Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Where Did I Put Those Matches???

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, & not be weary;
they shall walk, & not faint."
Isaiah 40:31
_____________________

Remember this???
I posted it on Monday.  It was my start of Good Tidings to You, a Sampler Girl design which appeared in the 2011 JCS Ornaments magazine.  I had stitched it that year for an exchange partner & always wanted one for myself.  When it came time for me to pick a new start, I picked this one.  Here it is this morning.
You are probably thinking "Wow, Easily Influenced Stitcher!  Way to go!"  Well, not quite.  I had actually stitched a bit more than this.  I had finished the word To & was starting the Y in the word You but something wasn't right.  I first suspected this when I stitched the word Good.  I had mistakenly left 2 spaces between the G & the o.  I should have left only 1.  This became apparent when I was stitching the d & didn't have any space to stitch the bottom left part of the letter.  I remedied this by frogging the d & & shifting it over 1 to the right.  This made it closer to the snowflake motif (or whatever that thing is) but I figured I could live with it.  I then began stitching Tidings.  When I got to the end of the word, the s was way too close to that snowflake thingie.  I checked my stitches.  Drat!  I positioned the dot on the second i one space too far to the right.  I frogged the ings & restitched them correctly, but things were still not right.  I couldn't understand it. Everything was positioned correctly based on the letters in the word above.  The snowflake thingie was positioned correctly. What in the world???  Well, it didn't really look bad.  There wasn't much space between the right snowflake thingie & the s but I convinced myself that I was okay with it.  I next stitched the To.  I counted & recounted based on the letters above it.  It was where it should be based on those letters, but still something was off.  It was at this point that I became concerned about the bunny.  What if the letters came too close to the bunny & messed up my stitching of him?  I looked at the chart ... the bunny was positioned far away from both the To & the You.  I decided I probably didn't have to worry.  I then began stitching the Y in the word You & I noticed when I got down so far that the bottom of the Y was going to end up a few stitches underneath the bottom border.  I knew then that something was terribly wrong, but where?  I had checked & checked & checked again!  I checked once more & there it was.  I had made an error & repeated it many, many times when stitching those little horizontal lines in the border underneath & on top of the pieces of pine.  I had counted 5 stitches going across & 4 on each diagonal.  Horror of horrors, I saw that I should have been alternating 5 stitches on the top horizontal lines with 6 stitches on the bottom lines!!!  Naturally this carried over to the right side of the border where I placed 5 stitches on all the vertical lines.  I felt sick.  I thought about frogging everything & starting again but frogging tiny stitches on 40 count fabric is not very appealing.  The thought of just throwing away a 7" square of lovely cream Newcastle linen makes me very unhappy, but not as unhappy as the thought of frogging those stitches.  Therefore, Good Tidings To You, which I have renamed Not So Good Tidings To You, is being sent off to the landfill.  I don't think I can face starting this design again, at least not now, so I am instead going to find something else to start. Wish me luck   : )

On a happier note, the mailman brought me a package yesterday from my dear friend Sally at Stitchyangel's Treasures.
I did a post a while back asking everyone about their favorite teas.  Sally mentioned how much she enjoys Twining's Lady Grey tea.  I had never heard of it.  She offered to send me a few bags to try.  I thanked her but didn't want her to spend the money for postage.  I told her I would look for it at my local market.  She told me not to do that ... what if I bought it & didn't like it?  I would have wasted all that money for a whole box of tea I didn't like.  She said she wanted to send me a few bags instead & I said okay. Well, Sneaky Sally not only sent me a few bags of tea, she sent me a little surprise as well!

Another Sampler Girl design!  I was so excited when I discovered this design & had to laugh because I had thought about stitching the same design for Sally   : )   Thank you again dear friend!  I love it!

Incidentally, the tea is very good   : )

26 comments:

Stitchy Mc Floss said...

Goodness the frog certainly got you didn't he! I'd have thrown it out, too. LIfe is too short to frog!

The tea sounds yummy and that was very sweet of her to send you that and a needlework gift, too. Love the card with that adorable dog on it. Too, cute.

Blessings always

Dawn said...

OHH, frog got me on LHN sheep last week, it's back in my basket, i feel I'm being punished for skipping two of them! I'll tackle it another day.

What an awesome RAK,too cute.

I went to Krogers and they were out of those books, perhaps next week at the beginning of the month.

cucki said...

Aww what a sweet rak..I love it..everything is so sweet...
Naughty frog...he was here too...
Sending you lots of love x

Carol said...

Your experience with Good Tidings sounds exactly like mine with my current WIP, Shirlee--I have never had to frog as much! Sure hope your next piece (and mine) is more cooperative :)

Lovely RAK from Sally--that was so sweet of her!

Catherine said...

Oh those nasty frogs!! Love the sweet gift from Sally ~ do let us know if you like the tea!

marly said...

Good girl Miss Shirlee! I would have started the flames long before you gave up. If you need matches, I have lots.

Sarah in Stitches said...

Don't throw it away! I've made so many mistakes like that (especially recently - I'm working on a couple of pieces as a birthday present to my mother and I have made SO MANY mistakes! It's unbelievable!), and I refuse to do serious frogging and waste all that time. So I've made borders wider/smaller, rearranged spacings, adjusted words...whatever made sense. See if there's anything you can do to fix it before you throw away a pretty piece of linen like that! That would be a pity.

Vickie said...

Sigh! What a shame!
What a nice package from Sally. How neat that turned out. ;)

Robin at The Primitive Hutch said...

I just hate that when I make a mistake ~ oh what to do? I would have thrown it away too!
Such a sweet friend sending you such a special present with the tea!
Enjoy!
Prim Blessings
Robin

Linda said...

You so make me giggle Shirlee. We all really need to make those darn frogs leave you alone.

Linda

Danice G said...

What a nice RAK. Very good looking teas. Please don't throw the cross stitching away. I was so sad the hear (and see) that you burned the other one. My cross stitching looks awful, but yours look so good :)

Simply Victoria said...

How disappointing and frustrating! I have a wip that needs quite a lot of frogging on and I am ignoring its call for help!
Love the sweet little tea pillow! What a thoughtful friend :)

Mii Stitch said...

Oh no!!! And I thought you were back to stitching for good!!! :D Don't get rid of it, why not carrying on with these borders as you made them & move things around on the inside? Nice little tea surprise!! The stitching is lovely & if you've enjoyed the tea too... Perfect all round! x

Marilyn said...

I can just picture it in the sink like the other one! lol
Good luck on your next project, I hope it doesn't give you as much grief.
Marilyn

Chris said...

What a lovely gift from Sally.
So sorry about the stitching mishap :(

Melody said...

What a thoughtful gift in the mail. I'm sorry to read about your stitching mishap. I agree, I hate to frog things especially when you've gone so far, and things are still not right.

Better luck on your next project!

Pam in IL said...

I totally understand not wanting to frog, especially if it's stitched over one. I usually work with whatever mistake I've made and alter the design to make it all fit.

Lovely RAK you got from Sally!

Dani - tkdchick said...

How frustrating to have to do all that frogging!!!

What a lovely thing for Sally to do!

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Oooo, deja-vu! Reindeers and sleighs?
I think you should complete the border and put something else in the middle. Don't waste such a lovely piece of fabric!

What a sweet gift from Sally too, she really is an angel!

Michelle said...

Oh my poor friend no matter though I think the lovely RAK from Sally made you feel so much better xx

Sally said...

Oh no that is a bummer Shirlee. I wouldn't want to frog such tiny stitches either but I don't think I'd want to throw the fabric either!

I'm so glad you liked your little gift along with the tea.

Kaisievic said...

Love the new blog header, Shirlee.

Colleen said...

It's always a dilemma - frog or give up. We have a wood stove, and I confess there have been a few times I've become so frustrated with a project that I've salvaged any possible fabric, then fed it into the blaze. I tell myself at least I'm getting heat from it!

Marie said...

What a wonderful surprise from a fellow stitcher.

Wow, such a dreadful mishap with that design. Ugh, frogging on 40ct ~ I think NOT.

I hope you next project goes smoothly.

Stitcher said...

A lovely gift from Sally, and I saw it in person before she sent it to you.

chris

Maggee said...

I just see your blog post title and I am laughing hysterically! I know we are in for another treat! I have told SO MANY people about doing a 'Shirlee'... How's the house selling going? And where'd you get the header image... LOVE it! I wouldn't copy you, just want to see what else they got! Hugs!