Summertime!

Mother Nature has slowly been easing us into Summer this year with lots of rain, cool mornings, and moderately warm daytime temperatures. By this time last year, we had already seen some temps over 100 and this year we haven't even come close to those scorching temps. It's been wonderful!

There hasn't been a lot of stitching done in the last couple of weeks. Between work and some sort of injury to my shoulder, stitching just hasn't been at the top of my list. After a visit to the chiropractor at the beginning of last week, my shoulder is feeling better but still not up to stitching using the floor frame. I'm hoping another visit to the doctor tomorrow for an adjustment will get the shoulder back to normal. At first, I was concerned that the rotator cuff was involved but since there was an immediate improvement after the adjustment, I'm less worried about a more serious problem.

This week I finally finished the gold work on the 9th egg in the From Russia with Love series. These month-long projects are so satisfying! Signing up for this club was one of the best stitching decisions I made last year.

The main feature of this particular egg is the beautiful gold work. The background is stitched in Neon Rays using the basketweave stitch. The gems are turquoise colored. Kit # 10 has already arrived and looks to be another beautiful project.

My shoulder problem brought a halt to any progress on my Tudors Home Study project. I look forward to picking it back up again. Amy has given us some challenges with this piece but that's how we grow as stitchers. I'll show pictures soon of my Catherine of Aragon section.

My posts this summer will be sporadic so don't be surprised if a few weeks go by and you don't hear from me. This time of year I spend so many hours a day on my work computer that when the weekend rolls around I don't have much enthusiasm for picking up my laptop even if it's to blog about my stitching. Thanks for understanding!

Hope your summer is off to a wonderful start! Have a great week ahead!

Welcome, Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon arrived at my house this week. How often can you say that? Catherine is actually the theme for the second kit in the Tudors Home Study by Amy Bunger. Catherine brought her jeweled necklace for application to the canvas. My first step was to glue the "sapphires" to the canvas.

Once they had dried completely, I began the basketweave area using a burgundy Impressions. We will apply a blackwork design on top of this basketweave area.  The other two areas we'll focus on in this kit are the orange paisley section and the black and gold patterned border. I probably should mention that the photo is upside down but we are also stitching this section of the canvas upside down. Much easier than reaching the length of the canvas to stitch if it were right side up.

As I had hoped, I finished the purple egg with the green gems this week. It's another beautiful egg and I love the richness of the deep purple which is set off by the gold threads and green gems.

Egg #9 which is the pink egg with the turquoise gems is on the stretcher bars and ready to receive some attention today.

I spent an enjoyable hour out on the patio last night after dark. There was a nice breeze and the temperature was perfect. What was most enjoyable was that there were no mosquitoes! I know it won't be long before they drive me inside so I will enjoy the evening hours outside while I still can.

Hope you have a great first week of June ahead!