best laid plans

I had fully intended to post on Monday, then yesterday and now here it is Wednesday again. I’ve been fighting off a particularly nasty virus but seem to finally be on the other side of it today. At least I’m out of bed 😉

I spent last weekend with some lovely friends and we stitched our hours away quietly. An ornament finishing class had been scheduled for this retreat and our leader, Kathy, didn’t disappoint. We stitched whatever we wanted on the linen fabric, learned some new specialty stitches and then put them together on the Sunday morning. My design is a bit pathetic, but I was really mostly interested in how to put it together, so the end result is a bit ho-hum, but will fill in a branch at the back of the tree this year I’m sure. We used two pieces of mat board that were pre-cut, used a running stitch on the linen and a piece of backing fabric separately to snug the fabric to the mat. We then stitched the two pieces together around the edge, made and glued on a tassel at the bottom, and then made the cording by hand with the same embroidery floss and glued it around the ornament. I started gluing it at the bottom, hiding the small knot in the cording behind the tassel and used the extra at the top, gave a half twist to form a loop and then tacked the top in place for security. I have another stitched piece ready with a slightly different technique for finishing to try, but it’ll have to wait for now.

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The wee hours of the morning were spent chatting and working on Shades of Blue. I came home quite tired, but to a happy home that John managed to keep from falling around his ears quite handily.

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Being in bed for the last few days has afforded a few extra knitting and reading minutes. I’ve finished up Stephen King’s 11/22/63 (really quite good) and also finished up The Secret River last night by Kate Grenville – a difficult book to read at times, but I still find myself thinking of the characters today. I’m currently listening to Jane Eyre on the Craftlit podcast which makes me about two years behind in her show but I must listen to them all. Just like I must read all of the emails, and read the whole book to the end even if I hate it. Heather Ordover is the host of the weekly podcast and as an English teacher has some incredible research skills and takes us carefully through the books a chapter at a time, “teaching to the joke” as she likes to say and she is 100% on the money. I have truly enjoyed her podcast for many years.

Knitting continues on the September pillow. I tried it on today, and unlike what usually happens in a changing room when I try on new jeans – it is fitting beautifully and I love it! I can certainly see knitting another one almost immediately after this one is finished.

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Joining Ginny today, stop by and see what everyone else is up to – there are some fantastic projects!

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11 Responses to best laid plans

  1. Ack! Feel better. My kid was sick last week. Am just waiting to come down with it next…always seems to work out that way. Nice stitching.

  2. emma says:

    Your needlework is beautiful. I really like that september pillow, think I will have to make one!

  3. Ann says:

    Wow, I love your pillow! The cables make it look really snuggly squishy soft. I’d definitely say a pair are in order.

  4. Sarah says:

    Oh my, is that Shades of Blue a cross-stitch?! That is so lovely. As is your pillow, I am off to favorite that pattern. I just got rid of all -ALL- my throw pillows except one because I hated every last one of the others. And I am planning to make covers for pillow forms… this one is darling!

  5. Sarah says:

    Oh, also! CraftLit! CraftLit listeners really are just better 😉 Jane Eyre was my introduction to CL and it was kind of a lifesaver for me at that particular time of my life. Since then I have stayed current with Heather and just finished Sense and Sensibility last night. I read Dracula soon after Jane Eyre but most of the ones I have listened to are just her current books at this point. It’s by far my favorite podcast of all the ones I now listen to – it was also my FIRST podcast that I ever listened to regularly. So it has a special place in my heart.

    • caroline says:

      I know, right????? I adore Heather, I’ve been trying really hard to listen to an episode a day over the last month to try and catch up a little bit. It really is the perfect crafting podcast. And yes – Craftlit listeners really are the best sort of people 🙂

  6. John says:

    The pillow is looking good!

  7. fawn says:

    Hope that you are feeling better today!
    A stitching retreat sounds fun! Thanks for posting the ornament. It gives me ideas to steal for mine!
    Shades of blue looks beautiful as does your blue pillow. Is this your blue period?

  8. karen says:

    love your pillow cover and if only jeans fit as fast as that cover 🙂 lovely stitch design!

  9. Gracie says:

    So sorry about the virus 🙁 but glad you are getting better! Your ornament is lovely, and I’m glad your pillow is shaping up nicely 🙂 Thanks for the link to Craftlit which is a resource new to me.

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