And It Is Back To The Sampler, Again!

I have been stitching on the English Band Sampler for the last two days.  After a brief stint of frogging, it has been a case of "slow and steady wins the race."  This half of the band is just a little bit difficult and disorienting since the motifs are upside down.  I realize it shouldn't be any more difficult to stitch from a chart that inverts a design than to stitch from one that does not.  But, my mind's eye keeps correcting the image before me, causing some small confusion as I try to stay properly oriented.  I never claimed to have much in the way of spatial intelligence.  My primary learning and perceptive  styles are verbal/linguistic and logical/mathematical.  Visual and spatial perceptions are definitely secondary and even tertiary.  So upending the chart takes me out of my comfort zone.

But the colors continue to enchant me, and the difficulty is just enough of a challenge to keep me on my toes.  I don't know how many other stitchers have the same experience but I find the easier the chart, the more likely I am to make a careless mistake,  Charts that are a bit of a challenge keep me focused and accurate.  I'll post a photo when I have some more substantial progress to show.

And just a reminder, comments may still be made to my 9/3 Blogaversary post featuring a $10 gist certificate to 123stitch as a giveaway.

Hazel's Bib & Blanket ...

... are ready for mailing.  I hope my niece likes them as much as I enjoyed making them.  I think the bib turned out rather nicely and I am quite pleased with the blanket as well.  I'll be making my way to the post office some time today.

And just a reminder, comments may still be made to my 9/3 Blogaversary post featuring a $10 gist certificate to 123stitch as a giveaway.

Belated Blogaversary

This post is a little over a week late.  The proper date was 8/24/14.  I have been blogging for 7 years now and thoroughly enjoy the process of writing what is essentially a stitching journal, with the rare side trip into real life.  Writing about stitching is very nearly as relaxing as stitching itself.

I have the mind of a statistician and it seems very natural to take stock annually of what's been happening on this blog.

So, I find it interesting that during the past seven years:
* I have written 1147 posts.  That's 190 posts since my last blogaversary.
* Blogger has recorded 130,693 Pageviews, which means that there were 41,282 page views in just this past year .  That's up a little over 5,000 more pageviews than last year.  So I guess my readership is continuing to grow 
* Readers have left 3,829 Comments in the past seven years, 900 of which were in the last year.   Which works out to approximately 3 comments per post or 1 comment for every 34 pageviews.  The numbers of readers may be increasing but, clearly, I don't evoke much of a response from my readers.
* I also have 228 followers.

What I'd like to do this year is ask a few questions about blogging.  If you choose to answer these questions in the comments section, you will be entered in a random drawing for a $10 gift certificate to 123stitch [an online cross stitch shop].  Seven questions, one for each year I have been blogging.

1. Do you prefer a blog that is
      a] 95% stitching and 5% personal, roughly what my blog is .
      b] 100% stitching and no personal stuff at all
      c] 50% stitching and 50% personal chat

2.  Whatever the preference selected above, what are your reasons for the preference?

3.  When reading blogs, be honest, do you just look at the photos and skip the prose?

4.  When reading a particular blog, do you enjoy tracking the progress of a specific project?

5.  How many blogs do you read on a regular basis? [Regular basis being defined as once weekly]
     a] 1-25
     b] 26-50
     c] 51-100
     d] over 100

6.  What sort of things do you expect to find on a blog, things that will keep you coming back to read?

7.  What do you like about my blog?  What don't you like about my blog?

Another Small Finish and A New Start

I spent most of the long holiday weekend stitching and got a fair amount accomplished.

The second tea towel was finished.  As predicted it worked up more quickly than the first.  For one thing, I had already worked out my changes on the border when stitching the first towel.  So, with the second, it was just a matter of duplicating the border.  And then the chart for Cumin was so much more open than the chart for Rosemary.  So here is a finish photo.

And I started work on Hazel's bib.  As it happened, the alphabet I remembered as being in the Better Homes and Gardens 2001 Cross Stitch Designs was not there.  I figured it couldn't be too hard to design my own Building Block Alphabet, so I made a very rough sketch on graph paper and started stitching.  I've only one block more to stitch.  I hope to have the bib ready for mailing, with the crocheted blanket, on Wednesday.  The bib is a pre-fab affair made from a terrycloth fingertip towel printed with kites in bright Crayola colors wjich I echoed in the color of the blocks.

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.

Moving along with the tea towel ...

I am trying to lose myself in my stitching since everything is going to the proverbial hell in a handbasket at work.  So yesterday, at lunch time, I continued to work on my second tea towel .  And then continued after work, as well.  As I suspected it would, this chart is stitching up a lot more quickly than the first.  It's a much more open design.  I just need to add one more green, stitch the flowers and do the back-stitching.  Probably just another three or four hours of stitching.

Monday Madness, Part II

Monday evening, I had planned to decompress after work by stitching on my sampler.  Ordinarily this is a good plan and one that usually works quite well.  I was stitching on the bottom bright navy lozenge border.  When I finally got to the end, you guessed it, I realized I was off by one lousy stitch.  And, of course, that stitch was at the very beginning of the border.  I'll need to frog the whole damn thing and re-stitch about one and a half hours worth of stitching.  Needless to say, I put the scroll rods down, muttered a mild imprecation and went upstairs to do a few crossword puzzles before going to bed.  At least, the end of my day was consistent with the beginning.

And now it is Tuesday and things can only get better.  I am avoiding the sampler.  In my current mood, I fear I may do it irreparable damage were I to frog today.  Instead, I started my second tea towel using the Cumin chart and my own tile-like border.  I expect this chart to work up more quickly than the Rosemary chart.  There is a more open feel to the Cumin chart and a lot less confetti stitching.  This will be paired with the Rosemary towel finished last week and will serve as a housewarming gift for my administrative assistant who just bought a new home.

Monday Madness

I went back to work today after a month long summer recess.  I should have stayed home.  

PROBLEM #1:  The first thing I saw was the total destruction of my Good Shepherd Catechesis Atrium due to the archdiocese's program to provide universal pre-K and get state funds for doing so.  Even though we no longer have a parish school, a neighboring parish school was planning to use space in our building to participate in this program.  The pastor and I were assured by the archdiocesan rep that the room could have a dual use and I would be able to run my religious education program for 4 & 5 year olds in the space I and my staff had designed.  While I was gone, the archdiocese moved so much furniture into the room that the teacher hired to set up the program had to move all of my furniture out into the hallway.  Needless to say the pastor and I are livid.  We are not blaming the poor teacher or even the principal of the neighboring parish's school.  We are blaming the wretched, duplicitous archdiocesan staffer who said anything in order to get her way and then presented us with a very different fait accompli when the the pastor and I returned from our respective vacations.

PROBLEM #2:  The contractor who was supposed to upgrade our computers, transferring all data to the new machines, while we were on recess didn't quite finish the job.  My secretary returned to a new computer but one that was locked down: no internet, no password, no access even to normal databases.  I returned to no computer at all.  We are under deadline to get the welcome back mailing out by Thursday.  Hard to do with no computer access.

PROBLEM #3: During a month of disuse, our photocopier succumbed to the humidity and simply refused to function until a repairman came out and cleaned and coaxed her back into health.  Now, if we could only access the welcome back documents on our computers, we could photocopy them for mailing.  But, oh yeah, we can't do that because we don't have access to our computers.

My blood pressure and stress levels are surely double pre-vacation levels.  I think God is telling me it is time to retire.

Colors Bright and Bold

As I continue to work through Band 7 of the sampler, I have to admit I am enjoying the eye-popping colors.  Normally. I prefer a subdued palette but the corals and electric blues in this band are so splendidly bold that I can't help but love them.  My personal aesthetic should have me cringing at the juxtaposition of purple and coral.  It is just so Red Hat Society!  But somehow, it all works well together.  I am nearly halfway done with Band 7, having stitched all the floral motifs on the left hand side and some of the spiral border.  

More Progress on a Variety of Projects

Tuesday, most of the morning was eaten up by errands: dropping my car off for some body work, running out to A. C. Moore for more yarn, mailing off some giveaways at the post office and doing the first serious grocery shopping in about a month.  Wednesday was more relaxed, almost a full day was spent in the stitching chair.  Thursday was a day divided between kitchen, laundry room and the stitching chair.

The English Band Sampler:  I have continued working on the largest pansy in coral.  I plan to really concentrate on this piece over the weekend.  The month is nearly over and I had hoped to have this sampler finished. The sad truth is I haven't even reached the halfway mark on Band 7 and I still have to go back to Band 3 to add my initials and the date.  Things are looking grim for an August finish.

The Tea Towel: I am finished with the Rosemary towel.  The next one up is Cumin which will probably stitch up more quickly as there is a lot less confetti stitching in the chart.  The booklet I am using also has some tall slender charts, 77 stitches by 32 stitches, of mint, rosemary and sage.  I believe I will use the mint and the sage for the next pair of towels.  That will give me a pair with a tile like border around a 45 stitch square design and a pair that files the space vertically.  For the final pair, I may use the fruit charts that came with the towels. That way, the folks I give them to will all have something different.

Hazel's Blanket:  This crocheted  blanket is done and measures 48 inches long by 34 inches wide, a good size for either a crib or a baby carriage.  The photos are my attempt to give you an idea of what the whole blanket looks like, border and all.  My bedroom is too dark for me to photograph this blanket spread out on the bed.  The patio furniture seemed to be my best bet, albeit not a perfect solution.  I used Sugar and Cream cotton yarn since a cotton blanket is comfortable in all seasons and stands up better to repeated washings.

Some wools need such careful washing that they are just not suitable for frequently laundered baby items.  I wouldn't want to put all this work into a blanket only to see it felted by being washed or dried in the wrong way by busy young parents.  Now all I have to do is wrap it up and mail it.  But before I mail it, I want to personalize a bib for Hazel to add to the package.  If I remember correctly, my BH&G 2001 Cross Stitch Designs has an alphabet done in building blocks that should fit the Aida insert in a fingertip toweling bib that I have in stash.

Some Sewing Finishes.  While I was at A. C. Moore the other day, my husband went a few doors down to PetSmart and got me a bag of crushed walnut shells [aka lizard litter] so I now have the filling for a bunch of pin pillows.  I am hoping to find some time this weekend to sew them up, fill and trim them..