Almost there

I decided I'd better get my piece all set up to be ready for Thursday. Good thing I did!

The q-snaps I brought from home (we are visiting our aunt in Florida for New Year's) were way too loose for the delicate linen. So I had to venture to the only close store which was a Michael's to get some kind of hoop. Brought home two different ones, just in case.

Then I had to put in a few center stitches to mount the hoop. Luckily I brought two packages of needles of different brands- since the silk only fit through the eye of one brand- which I know because of an extended period of frustration trying to thread the other brand. It was after this that I discovered, also through frustrating experience, that only one hoop worked.

I put in a little portion of the central motif- by then I was determined that I had to test everything so as not to be totally frustrated on Thursday. It has been a while since I worked on/with a) silks, b) 30 count and c) a true (and therefore uneven) linen. The silks have a texture that is really interesting and that I like, but I had to decide right away whether I was going to be OCD about how the stitches laid- which I promptly decided I was NOT! No railroading on a piece this size- if the silks have texture I am going to include that in the piece.

It took a while to get my mojo back for silk, all the slubs, wide and narrow threads and seeing, with some effort, 30 count, but after a little while it all got comfortable.

So, after much to-do, I am ready to begin on Thursday. I will post the picture of my "test run" on Thursday as my first post of the SAL. Until then, no stitching. I can't finish the piece I wanted to get done before starting this one- I brought the whole kit with me- except the CHART which is still attached to my stitching lamp at home. DUH!!!!

I am hoping the New Year will bring better stitching luck than the end of the old year, lol!