Changes. Of course.

 This Saturday ...

A ride to visit Carole.  Lots of things to take in as always.  One of them will be another vintage pillowcase that I dyed yellow.  Her bedding is a soft pink and the other cases I dyed were pink and look sweet.  But she loves yellow and with the pink embroidery, will still be fine with her bedding.  I love this, and the embroidered colors really pop on the light yellow ground.  The few I have left are big enough for a king pillow, even longer.  Very surprised at the size unless my grandmother stuffed them herself to fit across the full width of a twin bed.  

I have several small projects and a few very large to choose from for next project.  This WTNT chart was on my hope-to-purchase list but a sweet and generous stitcher gifted me with it.  It's one of the options, but (and you will not be happy with this) I may change it.  Her designs are perfect as offered, but you know me, I have no bias toward designer, reproduction, free, or costly when it comes to changes.  Another two projects are red, I just stitched with red, and I want this to be a companion to my other gifted Bluebird.  Here's what Paint and I came up with in short order, just to see.  Something to ponder but I may stitch as charted.  If there is any inkling or doubt, I know I must get a glimpse of those options before starting.  

Original.

Red bird with smaller blue birds, no red in pots.  

Blue bird with smaller red birds, no red in pots.

The problem is, I may choose an option but change my mind by the time it is worked on.

Have a safe and grateful weekend.

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Bingo

Done.  

Jean Donaldson 1826 from Cross Stitch Antiques.

Mark took me for a haircut, she cuts a V at the nape for longer sides (for my female comb over) and when I got home I thought the V could be a smidge higher.   Was unknowingly holding that clump at an angle, tried to blend it, V became a W, then an inverted U, and now a disaster.  Will I ever learn?  There is no such thing as a smidge when correcting hair cuts at home.

She has a new puppy, in constant motion, constant grabbing, everything in the mouth, and she hops like a baby goat.  Terribly sharp teeth and the little tap on the nose bridge doesn't deter her biting one bit.  The coins in the empty soda can, scared the hell out of me, she didn't flinch. Once she found a clip on the floor to bat around, it was like watching a hockey game at high speed.  So stinkin' cute.  And her haircut is nicer than mine.

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Continuing

 with our daily chores and life seems so selfish doesn't it?  But what can we do?   I made the mistake of watching the video presented to congress.  Bodies of infants killed, injured and crying children, a woman being dumped onto others in a mass grave, the helpless frail elders .... I am glad I was home alone.  Just too emotional.  

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Settled down, I focused on a month worth of bills, and Carole's, my new checks finally came in.  We weren't notified that free checks at our bank were no longer offered so I was caught off guard.  My power bill is $40 higher than when lit for Christmas so I added that utility to my bitching list.  And the new phones for Tracfone do not show remaining service time or minutes which the 3G did.  Verizon purchased Tracfone so I'm expecting pay-as-you-go to end in the future.  Minutes balance is found by logging into the account online, we don't do that from our basic phones and a PITA regardless. Need to find another provider.  

We went to the grocery store's pharmacy for refills, and while waiting, took out a loan for a corned beef brisket.  It's why they have bank branches in stores now.  I will use this recipe which is a favorite.  Sweet & sour but more sweet than tang.  The cabbage will be for soup or fried with bacon and onion.

Jean's border is going well, and my stem count error nullified another.  The stems in the bottom row are four stitches, I used five as elsewhere, but the bottom flowers are charted three spaces from the inner border while the others are two.  (insert spinning head here)  Again, not paying attention.  My error in adding a stitch actually made the placement proper.  I do plan to leave the inside border tent stitch as charted and not change to a full cross.  Very few of the flowers have a "tip" to them in blue, a few have red.  Not adding either, simply because I am not strict in following reproductions, and a here and there element doesn't appeal to me.

Thanks for visiting.

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A better pear

 OMGoodness.  Katherine from @trinkity mentioned me in a post which led me to her.  I adore how she has stitched and constructed my pear!  AUGH!!!  I gave all of mine away except for the July and December pears and don't want to deconstruct and reconstruct those two.  They certainly don't require a lot of time to stitch and I plan to choose a few favorites for a second time.  Definitely Swan Song and Katherine's choice also.  

They are constructed of three panels (two fabric panels and the stitchery), similar to Nan's (which I also adore but haven't ordered yet).  I don't believe I am ready to sit at the sewing machine, still have patience and short fuse issues left over from the last year.  Unless it's a straight seam or hem or repair, my old metal Kenmore should keep its distance.  But the stitchery can be finished and in the pile.

She also has a floss tube that features some lovely sampler projects, and I still don't understand why that bell has to be clicked in addition to subscribe to follow anyone.  But that's me.  

I want to post these on my IG page, maybe tomorrow.  Was hoping to do a different St. Pat's day pear, I dislike that design.  A lot.  But Carole's ordeal started last year at this time, March 1 to be exact, and I was dealing with my misdiagnosis prior to that.  And this year?  Lazy.

The sawtooth border is coming along slower than I expected, and it looks fabulous.

Have a pleasant day.

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Blurred or clear, still green

 Selling a few linen pieces (named differently but the same in color) in order to buy others, hopefully greenless.  If not, I'll have something new to complain about.  I know minutia is selfish and totally irrelevant in the world today.  A fresh bitching invigorates a crabass and is a way of venting of sorts, another outlet when feeling helpless.  And I am willing to bet a pack of Bohin the linen will be accommodating, and green.

When a chart is first received, I study, look it over carefully both graph and written.  But when stitching .... reckless.  So as I started the sawtooth side, following the chart, it bumped into the flower's stem.  How's come?  Because I mistakenly assumed that the stems were the same length throughout.  They are not.  Top is five, sides are four.  Fortunately, moving that border over a full stitch allows the stems to be free and doesn't affect the look at all.

Several readers mentioned how much I can accomplish with my eye issues.  I am adept at administering drops in each eye with one hand every 15 minutes.  People freak out in stores when I do that while walking.  One woman said she can't with two hands and a mirror.   As soon as the drops enter and I blink, clarity returns.  My sis thought her eyes were getting bad, trouble reading, she was surprised that blurriness was caused by dryness and now uses drops regularly.  Similason is my favorite and using with contacts is not a problem at all.  Much easier to use than squeezing a bottle, very easy to use dropper.  As for direct light (which I can't handle), my lamp focuses down with top and sides shielded, and adjusted below eye level.  The wrinkled macula is in one eye, not affecting my vision as yet, will have surgery before that happens (hopefully).

I'm done. Trying not to mention the w**.  

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Ta-Da

 Flowers done.  A little peacock grooming.  And we're done with cross stitches.

The sawtooth border will be stitched and positioned as is charted.  The top and bottom flowers were also, but the irregular spaced sides were changed. The only option for equal spacing was four stitches apart, one wider than the charted top and bottom of three, but more pleasing to me than the original's randomness.

It's hard to photograph how wonderful this sampler is. 

Sawtooth once around and we'll call it a finish.

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