I haven't written an entry in ages. I'm still recovering from the viral and bacterial bronchitis, getting 1/2 or 1 day up, then back to bed for 2-4 days. My immune system is kinda bodgy, so it's taking foreeeever to recover!

Atm I'm working on embroidering some Christmas cards. Ribbon embroidery, coz it's fast, then putting it in cards with aperatures (windows). I have 11 to do, and done 3. Methinks some will be a bit late!

I have a heap of projects ahead of me :

Finish Sally's Roses and Pansies (B'day/Christmas present) (I have to do a post on the work I've done since I last posted on it)

Ricky's ribbon embroidery daisies (Thankyou present for helping me buy my new computer)

Vince's ribbon embroidery big sunflower with turkey work centre (Thankyou present, ditto)

3 monogrammed hankies for my friend Rohan (Christmas/Thankyou present for my Electric blanket, all the way back at the beginning of winter!).

I embroidered 3 for him about 4 years ago before I had done any other embroidery, and they were pretty terrible. I did them in hand, rather than in a frame, and the tension was all wrong, and they turned out crowded and generally the wrong size. I hope to do a rather better job this time around!
He likes weird and bright colour combinations - like orange and purple!

A present for Julie (SilkLover) just coz she's special, tho it'll be done way later than Christmas, involving padding, goldwork, panels of silk (that's all I'll say, since she'll probably read this. I think that project will be worth documenting properly, so I'll ask her to temporarily stop reading this blog while I'm working on it)

so all that should keep me busy for a fair while. I've never had such a waiting list of projects to do before!

I've not suddenly turned from a historical embroider to a ribbon embroiderer. I have lots of Thankyou presents to do atm, and SRE (Silk Ribbon Embroidery) is fairly quick, and attractive.

If I did all my presents as Long and Short stitch or something, I'd *never* get back to doing my Historical Sampler. I am enjoying the change, I must admit. So many colours in the ribbons, so quick to do stitches and work up a piece, and doing lots of small or relatively small projects.

I do ache to do some L&S (needlepainting). I started one Christmas card embroidery as an L&S butterfly. Two days on the design and transfer alone (it had lots of spots), then I realised it was just going to take too long, it being half way through November already.

I've never done small projects before (except those first monogrammed hankies). If a project has been small in size, it's always involved a lot of stumpwork. Designing and working a piece, and having it done within a few days or a week is quite a lot of fun, even tho my embroidery table (er, coffee table) looks like a bomb hit it. A very colourful bomb.

I'm eternally grateful that the cats don't get up there and play with all of the threads and ribbons. The worst that they do is occasionally sit on a framed work if they are trying to get my attention. (It works! :-)