Catch up after lengthy absence

Goodness.  Over a  month has passed and I’ve not posted here.   The reason?   Not much stitching done. I have finished the Ukrainian Sewing Set and with a huge sigh of relief - reverberating around the world I should think - I have consigned it to The Drawer along with the others and when I am next at a reputable needlework store will purchase the scissors and needles to go with them

From left to right

Ukranian whitework (in blue), Cross Stitch, Frisian Whitework (in beige) , Kogin, Blackwork, Hardanger.   Each set is a bag, a scissor fob, needlebook and pincushion.

Since then I went through my fabric stash and found I had almost a metre of 38 count Graziano Linen which is too fine for me to use for Hardanger, Ukranian or other of my favourite techniques so I decided that Drawn Thread bags modelled on "Christine Bishop's Drawstring Bag" could be useful so I have done a couple.  These two will be gifts for my elderly aunts when I visit them later in the year.   In this way the linen is used profitably and does not strain my eyes so much.

This one has a deep purple ribbon behind the Drawnthread work and I will get some beads to add to the end of the draw cord.  It is lined with off white silk.

This one is so well stitched (pat on back pat on back) that the inside is the reverse of the outside. I've not lined it so my prowess will show :-)

Little Sister came to stay for a night last week and cajoled me into booking a weekend at her place and another weekend visiting Auckland.   Not both at the same time!   So on Friday I will venture off on a road trip to Wellington (about two hours further south) and we will visit The Bead Shop as well as two of my nieces one of whom has a new baby and the other has a new house.   Both good excuses for a visit.

This afternoon I went diving into fabric stash again and found some suitable 32 count linen.   I am going to stitch Betsy Morgan's Seasons cube (from Inspirations Issue 87)   I was given the kit but my eyesight is not good enough to stitch over one for this so I am going to stitch it over two and consequently have a bigger cube.   Nor  will I make it have the scissor pocket -  a plain cube it will be.  I'm hoping this will be a longer term project and will absorb me and thus hopefully dispel some of the dismals which seem to have enveloped me at present.  Besides, I don't really want to keep adding projects to The Other Drawer and the cube will fit into my display cabinet.

Would you like a peek at The Other Drawer?   

As you can see there is space available so I will be able continue with unframed smaller projects to use up stash.

So until next time, and I promise not to leave it so long .....