Well, well, well! Happy Friday!

I was going to share a book review with you today, but I decided it would be hardly fair to the author, since photo editing isn’t happening at the moment.

Only five more days until Eye #2! Eye #1 is doing great – I can’t even imagine how wonderful it will be with both eyes equalized.

Even though detail work is put aside for the moment, other things are getting done…

For one thing, some of my Linen Fabric Sampler Packs are all bound up and packaged, ready to go!

If you missed out on those earlier, or you’ve recently discovered the wonders of linen for embroidery fabric, these sample packs contain four 12″ square cuts of different types of fine linen suitable for hand embroidery, with their names, characteristics, suggestions for use, and tips for preparing linen for embroidery.

Right now, I offer a sampler pack of natural-colored linens and a sampler pack of white linen. You can read about the natural linen sample pack here, and the white linen sampler pack here.

You’ll find both of them available here.

A while back, I mentioned all these twists of floche that slowly morphed from full hanks into 1/3-hank twists.

It’s surprising how long it takes to break down hanks of thread into more manageable twists. Anna did most of the work on those, but I’ve gotten pretty adept at labeling them now. There’s a trick to getting those tags on in a quick and efficient way… and it doesn’t require good eyesight to do it.

Woohoo! The floche is finished! Well… almost. There are a couple colors that are backordered, so we’re waiting on them. August is over, so hopefully the supply chain from France will miraculously reboot. We shall see!

Last year, I wrote about weighing beads for embroidery kits.

All the beads for the Mini Sampler Stocking kits are weighed and ready. I’m just waiting on One More Thread (a DMC perle cotton) for those kits. This round of kits will include absolutely everything you need to make the stockings as pictured, including the cotton threads, the metallic threads, the perle cottons for the finishing, the fabric, the felt, the stabilizer, and all the beads. You won’t have to source a thing!

But I’m short one DMC thread for those. Fingers crossed it will be in the States again soon.

You can read about the Mini Sampler Stockings here. I’m also taking advanced notice on those, for anyone who wants a kit. Just drop me a line requesting advanced notice.

I’ve also been packaging the beads for Jacobean Sea. Yay! Those kits are not coming out imminently (they might not even make it out this year), but the supplies are rolling in. And bead-weighing being a suitable pastime at the moment, I’m having fun making up the tiny packs of beads.

The Big Event of the week in my studio actually took place behind the studio.

My studio is on a property lined on its south perimeter by the Union Pacific railroad, which passes some fifty feet outside my back window. I love the trains, even if they are a bit close here at work. When you’ve pretty much grown up with the noise of their passage – whether close by or in the distance – you get used to it. When it’s missing, you miss it!

Yesterday, Big Boy – Union Pacific’s steam engine #4014 – went through on his return journey home. While I wasn’t able to take any magnificent photos, I did take a video on my phone. I posted that on my Facebook page, if you want to hop over there to see the video.

If you like steam trains and such, I think this video of Big Boy on YouTube is worth watching. It’s such a fascinating engine!

Something you probably didn’t know about me: I’ve always had a deep yearning to go on a railroad journey on an older (well-kept or refurbished) train. While most people probably dream of tropical beaches and exotic islands as their ideal get-away, my ideal involves either a train journey on something akin to the Orient Express (ok, maybe not that elaborate!) or a rocky, craggy coast under a massive stormy sky with a lighthouse close by. I’ve done the latter; I will probably never do the former. But I like keeping up with the world of steam trains!

Completely non-embroidery related, I know.

That’s what’s up this week in the studio. I’ll keep you posted on Eye #2 next week!

Have a wonderful weekend!