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Last time I left you, I was talking about the the 3rd time being the charm with the blog and I’m still saying it, but now with my stitching.

Check out where I was last time with my Souvenirs de France and I’m thrilled about how much I’ve been able to get done! My “sistah” Meredith Willett has always said you’d be surprised how much you can accomplish if you can only stitch an hour or so a night. Sometimes that’s all I have, except for an occasional Sunday when I can stitch most of the day. When you work ( or maybe I should say “when I work 6 days a week”) that with my 1 day off that at times I need to do stuff around the house, laundry, errands or just be lazy, so the stitching suffers.

This piece was designed by Tony Minieri to commemorate our trip to the South of France last year with Frances Jue as our host. We visited a hat factory on our trip, hence the hat and below that is a French ribbon that Tony is so famous for designing. To the left of the ribbon is the crest of the town that we were in and that’s where the 3rd time was really the charm! I struggled with the red area as I couldn’t count, then figured out I really still couldn’t count and then I had a dyelot issue with my Soie d’Alger 935. I still need to tweak a red stitch or two to get the right slant. Last quadrant is fondly titled “ode to woad” which was fabric dyeing that we did in big vats. What a very fun day! Woad is a natural dye that is blue and next time I will need to share with you my table runner.

I will finish up my Souvenirs de France with a beaded Fleur de Lis in the center. It was designed with our initial in the center, but I will do this instead. I will probably need to brick bead it as I need a center thread instead of a center hole.

I had set a self-imposed finish deadline for myself. To the framers before we leave for France again (with Tony & Frances again) in a few short weeks, but I won’t make it to the framers before I leave. We are headed to Provence this time with lots of sightseeing scheduled and a bit of stitching. So looking forward to it!

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I treated myself of to a new orchid for Easter. For me it’s sort of like a new canvas as I look for a different coloration that I don’t have, so this fit the bill. Almost all of my orchids are in bloom or sprouting bloom spikes which for me is the first time I’ve had this many blooming! Just thrilled.

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AlleyCat is as always right in the middle of everything, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!