Life INSIDE the washing basket - a question of perspective

Finally got part 1 finished tonight, with the back-stitch all completed.  Although it looked quite complex on the pattern, it felt most soothing to be doing it.

And this meant I could finally make a start on the second part.  Here's the resulting work so far:

You'll see from our blog posts that my BFF and I have approached this second stitch (as we did on the first one) from a totally different perspective.  I started from the centre, followed some long lines outwards and then am working around the outside from those long lines as a 'jumping off point'.  Having started this way, I found it easier to see individual blocks of colour, which I'd worried about due to the large amount of back-stitch in the centre which was quite distracting.  So maybe the perspective helped.


And here's a final new perspective - I often find it easier to see how I'm going on a project by looking at the state of the pattern - so here they are so far:

Feels like a great positive perspective which is helping at this mad old time of lockdown.

Life INSIDE the washing basket - lockdown stitch-along - almost a finish

Well, this week is where we diverge - my BFF had a finish, and I had a start (of sorts).

I finally finished the cross stitch and started on the back-stitch - woohoo!!

A reasonably stress-free session tonight - although I did begin by putting my initial stitches upside down or sideways (or whatever it was that would result in the cross going the opposite way).

Really enjoying the time to just 'be' together, time to natter about the random stuff in our lives, occasionally we touch on the stuff that is keeping us apart in person, but mostly we just enjoy a random natter.  And we are getting some stitching in while we do that.

Apologies for the late posting again, but yesterday was one full of digital interactions, and by the time I was done, I just wanted to chill out and play games with my hubbyman.

Can you see the phallic nature of the leaves I talked about last week?  Much better with the back-stitch.

Life INSIDE the washing basket - lockdown stitch-along - no sneak peeks here

Speedy progress on our stitch along tonight, along with lots of nattering of course.

I thought I might get the cross stitch part of the first side finished tonight, but it was not to be.  My BFF did, however, and thus got to move on to the back-stitch.  We agreed on doing the back stitch for the first piece before moving onto the second piece.

This particular design definitely requires some back-stitch to make it more defined - although this did cause us some hilarity over the shape of the corner 'leaves' before they were back-stitched.  I've not quite finished those parts on mine, so you won't see it, but you may get a sneak peek over on my BFFs - http://apatchworkofcrafts.blogspot.com/

Next week, you may even see progress on two sides, and our two blogs will diverge slightly, as my BFF is a faster stitcher and ahead of me in what she's been completing.

Life INSIDE the washing basket - lockdown stitch-along update

Sorry to be so slow in posting this week's update.  Normally, I make the effort to post on a Thursday, the day after our craft night.  But yesterday, I'd reached a bit of 'digital overload' - having Skype meetings all day at work, and then 2 separate Zoom sessions immediately after each other.  And whilst they were very good sessions, the last thing I felt like doing after all that was to pick up another computer!

So - here's this week's updated shot, the middle part still looks more like a flower than a set of flowers, but it shows the amount of progress.  Not sure about the chosen colour for the tulips, having seen it on my BFF's, I'm not sure it goes with the rest.  Find out how she's getting on at http://apatchworkofcrafts.blogspot.com/

Lady Fingers - a reflection on Lockdown Life

Feeling kind of reflective lately, it happens when I'm left to my own devices, and I think coronavirus is having that effect on many of us.

It's making us all contemplate the things we do and don't need in our lives, it's establishing the things that we may be willing to work on changing, about ourselves or our lifestyles.

And, whilst we are figuring these things out, bit by bit, it's giving us the opportunity to focus and make time for the things that we DO find most important.

For me, family and friends have always been an important part - during this time my parents and I are calling daily, to check in with each other.  My BFF and I are making great progress in maintaining our social contact with a weekly Skype craft evening.  My faith has become a mainstay, and the opportunity to attend Mass (even virtually) on a Sunday, helps to reset my inner turmoil a bit, and give me strength to face the day ahead.

Oh, but I DO miss church so much, and singing with a group of friends.  I've had many social gatherings online over the last few weeks, but it's all one-way - we are all missing the chance to sing TOGETHER.  We're planning to attempt an online catch up with some singers and parishioners, in the hopes that we can maybe lead some kind of get together.  Let's see how well the technology assists us in this.

On the plus side, we've been trying new items in our shopping, nothing major, but frozen variants of our usual favourites, so we can waste less and not worry about things going out of date so quickly.  We've been playing together more at home, with card games and backgammon, and (or course) a bit of tech-assisted stuff in a family console game.

Oh - and finally - why lady fingers, you ask?  Nothing to do with trifles - but having not played the guitar at church for around 7 weeks now, I HAVE FINGERNAILS!