Much Ado

Time is precious and each day I remind myself to use my time wisely.  I blink and the day/week/month is gone and I ask myself "what did you accomplish?"  In no particular order here is my accounting.

Emma Lerch 1843--her meadow/hay field is finished!  Only Emma knows the real truth about her very large meadow and here are my thoughts:  She lost her pattern book for the animals which were supposed to be stitched, she ran out of time or threads and just wanted to complete the project.  Emma's meadow just about got the best of me.  Derby Day (May 5) which was very wet and rainy in Nashville, I put needle and floss to linen and finished the meadow.  At the end, I think my eyes were crossed and my butt was numb and I was well into a second skein of floss.  There is still much to be stitched on Emma and am hopeful for a May 18 finishing date.

My hourglass Jo Morton table runner has been one of my most frustrating and challenging projects.

• I wanted to make more of the hourglass blocks, but did not have any more light fabric
• There was not enough fabric for the setting blocks and fabric had to substituted
• With five rows, I could not decide on placement so I ripped and sewed

Our inspiration bed for square foot gardening

Nashville, like most areas of the country has had a very late, cool, wet spring.  Cold temps killed off my early blooming daffodils,  a late frost killed the dogwood blooms and a hard cold rain knocked the blooms off of my peonies.  Gardening keeps me humble and reminds me daily I am not in control.  Last year we went to the Urban Gardening Festival at Ellington Agricultural Center.  There were many Metro Davidson County Master Gardeners on hand to answer questions and share ideas.  We left the event inspired and confident we would build our own tin man and raised garden beds.  Our garden bed is about 2/3 of the way toward being completed (we are still moving soil).  Best get this task completed else there will be no tomatoes, basil, peppers or any other produce.

FlossTube has replaced television watching.  Gosh, there are so many FlossTubers full of inspiration, ideas and finished projects.  When my motivation is low, I find a FlossTuber to excite me about stitching.  May has been all about Stitch Maynia!  When it comes to Stitch Maynia, I am in awe and a complete coward.  The thought of starting 18 or 31 or whatever number of new projects in one month makes my eye twitch and my head spin!  Kudos to those who participate in Stitch Maynia and thank you for sharing your selection and self guidelines.  So many wonderful designs, fabrics and fibers are being brought out of stashes and started.  One idea for Stitch Maynia which I really like was incorporating WIP's into Maynia.  Stitch Maynia did motivate me to visit my stash and choose 18 projects which I would like to start.

• Welcome Spring With Thy Needle and Thread/Brenda Gervais
• O' Tannenbaum With Thy Needle and Thread/Brenda Gervais
• Summer in Baltimore With Thy Needle and Thread/Brenda Gervais
• Quaker Handework With Thy Needle and Thread/Brenda Gervais
• Theodore Animal Crackers Stacy Nash Primitives
• Mary's Garden Needle Book and Fob Stacy Nash  Primitives
• Gardener Sewing Roll Stacy Nash Primitives
• A Sampler Study The Primitive Hare/Isabella Maria Grazia
• Home for the Holidays stockings Blackbird Designs/Barb and Alma
• Bittersweet Gathering drum Scattered Seed Samplers/Tammy Black
• Thomas the Turkey Notforgotten Farm/Lori Brechlin
• Flag Folk Notforgotten Farm/Lori Brechlin
• Eagle, Turkey and Pig Prairie Schooler
• Land that I Love La D Da/Lori Markovic
• Pennsylvania Franktur Plum Street Samplers/Paulette Stewart
• Anna Grater 1812 The Scarlett House/Tonya Brockmeyer
• On Stoneware Street The Scarlett House/Tonya Brockmeyer
• Lincoln Home 1860 Sampler Chessie and Me/Linda Lautenschläger

Contenders:

• Common Thread Stitcher's Mat Threadwork Primitives/Nan Lewis
• All American Finn Threadwork Primitives/Nan Lewis
• Olga's Tart Plum Street Samplers/Paulette Stewart
• Jenny Bean for the Parlor Shakespeare's Peddler/Theresa Venette
• Elizabeth Furness Hands Across the Sea/Nicola Parkman

My list is ever evolving.  Just to be clear, I am not participating in Stitch Maynia, I am too much of a coward  to start this many projects in one month.  It was a fun jaunt through my stash looking at designs and thinking about fabrics and fibers.

The postman has been delivering some very special things.  Have you seen the Hands Across the Sea 2018 Queen of the May sampler, Sarah Braizear?  Sarah's border is just over the top beautiful.  Nicola's chart is also over the top, forty-four pages of history about English monarchs with illustrations and a thread guide.  The postman also delivered some bee skip scissors holders and a sheep holder for my cameo punch needle.  I have a watchful eye because Maggie Bonanomi's new book, Pure and Simple should be arriving any day.

Lastly, Nicola Parkman is returning to SassyJacks in August to teach one of her samplers, Esther Benson--it has an Adam and Eve!  Yes, I have mailed my registration deposit and AppleJack and I are making plans to spend time in the beautiful Smoky Mountains and BlueRidge Parkway.

There is my accounting.  If Grandmother Bessie were here I think she would say:  "I believe you have enough to do to keep you out of trouble. "