At Her Leisure

Apparently I haven't written in a couple of weeks.

Two weeks ago I finished the cross-stitching for the big piece I've been working on for eighteen months. I still need to do all the detail/outlining embroidery, but that will only take a few days, once I get around to it.

I went to the Jane Austen Festival in Louisville last weekend and had a good time. I had a balance of spending time with my husband in his favorite city and spending time with costuming people at the festival. I ended up with a ball ticket at the last minute, and I had a good time there. I miss dancing. I took absolutely no pictures at the festival. None whatsoever. I did get Katherine to take pictures of my new dress, though.





I finished the first of my 18th century stockings on the way to Louisville and the embroidery for MT's Christmas ornament on the way back. That means the Christmas ornaments for the year are done really early, but they were such portable projects.



I also started a new piece of tatting on the way back. It will be a collar for an early 1880's dress that I have in mind. It's another very portable project.

Yesterday I turned the heel on my first late Victorian openwork stocking and knit a dozen rows or so, but I really think the heel flap is too short so I'm going to rip back and add another dozen rows before the shaping for the heel. Depressing though ripping out is, the stocking overall looks better than I feared it might so I should fix it now instead of ruing it forever.

While all this sounds like I've been doing a lot of needlework, I really haven't other than while traveling. Things have been really busy getting ready for JAF and then dealing with the first week of school.

I've finally caught up posting to picture-taking. I've got a couple more finished projects that I don't have pictures for yet. I should put taking those on my to-do list. Then maybe I'll manage to do it.

In the meantime, I'm overdue for posting so I'll just put up a progress report.

1. Cross-stitching: I actually worked on it a couple of nights this week. I've been meaning to alternate nights between cross-stitching and other needlework so that I might actually finish the picture one of these days, but I haven't been doing very well at that. (Actually, I've been reading a lot in the evenings lately so I haven't been doing as much needlework, period.)

2. Knitting: I'm working on a pair of openwork late 19th century stockings. I've done about three inches of stocking. I started with one openwork pattern, but I couldn't translate it to top down successfully and abandoned it and started with another one. This is another of those longer term projects because I don't tend to knit much at home so it mostly gets worked on when I'm out and about.

3. Sewing: I'm approaching the end of a c. 1800 dress. I've got the bodice and sleeves together and have a skirt. Now I need to do the waist - I need to set the length, run the gathering stitches, and whip it on. I am leaving the hem until the end because I don't know if I'll be able to get away with a straight hem for what I want to do or if it will need to be shaped.

I'm not quite sure what the next project will be, but I'm inclined toward a bonnet to go with the new Regency dress. I'll also be starting a new pair of 18th century stockings shortly since I need a blind knitting project. They will be replacements for a pair that I accidentally felted a bit.