Assessing September Progress, Setting October Goals

I scaled back my goals for September considerably for several reasons.  The first, of course, being that as the new school year opens, I have less leisure time.  But the second reason is by far the more pressing: I truly want to finish the stocking for Liam in time for this Christmas.  I started it in August 2012 and had planned to have it finished by Christmas 2012, more fool I.

Anyway, here is my short list of September goals:

BAPs: Concentrate on TWs Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking:  I have been working diligently on this piece and much progress has been made.  Section 4 and 5 are complete and I have begun work on Section 2.

Needlepoint: Continue work on Rice Pudding:  It's a pity but even with this drastically scaled down goals list, I didn't get to this project.

Town Square SAL: Stitch The Framing Shop: This didn't happen either.  This month, it's been all about the stocking.

And I am going to be honest with myself in setting the next month's goals.  I will be limiting myself to only what I know I am willing to tackle.  So here are my two goals for October:

BAPs: Continue to concentrate on TWs Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking.  

Class Project: Pre-work on Victoria Sampler's Mystic Christmas Sampler.

And so on and so on

I hope I am not boring my followers and readers but I am still working diligently on the stocking for Liam.  I have finished frogging and restitching all the errors in the right wing.  I have also added four more colors to the right wing portion in Section 2.  That brings the number of confetti colors up to 7 with only 5 more to go!  The next step will be to add the remaining five colors and to catch  up on the back-stitching of the wing and the angel's robes and drapery before moving on to the left wing and the trees that cross over into Section 1.  There's another white bird for me to screw up stitch in this area.  Part of the bird is in section 1 and part in section 2, giving me myriad ways to come up with a mistake.  Wish me luck!  But the truth is, I have not been doing all that well with the white sections of this stocking.  I will hold off stitching the top with the name to be done later and all at one go after the pictorial parts of Section 1 and 2 are complete.  It will be very very fussy with all the quarter stitches and such.  Anyway, I want to re-read the directions before I tackle the name area.  I've forgotten which part of the back stitching and/or long stitching involves the #4 braid and which part is done in good old DMC.  Besides which, I am not sure I have the right braid in my admittedly excessive extensive stash - I may have to order it.  I do know I have to order the beads.  I have a pretty large stash of petite seed beads but almost no magnifica beads as called for in this design.

The photos you see here are as last seen [first and to the left] and current progress [second photo shows the whole stocking and third photo shows the close-up of recent work].  There is not as much progress as last week, though, since I lost two stitching days to a migraine headache last Wednesday and Thursday.  Even so, I am still ahead of schedule.  I had hoped to complete Sections 4 & 5 and perhaps start Section 2 in September and then stitch 1 & 2 in October, leaving only the over one and embellishment charts for November.  But September has seen the completion of 4 & 5, the correction of the errors in the

wing in Sections 3 & 6 and more than half of the pictorial stitching of 2.  As you can see in the shot of the full stocking on the right, all those annoyingly wrong charcoal gray lines in the wing are gone, gone, gone.  I am still trying to figure out how I let such a glaring mistake pass unnoticed for so long.  I guess it's a case of seeing what you expect to see rather than what is actually there.  I am reasonably sure I can complete 1 & 2 in October, even including the over one stitching of the name and, maybe, just maybe, the over one stitching of the angel's face.  That will leave only the embellishment charts and the sewing assembly for November.  I continue to find it a source of amazement that I am not yet bored with the piece.  I usually have stitching fingers itchy for novelty and change.   Not only am I still interested in the piece, I am delighted by it and look forward to picking it up each day.

While watching a DVD one evening earlier in the week, my husband casually commented that Liam had better appreciate this stocking after all my hard work.  He than joked that the kid would probably spill hot chocolate all over it.  Like Queen Victoria, I was not amused.  But I do trust Christina, my daughter-in-law, who has an appreciation for handmade things.  She will treat it as an heirloom and not allow any beverages, hot or cold, anywhere near it.  As for Liam, at 6 years of age, I am sure he will care more about the contents than the stocking.  He'll have to grow a bit older before valuing the stocking as a gift in and of itself.  It'll be enough for me if he simply accepts delving into a stocking as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas and remembers fondly the grandmother who made it. 

Confetti

I realize most stitchers associate the words confetti stitching with widely spaced single stitches on otherwise unstitched linen.  So when I use the phrase to refer to a solidly stitched area like the wings of the angel, there may be some confusion.  What I mean is that the solidly stitched wing is made up of many single bits of color that when combined, make up the whole.  The angel's wing contains about 12 different shades, all of them using tweeded needles.  To give you an idea of the confetti like nature of this stitching, I took the photo on the left after stitching just the first shade.  And, the second photo to the right, shows the wing after a second color has been added and a third has been started.

Ultimately the whole area to the right of the angel's head will be a solidly stitched wing.  But only after I have added another 8 or 9 blended color needles' worth of floss.  I think you can see what I mean about confetti.  It's a gradual build up of shade upon shade upon shade.  Well, I'll just keep on counting and stitching till it's all filled in.  Just call me a real party animal, tossing confetti every which way!

Coming soon

I just happened to notice that I am a mere 29 posts from my 1000th post.  It boggles the mind.  Though I suppose it shouldn't, I am a rather wordy person.  One of my husband's cousins is always remarking that I am the most satisfying correspondent: she'll write a few lines and get back several pages in return.  The simple truth is I enjoy expressing myself in the written word and I am much better at it than I am with the spoken word.  Oh, I am reasonably articulate and can make conversation when required.  But when all is said and done, I am an introvert and more comfortable communicating at a keyboard or with my trusty fountain pen than face-to-face.

It'll probably take two months before I reach the landmark post so I'll have plenty of time to think up ways to celebrate.  There'll be a gift certificate giveaway and some sort of survey.  I'll come up with something that I hope will amuse and engage readers and followers.

A Good Weekend for Stitching

It hasn't been quite a Hermit Weekend but a good one nonetheless.  I got at least four hours of stitching in on Friday.  Saturday was nearly as productive though I had errands to run in the afternoon and served as  lector at the 5:30 Mass and then met with the Teen RCIA after Mass.  On Sunday, I concentrated on relaxing with some Star Trek Next Generation DVDs and, of course, some stitching. .  

Section 5 is finished and a start has been made on Section 2.  I had been feeling as though I was a week ahead of my own schedule until I realized I had made a mistake in stitching one of the symbols in the wings in Sections 3 and 6.  What brought it to my attention was stitching the wing area in Section 5 and not having things match up properly.  It is going to be a pain in the neck to frog and restitch because, well, it's a Wentzler design: meaning that the back of the area is an interwoven mass due to the confetti stitching on the front.  I pulled out the wrong stitches on the bottom inch or so of the wing.  The mistake involves a tweeded blend of ecru and charcoal which should be a blend of golden beige and medium tan.  I figure I'll just frog and re-stitch one diagonal row of the wrong stitches each day until it is all corrected.  It is way too tedious and fussy a task to tackle at one go..  It would probably destroy my forward momentum on this piece if I attempted to do it all at once  

The first photo shows the whole stocking and the second photo is a close-up of the weekend's progress.  Although these are outdoor photos, the day is only partly sunny so the photos are a bit darker than usual.  Still the colors are more accurate than when I take photos under my stitching lamp.  I may get another hour or two of stitching in today before work.  It's a late day for me since we have our first catechist meeting scheduled for this evening.  I never stitch a Wentzler piece after eight p.m. so there'll be no stitching this evening.

The confetti stitching of the major portion of the angel's wings is still ahead of me.  I've only a bit more of the evergreen crown and hair as well as the tiny bit of the robe's yoke just to the left of the drape to stitch before I have to deal with the wings.  The face is over one and so will be reserved till I have done all the over two stitching.  I expect it to be nearly as great a challenge as the snow.  So, getting Sections 1 and 2 stitched by the end of October is still problematic.  But I shall do my best.

Further Progress

I was just paging back through the blog to see when was the last time I stitched on any thing other than the stocking.  It was August 18th, on Stitch Bitch's challenge piece featuring the Plum Street Sampler free chart, Be True.  Considering my usual affliction of stitcher's ADD, working on one piece and only one piece for  a little over a month is truly astounding.

The result is evident in the progress I have made.  I have only a bit left to do and I shall have finished Section 5.  With my usual three day weekend starting up, I anticipate getting a nice jump toward completing the pictorial part of Section 2.  I plan on leaving the Celtic knot work and the over-one lettering of the name in both Sections 1 and 2 till I have finished the angel and the background.  I didn't manage any stitching on Wednesday or Thursday not even during lunch hour minute.

This being the first week of classes, with the usual Parent Orientation and Meet the Catechist sessions, means the days have been pretty high energy.  I simply crash when I get home.  There are all the usual glitches: catechists who have had a change in work schedules and can no longer serve, replacements to be recruited, the usual few parents suddenly waking up to the fact that, "Gee, I really should register the children for religion class", even a catechist with a dreadful medical emergency in her family that will keep her in south Jersey for the foreseeable future and for whom I had to recruit a long term substitute.  But for the most part things are running smoothly.  Ninety percent of the volunteer staff showed up as expected, all the textbooks and resource materials were delivered on time, 96% of the expected enrollment is actually registered, we had no criers or clingers among our new first graders.  It's been a good week.  And the weeks that follow will all be so much easier.  So, to celebrate, I spent a good part of this morning on the stocking, filling in a bit more of the chest and sleeve of the angel's robes.  Again, the first photo is a when last seen photo and the second is current.

Apropos of the recent post of Autumn finishes: I hadn't realized just how very much I gravitate towards Autumn and Halloween and Thanksgiving projects.  For the heck of it, I went back and counted the photos on those three gallery posts and it came to a total of 67 projects.  And that's only as many projects as I  have bothered to photograph.  There are probably a dozen or more similarly themed pieces gifted to my daughter and a few more gifted to my grandchildren that were never recorded in my digital photo albums.  I am almost afraid to browse through my stash to see just how many Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving charts are yet to be stitched.  I could very well end up in three digits.  Perhaps it is a good thing that I have embarked on the project of making a stocking for each of my three grandchildren.  It will give me a bit of variety in my stitchery.  Though it is true that when my own children were younger I stitched an awful lot of Christmas stuff.  I guess I do tend to get hung up on themes.  A quick mental inventory of my stash shows me I still have many dragon charts, Quaker charts and sampler charts awaiting stitching.  So, I see many a dragon, an acorn, an alphabet and a Quake motif in my future interspersed with witches and cauldrons and such like stuff.

Autumn Stitching

On one of the boards I read, a request has gone out to share photos of one's Autumn stitching finishes.  Since I have been stitching for a little over 40 years and since Autumn is my favorite season, I thought I'd gather as many of my Autumn finishes in one blog post ... at least as many as I have photos of:  I have had a digital camera for only the last decade or so.  Of course, I am not counting Halloween or Thanksgiving finishes since I have already done gallery posts on those holidays.  This post is just generic Fall stuff: acorns, colorful leaves, harvest scenes, etc.  The gallery below includes 20 projects.  I know there are more around the house but I limited myself to those already included in my digital photo albums.

This is an old Handblessing complimentary bookmark chart - I don't think it is available any longer

Bent Creek [I think] ... one of the many Autumn samplers I have stitched

This is a very old complimentary chart ... I am afraid I cannot remember the name of the designer or the design.  I stitched this at a time when I was less discriminating and frequently failed to note such details.  I have a vague feeling that this might be a San-Man design but I wouldn't swear to it.

This is a Silver Needle Night design from the days when Mona was still doing most of the designs.

This is one of the pieces from a CATs stitching banquets ... take a closer look and note the beaded tops of the acorns ... this is one of my favorite things.  Three designers on the organizing committee of CATs would each supply a design, we'd all eat the usual rubber chicken meal and then the rest of the evening would be a quick class on each design.  This is a Liz Diehl design.

This is a Round Robin:  I did the border the top panel and the center and right panel on the bottom.  The rest was done by other members of the round robin.  It uses Prairie Schooler charts and a border from The Better Homes and Gardens 2001 Cross Stitch Designs.

This is another old Handblessing's free bookmark chart.  I can no lonher find it on the website so I suspect it has been withdraw.

A small amulet bag I made for my daughter using  another older free design  the name of which I can not remember.

Spots of Fun done in autumnal colors.

Strictly speaking, this is an Earth Day sampler but I switched the colors to an autumn palette and re-designed it to include two squirrels instead of one bird.

A Prairie Schooler complimentary chart - somehow pheasants suggest Autumn to me.

Teresa Wentzler's Autumn Faerie

Cedar Springs Berry Patch Rabbit

A biscornu using autumn colors

LHN's Autumn Entry from the Season of series

A Prairie Schooler piece I used to make a long pin cushion for an exchang

Just an ornament I use it on both my Halloween tree and my Thanksgiving Tree



The gist tote bag below features a small red squirrel ... another creature I always associate with autumn.

Sheep and knitting and wool also suggest Autumn to me ...here is a knitting project baf I made for one of my sisters

And here is another knitting bag I made using an old Halloween ornament design on a larger count linen than originally called for.  The photo below shows the interior of the bag.

A Different Routine Starts Today

Today is the first day of evening classes and I'll be going in a bit late today.  So, I had two hours to stitch this morning instead of just one.  Something tells me I am going to be needing the added tranquility from this morning stitch time as I face the challenges of the day.  Our reduced enrollment has made it practical to down size from five sessions to four.  Some of our late registrants were unable to get all of their children in the same session and there is much gnashing of teeth.  Of course, these same folks had from May 15 to register, knowing that I follow a first come first served policy and that the more popular sessions fill up quickly.  Waiting till late August or early September to register and then presuming to be surprised that they can't get the exact placements they wanted is a wee bit insane naive.  But, of course, I am the bad guy, refusing to make their lives easier by over loading classes and placing strain on my volunteer catechists.  

This week begins the routine of working 9-5pm on Mondays and Wednesdays but 12:30 to 8:30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I doubt I'll do much more than eat a quick supper and fall into bed tonight after I get home.   So no more stitching today and probably not another post till Thursday or Friday morning.

But that isn't what you visit this blog to read about.  Back to stitching.  Here is the progress made since yesterday: some more of the back stitching done and some more of the sleeve completed.

And here is a close-up of the bottom portion of the stocking.  I am so close to finishing up Section 5, I can taste the sweet satisfaction.  It looks as though I really will be starting Section 2 this month.  Of course, at the moment, I am ignoring all other WIPs, even the two projects I listed on this month's goal list, thinking I might want a break from the stocking.  That doesn't seem to be happening.

To the Nth Degree

That is precisely how focused I am on my Wentzler Christmas Stocking.

Do you require proof?  The project folder for a stitching retreat I will be attending next month arrived in the mail a few days ago, so that I might get started on the pre-work.  I unpacked the box and shelved the folder in the bookcase by my stitching corner without even opening the folder.  Such an uncharacteristic lack of curiosity on my part is proof positive of my preoccupation with this stocking.  Oh, the pre-work will show up in my October goals but for the moment, the stocking continues to be my first priority.

Further proof may be found in the fact that I have been so busy stitching that I have had no time for blogging.

Unfortunately, with classes starting tomorrow, this past week has been one in which I haven't manage much time for stitching.  Just an hour or so a day.  But my usual three day weekend was a splendid one for stitching.  When last seen the stocking looked like the photo on the left.

But now, the drapery is filled in, and a hand cradling a rabbit and the infamous white bird are evident.  There is even the hint of a sleeve emerging.  I have been back stitching as I go along to help keep my stitch counts accurate.  At the rate I am going, I should be able to finish Section 5 by the end of this month, notwithstanding the fact that a good portion of the wing [confetti stitching] makes up the far right of this section.  Who knows, I may even get a decent start on Section 2.

And here is a close-up of the recent stitching on Section 5.  Today, I plan to catch up on the back-stitching and work on the sleeve.  I know that soon I will have no choice but to tackle the wings again.  The wing portions of Section 1 and 3 were the first things I stitched when I started work on this project.  I am hoping that now that I am in full Teresa Wentzler mode, I won't find them nearly so annoying challenging.



I should be able to finish Sections 1 and 2 in October, leaving the embellishment charts [beading and metallic braid] and the over one chart [the angel's face] and the sewing assembly/finish for November.  Then it will just be a matter of filling the stocking and mailing it out to Liam.  I have reached the point where I am beginning to believe this stocking will be finished in time for Christmas 2013.  Just a month ago, I was hoping but not actually believing.

Jeremiah was a bullfrog ... was a good friend of mine!

Did I say in a previous post that I could manage one little bird easily enough?  Wrong, wrong, wrong!  Perhaps it's because the bird was white.  Or perhaps it's because I stitched nearly the whole day. every day. all weekend long and my eyes were tired on Monday.  In any case, I managed a miscount and the first order of business today is frogging.  And I had been so proud of my progress.  At least this bit of frogging won't take too long or set me back too far.  No stitching last night for fear of more errors to compound those made in the morning.  Just watched some Poirot episodes that came from Netflix.  I love all the British Mystery Theater series now being published by Acorn Media.  Last week we watched three of the Lord Peter Wimsey episodes.

And for those of you who are puzzling over the reference to a song from my youth, Joy to the World, here is the first verse and chorus.  I always liked the Three Dog Night version.

Jeremiah was a bullfrog
...was a good friend of mine
Never understood a single word he said
But I helped him a-drink his wine
And he always had some mighty fine wine.

Chorus:  Joy to the world
              All the boys and girls
              Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
              Joy to you and me.

Now, maybe that's the answer: I need some wine.  No, probably not a good idea.  Way too early in the day!