And now the blue

 Recommended conversion is DMC 926, I think a darker blue will look great with the very light floral above.  One is 3768, the other 924.  Both are good, I'll decide later.

I noticed an extra stitch mid-way in the skirt on the left, but that is charted.  Following my need for symmetry, I'll add one on the right.  Really enjoying this design.

Wonderful dinner out with cousins.  He is so great and his wife could not be sweeter.  We are going Italian again on Saturday, I just get sherbet since food is a problem for me and that's fine.  What to serve here Sunday hasn't been talked about yet.

I discovered that tunics can hide thighs, but holy hotcakes don't get a mirror to look at your backside!  It's like a tent.  An A-frame style.  I knew I had to lose weight but had no idea how wide my load is from the back.  I can wear a tank with an open tunic creating three vertical lines which breaks up width, but that thigh length solid fabric on the back needs a jackhammer to break that width.  MUST lose.  

What a difference in sun exposure with the tree gone. 

Have a good day folks

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Hazelwood

 Actual size is 13" x 19", 36 count,  I paid $16.25 and that is your cost.  I will pay shipping (US only).  Either a check or online gift certificate from 123Stitch as payment.  I have a piece of 14" x 18" Mayflower in 36 I may also be offering.  Too much going on to think clearly!  This linen's brown is taupe-ish and the mottling a very greenish brown.  I don't want to mess with correcting to my preference.

Cousins from CA arriving today, my other cousin is still in hospital, another doesn't want to forfeit any lake days at their camp so will only be here to have dinner with them one day.  So it's me.  And they want to take the ride to visit sis also and need me to accompany them.  Chris was told yesterday that the driver of their 4 day golf weekend has covid.  It wasn't heatstroke, it was a fever!!  Tested negative of course since it's only been a few days, he will continue to test daily, but he can't enter her facility until 10 days after exposure.

As for stitching, my test of the other two reds showed that 347 is the right choice.  It is very close to the Buckeye Scarlet and I will not admit to my shenanigans which brightened it just enough.  I would be kicked out of all stitching groups.  I don't plan on filling her body color and accents until later since I stitch in hand.  Best to add ecru and white at the end.

My Eastern Phoebes are ready to fly!  So crowded in that nest and although I scrubbed the area clean after the first brood, another mossy mess was built the next day.  Will there be a third?  This is at my front door and very hard to scrub in that cramped corner.  

My husband knows I haven't felt up to par lately and this morning he ran to do errands and brought back my newest favorite ....  the cold brew brown sugar foam from Dunkin.  Yowza!  

Mom's loon whirligig is in background.  Love that bird.  She also had what is called a mobile, it was a large goose whose wings had monofilament line from which it hung.  It would gracefully bounce up and down with wind mimicking flight.  I have never seen another.

Have a great day folks!

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Well....

 is my chosen red bright enough?  

The chart photo on darker linen features a fairly bright red, but the conversion lists WDW 2240 as DMC 3777.  That was my starting point but other sites list the comparable color as dmc 355.  Brighter for sure.  The Buckeye Scarlet (bottom thread) is the brightest and 347 is the comparable dmc, but it doesn't pop as much as I would like and not as much as the Scarlet would. 

I may stitch a sample with the Scarlet and also the 355 to compare before I go further.  The 355 might not appear much different than what I have done so far even though it has more yellow/orange to it but no harm to try.  

I'm surprised I'm even taking the time to stitch since this background situation is distracting me.  I just deleted a long rant because no purpose is served or outcome resolved. 

My dad was thrilled when he was able to purchase a used lathe decades ago, and practiced turning on pieces of scrap oak.  A few of them were to be candle holders with the recessed center.  I need to get organized (of course I will) and have something to hold my scissors nearby.  Perfect. 

 Mark drilled the holes and although I don't spend the $$$ for good scissors, these look fine and dandy.  Function trumps fancy these days. I will make a pincushion for the recessed center or add a tomato. 

Hope your week starts darn good and ends even better.  

Be safe!

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The chosen one

 of all the gorgeous reds is 347.  On this darker linen, 3777 was sort of moody.  DMC 22 was shy, 221 was boring, 816 was harsh (mine is not the shade in the DMC book), 321 was AUGH!, 498 was serious.   My favorite red, GAST Buckeye Scarlet, was good.  But I'm hoarding it.  DMC 347 is close, not orange, certainly not pink, no sign of purple or blue, strong without overpowering.   Holy hairnets girl, it's not house paint, it's thread.  In my defense, the red of that dress being the focal point needs to be free of color regret.  And it is.  

So I'm moving on with this piece, and already had counting errors.  The girl is charted a stitch or two (I quit counting) off center and once again my errors were because I did not study the chart and assumed placement.  Ended with centering her which really does not interefere with the design one bit, and I don't have to remove stitches again.  Plus I prefer perfectly centered. Yippee ki yay baby.  

I look younger today.  Has my hair filled in?  Not a strand.  Have I lost weight?  I planned to lose 20, only 30 more to go.  Did I get a few pounds of eyelids removed?  Not yet.  So what's the deal?  The dental work I had done involved injections in both front quadrants and I am quite sore.  But also swollen.  From under my jaw to the lip corners - jowls are gone!  All filled in with swollen tissue.  And I only get 1/3 the usual numbing because I am so drug sensitive.  Shots at nine, wore off at 6 pm, and that's the quick recovery stuff (not Lidocaine).  

My cousin is recovering after family was told she would not, from sepsis. She's pulling through because they found this is tick related and the right meds are already making a difference.  Wow.

Marti asked to see the finished berry, I only have one done and it is a gift.  This is part of what posted to Instagram, a place where 95% of what I see is not from posts I follow, people I know, or ads I have interest in.   I plan to make another and also a larger one, perfect project for those few inches of leftover linens.  I'll show those finishes soon.

Hope your weekend is enjoyable!

Be safe.

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What up?

 Does anyone still say that?  I hope not.  

The same large projects that I consider starting after every finish, are back on the table.  If they were kitted and I did not have to find a linen that works and is also large enough, it would be easier.  I should do that.  Sure.

So I chose (in keeping with all the reds lately) Gigi R's ... Petite Fille en Rouge.

Another small, quick, darling project.  I pulled threads, some left over GAST and some DMC to my liking.  The linen is 36 count and was originally C&C's Oatmeal.  It was dark, more like a taupe-ish cocoa brown, but my other small pieces were too gold.  So I crumpled and dipped in a bit of Goldenrod/Dark brown dye and the change is barely noticeable.  Just a bit warmer, just enough.  May start this evening after the Advil kicks in to calm the 3.5 hours in the dentist's chair this morning.

We're having a maple tree cut down tomorrow morning which is a terrible feeling.  It was originally three trunks, now two, and leaning.  My neighbor owns the business and just stopped by to let us know.  Oh crap.   I just realized we have to pay him!  It's been so long since we hired him that I didn't even think about cost!  Damn skippy.

Have a good day tomorrow, be well, be safe.

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Mary Bell 1811

 Finish!

Changed the feather eyes to blue, red birds' beaks to brown. 

40 count unbleached that I bleached, gently mottled.

The single row of brown defining the house corner looked bad to me.  So I went over the stitches with a half cross and it helped.  Even on 40, I was not happy with coverage and surprised at how the linen shown through. 

It proved to me that my stitch tension pulls those wimpy threads closer together and coverage is worse than on a lower count fabric.  It's just not substantial enough.  Lesson learned.  

This is the photo I posted before starting Mary and you can see how sheer this 40 count is, but it was the right size without having to cut a larger piece. 

Have a good one!

Be safe.

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