Thursday thoughts and tidbits

On Tuesday, our plucky heroine wrote a polite message to Sterilite customer service about my disappointment in the quality of their new dishpans (which cracked and tore before even a year had passed); they just wrote back to let me know that they had modified the product and offered to send me replacements... I am surprised and pleased to get such a speedy response, and an attempt to make things right.

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Today the two embroidered front yoke panels (my transit time handwork for weeks now) are complete, and I am rather pleased with the results, well worth the over forty hours of hand stitching. The design is a creative interpretation of the heraldry of Kateline MacFarlane. I combined wool felt applique, surface couching and a variation on Bayeaux tapestry stitch, on a background of wool melton cloth; the background panels are approximately 9" x 6.5"

I will be teaching a short embroidery workshop later this month on some of these techniques, and am hoping that I can borrow these as examples to share. Still need to write up a class handout sheet, and gather supplies for the little sewing kits that will include floss, a needle, and pieces of wool felt or felted wool. It has been a while since I did any teaching other than enameling, and I am looking forward to it!

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September SMART goal challenge

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tunic muslin for B	carport cleared	yardwaste bin
2	gown muslin for M	shelves in SCA closet	5 yardwaste bags
3	2nd Pegasus embroidery	herb planter improved	funky red dresser
4	*	housefront plantings mulched and weeded	old baby stroller from garden shed
5	*	*	clay flowerpots
6	*	*	----------
7	*	----------	----------
8	*	----------	----------
9	*	----------	----------
10	*	----------	----------
11	*	----------	----------

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Today I am grateful for being stubborn my determination to learn to be a functional human, despite years of evidence to the contrary. Finding polite ways to speak up, for example, is a skill I continue to practice with much effort, and greater or lesser success. Letting go of old grudges is another big challenge that I continually find opportunities to attempt, the hope being that in time there will be fewer and fewer of them to raise their ugly little heads. And I am grateful to still be walking in the bright world, so that I may continue to move towards lovingkindness...

may this gratitude contradict despair...