Hemming done

Well it is official, one napkin is completely done.  The other just needs the filling done and that may take a couple weeks at least, depending upon how bad it is at work.  Here are the napkins side by side right now, the other picture is of the backs.  I took more time on the whip-stitch for the hemming then I did last time.  I had a comment from someone that the whip-stitch was kinda messy on my first napkin and so I took a good look at it and decided they were completely correct.  As a result, the whip-stitch is smaller and a bit closer together and more along the same thread line, not as varied.  I can definately tell that I had more practice and took more time on the second napkin.  I can also say there are less mistakes on the second napkin, I had four or so small mistakes on the first that no one has seen but I am wondering if some of them will become more evident when I do the filling on the first one.  Oh well, such is life, if these are done in time for the Kingdom A&S I won't be trying to win so much.  More then anything I am just going to try to be getting my name out there, lol considering that I don't even have my AOA yet, lol.......

Napkin Progress

Just wanted to add another post for today, I finished the last leg of filling so here is a couple pictures of the napkin before it is hemmed....

Interesting facts

So, I did some small calculations today regarding hours spent on filling in my border pattern.  Each diamond takes about 10 minutes to complete, on one set of sides there are 25 diamonds (approximately 4 hours, minus tying in threads and finishing threads), on the other set of sides there are 31 (approximately 5 hours, minus tying in threads and finishing threads).  So, on a good interrupted day, it would take me about 18 hours solid work to finish all the filling in design.  To complete the pair, it would take me 36 hours.  Considering that I am doing this at work in between patients, it has taken me almost a month to get three sides finished, and I have not been pushing as hard as I could be.  Just thought that was kinda interesting.

On another side note, I brought the pie to that potluck and it was a smashing hit.  I saved one piece so my husband could try it, but other then that it was gone quickly.  Two thumbs up for Chocolate Nut Pie......

Pie Tests

So I got an itch to do a bit of baking today and so I pulled out my cookbook.  Figured I would make some cookies because they sounded good, but the cookbook I had pulled out didn't have sugar cookies or anything similar that sounded good.  Feeling adventurous I decided to make a pie.  A note of caution, I have never made a pie before, this could be scary.  The recipe that sounded the best was the Chocolate Nut Pie, looked incredibly easy, so I went to the store and got all the supplies necessary to make it.  This is the final product.......

This looked kinda like a pecan pie, which I assume is good because those are the nuts I decided on for it.  I deviated from the recipe a little because I thought a dark chocolate syrup glaze would taste good on it, because more chocolate is always a good thing.  I have done a bit of googling and found out that this type of pie is sometimes called Derby Pie or Kentucky Pie.
At this point I have two problems-
1.  I am not a pie person so I have no clue how this pie is supposed to taste.  Never had pecan pie in my life and from what I can tell, this is supposed to be kinda like that too.
2.  Due to recent dental work, I cannot eat crunchy foods.  This has lots and lots of nuts..........

So at this point I need a test subject to try this out on.  On Wednesday there is a potluck at my workplace which is a good/bad place to test food out on people.  If it goes well, everyone remembers me; if it goes badly, everyone remembers me.  Lol sounds like quite a conundrum......

As for other stitching matters.......  I have finished the filling on one whole side of a single napkin, lol, only seven more sides to go.  I have discovered that this specific pattern is starting to get tedious.  Here is a picture of the second napkin that I am working on (the one with the unfinished edges) that shows the filling pattern.

Blog Creation

Today I created this blog so I am better able to share various blackwork projects as I am working them.  I am excited by the prospect of being allowed to share projects that are in the works.  Last month I finished a Lion Napkin to enter in a local event and I am now working on the matching napkin to make the pair.  I am on the last line of border pattern and still have the diamonds to fill in on both napkins.

I priced some evenweave linen yesterday and was surprised how expensive it is.  This is something that might be a little bit of a challenge for future projects as it can be between $60-$90/yd for evenweave linen.  The part I think about is for competitions I may get docked points for using non evenweave linen and it changes the dimensions of the projects so if I am trying to do things like napkins they might be off.  I found a local store that is relatively close that advertise that they sell some evenweave linen so I will take a swatch of linen from the napkins I am working and try to find something comparable in stitches per inch this following weekend.