Weekend Progress Report #51

Somehow I missed a week along the way: the second week of February which has thrown my count off. Next year, I'll simply date the weekend reports rather than numbering them to avoid all such embarrassing errors.

Christmas was lovely but somewhat less than the usual ... some minor ailments laid most of the family low, preventing the usual gathering ... my West Coast son and his family weren't able to come home for Christmas this year. But we reached out and touched the missing by phone ... I had intended to purchase some of that new technology that allows you to videostream your communication in real time on your computer. One set of camera/software for my son and one for us, as a birthday gift to my son in early January. But my son and daughter-in-law beat me to the punch, sending a camera in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, the camera arrived late in the day on Christmas Eve as my husband and I were just heading out to see my parents and siblings so we didn't have time to set it up for Christmas phone calls. But I vow it will be up in time for New Year's Day. Lord, it was lonesome without the grandchildren and, of course, their parents: my son and daughter-in-law. Small children add some very special magic to the holidays. Bi-coastal families aren't my thing at all, at all. As a child growing up in Brooklyn, all my relatives on my Dad's side of the family lived within a ten block area and all my relatives on my mother's side were also fairly close in Queens. Heck, in my earliest days I lived in a two story home that housed four generations of the family and when we finally moved when I was only 13 years old, it was to a home only three city blocks away. Ah, the good old days that are no more!! Still it was fun to talk to my grandson, who at age 3 years and 4 months, had quite a bit to say, more than enough to make up for the somewhat limited conversation of my 18 month old granddaughter who, though very very bright [I am not the least bit biased] was not very talkative. Feeling a little blue without the whole family this year, I only put up three small trees: my wrought iron table top tree in the entryway with stitched ornaments [it looked a little thin since I stripped it of my newly stitched Heartstring Santa and PS Santa and an adorably cheerful Santa with an embedded music chip [received in an exchange this year] to add to my grandchildren's package trim, one small potted live tree which will be wrapped in burlap and buried under a bed of leaves to go dormant till I can plant it in Spring, and one three foot tall artificial tree which I decorated with the Bride's Tree SAL ornaments. Without the grandkids, it didn't seem worthwhile to go whole hog on the decorations ... maybe next year! But my daughter and my youngest son were able to make it over for Christmas lunch and dinner, respectively.

On the stitching front

I am still working on my Quaker Santa amd hope to have him on the tree in a day or two. Then I will have only the angel left to complete and I am confident that I will have her on the tree by the New Year, well before I take my tree down on January 7th, the day after the Feast of Epiphany, aka: The Twelfth Day of Christmas or Little Christmas.

I am blaming this UFO pick-up on Rachel. On her blog, she showed an afghan that she was rescuing from her own UFO pile ... which inspired me to do the same as I was home sick on Wednesday and really couldn't concentrate on any of my higher count linen projects ... the low count of afghan cloth was just my speed and the warmth of an afghan draped over my lap and legs while I stitched was a pure bonus. The design is an old Cross Stitch Sampler magazine chart from 2004, called Jacobean Elegance, alternating two Jacobean motifs, Flower and Bud. After frogging the mistake that had me laying it aside in the first place ... stitching my first bud motif upside down ... I re-started the project in the upper left corner with a flower motif ... carefully marking top, bottom and center of the square.

One note about blogging:

I am always amazed/amused/confounded at what generates comment and what doesn't. Since I write this blog primarily to replace my old handwritten stitching journals ... only with photos ... I write about what interests me. And most of what interests me does not interest the average blog reader ... I rarely have more than three or four comments to a post [many of my posts pass without any comment] even when the Stats feature indicates that there have been 50, 60 or 70 pageviews in the course of a day. So, it was a bit of a surprise to see seven comments on the stash budget post. I tend to be a bit of a statistician. I like tracking trends, especially those that directly affect me and my interests. I have gotten used to the fact that most people don't think this way ... indeed, most people think me a little weird or obsessive because I do think this way. It was a pleasant change to find affirmation in those comments. Thanks, friends!