From My Stash

I have a few spools of Sulky Petite threads in various colours in my stash. One strand of this is approximately equivalent to #12 Perle cotton or 2 strands of DMC and works well over two threads on 36ct or 40ct linen. I thought I'd start another Wildflowers Hearts piece with it. There are diagonal satin stitches, Rhodes hearts and circles, rice stitch, and reverse fagot stitch. I'm using some 36ct linen - also from my stash.

I really enjoyed doing the satin stitch on the previous ones I've done so I'm whipping through the blackwork parts to get to that. It should look splendid with the variegated thread. I'll find some appropriate fabric in my stash for the lining.

I seem not to have killed my orchids. Those white, outstretched air roots indicate that the plant is in good health. 

In fact, the big one is sprouting another shoot upon which the flowers will bloom. It's growing about 0.5cm per day. 

Pretty soon I'll be able to clip it to the sticks.

My mini orchid is also coming back to life but hasn't sprouted a flower shoot yet.

It has, however developed a new leaf out the top.

It had two flowering stems when I bought it so hopefully that will happen again at some point.

These plants thrive on neglect. The mini one only needs to be put in a dish with water for 15 minutes once a week. The big one gets the same treatment every 2 weeks. This will be the third time the big plant has flowered for me.

Watching TV with Skip last week I got the rest of the water stitched around the sailboat.

There's a bit of an issue with two skeins of the same number being slightly different colours so I went over the offending area with a single cross of the correct skein. I'm not going to say where the issue is so any folks looking for it will just have to figure it out for themselves. 

I added eyes to the creatures and need to put white stitches around them. The whales need white on their tummies (more contrast than the called-for thread) and blowholes. I am going to outline the flags with a medium grey so they'll 'pop' a bit more. 

I am changing the church to a house and will have to modify the windows on the front of it. I may also add another tree to the right of it.

There is still the Canadian flag, some birds, all the mortar on the big house and lot of bits and bobs to stitch. I'm saving the words for the end.

Lorna came over the other day with a huge cooler pack full of food she had prepared for us. We are so appreciative of the help and support we've received from our friends and family. These are tough times for us but the generosity of people really helps go a long way to keeping us managing Skip's situation. We are so fortunate in so many ways and we thank all of you who are looking after us.