Monthly Giveaway Winner

I had a very good response to this particular giveaway, it appears my taste in fiber is far more popular than my taste in charts. My giveaways of gently used charts never seem to garner this much attention: 18 entries within two days of putting the giveaway up is something of a record for me. I used an online randomizer to choose # 14, Joanne . I'll be sending her an e-mail sometime today to get a mailing address. My thanks to all who participated.

Mid-Week Musings

It's time to start planning the weekend finishing. I never did get to the Homespun Elegance pin cushions last weekend and I have been avoiding the four Prairie Schooler Seasons of ... pillows for a very long time though they have been on the goals list each month for the better part of this year. None of these finishes appears to be particularly difficult, just fiddly and time-consuming. So I believe the time has come to get to it. I have gathered the materials and tools necessary for these projects and laid them out on the dining room table. Finally, with them staring me in the face like this, perhaps, I may be guilted into finishing them this weekend. One other project I have laid out for the weekend is a series of owl finishes that I first saw on Erynne's blog. She is no longer blogging actively, at least, not under the same blog name. I miss her voice ... the voice of a very gifted young designer of cross-stitch and an able writer.

The Current Project in the Rotation ...

... is the Workbasket Quaker Sampler. I seem to be alternating between the Black'd Skie and the Quaker Sampler, lately ... probably, the result of my determination to finish at least one more WIP left from 2010 and one more of the three remaining 2011 CJC projects, unlikely though that may be. I know I will be carrying at least two of the 2010 WIPs into 2012: the Jacobean Elegance Afghan and a Brightneedle class project. And two of the 2011 CJC projects as well: Teresa Wentzler's Tracery Dragons and Allessandre Adelaide's Zucca. Then, of course, I do have two new starts in 2012 above and beyond the CJC that are unlikely to be finished by December's end: The Sturbridge Box class project and the Prairie Grove Peddler Lighthouse Candle Mat. I think I shall have to discipline myself in 2012, no new starts till I finish three WIPs or UFOs. This is why I have joined a UFO Challenge Group for 2012: I have so many class pieces from 2005 and up that I could spend the whole year just finishing up what I have already started.

Some Finishing, Some Stitching

9:30 am: I rather like this notion of devoting my three day weekends primarily to finishing. Today, I am seven projects closer to the bottom of the finishing basket than I was on Friday. And some of those pieces have been in the "finishing" basket for years. The Strawberry Emery dates from 2006, the Silver Needle piece from 2008 and the Time for Tea from Lord Knows When [I can't seem to find the blog entry for TfT's cross stitch finish]. Of course, the finishing basket still appears very full but once I start working on the Christmas pillows that will change. Four nine inch pillow forms take up an awful lot of space. My sewing/assembly finishes are rapidly overtaking my cross-stitch finishes. Currently, I have completed 29 cross-stitch projects and 27 sewing/assembly projects this year. But since it is back to stitching today, I thought I'd get a bit more work done on Quaker Sampler. More stitching, mind you, than on an ordinary Monday since I am having trouble with my sugar numbers this morning. The glucometer has not been my friend these past few days ... far too honest about Halloween indulgences and a Dunkin' Donuts breakfast on Saturday. In any case, at 516, I need to run my exercise tape, take a slightly increased dosage [as per the doctor's instructions] of my main medication, drink a lot of water and eat protein only today. It is not recommended that I drive till I get the numbers down to 250 or below and then continue the regimen until I am back in my usual 120 range. But I can sew and stitch. So maybe I will get a bit more finishing in today after all. And a motif done on the Quaker Sampler as well!

Weekend Progress Report: November 6, 2012

Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie: I have been progressing nicely on block 2 of this piece.

Sewing and Assembly Finishes: I devoted this weekend to finishing up four floss tags [see yesterday's post for photo], a Blackbird Designs Quaker Medallion strawberry emery from the JCS 2006 Christmas Ornament issueusing some recently acquired upholstery fabric samples for the leaves, a small padded wall hanging entitled Time for Tea [a free chart that I stitched so long ago that the designer's name does not immediately spring to mind] using some of that lovely hand-dyed chenille from R & R Reproductions in the color Smoke and a pin pillowmade from a Silver Needle free chart proclaiming that "I love to shop at The Silver Neede" trimmed in more of the chenille, this time in the color Cinnamon. I have one more piece prepped for a pin pillow finish but I am rather tired of sewing so I may be putting that off till next Friday. It is very pleasant indeed to see cross-stitched pieces finally transformed into usable stitching accessories or decorative items for the home. And, who knows, I someday may be able to reclaim the laundry basket that contains all my "to-be-finished" projects for its original purpose: carrying laundry up and down the stairs of my two story townhouse! I plan on working on my Workbasket Quaker Sampler for the remainder of the day. Perhaps I'll make enough progress to make a photo worthwhile tomorrow.

NaBloPoMo

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.

The Monthly Giveaway

It seems like I just mailed out the last giveaway. October simply zipped by me. Let's hope my time sense returns to normal this month. I'd like to savor the days rather than wonder where they went. This giveaway will be a touch different. No gently used charts are on offer this month. Instead, I will be offerring some full skeins/cards of Olde Willow linen floss. The colorway is what I tend to think of as a traditional sampler colorway. The photo is pretty accurate as to the color values ... at least it is on my computer monitor. Obviously there will be no PIF aspect to this particular giveaway, so the rules will be somewhat abridged:

1. leave a comment as to why you would enjoy receiving this giveaway.

2. if clicking on your name does not lead me to an e-mail address, include one in your message.

Good luck to all who enter.

Aftermath

It's odd and even frightening how quickly the daily routine swallows a tragedy. Yesterday, I attended the funeral of a 16 year old boy. Today, I am immersed in setting up an e-mail distribution list for all current students and their families, finishing up some Safer Spaces reports, preparing the next fundraiser and beginning the writing of a classroom event for parents and children in two weeks time. The memory of Jose's face will fade only to be revived occasionally when I happen to see his memorial card in my Book of Christian Prayer or when I see his mother and sister at Sunday Mass. I feel that I should stand with fist in the air, shouting his name so that it will not be forgotten that Jose walked these halls, sat in these classrooms ... and that we adults, who should have protected him, did not recognize his pain or heal his wounds and don't deserve to sink back into complacency and routine so very quickly and easily. The sharp sting of "what if..." should linger longer. What a weakling I am, unable to hold a focus long enough to learn a lesson.

Sadly Appropriate

I know it's just a bizarre coincidence but this is the right piece to be working on today. Last night I went to the wake service and then,this morning at 11am, I will be attending the funeral Mass of one of my former Confirmation students. A gentle giant, an honor student, a quiet and somewhat introspective 16 year old boy who committed suicide last week. For a while, we were all hoping he had simply run away. He hadn't left a note and had taken a taxi down to NYC. But his destination, 178th Street was problematic since it is within walking distance of the George Washington Bridge. He was found in the Hudson River but it took two days to identify him. The young have so little perspective: one has to wonder what heart ache was so very great that he preferred death to life. I haven't talked to him in over two years but I have seen him at Mass occasionally with his mother and his sister. I remember him as a michievious little boy, a fifth grader who snagged a sandwich for himself and one for his kid sister from a platter that wasn't actually "unwrapped" yet. But he became very serious as a teenager. I remember his slow smile, all the more precious for being so rare. I remember him as a 9th grader, one year older than all the others in his Confirmation class, a bit sheepish about being bigger than all the other kids, especially his diminutive younger sister who was in the same class. I recall seeing him bussing tables at a local restaurant owned by his older brother, giving my husband and I a shy nod of recognition. I remember his mother proudly telling me about how he encouraged and inspired her to go back to school for her R.N. certification. The wake was difficult, as is any wake for a young person. I think I have mentioned every so often that I am the sort of person who operates more from the head than the heart. So to be embraced by the grieving mother who then burst into tears was a shock. All I could do was stroke her back and murmur that I was so sorry for her loss, and listen to her broken sentences about her baby boy who had promised to be with her forever. I knelt before the closed coffin to say the Lord's Prayer and when finished, found myself murmuring the Guardian Angel's Prayer, a favorite childhood prayer of mine, for a boy who was no doubt being guided even now to peace and serenity before the Throne. May God grant him eternal peace, the peace he clearly did not have here. And may God grant those of us left behind the wisdom to recognize and help others like him. And, still, I wonder what drove him to the G. Washington Bridge and the cold Hudson River below.

Blogaversary Giveaway

Barbara, who writes a lovely blog called mainely stitching , won my blogaversary giveaway back in September and requested a patriotic piece. It took me a while, but this is what I came up with using Glory Bee's complimentary chart, Liberty, which I converted to Belle Soie silks. I kept to the same muted palette as in the charted GAST overdyes for two reasons. First, that palette worked so well with my chosen backing fabric and chenille trim. [I have photographed the pillow against the backing fabric, one of three coordinated fabrics of which I bought 1/2 yard each some time ago. There is a print and a larger plaid in the same colorway. Wonderful stuff.] Second, I remember one of Barbara's posts in which she stated that she thought Buckeye Scarlet was one of the ugliest reds imaginable ... so I figured I'd better steer away from the traditional bright red-white-blue. I chose the finish of a small pillow lined with muslin and filled with ground walnut shells so that it could be used either as a pin pillow in her craft room or a bean bag toy for her children's indoor winter amusement ... it can get pretty cold on the Maine coast during the long winters and a variety of indoor games are a maternal survival technique! I added a little brass charm of the Liberty Bell that has been kicking around in my stash for nearly a decade. Until this piece, I had never found just the right project for it ... but it works perfectly here. I am pleased with the result and hope Barbara enjoys the piece as much as I enjoyed making it.