Basket Band #3

 Despite mentioning at the beginning of the month that I needed a Grab And Go project I still don't have one prepared and at 3am this morning  I once again followed the ambulance carrying the DBEM to the hospital. I had no project to take nor did I think about it at the time.   Mind you I'd had only 3 hours sleep so probably wasn't in a good space to be stitching even though I had the time while sitting in the uncomfortable chair beside her bed.   We are both home again after the doctors gave her multiple tests and pokings and proddings.   A verdict of angina (?) and the DBEM is currently snoring in her arm chair.   I have done a few chores, generally tidied up after this mornings hurried exit and will now update this before retiring to my chair and having a few snores myself :)

The Basket Band is making good progress and I have the left hand side almost completed.   There is another batch of over one lettering to go in the floral cartouche (yet to be finished) so that will definitely wait until my eyes are less tired and my currently painfully inflamed right thumb has settled down.   The satin stich flowers in the left hand diamond band are not yet completed either.

My garden continues to delight and to provide surprises,  one of which is a very healthy peony which is covered in great cerise blooms.   The sweet peas are producing so many flowers that I cannot keep up even though I know they flower better if kept picked.   We have had heavy rain and wind for a few days so the roses are looking rather beaten about.   I need to get out and tidy things up this week.

Basket Band #2

 Progress on the Basket Band is slow with a great deal of reverse stitching but I'm liking how it looks.

This is designed for a rectangular basket and as mine is round the panels will not be so obvious in many ways.   However I am following the instructions with only one or two changes.   The first being that the Florentine (Bargello) cartouche should have been up higher and the stitcher's initials go below.   I am leaving out my initials at this point and will instead highlight them in the alphabet which comes in a different place on the band.

The pulled work panel was a real tribulation but it eventually turned out well and the little leaf stitch flowers are lovely.   So far this is my favourite part.   Certainly the over one cross stitch for the words was not at all comfortable for my eyes :)!

The DBEM has completed the knitting on another small garment so one of tomorrow's chores will be to sew it up and do the final finishing.  Meanwhile she has started another and is talking about needing more yarn so she won't run out of things to do over the Christmas / New Year holiday break.   I foresee a trip to our local Knitworld.   Funnily enough on Friday we went for a drive out to a nearby village and found a lovely wool shop but the DBEM didn't purchase any knitting yarn.   Instead she succumbed to the temptation of a lovely blue Possum Merino cardigan.   I think this yarn may be unique to New Zealand so Mr Google's definition is as follows -

Possum Merino is a wonderful blend of possum fur and superfine New Zealand Merino wool with a texture similar to cashmere - luxuriously soft, incredibly lightweight, exceptionally warm and easy to wear.

I thought the purchase rather out of season but today has been bitterly cold with strong winds and the DBEM has been making good use of her new purchase :)

And on to a new project

The Hardanger Apron is now in the messy process of construction.   But also on the sewing table is an all-but completed blouse which I need to finish so I can wear it in the appropriate season which is now!   So aprons must wait their turn.

Meanwhile I need another project and so this has been begun.   There are 34 inches of stitching to do to complete the basket band this will become, so a long way to go.   A quick visit to the Trade Aid shop and I found a really suitable sisal basket so while stitching this will ponder the colour I'll buy for the lining fabric.   

One thing I will not be doing is stitching the matching scissor fob, pincushion and needle book. Already I have too many of these and need no more.   But this new basket will contain not only my box of tools, needle books, scissors and glasses but will still have ample room for the current project meaning I can grab it and go when off to stitching groups.

How I wished I had a small "grab and go project" last week when the DBEM got carted off to the hospital and I sat by her bedside for the next three hours.   What a lot of stitching I could have accomplished, instead of which I sat and watched the feverish activity of the Emergency Department and wished desperately for a hot drink:-)   The DBEM was treated, checked, issued with a discharge certificate (electronically to her local doctor) and with dire warnings sent home.   For the remainder of the week she has been less than energetic and I've not been free to get out and about much.   Hence the sewing of the blouse (see above).   

And another amazing occurrence....I got hooked on a science fiction book.   Quite possibly the first I have ever read, this was a translation from a Chinese author and I fell completely into the spell he wove.  So much so that dinner was delayed last night until finished.   For anyone interested it was The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin.   I don't intend to read others in the trilogy, nor will I venture into the world of Sci-Fi but despite my poor academic record in physics I was intrigued by this and found it a real page turner.

And now it's dinner preparation time again so until next time...