Time to breathe and stitch

Things here are finally beginning to quiet down so I have some time deck the halls with greenery and shiny objects and even get a few stitches in on one project or another.

I may even take a little time to browse the internet to find a reading challenge or two for the upcoming year.

Update a Few Hours later:
Over the past week I have squeezed out some time to get a small hand embroidery piece ready for stitching, I managed to prepare it for the light box so I could trace the pattern onto the fabric.

waiting on the light box

Believe me when I say I have been quite busy to get much of anything else done it would be another two days until I had time to sit and trace the pattern.

traced and ready for stitching

I used a blue micro pen for the tracing since I'll be stitching in blue thread (DMC 3844) as I look at the photo I just posted I can see my hand wasn't too steady, good thing this is a practice piece.

As I  mentioned at the start of this post things have quieted down I made my drop off at the post office and orders are trickling in for tomorrow's shipping so I have time to get in some 'Me' time so I
put in a few stitches, I am loving the blue thread and if you enlarge the photo you can see the fabric

has a white on white design, I wanted to experiment with my ability to trace on a printed fabric as well as stitch on the fabric too.  I mentioned this is a practice piece I didn't use a hoop while stitching, I opted not to use crayon tinting as I had first planned because frankly I didn't have enough time I really wanted to get in the stitching because it relaxes me.

I can work another piece with crayon tinting in the near future, I wanted to see if there was much difference coloring on the white on white fabric. I love Celtic Knot motifs and have used them often in other needlework projects.

This pattern is a free pattern from one of my favorite websites Mary Corbet's Needle and Thread

http://www.needlenthread.com/2010/03/free-hand-embroidery-pattern-celtic.html

I love this site and return often when I am stuck and need a refresher on a stitch, a technique or just to admire her lovely work.  This is the site that has inspired me to once again pick up my needle and get back to hand embroidery.