MOVING RIGHT ALONG

Well, there is a LITTLE progress to report. I probably would have completed the border last night if it weren't for the buttonhole pinwheels in the center of the blue flowers:Oey vey...I had the darnedest time trying to figure these out! I think I must have "doodled" it a dozen times before the light bulb hit me on the head and I went upstairs to haul out my stitch books. Good 'ol Reader's Digest....their "Complete Guide to Embroidery Stitches" allowed me to get these suckers on the linen without having to wash my mouth out with soap afterwards.

Now as for that border....I did something on the top of it that I have NEVER done in all of my stitchy life: I reversed the stitches! When Aunt Chrissy taught me to stitch, she was very clear that your x's must always be done the same way. She said this rather pointedly, so I took it as gospel and had never broken the rule. Up until last night. Stupid me...I turned the project a 1/4 turn (which I KNOW not to do), but what can I say? Jeremy Irons was demanding my full attention and I was all the way across the top before I realized my mistake. Now I have the monumental task of talking myself off the ledge about ripping all of those stitches out. The little devil on one shoulder says "Come on, screw it. You know you wanna' leave 'em in there and get this thing finished. Besides...who will ever know?" and the little angel says "Now, Coni Jo. You know that you will keep yourself up nights thinking about this, so why not address the issue at once and make it all right with the world again."

Considering the fact that my little devil almost ALWAYS beats the crap out of my little angel, I just might leave well enough alone and not tell anybody about this.

Oh. Wait. I just did that.

My other dilemma with this piece is the argument as to whether or not I need to add the letters. I am completely "sampler-impaired", so I am not exactly up on all of the technicalities in the Official Sampler Rule Book, but instinct tells me that I probably should go ahead and put them in there for a more "finished" look. Besides...the girls at Blackbird Designs surely know a whole lot more about needlework than I could ever hope to, so maybe I'll try it their way and see how it goes?

I am determined to learn about samplers. I have a great appreciation for them, but am sad that I have not yet taken the time to learn about their history. I am thinking that a good web search for some books might be in order this afternoon.

I'll leave you with a little pic of my boy. He has been particularly snuggly these last few days because we're having high winds and I don't think he likes the noise. That, and his evil nemesis, Steve Squirrel has been eating all of the feed out of the bird feeder this morning. You will be happy to know, however, that I confiscated the little pea shooter that Stewey borrowed from his cousin. (Bosco went to work with Aunt Chrissy today, so he told Stewey he wouldn't need it.) Methinks these boys need better supervision.