It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fort ... whoops wrong quote.#
It is a truth universally acknowledged that any sized project can be stitched on a train as long as it does not contain confetti stitching.
For the past few weeks I was struggling with a bookmark I was stitching for a friend's birthday. Well most of you have heard my views on confetti stitching and fine art to cross stitch conversions. Stitching four, two or even one stitch and then having to switch tot he next colour thread is *not* conducive to a relaxing train ride, or much stitching progress. I found I was more and more dreading pulling this project out so I read instead.
This week I was determined to stitch something I enjoy working on! I planned to start Historic Countries Mystery Sampler by Papillon Creations.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that any sized project can be stitched on a train as long as it does not contain confetti stitching and you have all your supplies.
Monday morning I spent too much time on the net (as usual) and forgot I hadn't packed my bag. I realised that I hadn't actually organised myself for starting the new sampler; measured down to the right starting point, sorted out which floss I would need initially - sorted them onto floss ring or into bags etc. So instead I hurriedly grabbed Rejoice and hurried out the door. I *just* jumped onto the train a split second before the doors closed!
Settled down to stitch and realised that I only had the thread that was on the needle. The bulk of the skein was on the floss ring - which I had taken out of the project bag over the weekend. Oh well, its Monday morning I stitch slowly anyway. Spent the afternoon ride home sleeping.
Monday night I got myself organised for the new Sampler and even managed four stitches into it before I fell asleep with needle in hand.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that any sized project can be stitched on a train as long as it does not contain confetti stitching, you have all your supplies and the person sitting next to you is not eating.
Monday morning I again scurried for the train ( the pixies had hidden my car keys in plain view again) and just managed to squeeze on. After walking a few carriages I found the last seat on my own and pulled out the sampler ready to stitch. At the next stop a man sat down next to me and pulled out a greasy paper bag and immediately began to messily eat a meat pie. Flakes of crust were coming down all over me and my stitching. As I was brushing them off a gobbet of mince and gravy hit my jacket right where my stitching had been laying two seconds ago. My sampler! My beautiful fabric! I turned the man and said "excuse me, do you think this is the right place to be sharing your breakfast with me?" as I was scrubbing at the spot on my jacket with a tissue. He merely grinned and continued to eat. He went through four pies that morning! The train was completely full with people standing in the aisles by this time, so there was no point trying to get past him to another part of the train. Needless to say, no stitching got down and my jacket was covered in oil spots from the pastry. He was careful enough (or lucky enough) not to drop anymore of the filling onto me though.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that any sized project can be stitched on a train as long as it does not contain confetti stitching, you have all your supplies and the person sitting next to you is not eating or knitting.
Tuesday afternoon, still feeling a little unnerved by the morning's encounter - and still wearing an oil spotted overcoat, I took out my book to read instead. Two stops later the knitting lady## sat down next to me. She looked over and said "oh you are reading, Ill leave you alone to read". Brilliant! A coward's way out of the situation! "Oh yes" I replied, "its a fascinating book, and I've just got to the really juicy part". I have no shame.
So its a good book
mmmmm
So who's the author?
mmmm
What's it about?
mm hmm
At that point she pulled out a pillow that fastened around her neck and went to sleep! Yayyy ! We did end up in a conversation one stop from home, but she was talking about her cats so that was good. Phew!
It is a truth universally acknowledged that any sized project can be stitched on a train as long as it does not contain confetti stitching, you have all your supplies, the person sitting next to you is not eating or knitting and you are actually awake.
I spent the early part of this week in an intensive training course and the latter part of the week doing my supervisor's work (he was at a conference interstate) so I was really very very tired this week. Spent Wednesday and Thursday dozing on the train and fell asleep with a needle in my hand about a dozen stitches into Mystery Sampler each night.
I was simply too tired this week to even think about picking up Faïence. So again no more work done on my dragski. Maybe I should give up and have him as my Christmas stitching project.
So to sum up: No work done on Faïence, very little done on Rejoice. About a third of the first part of the Mystery Sampler was done - and most of that on my Friday off.
In other news the never-ending birthday continues. Present this week from Listmum Claire. Also Lyne and Pennie gave me gift certificates and the goodies I bought with them arrived this week.
Claire gave me the chart Feather Friends by Brittercup designs, a DMC cutter with a gorgeous hand made fob, and a cute ort collector and needle holder !!! Practical tools I needed - thanks Claire !!!!!
Pennie bought me a gift certificate from 1-2-3 Stitch and asked me to use it to buy a Calico Crosswords chart from my Lust List. Well I bought two! Green Paw and Check Up (the two newest Kats by Kelly full sized designs). There was even enough money left over to cover the international postage! Thanks Pennie!
Lyne bought me a gift certificate for Vikki Clayton's Hand dyed Silks. Seeing there wasn't a specific design I needed kitting up, I used the certificate to buy more of the Dragon threads! Ooh they are luscious! I love Dragon Opal and will use that to do my M design with (a companion piece to the P I stitched for a friend) Thanks Lyne and thanks Annette for opening my eyes to these Dragon threads by Vikki.
Hope everyone else had a good stitching week!
# Opening line to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
http://thesamplergirl.homestead.com/MrDarcy.html
## For non-regular readers, I first encountered this lady in Tales Part 3
9 comments:
Hmm I think you should collar the pie eating bloke next time and hit him with a $100AU bill for dry cleaning!
No dry cleaning - it was my light jacket so it went straight into the washing machine that night. Its now clean and wearable again. I just couldn't believe that rude jerk couldn't care and in fact took pleasure that his actions were making others cross and dirty!
If I see him again, I will make a fuss and say No! *You* cannot sit in this seat!
I can't believe you had to endure Knitwit again! You know, I really hate when people see your nose buried in a book, and say "So, you're reading?" and then carry on some diatribe that takes up 97% of the time you'd planned to use reading. Happens to me pretty frequently when I eat lunch outside, even once when one of the guys told me how stupid historical fiction was, because since we already know what happened, how could you make fiction of it? For somebody smart enough to go to engineer school, it kinda makes me wonder...? Knitwit ought to sit next to the Pieman for a few trips - maybe they'd cancel each other out, though. Better luck this coming week! And good extended b-day stuffs! When you get all of your dragon silks together, take a pic - I want to see what they all look like together!
I know it's all frustrating for you Mel, but I just love reading your Commuting tales. I cannot for the life of me imagine doing it, but you make it read like an adventure!
Congrats on even more birthday stuffs!
Thanks Teegs, that's exactly what I am trying to do! If I put it in a humorous light then I can laugh and stay positive too! it helps me stave off depression and negativity by having an outlet to put this in a fun situation.....
Thanks for another tale. And your mystery sampler is coming so nicely despite all.
Great progress on the mystery!
Karen - two comments :) 1) "Dispatcher Ears" come in handy sometimes - I have learned to hear only what I need/want to hear. So, I can tune ANYONE out when I have to (like when I'm reading). I've also gotten good at faking the "huh - you were talking to me, sorry, I was concentrating and didn't hear you" when I need to.
2) No offense, but I've met tons of graduates of engineering school that don't have the imagination to read any sort of fiction. They seem well suited to a field governed by rules and laws about how things behave....
Thanks Tracy - actually I was quite astonished. Every other WIP pic I have seen so far has only done the same motifs I have or even less!
I don't feel so bad about my slowness now :)
Remember your writing friend who "dissed" your work recently? well, this is "part the fifth" and it's every bit as entertaining a read as the rest of them and keeps the reader enthralled and wanting more the whole way through...I feel a "yah boo sucks" coming on!!!!
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