Solid color blocks

Greetings folks.  Not much stitching accomplished yesterday.  Carole called and asked for our help, sudden and severe vertigo again, so most of the late afternoon and evening was spent there until the Meclizine (Rx) kicked in and she was able to get around by herself.  Dramamine (OTC) is meclizine and the newest is long lasting with nausea relief.

I tried 3031 and 420, wasn't happy.  The 3045 seems to be working out well and since the reproduction used 436, this isn't too far off.   My test area -

Doing a block of stitches using the sewing method cuts the time in half if not more.  I've shown this before and it makes such a difference in the uniformity of my stitches which are usually lopsided pulls and tension issues.  Both noticeable when it's a block of one color.  I do the first half horizontally, and then complete the cross vertically.  Such a difference from my wonky stitches.  Plus the sewing method of course makes it so much easier.  I turn the piece upside down every other row with that method.

Hot here again.  Still waiting for a red tomato.  Chiro pretty soon and errands to run including a few floss skeins.  My JoAnn does not have all the colors so I need to stop in Michael's.  I offered those bags of floss with hundreds of skeins, and I have been needing to purchase replacements!  But that's fine because it's only certain colors and I did not need all those others.

We found several places with elderberries!!  None are easy to get to and one is along I-80 but not near the road.  We're watching daily, those tiny berries need to be harvested within a day of ripeness and used or frozen within 12 hours.

Have a good one!!  

**************************

Wasting time on color

Again.  These are the charted colors, 436 for the roof, 3371 for outlines and window trim.  I think the 3371 is way too harsh and dark but I can't find a dark brown that isn't reddish when next to the brick's 869.  Not sure I like the peach roof.

I've narrowed down the roof choice to two, 420, or the lighter 3045.  The outline will be the brick's 869 and I'll give the 3371 a try.  Using one strand in a single row won't be near as stark as the skein looks but I'll probably skip that for now. 

The grass color is Colour & Cotton's Willow, I lightened the critters, and reduced their head size.  I really like the subtle variegation of their threads and they are pretty consistent from skein to skein.  And eight yards rather than five.  Looking at this photo I can see that a front foot is missing.  Light thread on linen is difficult for me, I must not have seen the single stitch in place and went over it with the green.  

Had a pretty rotten weekend so far.  Ate a hard boiled egg Friday that looked fine, but my body didn't agree.  Yesterday, I happened to see a wren leave one of the bird houses and a baby came out with her.  We found it, as big as my thumb and feathered but eyes shut and not yet a fledgling.  We put it back in. Three times.  The box I attached to the pole to catch it before hitting the ground was empty, the baby was five feet away.  We then realized the mother was throwing it from the nest.  I checked several times in the evening and found no other babies so this one must have been ill even though it did not appear to be.  This morning, the nest is empty.  She must have taken them out one by one and dropped them into the high grass.  I held that little squawker and studied his tiny wings and legs, my heart is broken that they all met his fate.  There are birds that will abandon the nest, throw out the babes, kill them in the nest, it's nature.  That bitch.

***************************

AND..............

we're back!

The more I looked at the mottling, the more I realized it was sort of crappy.  So......  I hate to tell you, but I bleached it.  Only took three quick dips, didn't affect the DMC (it usually doesn't unless I soak it), and we're back to where we started.  Yes I know.  Reckless.  Should change my Instagram to the The Reckless Stitcher.

The stiff linen can stand on its own.  I don't mind stiff fabric but when it has better posture than I do, it's a little disconcerting.  I need to change my needle (to one that will certainly prick me and draw blood) in order for it to get through some of these holes.  

I gave up on a tablet for Carole since Verizon refuses to tell customers which will be compatible with the service, since they prefer you purchase from them.  I found several 4G LTE but read that is not a guarantee, there are many that some services will accept and Verizon will not.  So I'm done wasting my time.  The sales department at two Best Buys and two Verizon locations would not answer (yes they are open) to help me so the heck with them too. 

Chris came home from work yesterday with the news that someone in the locker room at work, different shift, has tested positive.  He didn't realize it because his symptoms were stomach upset, diarrhea, only now is he positive for fever as they are tested daily before entering the mill.  Chris has tested OK but being Type 1 diabetic and Carole being very compromised, we're concerned.  He was here, said he passed testing, but I was not comfortable talking with him.  The worker's temp was checked every day for fever, obviously not a reliable indicator.  We're holding our breath.  Our local paper reported an increase in cases, and also noted that one death "never showed any symptoms, was not tested, but a physician listed Covid as the probable cause".  Really?  Do cities or individuals benefit from claiming Covid as a cause of death?  Do not professionals have an obligation to be truthful on death certificates?  How can they do this without testing or symptoms?   As we take our rides in neighborhoods looking at houses for sale, we see so many people congregating outside, graduation parties, and young folks playing basketball and swimming.  I don't think if we stayed inside for 6 months it would matter, it will still be there.  But the more people testing positive will develop antibodies resulting in less people that can spread it.

Take care folks!  Be safe.  Enjoy your weekend.

********************

In a mottlin' mood

Crabby mottlin' mood.

So I dabbed two shades of dye on the project with a crumpled rag.

The house color is as charted, it looks better than I expected.

I'm not choosing the final threads for the large bird until later.  

Later could be anywhere from a half hour to two days.

And I dislike this stiff fabric that feels as if it was spray painted.

Soft wimpy linen is worse and I have happy mediums, but this small piece was the perfect size for the project.

**********************

It's gold I tell 'ya!

Hiya folks.  I'm rooting around in a mess and found a few spools of this discontinued (I believe) gold thread.  I will never use this much and also have the flat gold that is wound on a wooden Talon spool.  ????  Not by me.  It must be from my SIL and it is wound so neatly that it appears to be original, but Talon did not make such a thread, did they?  Is anyone interested in either?  Do you think someone in a needlework group on FB may be?

My errors in the last project do not bother me one bit, I moved the motifs deliberately (because, well.... you know) but not being able to understand why the counts did not coincide with my moves baffled me.  

So I start again!  But this time I found the reason quickly.  Bad habit of mine is to memorize the repeat patterns, but in reproductions it's almost impossible for them to be the same.  I removed a lot of this side because of that. 

Starts with 8 stitches, then 9, then 10 to compensate for the 8, the rest 9.  If I didn't correct this and continued with 8, it would have been uneven at the bottom where I want to insert a straight border.

Blue Angel hostas are my favorite and they do so well along the garage side. You can see the browned area at the bottom of the tallest shrub, courtesy of ...............

You guessed it.  Been lounging all of yesterday and today on the bench, dirty as can be, happy to get his head and neck scratched.  I tried to quickly apply the flea med while scratching but he bolted and I wasted a tube.  

Enjoy the last full week of July which is breaking my heart.  Stay safe, be well.

Thanks for visiting.

*******************

As Emeril would say

BAM!!  Lightning struck right next to our huge oak tree.  Thankful it wasn't a few feet over and didn't kill the tree.  But blast it, it did.  Dead limbs were shattered and the large squirrel nest near the top exploded.  Some of it was hanging from it's perch but most was on the ground along with the wood pieces.  We were without internet and phones.  Today the technician came out for service.  Yesterday I spent the entire afternoon standing outside on pavement in 90+ heat for almost an hour with many people ahead of me.  Twice.  Spectrum's policy is one person per employee so two are allowed inside.  After the first replacement modem did not work, back in line I went.  The male employee was rude, snotty, and a real pr**k.  The second modem did not work.  My $5 cell phone has no bars in my area and I was running all over the yard as if in a Verizon commercial.  "Can you hear me now?"  After dozens of failed calls, I got through for activation of both new modems.  They activated.  With the wrong codes.  So the wonderful tech got us going, but my 5 cordless phones set has to be replaced, which will come Sunday.   Then I found out that the tablet I purchased for Carole cannot be used on her plan because they didn't tell me it needs to be 4G/cellular.  It's wireless without that feature.  Useless since she does not have internet, only cell service.  Great.  I had asked her many times to contact Verizon and get the info for me but as usual, she does nothing I ask.  Now she won't be getting a new tablet because they are all more than I expected to pay.  Yes, I've been a crabass.

So my new project is the sweetie I showed back in May (canNOT believe it was that long ago and August is next week).  Of course, I am changing it.  The house bricks will be a darker mustard and brown, the birds will be more of a feature.  And I didn't want the bottom area.  So Paint to the rescue!  After many attempts at colors for house and birds and flowers, I decided on the pale rose breast and two shades of gray.  Or maybe the dark blue.  But definitely with a straight and simple bottom border.  Flowers may end up a darker rose than the breasts, if not, pale gold, otherwise it looks too fussy to me.  The first is the original, and far right what I will stitch.

And for those that are surprised about cat's spray ruining anything, it does.  My new shrubs that weren't protected by the prickly mats are brown at the bottom, and this area of white on the A/C is how the ammonia in their spray/urine corroded the fins.

Petey is the real culprit but a lot of the damage happened before he arrived.  The spray is minimal and a way of marking territory, but potent!  Males just lift their tail as they casually walk by, stop for a second, and continue walking.  The barn the barrels the posts the trees the plant stands his house my house doors benches everything!!

And then they sleep.  

Have a good Wednesday!!

************************