The Quaker Sampler

Since I'd like to finish at least one more cross stitch project this year, I am stitching single-mindedly on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler. The size of the piece and the intricacy of the symmetrical stitching qualifies it as a BAP, to my way of thinking, though some may call it merely a large piece but not quite a BAP. For those of you who are curious about the actual size: though I haven't measured it, the piece does completely cover one of those folding wooden snack tables with a tiny bit of drape. Started in early December of 2010 and ignored for most of 2011, it's about time to complete this piece. The outer rectangle of large motifs and letters is complete. Now that I have begun it, I expect the inner rectangle of smaller motifs and letters to move more quickly. Each subset of a small motif paired with three letters in the same color is a little over one half the size of the larger motif/letter pairings. I am hoping to complete one a day. It would be nice to have the entire piece complete by mid-month. I still haven't decided whether I shall put my three children's birth years and initials in the central motifs or use this piece as an anniversary sampler to replace the one lost several years ago by the framer. I could put our wedding year in the center heart and our initials in the flanking motifs. I still have time to decide ... either option would have deep significance for me.

December Goals

I am going to keep it very simple this month:
Work on Teresa Wentzler's Tracery Dragons.
Work on Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie.
Work on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler.
During the Christmas vacation, work on the sewing finish of a bunch of decorative pillows.

My real goal is to have another cross stitch finish or two before years end and a few sewing finishes as well.

Assessing November Goals

BAP: Maybe, by the end of the month, I'll be ready to pick up TW's Tracery Dragons again. I really do need a break from this rather complex piece. I may need another month before I can tackle this one again.
Crazy January Challenge: Continue Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie. Some work was done on this in the earlier part of the month ... enough to get a good start on the second box.

Needlepoint Project: Owl Sampler. Finish this piece and make into a pillow. No.
Sewing & Finishing: the four LHN pillows & two HE pin cushions. This month, I have finished 4 floss tags, 3 pin pillows, 1 strawberry emery and 1 padded flat ornament. I started work on a pieced Owl ornament [the first of four] and resumed work on a knitting bag I hope to use as part of a Christmas gift. These last two projects used upholstery fabric and even though I used a denim needle, the sturdiest I had on hand, there were problems. Such problems that my sewing machine simply quit in protest.

Surface Embroidery: finish The Fertile Circles Needlebook. No.

WIPS & UFOS from 2010: Continue work on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler, the Jacobean Elegance afghan, and the Beach Find Pansies panel. I decided that what little stitching I have been able to do this month would be focused on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler. I have managed to complete the outer rectangle of the larger motifs motifs and letters. And I got a start on the inner rectangle of smaller motifs and letters. I may actually finish this before 2011 comes to a close.
WIP 2011: Continue work on The Sturbridge Box and Prairie Grove Peddler Lighthouse Candle Mat.
Just a note: The need to de-clutter and to organize has me really concentrating on finishing pieces. I have a number of sewing finishes I'd like to get to this month, mostly seasonal pillows. And, this month I want to work on learning to frame pieces myself ... I just can't tolerate laundry baskets filled with stitched pieces carefully rolled in tubes awaiting framing. Oh, a few pieces that are clearly worthy of the investment will still go to a professional framer once I can find one I can trust not to glue and staple my precious stitched objets d'art! But I want to try my hand at framing the more whimsical seasonal decor pieces. This will mean a trip to Michael's for archival board, mattes and frames. I'll have to spend a bit of time working ona list of measurements. That will leave only the pieces I am accumulateing for quilts and wall hangings ... which I will then store flat in archival bozes in a drawer in my craft center. I need to reorganize the craft center [aka, the boys old dresser and secretary topper] as part of the overall make-over of the boys old room into my craft room. I am trying to give equal attention to my daughter's old room's conversion to my husband's den. It keeps me busy.

Weekend Progress Report: November 27, 2011

It's been all about Workbasket's Quaker Sampler this past week. I have managed to finish the large red letters on the lower right side and all the yellow and blue large motifs and letters across the bottom of the piece. And I even got a bit of a start on the green motif in the lower left corner. It is my hope to have the entire outer rectangle completed by Wednesday [the end of the month] leaving only the inner rectangle and the center motifs for the month of December. This is a late 2010 WIP and I would really like to have it completed by the end of 2011. One less WIP to carry forward into yet another year.

Black Friday

Never was a name more apt. What is it with this American obsession with shopping? Consumerism has been raised to the status of a religion! And the Friday after Thanksgiving has become its high holy day. We even observe a vigil: Thanksgiving itself has become Black Friday Eve, what with stores opening before the turkey has cooled on our plates.

We all make jokes about doing our bit for the "stimulus" or for the "recovery"! Well, this aging ex-hippie is quite content to make do, use it up or do without. While I do tend to take the chic out of shabby chic, I have absolutely no problem with a bit of wear and tear on my denim jumpers and jeans or some fraying on the strap of a cloth handbag. I have clothing, a coat, shoes, handbags, etc. that are older than my adult children ... and still perfectly usable/wearable in spite of a certain sister's opinion, thank you very much. While most millenials would think my PC hopelessly outdated - it's six years old - my computer does everything I need it to do. I actively resist upgrades to my cell phone - hell, I only know how to use its most basic functions, anyway. Why would I want more bells and whistles to ignore? I am not a total fanatic: when I need an item, I buy the best quality I can afford and then wear it or use it until it is no longer functional ... usually a decade or two or three later. I believe in proper maintenance, within reason, of cars and appliances. I mend my clothing, replace buttons, polish my shoes. What's wrong with making things last?

So, while many Americans are clogging the thruways and mobbing the malls, I may do a little stitching. If I shop at all, it will be at the local grocery store, which is usually nearly empty on Black Friday. Go figure: the one thing that is essential to our continued existence, i.e: FOOD ... is the one thing we don't shop for on the day devoted to shopping.

AHS

It must be the holiday season starting up, but lately I have the uncharacteristic urge to tackle serious cleaning projects. Rather early in my marriage, my husband diagnosed me with AHS. He claims it is a disease shared by my mother and my sisters. Accardi Holiday Syndrome presents the following symptoms:
---the need to have an immaculately clean home, one that will pass the dreaded MOM inspection
---the need to decorate every room in the house, tastefully
---the need to produce a bakery shop full of pastries, Italian cookies, pies
---the need to cook all the traditional dishes of our childhood, including the marshmallow and sweet potato casserole, stuffing with Italian sausage & pignoli nuts, and broccoli with roasted garlic
---the tendency to walk around with a pocketed apron filled with tools, rags and cleansers and smelling of Murphy's Oil Soap
---the tendency to walk around muttering things like "If I paint the spare room tonight, will the paint dry by morning?" or worse, from a husband's point of view, " if I get Bill to paint the spare room..."
---the tendency to shop for the most unusual and most tailored-to-the-person gifts possible
---the need to wrap all gifts so that the seams match, rather like perfectly installed wallpaper
---and, finally, the need to fill the house with people who mess everything up and start the cycle all over again.

So ... if I don't post as often as usual between now and the New Year, know that I will return to my regular pace when the holidays end with our Jan 10 wedding anniversary and I have resumed my normal life, preferring some quiet stitching to obsessive compulsive channeling of Martha Stewart. By the way, please note, AHS predates Martha Stewart by a decade or two! Martha is really channeling my mother!

Weekend Progress Report: Nov. 20, 2011

I have done hardly any stitching at all this week or even this weekend for that matter. After a horrendous work week of 65 hours, I spent most of my weekend catching up on laundry and finally cooking an evening meal instead of relying on take-out. I am getting too old to be working four more hours than I have spent years on the planet. The ratio should be inverse instead of converse. Next up, will be vacuuming and dusting, some serious bathroon scrubbing and finally, my share of the holiday cooking for the big multi-generational [four] bash at my brother's house. I'll get to see my brand new three week old great-nephew, Dominic, at Thanksgiving. It's odd but I am feeling both exhausted and energized all at the same time. It must be the holiday aura.

Well, back to stitching: I have been working on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler in a very desultory fashion all this week. I've stitched a bit of a motif, put it down, a bit more, put it down, made a mistake, frogged, re-stitched ... well, you get the idea. A motif that ordinarily would have been the work of one evening has stretched out into a week-long exercise. I was planning on putting up a photo of my progress such as it was but my camera battery is in need of recharging. I'll add the photo to this post after work tonight.

Thanksgiving Ornament Tree

I had plans to post this much earlier in the month when I was still trying to post daily. But work has been crazy the past week and a half and I have consistently come home too tired to do anything but read light-hearted Nora Roberts romances. This puts me out of the running for NaBloPoMo.

I switched out the ornaments on my entryway tree from Halloween to Thanksgiving earlier this month and am enjoying this cheerful little greeting every day when I return from work. I did have to move the Pilgrim Woman with her pies to a less noticeable spot, though. Last year, my husband, in a thoroughly bemused tone, asked me why I had put a Groucho Marx ornament on the Thanksgiving tree. Apparently, as he was coming down the steps, a quick glance had him mistaking the lady's apron for a large nose, her outstretched arms with pies in hand for eyes and eyelashes, and the bottom of her skirt and her boots for a mustache. His question has forever changed the way I look at her ... all I see now is Groucho. And I was so pleased with the pretty little ornament before his comment. Here's one more view of the tree, showing some of the other ornaments.

Before you know it, it will be time to switch again, this time to Christmas ornaments. This year is going by way too quickly. It seems like the school year just started and I am already grading first quarter exams and preparing Progress Reports. We've already staged one of the two annual Whole Community Catechesis Events, one of the two annual Communion Breakfasts for the Confirmation candidates and most of the Safe Environment Programs for the children. I still have to squeeze in a fire drill or two before the snows start. It seems like the Fall months have just whizzed past. Coming up soon are the Catechist Christmas Party and Advent confessions for Grades 3-8 and the Reconciliation Mini-Retreat for Grade 2. I haven't even settled on the music for the Reconciliation service since our music minister has been out for nearly six weeks. Her doctors belatedly diagnosed her as having Lyme's disease, but only after it had done some damage to her heart ... hence the lengthy sick leave. On top of everything, her immune system was compromised and she ended up with coxsackie, further damaging her heart and lungs.

Weekend Progress Report: Nov. 13, 2011

Between the diabetic episode in the early part of the week and the tight professional schedule in the later, not much was accomplished this week. Just a bit more work on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler. However, there simply wasn't enough work done to warrant a photograph ... just the border of the next red motif.

Clearly, I have fallen down on the NaBloPoMo deal, having missed two posts but pressure of work does take precedence ovber blogging.

Back to Friday Finishing

These are the last two machine sewing finishes I managed before my sewing machine decided it simply wasn't going to function any longer ... there's a problem with the tension that is causing the needle thread to break constantly. A separate and unidentified issue is causing needles to break every so often as well. I have replaced needles three times in as many weeks. The first is HiH's Wee Bee made up into another pin pillow filled with ground walnut shells and trimmed with chenille. The second is a BBD design, Bird in Hand, finished in the same manner except that I don't have any chenille in an appropriate color. I'll have to do a little internet shopping to see what's available. A number of vendors are expanding their chenille lines so I am hopeful that I'll find a rose color or, at the very least, an ivory/eggshell color.

For the rest of the weekend, all finishes will have to involve hand-sewing ... unless, of course, my back-up machine is functional. But I seem to recall that it needs a trip to the repair shop as well. I may just break down and buy a new machine though I heartily dislike the thought of learning a new machine. These others have been old friends for 25 and 41 years respectively.