I've been a bit sick this last fortnight, so not much progress.

One big thing - I have taken the Poppies out of their hoop, ready to transfer to a frame.

The frame is a sit-on scroll frame. The idea is to avoid the pain of holding the hoop in one hand for hours.

I won't be scrolling on it tho.

The Poppies doesn't need it, and my Historical Sampler won't take it - scrolling goldwork and stumpwork equals "crunch"!

So I'm pretending it's a slate frame.

When the Poppies came out of the hoop, it was already filthy around the edges. A quick soak in Sard Wonder Soap (Australian) fixed that.

Now I need to hem and bias bind the sides prior to sewing the top/bottom to webbing and lacing down the sides. I'll take a photo when it's all done (it might even be in focus this time!)

For Australians, the lap frame came from http://stores.ebay.com.au/Lynk-Products
for $54 including P&P.

Lyn, the seller, went to a great deal of trouble for me. I was concerned about the nuts loosening, as they are reputed to do with scroll frames, so she went and got some locking washers for me at no extra charge. She also included some nyloc nuts in case I had problems after that.

-------------------

I also received my DMC Color Card '08.
I was disappointed to find that the colours were printed swatches of colour, not actual thread samples. (I had an actual thread sample colour card I had been borrowing from a friend).

I've had a go at matching maroons I have to the card and it is definitely a lot harder with the printed swatches. I'm not *quite* sure whether a thread is one colour or another in some cases.

Better than nothing tho.

--------------

And my paperback copy of John L. Nevinson's Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery for the 16th and 17th Embroideries arrived, which cost only $25 from Amazon. The hardback costs a fortune so I was rapt to get this one. It wasn't in as bad condition as the description described.