Stitching, Not So Much

It seems that a number of us have started our latest blog entries with "...I haven't been getting a lot of stitching done lately because..." and I'm not going to buck the tide here. 

I haven't gotten a lot of stitching done lately because Jim and I were frolicking in and around Key West again last weekend!  As always, we had the very best time and returned home Sunday evening as we always do- tanned, tired and anxious to return.  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera so I don't really have any pictures to share.  But let's just leave it to say that we had some new experiences (that means snorkeling off Ft. Zachary Taylor and walking the Bahia Honda bridge) and reconnected with some old favorites (the Key West lighthouse).   Some places just feed the soul.  The Keys provide that nourishment for me.

I have to give a hearty shout-out to Nancy of Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe  - thanks Nancy!  She was kind enough to gift me with one of her cool coffee bag kits!  This was my first blogging giveaway, so I was quite tickled to be selected.  Here's what turned up in the mail:

She offered a choice of her 3 kits, but being a Florida girl, I had to go with "Queen of the South".  This will give me the perfect chance to check out her floss and report back on my findings!  Thanks again Nancy, it's going on my shortlist of projects!

Based on the comments I received last time as to which of my Frances projects I should go with, I've made some tentative overtures with Frances Burwell, though we're still in the stage of not quite trusting each other fully just yet.  She's still thinking I will abandon her again for something easier on the eyes.  Little does she know that if she gets too finicky with all her remaining satin stitch pansies, that could be exactly what does happen.  So for what it's worth, here's where we left off last night:

And I thought I'd share this pic of the wild and crazy amaryllis going nuts along our fence line right now.  My mom sent us this plant as a Christmas gift 8 years ago.  When it was done blooming, I didn't have the heart to just chuck it, so Jim planted it along our back fence, thinking we'd never see it again.  Well, not so!  The thing has taken off like wildfire, spreading runners and shooting up like rockets each spring.  Molly just had to get right in the middle of the picture taking...

...while Rubyjust wanted to forget about it.  This is her, wearing her most insistent "Just toss the darn Frisbee!!!" expression:

Whatever you're up to this fine weekend - stitching or not - I hope it's all good!

Frances the First or Frances the Second?

Hi Everyone!  Just as I suspected, my sudden impulse to start a new Quaker piece has subsided if not passed completely and common sense has returned.  Don't know how long that will last, but for now I'm trying to stitch the straight and narrow path to at least one finish.  And that leads me to progress on Frances Eden (which I've started referring to as Frances the Second), and the completion of that humongous block in the road, the brick house.

I had my doubts about this house as soon as I started it, but now that it's done I do kinda like the end result.  At first, it didn't seem like there was enough contrast in shade and tone between the two brick colors, resulting in a mottling I was afraid might look more like some odd skin condition than brickwork on a mansion. But in the end, the urge to move along no matter what was the driving force, so I just kept slogging away with the same.  The other little motifs around it were like dessert!   I got such a kick out of stitching the little blue and yellow snake that I decided to give him a forked tongue.

 With that hurdle out of the way last night, it leaves me with another quandary....

I mentioned in my last post that the threads and charts for my other Frances - Frances Burwell - had gone missing in action.  I started my first Frances many years ago and she was the light of my life right up until I had enough of those eye-crossing satin stitch pansies to put me off the whole thing completely. Off to the UFO box for her!  So poor Frances the First lingered there for many years, exiled and unloved.

Then over the past holidays, I got out my UFO box and unrolled her.  She dazzled me again with her intricate stitches.

I was delighted with her golden carnations...

and the soft sheen of her satin stitch pansies thrilled my heart again!

But while Frances' stitching was in hand, I couldn't find her chart or threads anywhere, no matter where I looked.  Now, am I the only one who does dumb stuff like this?!  No doubt at the time it happened, I was thinking that putting the actual stitching in one storage box and the threads and charts in another one would ensure that at least one would survive if the other was killed in some horrible accident.  God only knows what was going on in my head, but somehow that's what happened.  It seems like that's always the case...no matter what I'm searching for in my stash, I can't find it at the time I want it!

Now fast forward to last week, when I was in the midst of my Quaker mania.  I decided to excavate through the stash for my  Ackworth School charts and while I never actually got that far, I did manage to stumble across the missing supplies for Frances Burwell after all this long time.

So my quandary is "Which Frances shall I take up with now?  Should I keep on with Frances Eden now that funky brick house is over and done with?  Or should I pay Frances Burwell the attention and respect she's been denied for so long?"

And just this morning, I think there must have been an answer blooming out side my patio door.  I love these Spanish petunias.  They grow like grass in the flower beds and landscaping around Key West and I love them for their slightly unruly and tropical character.

Notice a similarity?

Patience is a Virtue

I'd really like to thank everyone so much, especially Lois, for their warm welcome to the blogging world.  Seeing the numbers of comments and blog followers roll in this week has been so much fun!  And I do promise to return the favor by visiting everyone's blog on a regular basis.

Speaking of following other blogs, I've been quite taken in with Krista's progress on Mary Wigham.  Krista, you may have unleashed a monster.  I'm finding myself fighting the urge to start another Quaker.....what am I crazy?!  There are more WIP's in this house than I can count already.  Hannah Pepper and I aren't speaking right now, Sarah Tuel thinks I've jilted her completely and the chart and threads for  Frances Burwell have gone missing in action.  Not to mention the current affairs with Frances Eden and Jean Rattray. The sane side of my brain keeps telling me that another long term commitment  is out of the question.  But the impulsive love 'em and leave 'em side just can't let it go.  Lord, please help me find the patience to see at least one of these big girls through before taking the plunge again!

So toward that end, let me share some shots of one Quaker I did actually finish, Sarah Tatum.

Sarah was stitched on 40 count Vintage Exemplar linen with the kitted silks.  Like most Quakers the whole of her is definitely more spectacular than the sum of her parts.  I just love how what feels like very random motifs and color choices work together as an completed piece..

I did make one slight deviation from the original design.  My poor eyes, not to mention  sanity, weren't up to attempting over one stitches on 40 count linen with a silk that was virtually indistinguishable from the background  Instead, I got the job done by going with a nice chestnut brown used on some of the larger motifs.

I think this circle of rosebuds was my favorite motif.  It's so delicate in comparison to so many of the other geometric ones.

This honeycomb pattern also intrigued me.  I love how it sits wedged in between so many florals, almost like the bees made it there and then went off in search of nectar.

This arrow motif was fun to work, mostly because it's so regular in its design that it didn't require much chart examination.

 So I'm hoping this review of the work involved in my last Quaker will quell the urge to take up with another one, at least until someone else finishes up.

My daughter took this picture of Ruby and Molly romping together last month.  Spring is definitely in the air in Florida now, and the girls are spending much of their days herding each other in circles around our back yard

Today, I'm grateful to have a backyard that's bursting with birds, blossoms and warm breezes!

Taking Up with Frances

Just before Christmas when I first became obsessive with started looking at everyone's stitching blogs, no matter where I looked, one piece kept turning up - Frances Eden.  The more I looked, the more I spotted her.  And on further inspection, I started to notice something else....even though the shape was drastically different, the motifs and overall feel of her put me in mind of And They Sinned.  Well, those of us that have been around for awhile have heard many many rumors about a companion piece for ATS, but unless I've completely missed it, said companion has yet to materialize.    And I knew I had the chart for Miss Frances buried away somewhere.   Hmmmm....the wheels began to turn....

A quick plunge into my stash hoard turned up the chart.  I then whipped out my box of Sampler Threads and pulled those that had been used for ATS.  A ransacking of the linen pile yielded a suitable piece of mystery linen...and yet another BAP was born.  I was thinking I'd start Frances as a New Year's project, but after plundering the hoard and finding all the stuff, I couldn't stop myself.  Work began on Christmas Eve.  

So without further ado, let me introduce my start on Frances Eden, stitched on mystery linen and a color palette that corresponds to ATS:

   
Normally, I'm a right to left, top to bottom sort of gal, but after a fast start, I began to worry that in my excitement and haste, I had misjudged the length I needed and would end up running out of linen before I reached the bottom of the chart.  So I headed in a straight stitch downward, just to see if things were going to work out.  You can see here I think I've made it by a hair, but it remains to be seen if I can actually work the final over one verse at the very bottom.

In the first few motifs. I tried to match the colors the chart indicates to my options from the ATS palette... 

...but began to feel there was no adventure in that! Throwing caution to the wind, I just started choosing colors as I went along. 

My favorite motif so far?  Well, I've always had a weakness for flying naked babies....

So this is where she stands as of this afternoon.  I'm not 100% certain I made the best floss choices for the brickwork on the house, but probably don't dislike them enough to make it worth starting over.  What do you think?

And last off, I'm grateful today to have such a wonderful forum for feeling the sampler love with other stitchers!  Many thanks to all 5 of you (especially to Lois!) who have signed on as followers to this blog.