I have a very strong competitive streak ... one of my more problematic character traits ... sometimes this is a good thing, but most often it is not. Since I have been concentrating on a Teresa Wentzler BAP for the past few months, the finishes have not been mounting up in the numbers that I am used to seeing when I concentrate on medium and small projects. Usually by this time of year, my list of finishes includes about a dozen projects. Every year, I try to better my numbers, competing against my previous record. Though I know it is foolish to measure my achievements by quantity, the rather short list in the 2010 finishes is bothering me somewhat ... not enough to switch gears and abandon my BAP but enough to irk me mildly. I am enjoying the Teresa Wentzler piece too much to stop now. And I have another Teresa Wentzler piece ready to go as soon as this is done. So I shall just have to adjust my thinking. Another way of saying "Grow up and get with the program"!!!
Then, too, Mom's Stash Giveaway has taken a good bit of my time as well. I mailed 8 more boxes on Friday morning, bringing the total up to 10. And now that I have posted the fabric giveaway, I have another five boxes to pack up and send off. It has been far more time-consuming and space-consuming than I ever would have imagined. People are already beginning to reimburse me for postage costs, so I will be making some purchases at 123stitch ... mostly linen and floss purchases ... though there are a few charts from the Nashville Market I'd like ... we shall see! All this has cut into my ability to accumulate finishes as in past years.
A small but fussy WIP is this scissor keep from the Summer 2009 issue of Antique Sampler and Needlework Quarterly. I don't normally stitch anything quite so "pink" but this little piece intrigued me for some reason or other. I will be lining it with pellon so that a scissor will not tear it up. Once that is done, I'll engage in a veritable orgy of blanket stitching to attach the two sides together ... ten stitches in each tiny perforation. I am thinking I should make another [the Tokens and Trifles packet had four of these little triangles], stitching all but the initials and then using the second scissor keep as a giveaway for my blogaversary in August, maybe even including a matching biscornu as part of the gift. Anyway, it's an idea!
And, last but not least, here is a photo of the Heartstrings Santa Factory February chart: Santa With a Heart. That will leave me with only one more Santa to stitch in my 2010 plan: Sue Hillis' Cookie Baking Santa. There will be lots more Christmas stitching this year ... just no more Santas, at least, until the very last Bride's Tree SAL ornament.
I am not including photos of my piece for Linda's Round Robin and my progress thus far on the border ... at least not until the border is complete. More on this in later posts. I have to have it ready for an April 15 mailing and thus only have a little over a month to do my part of it. It has been a long time since I have done a round robin ... almost ten years ... because I lost heart after losing three hand-stitched bookmarks in a bookmark exchange round robin ... but I am ready to try again. I just hope that after putting in all this work on the piece, I am not disappointed again. On the other hand, I really like the idea of having a piece that has been stitched by seven other stitchers as well as myself. The last successful round robin in which I participated brought me back a piece that I converted into a shopping bag for my daughter who loves fantasy motifs ... every block had one of Jennifer Aiken-Smith's fantasy creatures stitched from her Christmas ornaments chart series ... it had a sort of Harry Potter feel to it ... and was great fun. I am beginning to be concerned a little about this round robin ... the feedback I have gotten from two members seems to indicate that my choice of theme [Autumn in the Village] may prove difficult for them ... I am hoping to mitigate that by including some suggested charts ... perhaps even a working copy of some of those charts ... but of course, that kind of defeats the purpose of a round robin which, as I understand it, is to get other stitchers' perspective on a common theme.
Heartstrings Santa Factory February Card: Santa with Heart. Since this is stitched on 40ct, I can only work on it indoors with my magnifying lamp. With the weather being so lovely, I have been doing a lot of my stitching outdoors. So while the other two projects, seen below, have occupied most of my time, I did manage to do a bit more on this piece which is now a little more than half finished.
Antique Sampler & Needlework Quarterly, Summer 2009, Plimoth Scissor Keep. This is quite a different sort of project for me: worked on Tokens and Trifles cards, primarily worked in back-stitch with very few cross stitches, finished with tiny little closely spaced blanket stitches. I just have the lavendar flower and date to work on the back piece. Then I'll need to choose a lining fabric and assemble the two sides to make a sheath. It will be a lovely and delicate stitching accessory when done. It will also be the sort of chart I know I will revisit whenever I need a pretty little gift for a stitching buddy or for an exchange.
Last but not least, I picked up Workbasket's Mermaids Singing again ... and really got into it. This one is so close to being finished that it literally pains me to set it down again in favor of the RR. All I have left to do is the couching of the Caron Watercolours wool over the cross-stitched seaweed. That will involve probably no more than 2 or 3 hours work, possibly less. However, I will be a responsible stitcher and revert to the RR. But at least I know that once I return to my regular rotational stitching, I will have a quick and easy finish in no time at all, at all. Knowing I have that almost instant gratification waiting for me will give me the stamina to soldier on with the boring back-stitching in my RR border.
