Not such a lovely surprise ...

If this were not a stitch along I think it would have been thrown retiring in the wardrobe by now.  I am really annoyed with myself because I was just plowing along with band 19, quite enjoying the blend of colours, then much too late I realised that the last flower is incomplete.  Part of me wants to unpick it but then I remembered how difficult those smyrnas were to undo on band 14.   Bands 11 and 15 are not symmetrical either but it is not as obvious as this band.    It was 11 pm - far too late to contemplate unpicking - but also far too late to start on the french knots that are still missing from the centre of those flowers, so I opted to move on and stitch band 20.  Maybe if I ignore the sampler for a while the problem will go away ??  OR MAYBE NOT !! just moving head out of sand !!  Not sure why I am obsessing about this as I don't have anywhere to hang it anyway.

I have a free day today to stitch but somehow I have lost interest so will probably catch up on some card making instead.  I need cards for some little fairies and princesses this next week, as well as for my darling Son.  It is going to be a very hot day here again so I will stay inside in the cool.

Thanks for listening,

Mary

Two minute smyrnas.

Seven hours and four dvd's later and I have finally finished one of the smyrna bands on Blessings.  Helmut Lotti, Russell Watson and Andre Rieu all kept me company as I plowed through this row and I was so excited when I finished it until I remembered that I still have another row the same to do.  I must be the slowest stitcher around - 240 smyrnas !!! nearly two minutes to stitch each smyrna - seems incredible - maybe I should get some faster music for the next row.  I have actually changed this row - it should have been done with two colours and that would have meant 480 smyrnas!!  Off to tackle the next 240.

I'm back ....

... although it took me longer than I expected!  I have been up the bush for a few days holiday.  We had very hot weather for most of our stay but half way home the cool change hit and the temperature dropped to about 16 degrees - a huge change from the 43 a few days earlier.

I didn't take the Blessings sampler away with me because it is on a frame and too bulky.  Instead I took  SB's Happy Day Needleroll and worked on it a couple of the cooler nights - the colours are very bright after the sampler and of course it is stitched with two threads.  It's nice to have a smaller project on hand as well.

I did post a photo (on my album) of my progress on Blessings before I went away, and since my return I have been fiddling with colours for the next band.  These are the colours I have chosen today, but they could change by tomorrow !!  I am thinking I may omit the second colour,  leaving a space where it should be, it may not look so dense.

  

And since I took a photo of my other WIP while I had the camera out, I may as well show you SB Queen Bee Sampler - it's a sweet little one too - she's been in the stash for quite a few years now and has finally seen the light of day.

Off to put in a few more stitches (read that as fiddle with more threads !) lol

I think I've done it ..

I think I've finally managed to put this blog together.

I have spent many enjoyable hours looking at other blogs but until now I wasn't convinced I would be able to set one up.  The thing that finally pushed me on was that I am doing a stitch along with my lovely friend Chrissie and now I can post my progress in words and pictures.  So, here I am blogging world, ready or not ... and now to see if I can post a picture for Chrissie.

Blessings Sampler by Wild-Heart Designs

The colours are not true - I will do better next time.