Assessing August Goals, Setting September Goals

Slow healing from cataract surgery sabotaged things somewhat this month but I did manage to get a relatively respectable amount of stitching done.

AUGUST GOALS

Complete at least five sewing finishes.  No.

Continue work on Jacobean Elegance Afghan.  I started work on another block

Finish Prairie Schooler Year Round for July and August..  Finished July and decided to skip August's rather boring entry.

Finish Town Square series  The Ice Cream Shop.  NO.

Finish Workbasket's Quaker Squirrel and start on the Quaker Bear.  NO.

Continue work on July starts.  Finished Sue Donnelly's Best Ships Sampler.  And finished two charts and started a third from the Prairie Schooler Primitive Americana leaflet.


SEPTEMBER GOALS

Complete at least five sewing finishes.
Continue work on Jacobean Elegance afghan.
Stitch Prairie Schooler Year Round for September.
Finish woek on Workbasket's Quaker Squirrel and start on the Quaker Bear.
Finish flea market pillow using Prairie Schooler's Primitive Americana leaflet designs.
Find and order Teresa Wentzler's Woodland Santa stocking.

Assessing July Gials, Setting Augusr Goals

My goals for July were modest.  But sometimes I just break free and make a whole bunch of new starts.

July Goals

Complete at least five sewing finishes.  No

Continue work on Jacobean Elegance Afghan.  No

Finish Prairie Schooler Year Round for July.  Started but umfinished

Finish Town Square series The ABCedarium: finished 7-9

Finish Workbasket's Quaker Squirrel.  No

Off Goal Stitching in July

CEC's The Swimming Instructor ... nearly done
Diane Herrman's Making Waves ... good prpgress during retreat
Sue Donnelly's 2015 souvenir small Making Waves in Sturbridge... finished
Morning Glory Needleworks' heart buttoned pin cushion ... more than 3/4 done.

August Goals

Complete at least five sewing finishes.

Continue work on Jacobean Elegance Afghan.

Finish Prairie Schooler Year Round for July and August..

Finish Town Square series  The Ice Cream Shop

Finish Workbasket's Quaker Squirrel and start on the Quaker Bear.

Continue woek on Jult starts.

Assessing June Goals and Setting July Goals

My goals for June were relatively modest, as will be my goals for July as well.

June Goals

• Complete at least five Sewing Finishes: I didn't get to this but with 4 weeks vacation on the horizon I anticipate catching up on quite a lot of the sewing finishes.
• Continue work on The Jacobean Elegance Afghan.  Technically, I did resume work on this but only with a few hours of stitching this morning.  Oddly enough, working on this afghan will probably be a good summer project since it'll keep my arthritic knees warm in an air-conditioned room.
• Finish M Designs Name Tree: Sean & PS Year Round: June.  Finished the PS June ear round.
• Start work on Workbasket's Quaker Squirrel.I have completed the central medallion.
• Off-goal stitching:  Finished Cross Eyed Cricket's Ice Cream Carrot/Cone and started Town Square series Abecedarium [R&R Reproductions] 

July Goals

Complete at least five sewing finishes.

Continue work on Jacobean Elegance Afghan.

Finish Prairie Schooler Year Round for July.

Finish Town Square series The ABCedarium.

Finish Workbasket's Quaker Squirrel.

Assessing April Goals, Setting May Goals

I have been having all sorts of issues these past five or six weeks.

The office workload has nearly tripled as we come to the sacrament "season", prep for registration for 2015-16, prepare budgets, take inventory and do all the things that make April and May so very crazy.

Added to that, I have had all sorts of issues with my eyes.  Starting tomorrow, I embark on a series of laser surgeries to repair blood vessels and remove cataracts.  None of this is life threatening or even life altering [except in a good way] but it has diverted my focus from stitching and stitching related activities.  I am way behind on giveaways, blogging and actual stitching.

In fact, all I managed to complete recently are

* Workbasket's Quaker Bat
* The Town Square series' Sandie's Sweet  Shop

I started Prairie Schooler's Year Round for April but still have a few hours worth of stitching to do before completing it.

I don't anticipate getting back into my routines fully much before June.  I expect May will be as hectic as April has been, if not more so.

So, my goal for May is to take things as they come, seeking to carve out a little time for stitching here and there.  My usual elaborate plans and rotations just won't be workable this coming month.  However, I do expect that once all my eye surgeries are done, I'll enjoy such an improvement that I'll be back to my old speed.  At present, I am a s...l...o...w stitcher, running at tortoise like speed.

Assessing March Goals and Setting April Goals

MARCH GOALS: Even though I have occasionally broken my own pattern, rotation stitching is working for me.

Monday & Tuesday : Jacobean Elegance Afghan   Six and a half out of 20 blocks completed.

Wednesday: Prairie Schooler Year Round: March  [DONE], Sean's Name Tree ornament from M Designs  the "e"s are stitched   and Sandi's Sweet Shop in The Town Square series [Kitted up but not started].  

Thursday:   Workbasket's Quaker Bat and Quaker Squirrel.  Quaker Bat is done.

Friday: Sewing Finishes: 8 ornaments.

Saturday & Sunday: get out of the stitching chair and do a wide variety of things: walk, exercise, antique, reorganize, put the garden to bed for the winter, feed and observe the backyard birds, read, visit friends and relatives, try a new restaurant, experiment with the recipes I have been downloading, host a high tea ... whatever.    Not much going on, just rain, rain and more rain.

APRIL GOALS:  I'll be continuing much the same rotation.

Monday & Tuesday: Jacobean Elegance Afghan

Wednesday: Prairie Schooler Year Round: April, Sean's Name Tree ornament from M Designs and Sandi's Sweet Shop in The Town Square series.

Thursday:   Workbasket's  Quaker Squirrel.

Friday: Sewing Finishes

Saturday & Sunday: get out of the stitching chair and do a wide variety of things: walk, exercise, antique, reorganize, put the garden to bed for the winter, feed and observe the backyard birds, read, visit friends and relatives, try a new restaurant, experiment with the recipes I have been downloading, host a high tea ... whatever.

Assessing February Goals, Setting March Goals

FEBRUARY GOALS: Even though I have occasionally broken my own pattern, rotation stitching is working for me.

Monday: Jacobean Elegance Afghan [Re-started]

Tuesday: Prairie Schooler Year Round: February  [DONE], Sean's Name Tree ornament from M Designs [ re-started] and Sandi's Sweet Shop in The Town Square series [Kitted up but not started].  Also, finish the Mint Tea Towel from last month's rotation [DONE].

Wednesday:   Workbasket's Quaker Owl  [DONE] and Bat [Not Done]

Thursday:  Finish Mystic Smalls Tuffet and resume work on Victoria Sampler's Sturbridge Box. [Not Done]

Friday: Sewing Finishes  [Not yet.]

Saturday & Sunday: get out of the stitching chair and do a wide variety of things: walk, exercise, antique, reorganize, put the garden to bed for the winter, feed and observe the backyard birds, read, visit friends and relatives, try a new restaurant, experiment with the recipes I have been downloading, host a high tea ... whatever.  The weather has been far too cold with temperatures in the single digits and the wind chill bringing the real feel down to 10 or 25 below.  The only excursions this month have been the essential appointments to doctors ... and, oh yes, and much needed haircut.  Otherwise, I have happily settled in my cozy stitching chair for hours at a time, either stitching or reading.
Monthly Stitching: February entry from the Prairie Schooler Year Round leaflet  [DONE] and one more Town Square ornament.  These will be my smalls for all the Tuesdays this month.  

MARCH GOALS:  I'll be continuing much the same rotation.

Monday: Jacobean Elegance Afghan

Tuesday: Prairie Schooler Year Round: March, Sean's Name Tree ornament from M Designs and Sandi's Sweet Shop in The Town Square series.

Wednesday:   Workbasket's Quaker Bat.  Workbasket's  Quaker Squirrel.

Thursday:  Finish Mystic Smalls Tuffet and resume work on Victoria Sampler's Sturbridge Box.

Friday: Sewing Finishes

Saturday & Sunday: get out of the stitching chair and do a wide variety of things: walk, exercise, antique, reorganize, put the garden to bed for the winter, feed and observe the backyard birds, read, visit friends and relatives, try a new restaurant, experiment with the recipes I have been downloading, host a high tea ... whatever.
Monthly Stitching: March entry from the Prairie Schooler Year Round leaflet  and one more Town Square ornament.  These will be my smalls for all the Tuesdays this month.  In the unlikely event I finish both before month's end, I'll pull my Fertile Circles Needle Book from the UFO basket.

Assessing January Goals, Setting February Goals

JANUARY GOALS: I added a few charts to the finished column this month.

Monday: The English Band Sampler DONE, DONE, DONE!   Need I say more?

Tuesday: Cross My Heart's Mint Tea Towel, M Design's Sean Name Tree Ornament and the Prairie Schooler Year Round: January.  Stalled on the Tea Towel.  I guess  had my fill of confetti and fractional stitches and never did get to the name tree ornament.  The PS piece is done.

Wednesday: Dragon Dreams' Dragon of The Summer Sky  DONE ! DONE! DONE!

Thursday: Victoria Samplers' Mystic Smalls.  I have completed the scissor fob and am working on the tuffet.  It is the tuffet that is stalling me.  My eyes are not as sharp as they used to be given a cataract and a touch of glaucoma.  I don't seem to be able to manage the blanket stitch so essential to hardangar on a 36ct linen anymore.  I will hang this up for a while:  till warmer weather when I will be able to stitch in a sunlit back yard rather than the artificial light of my living room.

Friday: Sewing Finishes

Saturday & Sunday: get out of the stitching chair and do a wide variety of things: walk, exercise, antique, reorganize, put the garden to bed for the winter, feed and observe the backyard birds, read, visit friends and relatives, try a new restaurant, experiment with the recipes I have been downloading, host a high tea ... whatever.  This month, my weekend activities included an Anniversary Weekend Getaway, browsing in antique and collectible shops of Cold Spring, running a mini-retreat for First Confession, and, less happily, attending the wake and funeral of one of my loyal volunteers.   I am gradually changing from being something of a hermit to being a bit more social.  I'll never be the  life of the party.  I am just not made that way.  But I was in danger of becoming a total recluse, which was hardly a healthy way to live.  I realize many of my weekend activities were work related but that's just the way it goes this time of year.  Work-related or not, it still means getting out of the office/classroom/home comfort zone, interacting with other human beings in a variety of ways ... so that's something.
Monthly Stitching: January entry from the Prairie Schooler Year Round leaflet and one more Town Square ornament.  The Prairie Schooler piece is DONE, as noted above, and I have kitted up Sandi's Sweet Shoppe from the Town Square series.

Crochet:  Liam's Crib Blanket is DONE.

That makes a total of   5  finishes this month.  I am one very satisfied stitcher.

FEBRUARY GOALS: Even though I have occasionally broken my own pattern, rotation stitching is working for me, so I'll be carrying on with it.  This month, I'll be starting a new rotation

Monday: Jacobean Elegance Afghan

Tuesday: Prairie Schooler Year Round: February and Sandi's Sweet Shop in The Town Square series.

Wednesday:   Workbasket's Quaker Owl

Thursday:  Resume work on Victoria Sampler's Sturbridge Box.

Friday: Sewing Finishes

Saturday & Sunday: get out of the stitching chair and do a wide variety of things: walk, exercise, antique, reorganize, put the garden to bed for the winter, feed and observe the backyard birds, read, visit friends and relatives, try a new restaurant, experiment with the recipes I have been downloading, host a high tea ... whatever.
Monthly Stitching: February entry from the Prairie Schooler Year Round leaflet and one more Town Square ornament.  These will be my smalls for all the Tuesdays this month.  In the unlikely event I finish both before month's end, I'll pull my Fertile Circles Needle Book from the UFO basket.

Assessing December Goals, Setting January Goals

DECEMBER GOALS:  Follow through on the plans for a rotation.  Generally speaking, I was able to stick to the rotation plan and made reasonable progress on the goals listed.  

Monday: The English Band Sampler.  I made reasonably good progress on Band 7, several bouts of frogging notwithstanding.  This piece is very close to a finish.

Tuesday:  Mint & Sage tea towels.  Finished the Sage tea towel.

Wednesday: The Dragon of the Summer Sky  Made excellent progress on this piece and expect to finish it in January

Thursday: Mystic Smalls  Finished the needle book and started the scissor fob.  Only the biscornu remains in this set.

Friday: Sewing Finishes.  Alas, none.
Saturday & Sunday: get out of the stitching chair and do a wide variety of things: walk, exercise, antique, reorganize, put the garden to bed for the winter, feed and observe the backyard birds, read, visit friends and relatives, try a new restaurant, experiment with the recipes I have been downloading, host a high tea ... whatever.  Some recipe testing and some decluttering and organizing of closets.  Life can't be all about stitching.

JANUARY GOALS: Continue working with a rotation.  This seems to be working well for me  I am rather close to finishing some of the larger projects listed below.  Wouldn't it be grand to start off the year with three or four finishes?

Monday: The English Band Sampler
Tuesday: Cross My Heart's Mint Tea Towel
Wednesday: Dragon Dreams' Dragon of The Summer Sky
Thursday: Victoria Samplers' Mystic Smalls

Friday: Sewing Finishes

Saturday & Sunday: get out of the stitching chair and do a wide variety of things: walk, exercise, antique, reorganize, put the garden to bed for the winter, feed and observe the backyard birds, read, visit friends and relatives, try a new restaurant, experiment with the recipes I have been downloading, host a high tea ... whatever.
Monthly Stitching: January entry from the Prairie Schooler Year Round leaflet and one more Town Square ornament.

Assessing November Goals, Setting December Goals

NOVEMBER GOALS: I mentioned an odd slump in a post midway through the month, one in which I only wanted to stitch the most brainlessly simple pieces.  It had its effect on November progress.
Christmas Gifts: Stitch a pair of tea towels, using the charts for Mint and Sage.  No.
Current BAP:  Work on Piper's stocking. No.

UFO/Class Project:  Finally finish The English Band Sampler and then pick up work on The Mystic Smalls projects.  No. though I did do a little work on the sampler.

Town Square SAL:  Stitch The Sweet Shop or The Knit Shop.  I stitched The Pet Store, Flocking To Knit and The Fishmonger's Shop.

New Start:  Start The Dragon of the Summer Sky.   This will be my last Dragon Dreams chart from stash, making the 6th chart of Jennifer's [not counting many, many freebies] that I have stitched.  The next series that I will work on will be Workbasket's Quaker Animals.  I have quite a few of those in stash.  No.  Instead, I stitched a much smaller piece, the Prairie Schooler November ornament [Turkey] from the  Year Round leaflet.

Sewing Finishes: Try to get another three or four projects completed.  I want to concentrate on gift totes and wall hangings this month.   If I catch up on the totes and wall hangings, I'll move on to throw pillows.  It all depends on how long my mood for finishing lasts.  I got a real rush last month as I watched the finishes stack up.

DECEMBER GOALS:  Follow through on the plans for a rotation.

Monday: The English Band Sampler

Tuesday: Mint & Sage tea towels.

Wednesday: The Dragon of the Summer Sky

Thursday: Mystic Smalls

Friday: Sewing Finishes

Saturday & Sunday: get out of the stitching chair and do a wide variety of things: walk, exercise, antique, reorganize, put the garden to bed for the winter, feed and observe the backyard birds, read, visit friends and relatives, try a new restaurant, experiment with the recipes I have been downloading, host a high tea ... whatever.

Assessing October Goals/ Setting November Goals

October was a much better month for finishing than for stitching.  The Stitcher's Hideaway Kindred Spirits retreat early in the month was the scene of most of the stitching.   In fact, with the exception of The Gourmet Shop from the Town Square series, what little stitching I did throughout the rest of the month was all related one way or another to the Stitcher's Hideaway.  I stitched the Brightneedle bonus chart of a scissor fob,  Sue Donnelly's complimentary Kindred Spirits pin pillow and the Victoria Sampler Maine heart which was one of the giveaways at the retreat.

OCTOBER GOALS:
Christmas Gifts: Stitch a pair of tea towels, using the charts for Mint and Sage.  I didn't get to this.   My finishing frenzy ate up quite a bit of stitching time.
Current BAP:  Work on Piper's stocking.   No progress.   Again, finishing took precedence this month.

UFO/Class Project:  Finish The English Band Sampler and pick up work on The Mystic Smalls projects. Still languishing sadly.  

Town Square SAL:  Stitch The Gourmet Shop.  Done.

New Start:  Start work on The Dragon of the Summer Sky.  Most of the new starts were related to the retreat: Brightneedle's Kindred Spirits Stitching Journal was started, the bonus kit of a scissor fob was completed and Sue Donnelly's Kindred Spirits pin pillow was done.   But I have yet to finish the first page of the stitching journal.  The dragon is deferred to November.  Oddly enough, I stitched The Dragon of the Winter Moon during the summer and will by stitching The Dragon of the Summer Sky in the winter.  I tend to mix things up that way.

Sewing Finishes: Try to get another three or four projects completed.  I finally got around to doing some sewing and assembly finishes completing a grand total of  25 1/2  this month.  I guess I am making up for all the months when I did no finishing at all.
Pin Pillows:  Primitive Needle's By the Light of the Moon, Dragon Dreams' Here Be Dragons, Sue Donelly's Kindred Spirits.
Scissor Fobs: Brightneedle's bonus class kit
Ornaments:  9 Town Square ornaments, 2 Halloween ornaments, 4 Heart ornaments, 6 Trilogy Spring ornaments
Totes:  Pineberry Lane's Mehitabel's Redwork Sampler needs handles and a lining.  Almost done but not quite there yet.


NOVEMBER GOALS: With the Veteran's Day holiday and the Thanksgiving Day holiday making for a few more days off than usual this month, I expect to have some extra stitching time.  With any luck, I'll be able to extend the finishing frenzy and still catch up with the usual stitching rotation.
Christmas Gifts: Stitch a pair of tea towels, using the charts for Mint and Sage.
Current BAP:  Work on Piper's stocking.

UFO/Class Project:  Finally finish The English Band Sampler and then pick up work on The Mystic Smalls projects. 

Town Square SAL:  Stitch The Sweet Shop or The Knit Shop.

New Start:  Start The Dragon of the Summer Sky.   This will be my last Dragon Dreams chart from stash, making the 6th chart of Jennifer's [not counting many, many freebies] that I have stitched.  The next series that I will work on will be Workbasket's Quaker Animals.  I have quite a few of those in stash.

Sewing Finishes: Try to get another three or four projects completed.  I want to concentrate on gift totes and wall hangings this month.   If I catch up on the totes and wall hangings, I'll move on to throw pillows.  It all depends on how long my mood for finishing lasts.  I got a real rush last month as I watched the finishes stack up.

Assessing September Goals, Setting October Goals

The school year began with a bang [more like an explosion], miscommunication and misdirection on the part of the archdiocese creating all sorts of problems for my program.  It's been a tense month, one in which the soothing qualities of stitching have been needed very badly indeed.  Alas, there simply wasn't enough time.  I never get as much stitching done as I hope but this month was a little more than usually disappointing.  To complicate matters, half of what I did stitch had to be frogged.  It just wasn't a good month for stitching.

SEPTEMBER GOALS:
Christmas Gifts: Stitch another pair of tea towels, using the charts for Mint and Sage.  No
Current BAP:  Work on Piper's stocking. No

UFO/Class Project:  Finish work on The English Band Sampler. No, not even close.  See photo below.

Town Square SAL:  Stitch The Sweet Shop No and The Quilt Shop. Yes

New Start:   Finish Hazel's bib.  Finished 9/3/14.  Start work on The Dragon of the Summer Sky.  No.

Sewing Finishes: Try to get another three or four projects completed. No.
Off-goal project: one crocheted crib blanket.



Here's hoping that October will be a much better month.  Most of my goals will be repeats of last month's goals.  Though if time permits, I'd like to pick up a Halloween or Thanksgiving piece

OCTOBER GOALS:
Christmas Gifts: Stitch a pair of tea towels, using the charts for Mint and Sage.
Current BAP:  Work on Piper's stocking.

UFO/Class Project:  Finish The English Band Sampler and pick up work on The Mystic Smalls projects. 

Town Square SAL:  Stitch The Sweet Shop.

New Start:  Start work on The Dragon of the Summer Sky.   This will be my last Dragon Dreams chart from stash, making the 6th chart of Jennifer's [not counting freebies] that I have stitched.  The next series that I will work on will be Workbasket's Quaker Animals.  I have quite a few of those in stash.

Sewing Finishes: Try to get another three or four projects completed.

There has been some progress on The English Band Sampler but not nearly as much as I had hoped.  I still need to do some Rhodes Squares and some back stitched curlicues on the left and a whole lot of stitching on the right.  And I still have to frog out the side spiral border as well as a piece of the bottom dark blue border.  I managed to get a few long slip knots formed on the underside which will probably show through the linen when the piece is framed.  I need to frog about two inches of the bottom border and restitch it so that everything is tucked in nicely.  Therefore, I am not sure the sampler will be finished in October even if I stitch on it exclusively.  This piece is deceptively complex.  Individual motifs can take as much as 6-8 hours each.  I usually can manage one hour of stitching a day, sometimes two.  And I do have a few other projects I would like to be getting on with as well.  It's not looking good for an October finish, but I am reasonably certain I can finish it in 2014.  I hope to cross it off my WIPs list in the sidebar.  It would be so nice to start 2015 with at least one less BAP on my list.

Assessing August Goals; Setting September Goals

Most of this month, I was on summer break.  I gardened, stitched, did some DIY projects, traveled and rested.  Predictably, I got less done on the stitching front than I had planned.  Still, progress is progress, however meager.

AUGUST GOALS: 
Current BAP:  Ease back into stitching Piper's stocking.  Again, not happening.  I will finish the sampler and then concentrate on this.

UFO/Class Project:  Finish work on The English Band Sampler.  I am well on my way to finishing Band 7.

Town Square SAL:  Stitch The Sweet Shop.  This didn't happen.

New Start:   Continue work on Dragon Dreams' Dragon of the Winter Moon.  Finished August 10.  If possible, start work on The Dragon of the Summer Sky.  Since I don't have the proper linen for the dragon, for my July new start I  stitched two tea towel that I will be using as gifts.

Sewing Finishes: Try to get another three or four projects completed.   NO.
Off Goal Stitching: And, though it wasn't on the goals list, I crocheted a crib blanket for my newest grand niece.  And  I began stitching a personalized bib.

SEPTEMBER GOALS:
Christmas Gifts: Stitch another pair of tea towels, using the chart for Cumin.
Current BAP:  Work on Piper's stocking.

UFO/Class Project:  Finish work on The English Band Sampler. 

Town Square SAL:  Stitch The Sweet Shop.

New Start:   Start work on The Dragon of the Summer Sky.  Also, finish Hazel's bib.

Sewing Finishes: Try to get another three or four projects completed.

Assessing July Goals, Setting August Goals

JULY GOALS: I worked until July 24 and then began my summer recess which will last till August 25.   Most of the recess will be a stay-cation, with plenty of time for DIY projects and stitching and gardening.   With most of the last week in July graced with extra stitching time, I did manage to meet most of my goals.  Only the sewing and finishing fell short.

 Current BAP:  I am going to ignore this category again this month ... at least until I get through with the band sampler.  Ignoring away.   Hard to fail to meet this goal.

UFO/Class Project:  Continue work on The English Band Sampler.   Finished Band 6 and started Band 7.

Town Square SAL:  Finish Cafe du Monde.   Stitch the The Silversmith.  Started 7/26 and finished 7/30.

New Start:   Start Dragon Dreams' Dragon of the Winter Moon.   Started 7/7.  I am well on my way to a finish.  This has been one of those addictive stitches: the sort that you don't want to put down to do mundane things like eat or sleep.

Sewing Finishes: Try to get three or four projects completed.  One ornament sewn up and one tote half done.

AUGUST GOALS: Even though I am on summer recess and have more leisure time, I want to keep my goals list modest to allow more time for enjoying the outdoors and for working on the house and garden.
Current BAP:  Ease back into stitching Piper's stocking.

UFO/Class Project:  Finish work on The English Band Sampler. 

Town Square SAL:  Stitch The Sweet Shop.

New Start:   Continue work on Dragon Dreams' Dragon of the Winter Moon.  If possible, start work on The Dragon of the Summer Sky.

Sewing Finishes: Try to get another three or four projects completed.

Assessing June Goals and Setting July Goals

JUNE GOALS: I expected June to be relatively placid but it turned out a little differently.  Still plenty of activity at work, including more late nights than expected.  More work in the garden and consequently less stitching time.  
Current BAP:  I am going to ignore this category this month ... it just hasn't been happening for me these past few months, anyway.  Ignoring away, as planned.
UFO/Class Project:  Continue to slog along on The English Band Sampler, a little bit at a time ... which seems to be the only way I can tolerate it now.  I started it two years ago with such enthusiasm but it has simply gone on too, too long.  Resumed stitching this piece  6/14/14 and have managed to finish 45 more of the eyeleys and a comparable number of satin stitches on Band 6.

Town Square SAL: Stitch the Cafe du Monde.  Started 6/9/14; I am a little more than 2/3rds finished with this Town Square chart.  This one is going more slowly because there are frequent color changes to make up the subtle shading changes in roof, walls and windows.

New Start:  Finish Dragon Dream's The Dragon Tea Party [Finished 6/8/14] and start Dragon Dreams'  Here Be Dragons.   This pamphlet has two charts and I hope to complete both this month.  [Started Compass Rose Dragon 6/12/14 and finished 6/14/14.  Started Here Be Dragons on 6/16 and finished it on 6/28/14. ]  

Sewing Finishes: Try to get three or four projects completed.  Didn't get to this yet.



JULY GOALS: Things are settling down a bit but I want to keep my goals list modest to allow more time for enjoying the outdoors and for working on the house and garden.
Current BAP:  I am going to ignore this category again this month ... at least until I get through with the band sampler.

UFO/Class Project:  Continue work on The English Band Sampler. 

Town Square SAL:  Finish Cafe du Monde.   Stitch the The Silversmith.

New Start:   Start Dragon Dreams' Dragon of the Winter Moon.

Sewing Finishes: Try to get three or four projects completed.

Assessing May Goals, Setting June Goals

MAY GOALS: I kept the goals list fairly brief this month since a lot was happening in the parish in May: First Communions, Confirmation, May Crowning, Final Exams, Progress Reports, Inventory and Ordering for next year, etc.   Even though two of the items are still in the red, I am pleased with what I have accomplished.  The various new starts have restored my joy in stitching and added some much needed variety to my rotation.

 Current BAP: Resume work on Piper's Stocking.  Still haven't picked this one up again.

UFO/Class Project: Finish up The English Band Sampler.  Resumed stitching 5/6.

Town Square SAL: Stitch The Toy Shop.  Finished 5/4.

New Starts: Homespun Elegance's Owls' Night Out and Sue Hillis' The Pirate's Creed.   Started Owl's Night Out 5/4 and finished 5/6.   Started The Pirate's Creed 5/8 and finished 5/12.  Started Dragon Dream's A Dragon Tea Party on 5/12 and I am 2/3rds of the way through this medium to large piece.

Sewing Finishes: Try to get three or four projects completed.  No.



JUNE GOALS: Things are settling down a bit so I am increasing my goals list somewhat.
Current BAP:  I am going to ignore this category this month ... it just hasn't been happening for me these past few months, anyway.

UFO/Class Project:  Continue to slog along on The English Band Sampler, a little bit at a time ... which seems to be the only way I can tolerate it now.  I started it two years ago with such enthusiasm but it has simply gone on too, too long.

Town Square SAL: Stitch the Cafe du Monde.

New Start:  Finish Dragon Dream's The Dragon Tea Party and and start Dragon Dreams'  Here Be Dragons.   This pamphlet has two charts and I hope to complete both this month..

Sewing Finishes: Try to get three or four projects completed.

And just because I like to plan ahead, here's my list of the remaining six starts for the year:
July:  Dragon Dreams' Dragon of the Summer Sky.  This is one of Jennifer Aiken-Smith's more fantastical dragons as opposed to the whimsical and somewhat cartoonish ones.
August: Enchanted Lair's Tea Time.  Another fantastical dragon but this one combines my love of fantasy with my love of tea.  Always something to anticipate with pleasure.

September: Workbasket's Quaker Owl.  I own all but two of the Workbasket Quaker  animal series and ultimately plan to use them as quilt blocks.  I have stitched nine already.

October: Workbasket's Quaker Bat
November: Workbasket's Quaker Squirrel
December: Workbasket's Quaker Bear


I have decided to slow down with my BAPs and UFOs now that they have begun to make me feel like Sisyphus rolling that damned rock uphill only to have it roll right back down.   And I have decided to intersperse them even more liberally with new starts.  I was beginning to be bored with my stitching, but no longer.   I simply need a certain amount of novelty to maintain my interest and a generous sprinkling of new small and medium projects among the BAPs accomplishes this.