Just One More Row: Ruthy and Mary Ann

Greetings, all! Do you suffer from "just one more...[row][stitch][thread]" syndrome? I do, consequently, I am not getting a lot done around the house, although Ruthy (and now Mary Ann) are profiting. If you're thinking of stitching Ruthy, she's very time-consuming, but a fun and absorbing stitch. She may have been stitched free-hand by the original stitcher, but you and I, if we want Ruthy to look as her picture does, are going to have to count and count and count. And outline. And stitch and stitch and stitch. And after an intensive week of this, you'll look at her and think simultaneously "ahhhhhh" and also "That's all I accomplished even though I haven't eaten a real lunch in days and haven't folded the laundry and gone grocery shopping so that we're down to eating Triscuits and cream cheese over the sink for dinner?"


I finally put Ruthy away. I was tired of outlining leaves and satin stitching them, and tireder still of the filling stem stitch. I wanted to cross stitch! So I pulled out Mary Ann Gollins and finished up the basket in the center of the row.


Here's most of what I've accomplished so far. There's a lot left to go. But after all of Ruthy's outlining and filling and counting, it feels like Mary Ann is flying. [Edited to add: I started Mary Ann Gollins early this year. I did a conversion to silks from what I had on hand: AVAS, NPI and a couple of Silk 'n Colors. I'm stitching her on 40 count Picture This Plus Legacy. I stopped because I suffered uncertainty and doubt about her colors. While the charting is fine, the photo of the finished project is not clear and so badly reproduced that even the colors are not a sure thing. Added to which, the called for fibers are Madeira, so in order to do the conversion I had to find a conversion from Madeira to DMC then to silk, and I limited myself to what was in my stash since I wasn't working at the time. So I was left feeling uneasy about my choices, although I've decided to just get on with it, since in the end, who's going to know? For me, indecision=paralysis, and not just in needlework.]


Off I go to get some chores done and then go back to stitching...something.

Pink: "And spend some time with the bunnies."


Happy week ahead!