Late-Winter Blahs

At least, that's my excuse for neglecting this blog and more active pursuits!  Instead, I've been watching past seasons of Dexter on-demand on Showtime with my husband and reading the next book in the "Yada Yada Prayer Group" series by Neta Jackson.   The weather has continued to be either very cold (temps in the teens in the mornings) or very damp and dreary, as you can see from the above photo, and it's gotten me feeling very lazy and non-productive, beyond the necessary cooking, cleaning,  laundry, and hours at the library.  My lower back has been giving me some grief as well, despite my Monday yoga class and my other feeble attempts to alleviate it with exercise and diet.  I hate to say it, but the back pain and dreary weather combined make me feel old, a feeling I'm trying to fight!

One giant (and more uplifting) task we've been able to cross off our list is booking a 20th anniversary trip to Florence and Tuscany with the help of this Rick Steves guidebook:

 We carefully chose dates that would coincide with my parents' schedule, as they will be coming here to hold down the fort while the DH and I are away, then booked the plane tickets.  After hours of poring through this book and researching online, we have reservations at a lovely little Bed & Breakfast that is centrally located in Florence, so we can see most of the sights on foot, and also reserved one night in Siena at the Pensione Palazzo Ravizza.  We even booked a tour of some vineyards in the Chianti region one of the days, so most all of the trip is planned ahead.  It is exciting, but a little daunting, to imagine a week away, and all the things I still need to get done before we go!

One of those things is a piece of art for our next FANE show at the Mahopac Library.  We decided as a group that this year our pieces would be comprised of more than one part (but these parts would fit together into a 14" square) and that they would be inspired by the lines of a poem or song.  After much thought and deliberation, I came up with the opening lines of one of my favorite poems, "Nothing Gold Can Stay," by Robert Frost.  I drew a sketch of how I hoped this piece of fiber art would turn out and now I'm trying to make it happen.  For some reason, each step has been a bit of a struggle so far.  I'm working with tulle, yarn, and a water-soluble stabilizer to create a foundation of tree branches to which I'm hand stitching some tiny leaves.  I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the results, and of course, it's very slow going, but here's a sneak peek:

It's supposed to be completed by March 7th, but I could possibly stretch it later into March if necessary. The problem with doing that is it only delays my progress on the next piece, due in early April!  Better finish this post and get in a little more stitching (and laundry and dinner prep) before I have to get off to my monthly scheduled Sunday afternoon at the library!