Last Week
So…. at 3:30 am on February 13 the ice storm in progress at the time took out our power. Half the city’s, I think. My brother and sister-in-law have had their move to Oregon baptized in fire and ice, not to mention not being able to get out and meet new people because of covid. And they haven’t been here a year, yet.
Obviously, I didn’t get my laundry done. I spent a few hours at my sister’s on two days, powering up my phone, fitbit, glasses, and kindle. Yes, I wrote “glasses.” I have a pair of lighted craft glasses, for which I was grateful. Once upon a time I could stitch without glasses or extra light. Not any more.
I managed to read one and a half books and start another two. The one on the kindle is Proust, and that man is very wordy. His seven book set is going to take some time. It’s a good one to read at night before going to sleep, though. Might even be a good aid in falling asleep. It’s not an action story!
The half book was one I’d already started–The Motion of Puppets by Keith Donohue. Very Good. The whole book was . . . My mind went blank. Was there another book? The other one started was Mudbound by . Good so far.
While there was daylight, I worked in the studio. I’d had my art desk next to my embroidery machine. Now, I am not the most tidy person. The problem has been that sewing/embroidery mess spilled over to the art desk and art mess spilled over to the embroidery machine space. This is not conducive to working in either area. So, I moved the art desk to the other side of the sewing counter, and moved the cupboard (of fabric) that was there to the spot where the desk was. A bonus is that the cupboard has a smaller footprint, so I have a bit more space to move around.
After I’d charged my magnifiers, I did some stitching. I worked on TAST.
I started this post last week (’21-02-22). Then, between my website photos not showing and my computer backups being “unexpectedly interrupted,” I got totally distracted. I think I’m back now.
Looking for the barred chain stitch, I didn’t find it in any books, but I found “snail trail” in a Judith Baker Montano book. They are similar, but not the same. Snail trail doesn’t have the chain stitch between the barb stitches. In this example I did both.
This next photo is one stitch for the 23rd—running stitch. The biggest difficulty I have is keeping my stitches even. I don’t know if it’s because I can’t see well enough, I simply have no size/distance judgement, or I can’t keep my needle exactly where I want as I pierce the fabric. It’s probably all of that. It shows up most in running stitches.
I’ve not done enough stitching this past week. I’ve done very little reading. I’m not happy about that. But as I worked through website problems, I was also working on my filing and I did accomplish a good bit there.
And since this dying laptop is giving me fits as I try to write, I’m done here for today