Valentines

Here are our Valentine treats. The first is the "box of candy hearts" I made for my hubby. Below that are the two big bouquets of carnations he gave me. They're gradually all opening and quite lovely.

This was a mildly frustrating feeling weekend. On Sunday morning I realized it was because I was procrastinating beginning stitching on my TIF February piece.

When I think about it in retrospect, I did a lot. I got the piece pressed, basted to muslin and mounted on a stretcher frame. I went down into my basement stash and found all the gold metallic threads and all the crystal, gold and pearl beads I could find.

I also did a lot of things to procrastinate stitching, including laundry, errands, basting the margins in a sampler I plan to begin for a nephew's high-school graduation in June, and reading. I also found things to do in the kitchen, where the bouquets are residing. They really brighten the place up! Oh, and we watched the Daytona 500 (usually a big stitching time for me because it's easy to do both most of the time).

I also continued with my weekly clear-out. I have boxes of magazines I've stashed in the basement and they're getting musty and there are just too many to be of any use--I can't find what I want when I want it. So I'm going through a pile each week and pulling out the article or two I want to keep and recycling the rest. I don't pull anything from some issues and those I bring to guild meetings or send to a local animal shelter resale center that likes craft items. I can't do too many each week or it overloads the recycling bin. This is a wonderful procrastination activity.

I finally gave myself a talking to and at about 9 p.m. picked up a needle. After pulling out at least a dozen spools of thread, I ended up, thus far using only one: the DMC metallic that comes in skeins. I got the five arms of the candelabra done. I started the base and then realized I'd basted it off center. I ripped it out and decided to pad it a bit so I used some ribbon floss to lay the new lines and pad it a bit. I'll do a diagonal satin stitch over that. By the time I'd stitched, I'd already done my scanning for the day, but I'll try and scan the piece midweek.