Time to get naked

Not me people!   Please!  I am already dreading the thought of a bathing suit later this month when I go to the Caribbean.   The house needs to get naked.  Doesn't it seem bare when the decorations come down?   But alas, the holidays are over and down they will come.   I have found in the last few years I am putting up fewer and fewer decorations.   So the last two years when I put the decorations away I mark the boxes with the year.   Amazing how much I am NOT using.

 And this is less than the normal.   Time to stow this and tackle the greens, garlands and trees!

 I think a good rainy day exercise in the spring will be to sort some of the decorations and purge a bit.  Too cold to hang out in the attic of the garage right now.

 So let me tell you about my new start.  Ever struggle with a start?  My struggles are the right side above. Now you see it, now you don't.  I had this piece in and out of every set of Q snaps I own.  Tried stitching in hand.  I was having such a terrible time seeing and counting.   I couldn't could seem to get this pulled tight enough to see the threads.   It is 32 count which shouldn't be that much of a problem.  I used about four different pairs of cheaters to try to see the threads.  Not at the same time!  Well maybe my regular glasses and one set of cheaters over them.   Stitches were going in over three threads instead of two which seemed OK until the subsequent row and my count was off.   I don't know if it is the fabric color, the floss color or what but I was really struggling and not at all pleased with the prospect of continuing on this piece....and that was only day one!  Fabric slubs and irregularities in the size of the linen threads was not helping.  Stitch three, frog two was about what I was doing.   Just a hot mess that seemed to resemble a snowball rolling down hill and gathering momentum and debris along the way.   I finally pulled out the traditional old style hoop and tried again.

I took a good hard look at the piece out of the hoop and realized I had orientated the fabric wrong.  It is a rectangle with 165W by 205H.  Just a quick 90 degree rotation should not have made such a difference in the visual appearance.  Back in the hoop, turned the right way and I am off to the races.....so far so good and much easier now.  I didn't even bother frogging the corner stitched on the wrong side.   I think the fabric is so taunt now that has made all the difference.  Spoiler alert!  This is the Lizzie Kate Mystery Sampler.   I haven't seen any other pix on the internet and don't know if it is taboo to be posting it.  Mea Culpa if it is.   I just got an email from my LNS that Part Two is in the mail which leads me to believe that anyone else who signed up has to be way past the point I am at.  So glad this is now working out.....one night I just gave up and drink a glass of Pinot Noir instead of stitching!  Hmmmm, not necessarily a bad thing.

Back to the undecorating and them some stitching time tonight.