Good Friday

More a day for reflection than for stitching. And my reflection leads me to believe that scaling back on my current purchases while using the wealth of stash I have accumulated over the years is the right thing to do on a number of levels.

To be so fixated on the accumulation of stuff, however lovely and satisfying, can distract me from more important things in life: faith, family, friends, community [both local and global]. I tend to think of myself as a rather socially conscious person but I have noticed as I age I have drawn in on myself more and more. And stitching is a very solitary experience for me, rather like reading, my other favorite leisure activity. I need to expand the scope of my people-centered experiences. Given my personality type, I could easily turn into a hermit once I retire in a few years. Not a good thing!

I probably have enough stash to keep me well occupied for the next five years. To continue to accumulate charts, fabric and floss at the rate I have been over the past ten years would be just plain greedy and acquisitive in the worst sense. This is not to say that I am planning to cease buying craft supplies completely ... I do believe I was meant to enjoy life ... my God does not require that I live a life of sackcloth and ashes. So, for the past year or so I have been trying to limit my purchases of charts to five a year. In 2009, I blew that number out of the water, purchasing 12 charts and receiving another 12 as gifts from family who consulted my wish list and another 12 or so in goodie bags and giveaways at one of Sue Donnelly's Stitcher's Hideaway and yet another 10 or so charts I won in a blogging giveaway. That's another year's worth of stitching right there. In 2010, I am trying to be a little more selective and so far have ordered only one chart: Blackbird Designs Bird in Hand. I have not entered any other blogger's giveaways, even though the impulse has been there. We shall see how well I do in future months. And, maybe, just maybe, some of the money saved can be diverted to some worthy causes.

Those who have been following my blog know that my mother, in an impulse that was 50% generosity and 50% cunning, cleaned out her entire craft stash into a full carload of stuff dumped on little old me. I spent the better part of the first three months of 2010 cataloging, photographing and giving away all of her stuff. I have spent a small fortune on postage getting this stuff to people who can use it ... whatever is still leftover at the end of April will go to a local nursing home or to the local Girl Scout council. I don't want to do the same thing to my daughter. Hence my monthly giveaway of gently used charts. I also have taken to going through my binders of free charts and have been discarding those I know I will never stitch or have stitched and will never stitch again. My new rule is simplify-simplify-simplify! Though my daughter also stitches, her taste is somewhat different from mine. When she inherits my stash, it is my hope that it will be predominantly fabric and fiber and those fantasy charts we both enjoy.

Part of my problem is that ten years ago I discovered online needlework shopping. Prior to that, I found needlework shops [the brick and mortar kind] only when I traveled on vacation. Though I would purchase liberally at such times, there was a built-in limit ... I couldn't spend more than I had at the time. Online shopping is a whole different ball game: a little at a time doesn't break the budget at any given time but does add up to a substantial amount over the course of a year. And online shopping is another solitary activity ... see my comments above about avoiding turning into a hermit. I must have, in my stitching center, over 200 purchased charts yet to be stitched and that doesn't count free charts or charts in the magazines to which I subscribe. That should be more than enough for anyone. Five purchases of new charts each year will keep me in touch with new trends and new designers; the rest of my stitching purchases will go to buying the necessary fiber and fabric to stitch charts already in my possession. So, I will still be doing my bit to support the stitching industry and I will try to make most of my purchases at genuine needlework shops, the brick and mortar kind that have an online presence, or at my favorite online only shop, 123stitch. I recently read a persausive blog entry detailing how big-box stores like AC Moore, Michael's and Hobby Lobby are undercutting the stitching industry by selling DMC below wholesale and luring stitchers away from LNSs ... cutting into the business of the LNSs we all depend on for charts/fabric and high end flosses and supplies ... by diverting shoppers who need just a few skeins of DMC, thereby costing the LNS the average $12-$15 of impulse purchases that usually accompany such a trip ... dollars that mean the difference between survival and closing to most LNS owners.

Well, those are my reflections on stitching and social justice ... who knew the two topics were connected!?!

Assessing March Goals and Setting April Goals

I got side tracked this month. I joined a round robin and, typically, developed a way-too-ambitious plan for the border of my piece as well as a fairly sizable panel for my personal stitching on the piece to set the theme. To add to the complexity, I discovered that many of the other participants were at a loss for ideas to contribute to my piece. So I had to cull my chart library for appropriate pieces I could adapt and re-chart to fit the spaces available. Preparing these working charts took time as well. I am going to have to tatoo the mantra "Stop biting off more than you can chew!" on the inside of my eyelids.

March Goals:Focus Project: Still TW Autumn Faerie: Nothing done on this.
Travel Projects: Brightneedle's Ghosts and Ghoulies Etui: Nothing done on this.
Bride Tree SAL February ornament [Heart]March Ornament [Flower or Flower Basket]. Nothing done on this.Thanksgiving Ornament: Homespun Elegance Turkey with Pumpkins. DONE.Medium Project: Finish Workbasket's Mermaids Singing and start Sue Hillis' Annual Charmed Santa 2008: the Cookie Baking Santa: Nothing done on either of these.
Small Projects: my last Heartstring Santa Factory card - February [Santa with a Heart]: About two hours done on this.UFO Countdown Project: Finally move on the Peacock biscornu and then, while the weather is still cool, pick up the Jacobean afghan. No, not even picked up once.
Linda's Round Robin: Finish the border and stitch my own panel on my piece. Substantial progress: only the back-stitching and long stitching on the border, the motifs on the dividers and a little less than half of the upper panel left to stitch.Sewing Finishes: Keep up with ornament finishes. Nothing done on the backlog but current ornaments and pin cushions are done.

April Goals:
Focus Project: Still TW Autumn Faerie:
Travel Projects: Brightneedle's Ghosts and Ghoulies Etui:
Bride Tree SAL February ornament [Heart]March Ornament [Flower or Flower Basket] & April Ornament.
RR piece: Finish border, dividers and top panel and mail by the 15th:
Medium Project: Finish Workbasket's Mermaids Singing:
Christmas piece: Finish Heartstrings Santa Factory February:
UFO Countdown Project: Finally move on the Peacock biscornu and then, while the weather is still cool, pick up the Jacobean afghan.
Sewing finishes: complete at least five projects from the finishing basket

A Stitching Pool: Gamble without any cost

I decided to start a stitching pool [like those Super Bowl Sunday football pools]:

When will the RR prep be done?

Anyone wishing to choose a date between April 1 and April 15 should post below: no duplications, the first one to choose a date owns it, the contest closes when all dates between 1-15 are taken.

The Prize will be three skeins of overdyed cotton in colors of my choosing [CC, WDW or GAST] and one skein of Rainbow Gallery bamboo floss.

To give you some background information on which to base your guesses:

-- See the photo above for my current progress

-- The mailing deadline for the RR is April 15 ... and no, to the best of my knowledge, the organizer does not work for the IRS.

-- I am a relatively slow stitcher, using the stab method rather than the sewing method. In fact, it took me 7 & 1/2 minutes to stitch each acorn "nut" or bottom.

-- 78 of the acorns in the border need to be back-stitched and long- stitched ... you can look at the three on the upper right to get an idea of what is involved

-- I am stitching my own panel at the top using the village scene from the Prairie Schooler Harvest Time leaflet but I will be adapting it as I go along as my space in 4 stitches less wide and 10 stitches less high. I will be eliminating the trees in the foreground and recharting the buildings accordingly and filling in some of the empty spaces with pumpkins lifted from one part of the chart and inserted elsewhere. Also when stitching the right side of the design, I will be stitching from bottom to top, so any overlap in stitching the church in the mid-distance and the small home in the far-distance will fall into place after the large home in the foreground is stitched. Adjusting the chart adds a little time to the process.

-- I will also be adapting the leaf motifs from Handblessings' Autumn Lace or Autumn Leaves bookmarks to fill in the dividers in Row 2 and 3.

-- Having removed the trees from the foreground, I will re-chart them seperately so that the other stitchers in the RR will have charts for the second row in my RR in case they can't come up with their own. I will be doing the same for the two buildings in the Autumn Scene in the Prairie Schooler Four Seasons leaflet to provide options for designs in the bottom row. I will also be looking for some freebies in the proper theme and style to give the participants more choices.

-- I run a religious education program in a Catholic parish and so will close my office for Easter Break at noon this Wednesday and not re-open until Monday, April 12. While I will be using some of that time for Spring cleaning and gardening, much of the time will be spent stitching and sewing finishes of my stitching.

Weekend Progress Report #12

The Interminable Round Robin Piece continues:

Stitching time was scarce this week: I had two daytime Confirmation retreats, two evening Family Catechesis Paschal Candle Craft Nights in addition to the usual classes as well as a trip to the bulk mailing post office clear across the county for a special mailing. I had some routine medical tests planned for Friday as well. Though I usually do start my day off with one hour of stitching and one hour of Tai Chi every morning, this didn't happen more than twice this week. On the retreat days I started my workdays at 7am instead of the usual 9am or 11am respectively. And the remaining days were so full that I made early starts on those as well just to avoid being so far behind in my paperwork that I have to give up some of Easter vacation to clear my desk. By the weekend I was so tired that I hadn't much energy left for any extended stitching time ... just half-hour spurts here and there.

To be specific, on Tuesday morning, I spent another hour and a half on this border. On the one hand, I am beginning to be bored silly with the border motifs ... repetition, repetition, repetition! On the other hand, I am really pleased with the way this round robin piece is shaping up. And then on Thursday, I took a two hour break in the middle of my day [between the Confirmation Retreat and the regular afternoon class schedule] and continued work on the border. The retreats went very well ... in fact, the children exceeded my expectations substantially ... so I was on a kind of emotional/spiritual overload and needed the stitching time to decompress. I am getting too old for twelve hour workdays anyway ... so, taking a two hour break midday brought it down to a manageable ten hour day. And on Friday morning, I managed to stitch for another hour. Over the weekend, I did manage to finish the remaining acorn "nuts" or bottoms and I started on the wagon of harvest produce in the top panel. At that point I just couldn't face any more repetitious stitching, so the back stitching and long stitching were deferred for a while.

Some stash purchases

I just placed an order with 123stitch using two of the gift certificates received as payment for the postage on my Mom's Stash Giveaway. It is odd but I sent out ten boxes of stash and only four of the recipients have bothered to reimburse me for postage as was agreed. A fifth was not asked to pay me since she is a friend. I rather expected one or two to default but not half the group. I guess I have too optimistic a view of human nature. I still don't regret having sent out the stash, but I am a wee bit disappointed in some of the folks who participated.

But thanks to two of the participants who chose GCs as their form of reimbursement: I ordered some Glasgow Linen in a shade called raw linen for my Bride's Tree SAL, Blackbird Designs Bird in Hand chart and a skein each of WDW Charcoal and GAST Gingersnap which I need for my Round Robin piece. I have promised to limit myself to the purchase of only 5 new charts this year since I have such a wealth of charts already in my possession ... and Bird in Hand is the first of that five. I hope to limit the bulk of my purchases this year to fabric and fiber needed to stitch the charts I already own. I shall now wait with bated breath at my mailbox ... not really, I do have a life beyond stitching ... but any stitcher can empathize with the sense of anticipation I shall be feeling.

Weekend Progress Report #11

I finally did an accurate count on the acorns in my border for my RR piece: 81. The first photo, on the left, shows the tout ensemble with all 81 medallions in various stages of completion. I finished up all the acorn "caps" last Monday and spent the early part of the week stitching the acorn "nuts" ... I timed myself, slow stitcher that I am, and it takes approximately seven minutes for me to complete each acorn "nut". So, as you can imagine, I got thoroughly bored with the acorns somewhere around mid-week ... at which point I started working on my own panel. You can see my progress on that in this second photo on the right. The Prairie Schooler Harvest Time village scene will cover the entire top panel though I will have to condense and adapt it a bit to fit. One of those serendipitious little things: it is usually not a good thing to have two different dyelots of an overdyed floss ... but in this case two variants of Cider Mill Brown worked beautifully to give the covered bridge a light and shadow effect while maintaining the same color values. I will be extracting and re-charting some of the larger trees in the foreground of the chart as motifs for the panels in the second row, in case some of the other round robin participants have difficulty finding suitable charts for my piece. The third photo, again on the left, is a close-up of the back-stitching and long-stitching required to complete each acorn. As I said, I am a slow stitcher, and this back-stitching and long-stitching takes about nine minutes an acorn. A little math: 42 acorn nuts @ 7 minutes each equals 4 hours and 54 minutes; 81 acorns to back-stitch @ 9 minutes each equals 12 hours and 9 minutes; the total comes to 17 hours and 3 minutes just to complete the border. I just might complete my own panel as well since I will be off from work Holy Thursday, Good Friday and all of Easter week. This round robin has displaced everything else in my normal stitching rotation. Will I finish up the border and my bit in time for the April 15 mailing deadline? I certainly hope so ... it wouldn't do to fall behind in the very first rotation of the RR ... not exactly the way to endear myself to new stitching friends!

In any case, I have been blogging about this for so long that I thought it was about time I showed you a few photos ... if only to prove I have been working on this piece as diligently as I claim to be!

A Very Quick Finish

My little St. Patrick's Day Freebie was such a quick stitch that I was even able to make a back for the final sewing finish which will be a fringed pillow pin cushion. Tomorrow is my day off and if I can manage it, I'll spend some time at the sewing machine. I'll finish this little pin cushion and a few of the Thanksgiving ornaments that I had stitched in January and February. I also have a gift tote I need to finish up.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I started the day off with a perfectly brewed pot of Irish Breakfast Tea ... not unusual, as this is my default tea for mornings all year round ... but it seemed partiularly appropriate today.

For the rest of the day, there are several ways I'll be celebrating: I'll be having corned beef, potatoes and cabbage for lunch, I'll be playing music from my Celtic collection all day at work ... I just hope I don't drive my poor secretary nuts. And, finally, I think I'll give way to startitis and do a little thematic stitching today. I pulled out a sweet little free chart from The Sunflower Seed called Luck of the Irish. It is just 50 x 50 stitches square and should make up nicely as a pillow pin cushion or a cute little biscornu as long as I set up my straight stitch border up an odd number of stitches beyond the design proper. It calls for WDW Blue Spruce and Kudzu but I'll be substituting Scuppernong for the Kudzu since I have only a needleful of the Kudzu left in my stash ... saved as a color swatch so I can make reasonable substitutions. While I was kitting up Luck of the the Irish, I kitted up Prairie Schooler's Harvest Time as well ... I don't expect to get to it this week but it'll be all ready to go once I finally do complete my RR border.

A sunny day at last ...

... and I have to work until 9:00pm today. I am yearning for a mental health day since last Sunday was my first day off in 10 days and I will have to wait till Friday for another day off. Working for the Catholic Church involves crazy hours, to say the least. Most days I consider my work ministry but some days it is just a job that I drag myself off to ... and the first sunny day of Spring is one of those days.

Before heading to work today, I did manage to stitch another 23 acorn "nuts" in my RR border ... yes, I know, I am entirely too obsessed with this piece but as the April 15 mailing deadline approaches ... well, I begin to wonder if I will have my own stitching done on the piece ... I still have another 58 acorn "nuts" to stitch, the backstitching and outlining of 81 acorns to stitch, the five narrow medallions to fill in as well as the panel that goes across the top of the piece for which I will be using Harvest Time from Prairie Schooler. That's a lot of stitching. I will have some time off during the Easter season but I had intended on spending most of that time cleaning and painting the spare room in preparation for turning it into my craft haven ... and there is some gardening and yard work to tackle as well. Not much time for stitching during that vacation.

Weekend Progress Report #10

It has been a busy week for me: I lost most of my day off Friday to a special event for catechists that my parish was hosting. Furthermore, we have had a great deal going on in the regularly scheduled religious education classes: confessions, Stations of the Cross, exams. I also lost almost all of last weekend to 7th grade workshops. Lent tends to be a very busy time. Finally, my husband and I managed to get together with my daughter and son and their respective significant others as well as with my sister-in-law for a family dinner at a favorite local restaurant this Sunday. It is amazing how difficult it is to get 7 adults together in the same place at the same time. The last time we had this particular group together was for my daughter's birthday in January.

As a result, I don't have quite so much to report this weekend. And most of what I do have to report isn't ready for Show & Tell since it involves my piece for Linda's Round Robin. I tend to go in for elaborate borders and ambitious plans ... and all that takes some time to accomplish. But I am making progress and should have a photo of the finished border soon. Then it will be onward and upward: stitching my own panel to set the theme. After that, it will just be a matter of selecting a number of charts to help others who may not have an extensive chart library in this area. But for the present, I am still working on the border: I still need to stitch 17 of the acorn "caps", 76 acorn "nuts" and then do the back stitching and long stitching on all 76 acorns. I figure the border will take at least another week, possibly more, and that the panel I am stitching across the top will take another two weeks.