Farewell to the past year

And so on the last night of 2019 I have been reflecting on the past year.   It has been one of change for me and (for my records) I have made a list ...

• Reached Gold Card status
• Retired from paid work
• Sold one house and bought another
• Moved to a new city to commence a new life
• Without being convinced of the accuracy of my count it looks like I have stitched 26 individual items and only two still need construction and final finishing.  
• Kept my weekly food bill under $100 - this year I managed an average of $95.65 per week

Tonight I completed the last stitch in the fascinating Temperature Chart.  Somehow in the house shift I have mislaid my graph paper so the centering of the letters on each side is not totally mathematically pleasing.   However, I intend to make this into a cushion to sit on my sofa -  once I find a suitable coordinating fabric.   In 2020 I will stitch the same for my new city and have a matching pair of cushions.

And I lined and constructed the Maria Katarin's Reticule (Betsy Morgan) for which I attempted a DMC subsitute for the Gloriana Silks.   All in all not a bad effort I say.
I lined the piece with a scrap of ivory silk which gave a pleasing neutral finish and a good shake of the button box revealed two small buttons for the fastening,

Front

Back

Inside

While I won't be sorry to say goodbye to this old year it has not been entirely unprofitable and I can only hope for better in the year to come. 

Settled in

With neither accident nor breakage the shift went well.   My sister-in-law is a bundle of energy and with her enthusiastic support all the boxes were emptied on shifting day and are now sorted into their permanent homes.   More to the point, the DBEM placed her chair, her Ott Light, her table and all essentials in "her spot" and has since been singing the repetitive chorus "I love this place".   I'm happy she likes it and feels settled already.
This is helped by a beautiful flower garden.   Just a little past its prime it is still providing beautiful roses to cut and we are enjoying these beauties.   I know nothing about roses, including names, but a pretty garden is a real bonus.

Also some stitching has been done. Back in September I purchased an Inspirations magazine because it had an interesting looking project from Betsy Morgan.   But I didn't want to pay the price for Gloriana Silks so attempted a substitute.   At this point my lack of "the artistic gene" was evident and I'm not super happy with my choices.   Not having a variegated floss required some adapting of the design too.  Anyway this is progress so far.  Only the wording left to do and I'm not sure what I will put in that box.

 Nothing daunted I purchased a Wildflowers silk variegated and attempted to choose toning DMC floss for the other colours.   I'm still stitching this experiment and am no more satisfied.   The second attempt is too dull I fear, but we shall see.

Anyway there is plenty to tempt me away from stitching at the moment.  For the first time I have a dedicated sewing space that is not in the main living area so I can shut the door on a mid-project mess!   First up is two sets of shorts and tops for my great nieces to take away with them on holiday in late January. 

We are having a quiet Christmas here enjoying the new surroundings.   Seasons Greetings to all out in Blogland who may be reading this.   Hopefully more updates will follow now that life is settling to a better, less stress-filled rhythm.