Anna

Stag Lane Primitives has another spool listing for the Bethia sampler, this time without paint.  Plain wooden spools, same size, if you need one for 40 count Bethia they can be found here.

The final section of EF has had many errors and lots of frogging.  I do like the change to a darker basket and 1837, and I am making more changes from very light to brown.   The blue rather than pink house is looking good and I should finish this project in a day.

 The 70% off framing sale at Michaels ended and although chosen, I couldn't get there to place the order.  My foot is actually much better today and the pin sticking out of my toe will require this fricking boot for three more weeks.

My brother has several cemeteries near his neighborhood and are included in his daily walks.  He noticed for some time the poor condition of the grounds in most of them.  Right in the middle of the smallest, there was overgrowth and briars about 5 foot high and 6 foot wide.  After a while, his curiosity got the best of him and he walked to that spot, only to see a stone through the leaves.  The next walk he brought along clippers and gloves.  Bags of debris and brush were taken to the woods.  The next trip included a shovel for roots, followed by a rake, a bag of dirt, grass seed.  Finally, the walks included a watering can and the grass has filled in.  The person buried there is a fifteen year old girl that passed in 1937.  

A stone to the right is the same name, adorned with a small vase and flowers.  Parents?  Why was her grave ignored for so many years while all around her were groomed?  Not only did family not tend to this overgrowth, but the maintenance company failed to do its job.  Maybe there are no remaining family members nearby but someone is leaving flowers at what may be her parents'.

Her photo is on the stone, the frame was cracked and half was found in the brush.  He glued together what he could and painted the chips.  We know nothing about her or her family.  Since both stones have the same photo feature (theirs is missing) I think they must be her parents which would mean her mother gave birth at age 34.

I'm glad his curiosity got the better of him because it resulted in a very good outcome.

Rest in peace Anna.

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Alpha - boom

Aren't you tiring of my booming?  I don't have much to go and now that I see the full width, I don't believe the open book flat fold will work because of it.  Too short and wide but I will still try.  If not, one very large but short drum/pincushion.  Using the mylar will hold that shape, stuffing it without support would not work well at all in such a large piece.  Yep.  Big ass drum it may be!

I removed the very light basket and 1837 and plan to use the dark brown for both.  After removing the stitches, I can see the original green linen beneath.  Not sure you can see that in this photo but it's obvious in daylight.  Good to know that the quick dip (maybe even a longer bath) may not tint beneath the stitches.

Have a good weekend!!

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Two and two

Since I only have a dozen tags, and I forgot that I had to readjust colors and such (I have a new printer), I decided to only do newly uploaded images.

The two tombstone - two sampler tags

Need to sand, stain, varnish, glue and seal.  Maybe a black finish on the tombstones.

Mark cut the top corners to make them more of a tag shape than the square edge.  Not sure which I prefer.  Doesn't matter!!

It's warm today and I plan to park on my swing with ice bag and do nothing.  Next week will be very chilly.

Enjoy your day!

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Page 5 - boom

I am so glad I toned down the green, I really disliked that strong pink on it and I wish I would have studied the colors first.  I rarely follow the chart colors and would have used more apricot and rust than pink, maybe even eliminated one or two.  But since I had no intention to start over, toning the linen helped greatly.  Usually the DMC is not affected in a diluted and quick dip, but this time the 543 became more pink.   I decided to change the house to the soft blue used elsewhere (in place of more pink) and I think it will be fine.  

I am much more comfortable with what most stitchers consider boring - alphabets and letters.  I'm just not crazy about motif work.

So how will this be finished?  Could be hemmed and just displayed on a table top, hung from a shelf's edge, framed.  But I am picturing this as an open book.  Sort of a flat fold that stands on its own, open with both sides displayed.  The spools with Bethia and ???? can be added to create a little grouping with the "book" and for now, that's the plan.

Carole is finally feeling human, antibiotics seem to be helping.

Have a good day!!

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Page 3 - boom Page 4 - boom

Rit dye - boom

Red removes green - boom

Surgery - BOOM!!

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A few more tags coming

We cut about a dozen tags for ...... floss?  baskets? knobs? totes?  A smidge higher than the others and half have a tombstone top.  Since I will be sitting with ice on my foot for a few days, I plan to play with the labels but I adore this one, my last stitched small.   If I have too much trouble with color or something else, this may be the only one offered.  For the price and what I get for my time, I'm in the hole as they say, so the least resistance and time and ink the better.  

Isn't this sweet?

These are the others, but the heart is not coming our very nice.  Thinking - maybe a Halloween image on the tombstones?

Carole was getting better and now worse.  She is on antibiotics (one that I am not familiar with) and steroids so I hope we see improvement in a day or so.

September is over a week from today.  NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!  I am so loaded with appointments and tests scheduled for October and November (a new malady they have not yet diagnosed).  And not one new hair sprout yet!

Later pals.

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