Guild Project

Our embroidery guild has been working on a project since the fall - an alphabet sampler. We're up to the letter 'q'.

Just above 'qrstu' in the goldish thread (it's actually shades of green) is the Rhodes stitch with Smyrna stitches in between using #12 Valdani perle cotton. I hope to put a charm or button in the gap above 'r'. Above 'u' is three interlocking rows of the queen or rococo stitch with  one strand of DMC in three different shades of blue. 

The white braided-like stitch above that is the Portuguese border stitch with #5 perle cotton, and Norfolk waffles above that with 2 strands of DMC floss. Between the dark waffle stitches should be Oblong Cross stitches. They're easy and I'll get to them sometime.  Above the waffles are two rows of Montenegrin stitches with a #12 variegated blue thread.

I spent almost 3 hours on a video chat with my sitcherly friends today and worked on my turtle, then cross-stitching the 'qrstu' letters above in preparation for tonight's tutorial. Our regular guild meeting will be next week after which Kim will teach us the Tip of Leaf stitch and possibly the Upright Gobelin. 

We're nearing the home stretch now. 

I am saving all the beads 'til all the stitching is done. Tonight we discussed various ways we could finish this - as a bell pull, finishing the edges with hem stitch, framing it, making it into a needle roll. Lots of options. 

After doing this project, I'm somewhat inspired to design something myself. I recently bought The Proper Stitch:

and have had the DK Stitch Dictionary on my bookshelf for a while. 

They're both chock full of stitch diagrams, many of which I'd love to try out.

I actually went out for a walk in the sunshine today. I brought my mailbox key with me so I could collect our mail. The postal carrier was at the mailbox so I continued on my walk, planning to get the mail on the way home, As I walked towards the community mailbox, I realized I no longer had the key. Well darn! I went home to see if I had inadvertently left if there - nowhere to be found. So I retraced my steps of my entire walk and didn't find it lying anywhere. It's easy to spot because I kept it on a yellow coil - which snugly fit around my wrist. No dice.

Back at home I retrieved the second key from my car and got the mail with that. I then checked the Canada Post website to see what was involved to get the key replaced. Because I still have one key, I can just take it to any key cutting place and get another cut. Easy peasy. If both had been lost, I'd have to pay $29 to get my mailbox lock changed and a pair of new keys mailed to me. But because I still have one good key, I can just get another cut. Phew! Crisis averted.

I did find something in the house yesterday I had misplaced about a month ago. Barb gave me a gift certificate for Christmas and it was in a Ziploc bag with a pattern I traded her for. I totally forgot where I had put them and have been half-assed looking for them for the past month. I found them yesterday between the sofa and the end table. Yay!

That's about all the excitement around here during pandemic times. Skip and I are planning a big shopping spree at Costco one of these days just after it opens at 8am. It will almost kill me to get up that early but it will be worth the sacrifice. We haven't been to Costco since late October or early November so we are running out of the things we usually buy there.

Kids in most of Ontario are going back to in-class learning on Monday because our new case numbers have gone down significantly. Most parents, students, and teachers are very pleased about this. Our Premier needs to be very careful this time about opening things up after our lockdown so things don't skyrocket like they did leading up to Christmas and beyond. Vaccines for all cannot come soon enough.