A finish or two.

 A dedicated effort on my hardanger tray cloth and voila, the end.  But wouldn’t you know it!?  I’m already dreaming of what hardanger piece I shall do next!

Several commented on my last post asking for details of the hardanger stocking.  I found the chart via Pinterest and the link to this blog.  Hope that helps.   It was really simple to do.  For the back I stuck two layers of felt together and stitched the hardanger (after all the beading was complete) carefully to it before trimming even more carefully.  

As a palate refresher I stitched this little Christmas Ornament.

And then as a result of gentle but consistent nagging by the DBEM I looked through my stash of fine linen.  The DBEM seems to think I will end up with macular degeneration like her and doesn't want me to "waste that high count linen".   There are no signs of any changes in my macular yet so I consider I have time but the nagging wore me down and I have tacked out the grid to do another needlework set for one of my great nieces on 38 count Graziano linen.   This one will be in Blackwork technique.   I have five great nieces and another due in August and with only two sets complete I'd better keep moving if all the girls are to get one:-)   So far there are only tacking lines to show so no photographs.  Perhaps tomorrow when I hope to make a start on the actual stitching.

Until then.

Christmas ornaments

 The hardanger bug has bitten again and I’m now absorbed in the tray cloth.   But before I got back to that I did finish off some more Christmas ornaments.

O Little Town of Bethlehem was from the JCS Christmas edition of  2021 and I’m pleased with how it turned out.  

The tree was Pinterest inspired but I did make a mistake and it is not as tall as the original showed.   Just as well because the linen scrap wouldn’t have allowed for more branches.   I want to try another with the correct height and have ordered some more beads for that.

The hardanger stocking was a joy to stitch and this one will definitely be staying on my tree.

Now I am back to the tray cloth and obsessed with it I must say.   So far so good and the rhythmical stitching is soothing as I have been rather unsettled lately.

Besides the stitching I have been busy in the garden removing a couple more rose bushes and bucket loads of ancient old bark from the corner of the back yard.   Then after spraying to ensure no weeds survived I laid around 30 square metres of black weedmat and have organised for fresh bark to be delivered on Tuesday.   My cousin obligingly lent me a shovel and I will use my wheelbarrow to cart the bark from delivery point to the back garden.   Once these Herculean labours are over that will be one less part of the estate that needs regular weeding/maintenance.  In late Autumn I plan to plant two dwarf fruit trees in super large pots in this area and to have smaller planters of herbs and flowers around the outer curve.  Pictures to follow when it looks less of a mess.

Meanwhile I’m off to keep the DBEM company with her audiobook - a biography of Barbara Bush.