I’ve gained weight. Blame the pandemic, blame winter, whatever. But the truth is, I simply love dessert. Every. Single. Day.

And so, what better way to memorialize Frozen Food Day …

than to stitch a lettered tribute to tiny little bowls of Haagen-Dazs chocolate peanut butter ice cream …

followed by the memory of an unusually early Sunday morning breakfast, during which I spotted the waning crescent moon rising hours ahead of the sun.

I sketched it then and there, to hold the memory of its shape and the angle at which it looked back toward the eastern horizon. Then pondered how best to stitch it. The solution finally came with the tiny appliqués I did on Lolo’s birthday patch, only this time I followed the edge of the patch as closely as possible, while varying the stitch length within the patch …

As I stitched, I thought of my Aunt Jean’s instructions on working long-and-short stitch (something that came up in someone’s recent blog post, but I can’t recall whose at the moment). Instructions from 50+ years ago to make stitches regularly irregular that have stood me in good stead ever since.

And I must say, I’m really enjoying doing these teeny tiny appliqués! Surely these Gray Lines Linen samples will be a handy source for future efforts …

Which is a good thing, because I’m just now completing the first week in March …

with a long way to go!