A Change in the Rotation Schedule

I got very little stitching done Tuesday on my  rotation piece, The Fiber Shoppe: just the hour before work.   I have read on a number of blogs that quite a few people are using a three day rotation interval: select four or five projects and work on each one for three days before rotating to the next.  This allows the stitcher to build a little momentum on each project in the rotation.  I tried this and continued to stitch on The Fiber Shop through Wednesday and Thursday with this progress: it's raining outside so please excuse the indoor photo.  The colors are actually a bit brighter than this ... you can get a better sense of the colors in my previous post.  I have reached a point where I will be making a few changes in the chart.  After completing this next row of brick red, the chart calls for stitching the words and date, "Fils.  2006".  Fils being the French word for fiber, I will be stitching the word "Fibers" instead.  After all, these ornaments will be going on a Small Town USA themed Christmas Tree.  I'll also be deleting the date simply because I am not fond of dated Christmas ornaments.  I haven't yet decided whether I will stitch the window glass in Tin Bucket as charted or in Bahama Breeze for a lighter look.  I'll wait until I get all the masonry and window frames and door trim stitched before making that decision.  But my instinct is that Tin Bucket is just too dark and will make the shop look like it's closed for the night.

So now my next rotation will be
4/12-14.  Mystic Smalls
4/15-17.  Midnight Moogies.
4/18-20.  TW's Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking.
4/21-23.  The Berry Patch Rabbit.
4/24-26.  The Fiber Shop.

And once I get The Berry Patch Rabbit done, its place in the rotation will be taken by sewing finishes.

Just Another Manic Monday

Mondays are always toughest after a long break.  And the Monday after a 10 day Easter recess is no exception.  But I won't be bored.  There is a great deal to do at this time of year.  The real challenge will be fitting in some stitching time.

Today's rotation piece was The Berry Patch Rabbit.  Happily, I found the extra skein of DMC 610 I was so sure I had on hand and was able to continue work on this piece without the annoyance of missing floss.  I  stitched on this piece about an hour before work.  Though I had hoped to get in some stitching during my lunch hour and a bit more before bedtime but I ended up working through lunch and was too weary to stitch safely when I got home at 9:00 p.m.  I waited till morning to take photos in natural light.   My limited photographic skills need all the advantages outdoor settings provide.

Today it's back to work on my current Town Square piece: The Fiber Shop.  This is a truly lovely chart with lots of fine detail.  I am enjoying it thoroughly.  But I think it will take me the rest of the month to complete, even though I have 4 Tuesdays left in the month.  This lovely little French style building is three stories tall and will be one of the larger ornaments in the series.  If by some chance I do finish it before the month is out, I'll pick up The Framing Shop, as the next in the Town Square series.  After that's done, I'll finish up the textile arts shops with The Quilt Shop and The Knit Shop.  After that, it will be on to all the foodie shops.  Anyway, here's a shot after morning stitching.  Again, I hope to do a bit more during the lunch hour and after work.  But we shall see what we shall see.

Saturday Stitching

 I finished The Cross Stitch Shop as a flat ornament like all the others in the series.  And I began work on The Fiber Shop instead of The Framing Shop.  I realized I had failed to print out the over one sign for The Framing Shop so I simply moved on to the next chart on my to do list.  I'll look through my binder to see if I filed the page with The Framing Shop's sign improperly. In any case, I have loaded my Doodler table top frame with enough blue linen to stitch at least three [possibly four] more shops in the Indy Town Square series.  So, even after I find the missing page of chart, I'll need to choose one or two more shops to kit up and have ready in the stitching bag.

The Fiber Shop will be one of the larger ornaments at 4 inches wide and 6 inches tall.  It is a three story building and I have only begun work on the top floor.  I did switch out a few colors so as to work with my stash.  I am using Poison Apple Belle Soie for the facade of the building instead of GAST Old Brick.  I knew I didn't have nearly enough of the Old Brick  so I am using it as the accent [capstones] color.  Otherwise, I am following the chart.  I know some people don't like to mix silks and cotton overdyes but I rather like the added texture that mixed fibers give a piece.

Other good news:  I was right: I did have another skein of DMC 610 so stitching on The Berry Patch Rabbit will continue uninterrupted.  It is nice to know that tomorrow's rotation stitching won't be complicated by any annoying gaps in inventory.

I also hope to get some work done on my TW stocking today.

My Easter recess is more than half over and I have been enjoying the break from normal routines.  I have gotten in a lot more stitching time and the rotation method appears to be working quite nicely for me.  I am moving along with my projects without suffering from boredom.  And if I feel like lingering on a particular project a little longer than the rotation stipulates, well: I made the rules so I guess I can break them if I choose.  I did exactly that yesterday, finishing up the windows and starting on the sign on The Cross Stitch Shop from the Indy Town Square series.  Now all that's left is the over one background of the sign which I  am stitching in a tent stitch laid out in the basket weave method and a few specialty stitches here and there.  I should be able to finish that today which would give me my first cross stitch finish of 2013.  And that would still leave me four Tuesdays in April to stitch The Framing Shop.  I need to double up on the Town Square ornaments for the next three months if I am to meet my annual goal of one a month from this series.  I'll post a photo when I have a finish, sewing and assembly included.

The weather is beginning to warm, at least during the day.  We still drop to the 20s overnight.  Still, it won't be long before I can stitch on the patio and enjoy all the natural light and fresh air.  I live in a rather densely populated town house development and sometimes the noise from neighbors can be a bit of a trial but that's to be expected.  My neighbor to the left just bought a pit bull puppy who seems to think my backyard is part of his territory.  I wonder how long it will take before he gets used to my presence and ceases to bark every time I venture out at the same time he is enjoying a bit of fresh air, too.  I approach the fence and talk to him to get him used to my scent and my voice.  I figure we'll make friends eventually.  The folks next yard beyond the puppy are the real problem: whiny, argumentative children one of whom is a world class tantrum thrower, inconsiderate adults who have no sense of volume control [either for their music or their own voices].  Parenthetical Question:  Why do loud voices speaking a foreign language always sound like a violent argument is in progress?  For all I know, the speakers could be discussing a grocery list!  I don't mind happy noise, especially from children.  I can deal with the varying tastes of my neighbors when it comes to music: punk, salsa, ethnic folk, even, God protect and save me, rap ... as long as it is not at ear-splitting volume.  I figure you just have to accept noise if you choose to live in a town house.  It's not like I'm not used to close quarters.  I grew up in Brooklyn, in a two story house just two lots in from a major avenue ... plenty of traffic and people noise.  Those who desire absolute silence should live on mountaintops or desert islands or the far side of the Moon.  But it is wearing to hear a constant barrage of whining, crying, screaming, arguing.  A CD player with headphones is often the best friend this old lady has!  But if I just have patience the whiny, tantrum throwing children will grow older and abandon the backyard in favor of our relatively traffic free street as a playground for bike riding and ball playing.  Or the family could move out of the neighborhood.  And I'll enjoy a relatively quiet backyard again.  

Planting Peas on Palm Sunday; Oops, Make That Wednesday

In the Garden:  I usually plant my peas on Palm Sunday since peas are a cool weather crop.  This was one of the years I would have had to brush away the snow to do so.    And braved low temps as well.  So I put it off a few days.  But I plan to plant a nice little crop today, reserving half my seeds for late August so I can have another harvest in the cooler month of October.  It will be nice to work the soil again.  I'll have to check my gardening "bible",  the old Victory Garden manual, to see what other early crops I can plant.  Probably radishes and lettuce and maybe carrots.  Mmm, baby carrots ... I can just taste the sweet crunchiness.  When my youngest son still lived at home, carrots never made it to maturity or to the table.  He pulled them out of the garden, dusted them off on his jeans leg and ate.  Other people had garden pests called slugs and birds and aphids; I had one called Dan.

On the stitching front: Yesterday's rotation piece was The Cross Stitch Shop from the Town Square series.  I frogged the brick stitch done previously since I felt 2 strands was too heavy for 32ct and obscured the desired brick effect.  I re-stitched with one strand and am liking it much better.  As you can see, I've got  the brick facade done.  I actually like the way the floss fails to totally cover the blue linen; it looks like the mortar between the bricks.  I started to stitch the windows with a very pale blue silk, Belle Soie's Bahama Breeze, one strand, over two, half cross.  I tried it with a full cross first but even with just one strand, the window glass over-powered the window frame.  The chart leaves the window glass unstitched but I think that leaves the whole piece looking unfinished. Once the windows are done, it will just be the over one sign and a few specialty stitches making up the flowers in the window box ... and one more ornament will be ready for an assembly finish.  Since I am so close to a finish with this, I'll continue to work on it today.  Even so, I hope to get a bit of stitching time in on the Wednesday rotation piece, Mystic Smalls, in the evening.

And an update on the stitched gifts that I mailed out to the grandchildren for Easter:  My daughter-in-law told my husband that the children were delighted with the chocolate goodies but loved the stitched items as well.  Piper carried her tote around all day and filled it with flowers [probably dandelions and violets] that she picked during her wanderings and Liam was equally pleased with his tooth fairy pillow using it as a headrest for a quick nap on the lawn.  So some solid granny points earned!!!  My son also mentioned that Liam carries last year's bunny beanbag just about everywhere ... like a security blanket.  I do so love grandchildren with the perception to appreciate stitched articles.  My daughter-in-law is high in my good graces as well after joking that she has so many beautifully stitched gift totes that she'll never have to buy paper ones ... the only problem being that she doesn't want to give any of her gift bags away.  Gotta love her for that!  I consider this greedy hoarding of my handiwork a worthy compliment.

Yesterday's Stitching Progress

I worked solely on Cedar Hill's Berry Patch Rabbit, as per my planned rotation.  I got a little more than one quadrant of the leaves and berries done.  But an irritating thing happened along the way.  I ran out of DMC 610.  When I kitted this up I could have sworn I had another skein of 610 in my extra floss bag.  Well, it turns out I have two skeins of 611 and three of 612 and one of 613  but I must have misread one of the labels when I decided I didn't need to purchase any more on my last visit to A. C. Moore or to Michael's.  And, with the price of gas being what it is, I am definitely not going to make a run to the other side of the county for one 50 cent item.  It'll just have to wait till I need to shop in the area anyway.  In any case, here is a photo of current progress.

Having learned my lesson, though, I am going to go through my three boxes of bobbin wound DMC and check for other instances of nearly gone colors.  I'll also be checking my stitching rotation bag, particularly the next two or three Town Square SAL projects, to make sure I won't be running out of anything else.  If the list of needed floss is long enough to warrant paying a s/h charge, I'll phone in an order to 1-2-3-stitch.  They have a very quick turn around time and I should have the 610 before the Rabbit comes up again in the rotation.

Assessing March Goals, Setting April Goals

This was the month for returning to rotation stitching and rediscovering the joy of the process.  No self-imposed pressure to finish any one piece in particular.

MARCH GOALS

2013 BAPs: resume work on TW Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking.  It was a pleasure to pick this piece up again.  I am nearly done with page 7 of the chart.

2013 Challenge: WIPs and UFOs: continue work on Midnight Moogies.  I made pretty good progress on this piece.   I  expect a finish in April.

2013 Class Projects Challenge: continue work on Mystic Smalls, this month's project will be the needlebook.  There are two in the chart pack.  I'll be stitching the one with the dockside street scene.  I have already stitched the stitching ladies twice, on the stitcher's pocket and on the scissor case.  A third time would be a bit much.   Some frogging got in the way of serious forward progress but all in all, I am happy with a finished scissor case and a needle book completely cross-stitched but not assembled/sewn.

2013 Start: kit up and start work on Cedar Hill's Berry Patch Rabbit.  I have made good progress, the rabbit itself is stitched: now it's on to the berries and leaves around him..

Town Square SAL:  continue to stitch The Cross Stitch Shop.  Have made moderate progress but ended up doing some frogging here as well. 

Sewing and Assembly Finishes: Complete three.   Way beyond expectations.  Completed a candle mat, six La-D-Da Cardinal ornaments, four of the Town Square SAL ornaments, the Stitcher's Hideaway 2012 souvenir Halloween ornament, the Better Homes and Gardens Tooth Fairy Pillow, one Japanese Kogin diamond shaped and two Kogin Christmas Tree shaped Christmas ornaments, an Elizabethan Christmas ornament, a gift tote using Jennifer Aiken Smith's Dragon of Compassion, another gift tote using Papillion's Peacocks, a small pin pillow using an Papillion Creations Moonlight Serenade,  the Ink Circles Full Moon Halloween ornament and The Sweetheart Tree's Holly & Hearts Christmas ornament.  Having caught up on such a lot of small finishes, maybe, next month I'll finally be able to tackle some of the larger finishing projects like pillows and the Homespun Elegance pin cushions on pedestal stands.  It would be so nice to catch up with all my sewing finishing but somehow that never seems to happen.
Grand total for the month: 22

Simply enjoy the process. Yes.

APRIL GOALS:  Since I have Easter Week off, I should enjoy a bit more stitching time than is usual for me; though I do want to get some gardening and backyard chores done as well.  Then, of course, there is the dreaded Spring cleaning.  This year, I want to have a yard sale  in May or June and really clear out some of the clutter that has accumulated in our small townhouse over the last 30+ years.  That means I have to get started organizing my inventory now.  A de-cluttered home should be easier to clean and as I am getting older, easy sounds just right.

2013 BAPs: continue work on TW Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking.

2013 Challenge: WIPs and UFOs: continue work on Midnight Moogies. or resume work on The English Band Sampler.

2013 Class Projects Challenge: continue work on Mystic Smalls, this month's project will be the tuffet.

2013 Start: continue work on Cedar Hill's Berry Patch Rabbit

Town Square SAL:  finish the Cross Stitch Shop and stitch The Frame Shop.

Sewing and Assembly Finishes: Complete three.

Progress on Rotation WIPs

Friday, Saturday & Sunday: TW Woodland Angel Stocking.  According to the Stocking SAL, Friday night was the time for the fortnightly photo of progress.  But as noted in my last post, I kept going on Midnight Moogies Thursday through Saturday.  I did return to the stocking on Palm Sunday and again on  Good Friday and Holy Saturday.  The Christmas stocking I am working on is a BAP from, dare I admit it, 2011.  It is going to be my grandson Liam's stocking and I foolishly hope to stitch a companion stocking for my granddaughter this year as well.  Liam's stocking is Teresa Wentzler's Woodland Angel and I am adapting a Gold Dimensions kit, Woodland Maiden, to make a companion stocking for Piper.  The theory is the Woodland Maiden will be a lot easier than the Wentzler angel and I will get both done in time to mail cross country in early December.    I haven't yet reached the point when I will have to abandon all other projects to meet this self-imposed deadline.  I figure that will happen sometime in August.  But I have reached the point where things slow down dramatically for this page of chart.  I have stitched what passes for the larger blocks of color in a TW piece [usually five to ten stitches grouped close together] and am now stitching the confetti ...

but, remember, this is TW confetti which means it is all the heck over the place.  Translated this means: load your needle with a blended thread, stitch one cross, count one row down and three rows over, stitch one, skip one, stitch two, then count two rows down and thirteen rows across, stitch two, skip four, stitch one ... well, you get the idea.  Well, I finally got so cross-eyed with all the counting that I decided I needed another landmark/anchor from which to count.  So I counted 27 spaces/54 threads to the left of the bottom of the deer leg and stitched the rabbit.  Now, I have a clear image from which to count on the upper left side of this page of chart.  Even so, you may find that the the progress is hard to see.  I know I spent hours stitching on this piece and even I would be hard-pressed to show you exactly where the progress was made!  My third grandchild will have to wait till 2014 for his stocking but since he'll be only 15 months old next Christmas I am hoping he won't notice the absence of a stocking in December 2013.    I am thinking of using something from the Best of Teresa Wentzler Fantasy book for his stocking to keep the medieval theme going for all three stockings. 

Monday: The Berry Patch Rabbit.  This one saw just a little stitching on my Monday lunch hour this week and perhaps another hour or so on Holy Saturday.  I needed a break from the TW stocking toward the end of the day, something that didn't call for re-loading my needle every ten stitches.  Somehow it seems appropriate to finish up the rabbit right around Easter and, now that I think of it, an odd coincidence that I stitched the rabbit on the TW stocking as well.  Tomorrow, I will get started on the berries and leaves that really make this design so attractive.

Tuesday: The Cross Stitch Shop.    I didn't get to work on this piece on Tuesday.  See yesterday's post for the rant that explains the circumstances.  However, I did pick it up to work on yesterday and quickly decided I had some frogging to do.  I didn't like the way the brick stitch was looking with two strands and will  remove what I have done and try one strand.  That will be one of my projects for today.

Wednesday:  Mystic Smalls.  Another one that will see some activity today since I haven't picked it up in nearly two weeks.  Like the Cross Stitch Shop, there will be some frogging to do before making any forward progress

Thursday: Midnight Moogies.  There was a bit of progress on this during the week: two of the leaves in the garden.  It may not look like much but it represents several hours work.  I have to admit, I chose to stitch the leaves solely because I didn't want to tackle so much as another inch of the checkerboard border.  If I never stitch another checkerboard in my life, it will be too soon!  Even as close to a finish as this piece is, it is in serious danger of becoming a UFO yet again.  I am so done with it!  So ready to see the last of it!  Even the bright colors have lost their appeal and I find myself enjoying the subtlety of Teresa Wentzler and Cedar Hill Designs so very much more.  However, I am determined to finish the piece in April.  Then we'll have to see just how long it remains in the sewing/assembly finish before becoming the back cushion for my Japanese lacquered bench.

Which brings us right back to the starting point of the rotation.  Since this is Easter Week and I will be off the entire week, I expect to make more than the usual progress.  Oh, I won't be devoting my entire time to stitching: there'll be yard work and housework as well.  But still, there will be more time for stitching than is usual.  I am seriously hoping that by the end of this coming week I'll be able to revise my rotation as follows:
Friday, Saturday & Sunday: TW Woodland Angel Stocking.   This will, of course remain the lynch pin of my rotation since I want to have it and one more stocking done by early December 2013.
Monday: The Berry Patch Rabbit.  I am not sure I'll be able to finish this one in the coming week but certainly before April's end.  Once it is finished, I won't be replacing it with a new start.  Rather, Monday will become a day for Sewing and Assembly finishes.
Tuesday: The Framing Shop.  I hope to have finished the Cross Stitch Shop, both stitching and sewing assembly, and to have moved on to the next in the series.
Wednesday:  Mystic Smalls.   I hope that I'll have finished the re-stitching of the scissor case and the stitching of the needle book and the sewing and assembly finish of each.  That will leave me free to move onto the biscornu and scissor fob the following rotation.  Once I am done with the Mystic Smalls, I will tackle the other Thea Dueck class piece I have on hand, The Sturbridge Box.  I'll be taking a class with Thea again in October and want to have all my Thea projects done and ready for Show and Tell.
Thursday: The English Band Sampler.  It is my hope to have finished Midnight Moogies during this week and to have picked up the English Band Sampler again.

That's the plan anyway.  We shall see how doable it turns out to be.  I am usually over-optimistic in setting expectations but I see no problem with aiming high.

Why I Didn't Stitch Yesterday

Yesterday was frantically busy with no time for stitching, or even a lunch break, for that matter.  When I got home from work at 9:00 pm, I feel asleep on the couch while my husband watched three or four episodes of Warehouse 13 on DVD.

Part of the problem was stress.  The 8th graders in my Confirmation prep program complied with all the NY State Board of Regents protocols to secure excused absences for religious observance while attending the mandatory retreat day on Monday 3/18.  No tests should have been given and no new material taught according to the protocols.    The kids returned to school to find out that no less than nine teachers gave tests and quizzes or taught new material.  I had been in written and phone contact with the principal and the attendance office about this last week.  The  principal had assured me that no child would be "penalized" for attending the retreat but the children had to give up lunch hours and study halls to make up tests that should never have been given that day in the first place.  Others missed notes for a test given the day of their return, clearly putting them at a disadvantage vis-a-vis the others in the class.

It didn't take long to draft my protest letter to the principal on which I will be copying the school board.  But it irks me that my kids' religious rights were violated.  The crowning insult was that I knew at least two of the teachers to be Catholics.

And, of course, there was the usual work to clear my desk before the 10 day Easter break.  When I return to the office on 4/8, I need to jump right into preparation for the First Communion mini-retreat, the registration mailing for the 2013-14 program and all the usual Spring routines [inventory, textbook & supply orders, drafting the 2013-14 calendar, building inspection and setting up a summer schedule for maintenance and repair].  This year there will be an additional chore, updating our AV inventory.  All the VHS tapes I so carefully amassed 10-15 years ago are wearing out and I need to draft a list of DVD materials to replace the outworn and outdated materials.

The hard part will be convincing the pastor that I really need to replace these items.  I have been on an austerity budget for the last 5 years with no new electronic equipment or resource materials purchases permitted.  We have been making do with donated used TVs, DVD players, etc.  My office computer is at least 12 years old and showing its age.  We have none of the standard teaching technology of the day: no computers in the classrooms, no teacher's lap-tops hooked up to projectors and large screen TVs showing computer generated Power Point presentations, no wireless in the building.  We are still using over-head projectors and transparencies.  I suppose I should be grateful I don't have to make do with mimeograph machines and reel-to-reel projectors ... or stone tablets and chisels, for that matter!  I have a hard time understanding how we can afford flowers for the church every week or expensive new matching sets of vestments for the deacons and priests but can't afford learning materials for the children who are the present and future of our church community.  Rant over!  For today, at least!  I can't promise not to revisit the topic periodically.  When even our 1st graders are fully "wired", for us  to be teaching with methodologies from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s is just so quaint.

Feeling Feline

It seems amazing given my recent three month long obsession with this piece, but Thursday was the first time I have worked on this since February 24.  That's almost a month without the cats in my lap.  

When last seen, on the 2/25 post, the cats were sitting pretty but the border needed work.  I put in my rotation stitching on Thursday but then just kept going for two more days.

I waited till Saturday night to post a photo so I could show all the progress, including the stitching I did Friday and Saturday. I finished up the right hand border, another two flower petals and started on one of the leaves.  Admittedly, not as much progress as you might expect for all that time but remember this is where I had to place my seams and I was stitching through four thicknesses of Aida with mildly arthritic fingers.  This makes for slow stitching and frequent pauses to rub some circulation back into stiff digits.  The calendar may say Spring but it is still Winter here, complete with four inches of snow on the ground and the occasional patch of black ice on the roads.  Here at the family home, we are not at all stingy with the heat but living in a townhouse built on a concrete slab makes us vulnerable to whatever dampness is in the air.  I believe it is the dampness as much as the chilliness that causes my arthritis flare ups.  Lately, I always seem to feel a chill.  I frequently put on my nice thick chenille bathrobe over my street clothes just to stay warm.  My husband is comfortable in street clothes and it seems cruel to keep bumping up the heat until he sweats.  But I am beginning to think I should take a fashion tip from Bob Cratchitt and start wearing   indoor gloves with the finger tips cut away after the first knuckle.  Won't that look just charming?

I have only one more Thursday left in March.   So, if I stick to a strict rotation, this piece will have to wait till early April for a finish.  But, usually, when I get this close to a finish, I let something else drop to concentrate on the near-finish.  That'll be the case here.  I am going to give over some of my Sunday stitching time to the cats.