Here's this week's SBQ:
What is your favorite specialty stitch? Which one is your least favorite? Why?
I haven't done that many specialty stitches, to be honest. I love doing them, but so far, most of my projects have been mainly cross stitches and backstitch. I HATE lazy daisies, French knots, and colonial knots. I enjoyed the herringbone (open herringbone?) stitch I used on the border of Harvest Time. I also enjoyed Smyrna crosses on Tis The Season. I'll have more experience with them once I do The Time I Spend Stitching. That's part of what I'm looking forward to. I'm not sure why I like those, but I do. I do know why I hate lazy daisies and knots: they never look nice for me.
Hatred of the lazy daisies is not uncommon. We had a customer bring in a piece and offer to pay someone to do her lazy daisies for her. They said they'd give it to a model stitcher. She called a week or so later to check on it, but the intended model stitcher had not been by yet. So I offered to take it home and do them. It took me four hours to get them good enough, and put the buttons on for her. I wasn't sure what to charge her, but the manager gave me a price to tell her. It seemed too high to me. I wasn't there when she picked it up, but she left me a little more than I had been told to charge her. I guess she was pleased.
I have been ignoring Dragonwings. I just haven't felt much like stitching the last couple days. All I have to do is sit down and pick it up. Today I sat down to work on it and fell asleep. I've just been exhausted. J.'s like my secuity blankie. I don't feel as safe when he's not here, and I can't sleep at night without him to snuggle up next to. When I do finally fall asleep (around two), I can't stay asleep because there's no one there to kick me and mumble. I miss him so much. He's been able to call me every night, so it's not as bad as last summer, when he was in boot camp.
I've decided that Saturday, I will make real lasagna for his welcome home dinner. I haven't made it in over a year, and every time I cheat and get a frozen one, J. makes sure to let me know it's not half as good as mine. I usually hate making it though, because it takes three hours: one hour to cooke everything, one hour to put it all together, and another hour to bake. Then it takes another two hours to wash all the dishes, since we don't have a dishwasher. Plus, when I make it, I usually end up having a drink, because I have to keep chasing the boys out of the kitchen. I don't mind them being it there when I make tacos, and I have one burner on and that's it. When I've got at least two burners and the oven on, I worry more about them getting hurt. I can only keep track of so many things at once. I'm short cutting the process though, since I have to work Saturday. I'm going to cook everything and put it together Friday night, so Saturday, all I'll have to do is come home and throw it in the oven.