I was having a little trouble deciding what to do after The Pink Sparrow. I have way too many projects started at the moment. While I long to get into another one of the bigger ones, I feel like I need to tick a few more off the WIP list first.

Of course it doesn’t help that I started a few more near the end of April-a couple of those smalls I kitted up. Here they are…coming along…they are easy to do while sitting and helping with school, or monitoring swimming or Zoom sessions.

Way months ago, when the big news was the wildfires in Australia (but who (except probably those directly affected) remembers THAT anymore??) I started Jane Marshall, the fundraiser chart from Hands Across the Sea to help with fighting those fires. I’ve put more stitches in her recently. I am not happy with the alphabet color on my linen. It is too light. This is the second color of “very light shell pink” I’ve tried. I think I will try one more time to get something rosier-perhaps just “light shell pink.”

Then, last weekend, I finally felt that yes, I was ready to make a new start on something. This is Satin and Silk Reticule from Betsy Morgan of Willing Hands. I believe this is a retired class project for which I was able to get just the chart. It took a little bit to assemble the materials-not just silk floss and banding the right color and size, but a book of fancy monograms for my initials on the flap. I still need to hunt down some beads, but those are a last step. I hope I can find a pretty cloisonne bead for the closure.

I’m glad I started this one. It is very beautiful and not too hard-or too big. The 27 ct linen feels like burlap after my other projects all on 36 ct! That’s not so great! But it is going along quickly, and it will give a lot of impact for the time I spend on it this month. I really enjoyed the bargello section here at the beginning.