What's in my Basket for the New Year

Hi, everyone! I'm enjoying everyone's review of their stitching progress over the last year, and since I come up woefully short in that department (I started a lot, but didn't finish anything but a couple of small ornaments), let's just look ahead, shall we? No big promises here, no specific goals, just a look at my WIPs and a few new starts. From time to time I've been asked how many WIPs I have, and it's a little embarassing to admit, but I really don't know. So my goal over the next month (or so) is to blog most days about my various projects and to try to make a little progress on them. I lost one motivation to finish a couple of the larger WIPs when Woodlawn Plantation decided not to do a needlework show this year; I had been trying to finish Liz Easdon and Sarah Hatton McPhail in time to have them framed and enter them in the show. With the events of the last few months, including that my contract position ran a few weeks longer than I expected, I probably wouldn't have finished anyway, but now I'm kind of stuck in the doldrums with them, since there are so many new things to stitch (and yeah, I've started a couple of new BAPs that I'll show over the next few weeks). All the same, I did make progress over the last few days on Liz Easdon (the Essamplaire):



Here's where she stood in September. I'm concentrating on the alphabet at the top and the border. I've been away from this sampler long enough for it to feel new again, and I stitched on it yesterday and today with great gusto. Note that the colors in the top photo are most true.


Later this week I'm heading for Cape Cod to spend some time with my dad. If you get the Essamplaire's newsletter, you may have noticed that the museum in Newport, Rhode Island is showing the exhibition of Rhode Island samplers that I viewed in August at the Newport Antiques Show. If I don't run into long traffic/construction delays, my plan is to stop by and see them again and find some good seafood for lunch. Now there's a worthy goal! Also on my plate: to help my dad find a suitable dog to adopt, so we'll be visiting adoption fairs and shelters. I've found a cute Siamese on Nantucket to adopt for myself, although Tom has announced that I will not be adopting a cat from the Nantucket shelter and naming it "Nantucket" or anything else, for that matter. Fingers in my ears: "Lalalalalala." Also soon to be on my plate, a tour of Cape towns I don't get to visit very often, and hopefully a big plate of Wellfleet oysters on the half shell.

Scratchy says hello and wants to note that I already have a sort-of Siamese cat, even if he is not named after a pretty island but instead is named for the colossal dose of fleas he had when he first meandered into our yard and announced that he was available for adoption immediately.


Happy week ahead and see you soon!