A New Start

I started the Starburst Flag of Canada project yesterday. I found some 32ct grey Belfast linen in my stash and had 3 of the 4 colours of thread. I did substitute B5200 for the white called-for floss. I'll pick up the last colour today at Michaels if the lineup isn't too long.

Since I had both called-for reds, I started in the centre with the maple leaf. The centremost big star kicked my butt for quite a while until I printed both pages and taped them together. Much better. The big starbursts take a lot of thread so I will purchase extra so I won't run out for sure.

I have run out of project bags so have been keeping my threads on this design board that I made myself. Lori Holt has a video on how to make them. The foam core is covered by batting. The floss sticks to it. 

I completed the SAL week 24. I had never heard of this flower - astrantia. 

I did use someone else's suggested colours and substituted a darker green for the pistils.

On the Facebook group, I mused that I wanted to do a Charleston-esque wrought iron fence around my garden. Someone kindly posted a chart she had designed and it was exactly what I was thinking of.

I did have to modify it a bit so the corners would work and graphed it out on my stitching software - an ancient (in tech terms) version of Cross-Stitch Design Studio which I paid $9.95 for over 20 years ago.

The gate on the top one will be centred on the top. The lower gate will be on each side and along the bottom. Even though my garden outlines are done with 2 strands of 310, I'll do the wrought iron fence with only one strand.

I've been doing some charity knitting with some of my stash yarn - little blankets for parents of babies who didn't survive birth. The baby will be wrapped in the blanket at some point and then the parents can take the little blankie home with them as a keepsake. Apparently they are very much cherished. While at the big box store, I'll check out some baby yarn. I find I don't do a lot of stitching at night while watching TV. I don't have to look at my knitting a lot when I'm doing easy stuff like helix socks or garter stitch blankets so I get quite a bit of that knitting done (I watch a LOT of TV at night).

My second COVID Pfizer shot went well last Thursday. They actually called me to go in early. I didn't even have a sore arm and had no other side-effects either. It feels great to be fully vaccinated now and Skip and I are planning a visit to an outdoor dining establishment after a couple of weeks and we have the full protection of the two shots.

His incision/graft is healing nicely. The nurses are still coming in daily to dress the site and will continue, I guess, until they don't feel he needs that care. We have a follow-up appointment on Friday marking the 6th week post op. It shouldn't take long. Then we'll start the trek home on the busiest highway in Canada on a 'cottage country' mid-afternoon. I do so despise driving in heavy traffic but on the positive side, when it's so busy and we're crawling along, there is lots of reaction time.