Wyfdom

Final weekend of the summer. The temperatures have finally moderated, and I'm out of here in a few minutes to head outdoors. I've been busily working on Ann Smith this week.


And I got outdoors at lunch in Richmond on Friday, and took a photo of this old building. There are lots of such buildings in Richmond--it's a city with a huge stock of unrestored structures with good bones or at least interesting details. See the "Horses Horses" faded paint on the bricks? Wonder if it was a feed store, and if so, how recently. Sixties? Earlier? Wonder how long it takes for paint to fade to this extent.


Off I go. In the meantime, Elvis counsels a good luxurious scratching session.


Happy week ahead!

Scarlet Fever II

I've put quite a few stitches in Ann Smith this week including lots of over-one in the words and area beneath the words. I love this Scarlet Letter sampler, and in fact I'm a huge fan of Scarlet Letter's approach to selling her wares in general. What I especially like about the Scarlet Letter is that most of her designs are sold not only as kits but as separate charts too. I look at her very good website and pore over her printed catalogs as well: they are absolutely gorgeous, and pure needlework porn.

Here's my latest Scarlet Letter obsession, which I ordered today in chart form-- Catharine Metcalf--and in spite of the strict stash diet I've tried really hard to follow. Just look at these photos, borrowed from the Scarlet Letter's website:

How can anyone resist this spotty cow with the bullion knot tail?

Or this cheerful-looking serpent with his pink forked tongue or the Adam and Eve as played by Brad and Angelina?


I've gotten a couple of questions lately about my stash. My header photo is La Famille Lapin, but I'm forgetting who the designer is. I believe I bought it at In Stitches in Alexandria, VA, and you can try calling them--it seems as if I've seen the chart there fairly recently. Their phone # is on the link.

Someone else asked how many WIPs I have. Well, I counted my project bags--almost all of my projects are stored in those nice mesh bags--and it seems as if I have 48 project bags. As I look through them, there are a few I will not continue because I've fallen out of love or my interests have evolved more into the historic sampler reproductions, but I probably have a good 40 WIPS that I would be happy to pick up and work on and someday even finish. My "rotation" is loose: at any given time I work on about my six favorites in a rotation of about three weeks on each project until I get tired of it and put it away until later. I'll pick up and restart an older one to put it back in the more immediate rotation, and I'll start a new one from time to time and add that to the rotation also. It's very fluid and frankly, I don't worry much about whether I finish something or not; for me, it's about the process. It has occurred to me that I need to make some provision in my will for passing them on to someone(s). No one in my family would be even slightly interested or would even know what I had. Maybe I should have a contest for being in my needlework will? LOL!

Pink and Elvis: "We're irresitable too!" Right, guys, but none of the critters on that Scarlet Letter sampler are likely to doot on the floor!


Happy week ahead, all!

Down by the River

I felt inspired by my trip to the Rappahannock for pictures with Audrey (below) to take this out and work on it-Sarah McPhail from The Essamplaire. Still enjoying it, but I have such a huge rotation that it doesn't get out much.

Yesterday was a bit cooler, so I stopped by the Rappahannock River bank after doing my errands yesterday. Audrey posed on the camera bag since it was muddy--we'd had thunderstorms the night before.

And if you click on this picture you can see the friend that Audrey made. He had hauled himself out of the water and was sunning himself probably--a really good-size turtle.

Pink went for a little skittering run down the hall last night.

Happy week ahead!

Teach Me

It's hard to believe that although I stitched a lot this week, I made so little progress. Except it isn't just a little progress when it's over-one, is it? Ann Smith:



The letters are full cross, and the clouds/border area are tent stitch. Speaking of "teach me," I'm happily anticipating taking a knitting/stitching/sewing/crochet class or two this fall. My job is consuming enough mentally that I've decided not to take college classes this semester--it's just too much. Since I find taking hobby classes so rewarding, relaxing and fun, I'm weighing what to take. My funds are limited for this, and I know I also need to allot the time to follow through on the projects, so I'm trying to decide: G Street Fabrics, which has so many sewing classes, from tailoring, quilting, pattern making, fabric dyeing, beading and couture sewing (including french hand sewing of lingerie), crochet and home dec? How about the Yarn Lounge in Richmond, for knitting classes of all kinds (be sure to check out their blog where they show customers' projects on FO Friday? Perhaps needlepoint lessons at In Stitches in the fall? They have a huge needlepoint canvas of Washington, DC that I've been eyeing on the last few visits. The only problem is that I don't needlepoint. Well, maybe I should learn! I'm so looking forward to taking a class that doesn't require 20 hours of dreary book work each week--but instead, maybe requires a few hours of stitching, knitting or sewing.


What to do on a hot, boring Sunday:


Peaches: "Or go visit Augustus!"


I'm off to barbecue some chicken and make a big salad out of some of our tomato crop! (Audrey, helping with the tomato crop.)


Happy week ahead!

Doldrums

I'm worn to a nub, and I'm having trouble getting Blogger to upload photos, so I'm going with these two and calling it a day. (I wonder if it's too early to go to bed. Can't do it though, as I have a nice rack of ribs cooking slowly on the barbecue which need occasional tending) My stitching project this week is the Scarlet Letter's "Ann Smith," which is a re-start--I didn't like the coverage or the color of the last fabric I used. This is now being stitched on 40 ct. Magnolia using AVAS.


I woke the bunnies from their nap on the bath rug--they love to snuggle here even though there are larger and more comfy places they could lie down. Sometimes I find the three of them stuffed into one hay box. In any case, we all want to wish you a happy week ahead!