ingenious husband turns wife into happy stitcher

And this is not the only headline for this week! After 86 hours of work, of which I spent the last 20-odd backstitching (and literally working my middle finger to the bone, so I had to use plasters to be able to finish the job on time), I finally managed to send the latest magazine commission back yesterday - hurrah!

So, today I`m a lady of leisure - which means I took the Dream A Little Dream sampler out again and let me tell you, words cannot describe how relaxed I feel while stitching it: the fabric`s light, the cross stitches are full, not a single backstitch in sight and I can pick it up/put it down whenever I feel like it, without having to make a note of the exact time.

Not that this is such a big deal, mind you, but it started to bug me a bit, especially at the weekends, when (sod`s law) as soon as I took a note of the time and picked up my stitching, I was dragged away and had no idea how long I`d been away looking for a toy or a spanner. Anyway, long story short, my lovely Hubby devised me a gadget to make my life easier: it`s an old wall clock that we never used, to which he added a switch and now all I have to do is flick the switch every time I start stitching and turn it off when I stop (a bit like a chess clock, just bigger, lol!).

Looks like I`ve been stitching for 4 hours - time for a cuppa!

Then last night I started to whinge again because I found the sorting cards that came with the DALD kit too clumsy for frequent colour changes - so my knight in shining work clothes rushed to my aid again and made this sorter for me out of some scrap wood and a (sadly, empty) chocolate box:

I just cut up the sorting cards and put the corresponding strips into the wee boxes

Now whenever I need a new colour, I just pick up the right one and off I go. I`m so much faster and, therefore, more productive this way - well, you have to trust me on this because I only started to use the new method this morning so you`ll not see too much progress yet:

I`ve done a bit above the black cat and some flowers in the bottom middle

And, as I`m writing this, postie`s just turned up with the next commission project so I`m afraid my joy over this clever thread sorting was short-lived - or, to be precise, my enjoyment of it. The poor sampler has hardly resurfaced from the cupboard but thanks to DH`s ingenuity, now at least I know that I`m going to fly with it the next time I pick it up! ;)