Weekend Progress Report, Feb 6, 2011

Well, Mother Nature continues to give me additional stitching time ... three more snow days this week, or more precisely, two ice days and one snow day. This gave me time to make some progress on my various goals for the month.

Sewing finishes: I did a bit of assembly-line ornament finishing Friday as part of my Finish-It February program. My husband insists that I give him credit for all his help, so here goes: thank you, Bill for holding the end of some floss for all of thirty seconds [albeit, the process was repeated three times] while I, at the other end, used my hand drill to make twisted cord. Yeah, I think that about covers his contribution. But, seriously, he is very patient with my stitching obsession. Only last evening, he murmered in a slightly bewildered tone, " I think you'd do that 18 hours a day if you could." Well, almost ... but even I have to allow time for bathing, eating, reading, exercising, working, housekeeping ... preferbly in that order.

First, The Victoria Sampler State Heart: Connecticut, which was my Day 7 Project for the Crazy January Challenge. This went up immediately on my wrought iron tabletop tree ... in time for Valentine's Day. Though I live in NY, I stitched this lovely little bit of out-of-state frippery as a souvenir of three Stitcher's Hideaway Retreats in Mystic, Ct. I know I have raved about these retreats before, but it can't be said often enough how well run and enjoyable these events are ... kudos to Sue Donnelly.

Second, Aury's 2010 Red, White and Blue Quaker Heart. Another piece that went onto the Valentine's Day ornament tree, though I will pull it out again for the May/June/July patriotic holidays.

Third, Wild Heart's Designs' Fire Station [for the Indy 2006 Town Square SAL]. This was my December 2010 piece for the SAL, the stitching finished up in January and the assembly/sewing finish in February. I really do know how to drag a small project out!

Also a crafting almost-finish: a frame I have customized for one of my mermaid stitching finishes from last year ... I figure what with the high cost of framing, I should try my hand at framing my more casual pieces myself ... the heirloom pieces will still go to the professionals, but the day to day home decor will become do-it-yourself projects. The frame was painted a peachy sand color and decorated with oyster shell fragments, polished by the waters of the Chesapeake Bay which I gathered during two recent Western Shore [Md] vacations. I am thinking of giving the piece a high shine with multiple coats of clear varnish ... perhaps even painting in some appropriate quote from Edgar Allen Poe or TS Eliot or Homer between layers of varnish to give the words the appearance of floating between sandy bottom and watery surface ... I'll have to get out my handy-dandy Bartlett's Quotations and look up mermaids to see what I come up with.

And Some Stitching:

Crazy January Challenge, Day 2 Project: Dragon Dreams' The Ice Dragon's Kingdom . Got a bit more of the border done ... not the most exciting part of the project, to be sure ... but I enjoy watching the piece take shape in my hands. I am stitching a bit of the picture that overlaps the border ... it helps to keep my count accurate and to avoid the disappointment of stitching areas that don't meet up properly. Rachel, with whom I am doing a very casual SAL on this piece, chose a different route ... starting dead center and working outward.

All in all, a very satisfying and productive stitching week ... my Crazy January Challenge, Day 1 Project finish may be seen on the Feb. 3 [Thursday] post ... and that project was the sole focus through the early part of the week.