Worthwhile Wentzler Wednesday

This entry was supposed to be posted  Wednesday at 7:00pm but for some bizarre reason, Blogger was not cooperating with picture posting.  Every time I clicked on the "add an image" option it would just spiral and spiral and spiral without ever accessing my photos.  There didn't seem to be much point in posting without the photos, hence the delay.

I started the day with my usual one hour of stitching before work and stitched one full color blend in Section 6.  This is very slow going because of the careful counting of the confetti placement of color so typical of a Teresa Wentzler.  Just like the tiny pixels of color in a large photograph, these single stitches of many different colors and color combinations make up a whole tapestry.  I had never really thought about it but I guess Teresa Wentzler is to stitchery what pointilist Toulouse Lautrec is to oil painting.

After supper, I managed another two hours of stitching on Section 6.  It may not look like a great deal of progress has been made since the piece was last seen [photo at the left] but I am actually quite pleased with today's accomplishments [photo on the right].  So far as I am concerned, it has been a most worthwhile Wentzler Wednesday.  

I plan to devote Thursday's stitching to this piece as well.  I am going to try for two days on Woodland Angel each week for the time being but I can foresee having to make that three or more days a week if I am to have it stitched, assembled, stuffed and mailed to the West Coast in time for Christmas.  Currently three to four days a week is the average amount of time I devote to The English Band Sampler.   But once that is complete, I should be able to devote the same amount of time to the TW stocking.  I figure that will be sometime in mid to late October.  It is such an odd feeling to have only three pieces in my regular rotation: the sampler, the stocking, and the stitcher's pocket.  I have almost always had five or more projects ranging from ornament to BAP.  So, to have two BAPs and one largish project in the rotation produces the feeling of working on the same old, same old endlessly.  I am beginning to jones for something small just to add a touch of variety and the satisfaction of a finish.  However, I still think it was a good idea to concentrate on finishing up class projects and UFOs/WIPs this year.  To have all these partially  finished pieces hanging about has always seemed very wasteful to me: both of the money invested in classes and materials and in the time already invested in the projects.  Perhaps it was a mistake to start my two 2012 WIPs [The English Band Sampler and The Woodland Angel] while still working on all the other pieces in the sidebar lists.  But somehow I truly believed it would all be doable way back in January.  In any case, I have been intending to start Liam's Christmas Stocking for nearly three years so this "current" WIP can actually be considered an oldie.  And as to The English Band Sampler, I simply fell in love with it when I saw it in SANQ.

And now it is time to make a decision about whether I will add yet another class project to my stash.  I'll be attending a Stitcher's Hideaway this fall and have the option of taking a class or just bringing my own stitching.  One of the class options, The George and Martha Washington Sampler offered at a Sturbridge retreat two years ago, is something I covet.  I will very likely order it in spite of all the other items still on my Class Project sidebar.

Postscript:  since this is being posted on Friday morning rather than on Wednesday, I have a bit more progress to show.  I worked on TWWA Thursday evening and made this additional progress.  I know it must look painfully slow and pitiable but I am quite happy with it.  Any other Wentzler aficionados will understand!  The plan is to concentrate on this over the Labor Day holiday weekend and "turn the heel" to borrow a term from knitters.  That's if I can resist the growing urge to start a Christmas ornament just to have the satisfaction of a finish.  Haven't managed one of those since late July!