Her Needle was Merely a Blur...

*Blogger wouldn't let me post upload yesterday, so this will be a very photo-filled post (and possibly a long one!)*

Saturday is Paradigm Lost, and I haven't managed to stitch on PL for a couple of weeks I think - too much going on on a Saturday! This Saturday, H and I were planning on playing a bit of golf. However, plans went out the window following his work outing on Friday night. It seems that I should be more careful when agreeing to his having fun with his workmates - last time he ended up in a freezing cold lake in April, and subsequently had a head cold and fever for a few days. This time, they decided that an indoor pursuit might be a better choice, so they headed off after work on Friday for a go-karting session. It turns out that there is a good reason why H doesn't have a driving license for the 'real' roads - I think the adjectives 'flagrant' 'kamikaze-style' and 'foolhardy' may have been bandied about during his laps, (as well as the noun 'revenge', which may explain the cornucopia of bruises he is now sporting all over his legs, arms and back!). So golf, although is not a particularly physically demanding game, was clearly out of the question from first thing on Saturday! So, PL it was :) I finished off the motif I was working on - the large central one - which means I have nearly completed page 2 (phew). The remaining motif on pages 1/2 spans the pages (and also down onto pages 4/5 - it's a biggie), so we'll see how I get on with this. I've also added a close-up of the central motif.

Sunday saw H heading off once more to Dublin for meetings early on Monday morning, so after I had dropped him at Heathrow, I had the remainder of the day to stitch away to my heart's content. The beautiful weather of Saturday didn't last either, so it was an easy choice between stitching (dry) and garden (wet) on Sunday! First of all I finished (hurrah!) Queen Anne's Lace pincushion! It's a bit of a funny size - a bit small for a pincushion, and a bit big for a scissor fob, but I had decided to finish it as a scissor fob regardless, and got out all the threads I was going to need to make a really snazzy green and pink cord and matching tassel. And then, steaming ahead, and excited about the prospect of finishing this, I started stitching together the first side of the fob, and then the second, and then the third, and then...and then I realised that I had completely forgotten to attach the cord and tassel (in fact I had completely forgotten to even make the cord and tassel!), so I decided that it wouldn't be a fob after all, but a pincushion as originally intended. Note to self - slow down a bit when doing finishing! Here it is:

Queen Anne's Lace Pincushion by Cat's Whiskers

28ct Cashel Linen - Platinum

Threads - DMC Linen as charted

Feeling quite inspired by my finish, I picked up Love Is Patient, determined to put in the final few stitches on this as well - which I did do, another finish! Although, having recently seen all the wonderful options for finishing on Focus on Finishing and on all of your inspiring blogs, I'm of two (or three or four) minds about how to finish this one: as a pillow? frame it?, as a fabric basket? maybe even a large flat fold? - it's only about 8" x 6" so it isn't that big... if you have any thoughts, do let me know!

Love Is Patient by La-D-Da

36ct Examplar linen - Lakeside Linens

Crescent Colours threads as charted

And it wasn't even close to bedtime! So I carried on with Spanish Wine - finishing the interior eyelet border (yay!) and starting the corners, one of which I finished (top R), and one of which I nearly finished (top L) - these are all in double running stitch, which looks fantastic (though I do say it myself) but which I'm finding very time consuming, working out a 'there and back' path (probably because I'm very new to this stitch). But loving this project as ever!

And, finally, after a lonely supper (LOL, self-pity is not my style :) I decided to round out my stitching marathon with Awake the Dawning Day - the vines around the house are getting there. It's quite a difference hopping from Spanish Wine, which is 36ct, to ADD, which is 28ct!

Monday - Northern Lights - I managed to finish the esker band and half of the iceberg band - the rather large gap between them is for a completely beaded band, and because this is such a long sampler, I intend to put the beads on last of all.

Phew - think that's enough for today :) Happy stitching!