Thread 'Stars' project to take and finish.

Skip and I got our taxes done today. Ours are so simple but with income splitting, I can't be bothered trying to navigate through the tax prep CD that can be purchased. The preparer gives us a loyalty discount as we've been having her do our taxes for years and she did Skip's parents' taxes before us. She also gave Skip a senior discount. Rats! I should have waited until after my birthday so I could have got the senior discount, too.

On the way back home from Port Perry, I stopped into Myrtle Station Wool and bought the yarn to knit another Cunningham baby blanket as yet other friends of ours are becoming grandparents again.