Page two - boom

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Warping and wefting

Nine petunias of pinks and whites peek through the brush where they now rest as they slowly fade away.  Always a sad chore to see them at their end.  Petey sleeps beneath this shabby table during the day so I'll keep the impatiens until they frost.

I don't remember if I mentioned the tire that was filled with these flowers.  It seems the tire was sort of self healing itself wherever we drilled drainage holes, even though they were large, and the plants were drowning.

I'm making progress on the stitching, had to reweave two threads into the linen.  One slub was several inches long and nothing more than fuzz, could not hold the stitch so I removed/replaced it.  Some dyed linen threads look checkered because the color did not take on the thread beneath the cross over.  Am I making sense?  Because of  that I pulled the extra thread for weaving from the same direction as the removal (top to bottom warp) and pulled it until the lighter areas were beneath the weft and now showing.  That always confuses me but you get the idea.  This small piece has no selvage edge so depending on how I hold it, weft could be warp and warp could be weft.  See?  I know nothing.

The new lighting is SO much better throughout the kitchen and family room.  My paint choice has changed because of it and I no longer like this pink.  Yep.  No more yellow tone to everything, my new linens look very different, as does this Putty.  Yuck.  I may dip a bit when the project is completed.  It's not the Putty itself, it's that shade of pink on it.  Very pleased with the change.  And only $36 for a set of 4 from Home Depot, easy as screwing in a light bulb to the old cans to install.

But mounting Lucy has been a bear.  This is the fourth time I have cut the foam and I also washed and dried her which did help with a little shrinkage.  I back stitched a guide around the perimeter which should help me in my final attempt today.

Carole is not worse, taking OTC meds, seems to be a very bad cold.  She always develops a horrid and persistent cough but it seems to be calming down enough for her to carry on a short conversation,  We switched easy meals from Lean Cuisine to Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers.  Much less sodium and very tasty, we stocked her for a week or so.

I ordered a second spool, she still has a supply.  I requested a slightly shorter one this time and it would still work for Bethia but I have other plans.

Hope the weekend has been good.  Mine is cold, furnace running for days.  What happened to the warm Junes and Septembers?

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Rest in peace RBG.
Most of us at half of your age did not come close to half of your mind.

Page one - boom

I am loving the large type easy to read pages.  And page one is finished.  I did change the 842 to 543 but all else is as charted.  Never would I have thought to use this brash pink but oh my, it is fabulous.  Many times the color in skein appears stronger than when it's incorporated into a design.  Still bold, but somehow not offensive.  Like some people.

The EF was to be rice stitch which I enjoy doing, but the time between reading the instructions and executing the piece was too long, and I forgot!  I've made so many placement errors, having a really hard time visually on this WDW linen, mostly with the lighter thread.

There are tiny over one stitches throughout the tree to soften and round the inside corners, but I am not doing them except for the hanging fruit.  Those tiny elements are much nicer with the over ones that round the shape. 

Our family room and kitchen have "pot" lights throughout.  I have a friend that would get excited and assume the term was a new delivery method.  She can't live without it.  Anyway, another term is canned lights but 40 years ago they were pot.  Long metal straps between studs hold them securely and without removing the drywall, they aren't coming out.  We found a replacement that is such an easy fix.  LED that are very neat looking, sealed, with an option to change between five types of light.  No wiring, they have a base that screws into the existing socket but the old metal liner and rim need to be removed.  So glad we came across these before painting because that light will make a big difference in brightness.

And we may need a window replaced because I am fairly sure that's where this laptop is headed.

My bone head sister is refusing to get Covid tested after coming down with a terrible cold the day after a doctor visit and flu shot.  I always keep her cabinet stocked with OTC products and know she had several bottles of cold meds but claims there are none, so Mark delivered a fresh supply.  I tried to tell her that catching this early is key but she swears it's just a cold.  Both of our parents were hard heads so there's not much wiggle room for reason.

Have a great day!

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Spool!!

I received the spool I ordered, hoping it would be the correct type and size for the Bethia sampler.  Eureka!!  I requested they check the height for a minimum of 5.75" and this is a bit over 6".  Perfect!  

Here's the link, only a few left!!  Click this link -Stag Lane Primitives, if you can't, visit staglaneprimitives on Etsy.

My spool compared to my skinny bobbin.  The measurements in the Bethia chart show the shaft of the spool about 4.5" tall and almost 6" around, this matches.

 Storing leftover paint -

Rather than have the lid and edge rust, only to fall into the paint when opened later, I've resorted to this method and it works great.  I use a very sturdy bag inserted into a large plastic or glass container.  Old Maxwell House coffee containers work well too.

 Fold the bag over, pour in the paint, use a spatula to get it all out.  Twist tie the bag after depressing to remove air.

Remove the bag to pour out the amount you need.  If using the entire bag, cut a bottom corner and squeeze it all out into the pan.

 When the paint is done, no cleanup!  Remove and discard the bag, you have a clean container to use again.  No drying out, no rusty bits.

Mid September.  Yoi.

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All 36s are not the same

 I started NWP's EF sampler on Weeks Putty.  I used a lot of their Beige in 35/36 a while ago, but not since my eye condition.  I am having a difficult time!  The last 36 I used was Zweigart I believe, and another ??? called Flax.  Both with more body and what appeared to be a larger hole.  I did a post showing the difference in linens of the same count, and which would be easier to stitch on, but can't find it.  I didn't have a golden shade in the size I needed and have a weird aversion to cutting into a larger piece.  This Putty is an odd greenish gold and looks to be a good choice.  But now I wish I would have dipped into a gold dye.

The 842 was barely visible so I changed to a slightly lighter 543.  A smidge more pink and it looks great.

This method I am using to find a piece of fabric has helped me tremendously.  I don't kit, so every time I start anew I have to pull out supply and waste a lot of time.  This way, I knew the size needed for each count and it didn't take long to see what would work.  Although, this piece is cutting it short.  I only have a little over an inch for the margin but I plan to hem so I'm OK.  If a frame is desired later, the hemmed piece can be mounted to a mat board.

I'm still in need of instruction for the android, and this new laptop is a pip.  I haven't been receiving notification of new flosstube videos and the settings have not changed.  It seems to pick and choose which emails and videos it wants me to see.   Kind of like Facebook does.

I have a flag beneath Instagram photos to save them on my laptop, but nothing like it on the tablet.  So I click Save Link and have no idea where it goes.  Linkland?  And I haven't seen my own posts show up anywhere!  They're there, because people comment, but I only see them on my profile page.

Furnace is on,  Dammit.  It ran quite often in June and now September!

Stay warm!  Enjoy your day.

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But will I ever stitch it?

Do you purchase charts of samplers that you love, knowing you would probably not have the gumption to even start them?  I do.  And just did again!  As many of you watch Nicole's videos, you saw the chart she was given, Sarah Needham.  I had a little body twitch.  And the search began.  There were quite a few downloads in the sold section of Samplers Forever's Etsy shop, and I opted for the printed chart from Kitten Stitcher.  The download includes a color version in addition to B/W, but it was not listed when I visited so ordered the print version fearing it would sell out.

If the only photo I saw was this one, I would not have twitched.

But the photo on the chart of the original got my gears going.

Not the only time it's happened that the older version sold me on the project.

Sarah has a really quirky lawn, and a knock out border.  Yes I've mentioned several hundred times that I dislike stitching borders, but this may be rather forgiving to a misplaced stitch and it's just so beautiful.  I do believe it will be stunning in person.

Because I don't have a phone and my tablet is not linked (or on for very long) I missed updates of PTP linen stock.  Two days after the announcement, all were sold out.  But I did nab a piece of Wren from 123 so that helped my mood.   I'll wait to pull thread colors for Sarah but already know I want a darker, maybe more golden linen.

Hope your day is going well.  

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