Monday I used a good part of my lunch hour to measure and cut the boards for four floss tags and for four of the Town Square ornaments. And Tuesday morning, before heading into work, I cut and glued the padding on to all the boards. As Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday rolled on by, I worked on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler, completing the motif and two letters for the week. Pictured are the three motifs I have stitched this month along with the letters E through J. I also attended my first knitting circle at the local high school on Wednesday evening. It was a humbling experience. It's been years since I attempted to learn to knit and came up with a fairly respectable garter knit stitch scarf which my youngest son used for nearly a decade. Wednesday night, my tension was too tight, my stitching totally inconsistent and I kept splitting the yarn ... and to add insult to injury, my body betrayed me. too: my fingers kept cramping! At least, I
learned a new casting on technique which the instructor called the slingshot method. It's an easy and tidy cast on. I'll have to practice quite a bit over the next two weeks [there's no session next week] so that I can have a neat, even five to ten rows of knit stitch on my "blob". The instructor, Colleen, calls the 24 stitch wide band of practice stitches a "blob" rather than the more exalted "primer sampler" term used by other knitting instructors. This seems much more honest, especially where my blob is concerned. And Colleen is definitely NOT a wool purist, talking easily about acrylic blends that contain as little as 10% wool and yarns from AC Moore and Michael's. I am not certain I am okay with this
casual attitude towards materials. I have always believed that the end product is only as good as the materials used in its manufacture. But judging by the sample projects Colleen uses to illustrate her lessons, the lady knows her stuff when it comes to technique. Friday, I switched back to The Primitive Needle's
Black'd Skie and completed the outline of the second block and finished the tree trunk that dominates the left side of the block. Finally, I did the assembly and trimming of four more of my Town Square SAL ornaments: The Train Depot, The Saloon, The Clock Tower and The Town Hall. I haven't gotten to the floss tags as yet, perhaps later on in the coming week I'll manage to finish them as well. I am a bit concerned about some Priority Mail packages I dropped in the mail last Wednesday to my September and October giveaway winners. The packages should have arrived on Saturday but I haven't heard from the recipients yet ... the one time I didn't spring for delivery confirmation, wouldn't you know?!?
November is National Blog Posting Month. Can I manage to post one blog entry every day for a month? I am certainly verbose enough. The question is whether I am disciplined enough to post daily. I know that the posts at the beginning of the month were wildly off-topic for this stitching blog. Though I sometimes post about my professional life [especially as it impacts stitching time], I rarely post about my personal feelings. For those who were thrown off stride by the atypical posts, I can only say that though I am very good at compartmentalizing my life ... and I don't know whether that is a good or a bad thing ... sometimes even I can't keep everything in tidy little boxes tied up in pretty color-coded ribbons. But for now at least, it is back to stitching and stitching related topics. I spent a good part of Thursday morning prepping some of my floss tags for assembly. I prepped the remaining two Friday morning at the beginning of my three day weekend. 
And I tackled the actual assembly today. Or more specifically, I tackled trying to decipher the directions on my new toy, a Crop-a-Dile, so that I could pre-punch the holes for the grommets. I don't know what it is with me and directions for crafting accessories. My mind just doesn't work in the same fashion as the authors of those ever so clear, ever so detailed instructional leaflets. I took me ages to figure out how to use of my cording drill properly. I simply don't understand even the simplest machines/mechanical theories. This is where I really need my engineer son ... how dare he move to the West Coast just because the Navy told him to? Oddly enough, the Crop-a Dile was a cinch to use. It'll take a bit more practice to get the knack of lining things up precisely. But my first four attempts at Floss tags didn't turn out too badly. They are all Prairie Schooler promo cards: a house on a soft spring day, another house in a summer thunderstorm, a barn on a crisp autumn day and a cabin in a winter snowfall. Next, I'll be working on an emery strawberry, the two Homespun Elegance pedestal pin cushions I'd like to finish up and two more small pin pillow finishes. Maybe I'll have some more finish photos to show tomorrow. Now that I have three day weekends when I can really spread out my crafting stuff on the dining room table and just leave it there for the duration, I am determined to work on finishing as many of the small stitching accessories and/or the seasonal decor pieces I have on hand. The possibilities are pretty broad: ornaments, pillows, stand-ups, cubes or self-framed. I do have several heirloom quality pieces that I will need to send to a professional framer and soon, if I am to have them back in time for Christmas giving. All I want to have left in the "finishing" basket for 2012 are pieces I am accumulating for quilts or wall hangings.
