A Brief Stitching Moratorium

Yesterday passed without so much as one stitch taken. The same will likely be true of today. I have a part-time secretary during the day and a part-time program assistant during the 17 hours that classes are in session. The program assistant has been out for the past week and will be out for the remainder of this week, recuperating from surgery. While being careful to let her know she should take as much sick leave as she needs to recover properly, I have also let her know that this whole experience really has opened my eyes to how very much I depend on her. I am only picking up half of her routine duties in addition to my own and I am exhausted when I get home. I am making note, so I can report all to her when she returns, just how many parents, students and catechists have noted her absence and asked for her. She is a real people person and has what can only be called a sunny disposition. I may be the brain of this program but she is the heart. Josephine, get well soon ... the front office just isn't the same without you!

Assessing January Goals/Setting February Goals

JANUARY GOALS
Crazy Class Project Challenge: Resume work on The Sweetheart Tree's Holly & Hearts class pieces. This has been moving along nicely, in spite of several visits from the dreaded frog. Although I have not finished either the sampler or the ornament, I am down to the last four rows of the sampler and should see a finish in February.
2010/11 WIPs: Continue to work on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler. Finished 1/21/12. Resume work on Teresa Wentzler's Tracery Dragons. I am amazed at how quickly this one is going. In just one week of steady work I have stitched just a little less than half a page of chart.
Off Goal Progress: worked on a new start BH&G Tooth Fairy Pillow.

FEBRUARY GOALS
Crazy Class Project Challenge: Finish The Sweetheart Tree's Holly & Hearts Sampler and resume work on the ornament. Next project will be Phyllis Mauer's Kogin Tea Cozy.
2010/11 WIPs: Finish Teresa Wentzler's Tracery Dragons.
2012 Start: Earned when finished with both the Workbasket Quaker Sampler [from the 2010-2011 WIP List] and The Sweetheart Tree's Holly & Hearts Sampler [from the Class Project List]: The Primitive Shop ornament from the Town Square SAL.
Sewing and Assembly Finish: Town Square SAL Star Theatre ornament and CEC Mitten ornament.

Weekend Progress Report: January 29, 2012

This entire week has been devoted to Teresa Wentzler's Tracery Dragons, which was on my list of Crazy January Challenge 2011 projects, and therefore qualifies as a 2010-2011 WIP. I am in the home stretch, working on page one [I started from the bottom and worked up]. But if the past is any indication, this page could take as long as three or four months to complete. I am hoping that won't be the case though, since I have been moving pretty quickly on this project during the past week. I think I have a better understanding of the flow of the design now and that helps me stitch more effectively. It's not my usual m.o. to work on a single project. Most of the time I have a five project rotation going. But in 2012, I have challenged myself to clean up my stitching act. The plan is to use a three project rotation this year since I am concentrating on finishing up class projects and the more recent WIPs. Three different projects seems to be just enough to give me the variety I crave but few enough to keep me focused on the goal of actually finishing pieces ... instead of starting something new two or three times a month and ending up with a huge pile of WIPs. In theory, I should end 2012 with a whole bunch of finishes and a very short list of UFOs/WIPs.

The Plan Unravels

The PLAN had been to switch back to the Holly and Hearts Sampler on Thursday and, with luck, have a second finish in January. But I just wasn't in the mood to search for a tiny error in the back-stitched tracery that, though tiny, threw off the entire symmetry of the row. So I kept going with Tracery Dragons since that was moving along quite nicely with barely a frog in sight. Oh, there were a few teeny frogs involving the removal of a dozen or so misplaced stitches, but nothing major. So instead of having another finish [the Sampler] for January, I have made more progress than expected on a WIP. Not a bad trade-off. Who knows, maybe I'll even manage two finishes in February: the sampler and the dragons. Here are some before and after photos to demonstrate just how much progress has been made. [Note to those unfamiliar with Teresa Wentzler's designs: if you try to stitch her designs in a rational order, working steadily in a consistent direction, you change needles every 2 or 3 minutes. For TW, a large color block tends to be a dozen or so stitches and though her designs are pretty solidly stitched leaving little bare linen, that solid stitching is made up of multitudes of confetti stitches and quarter stitches. The end result is spectacular but the process is complicated.] So here is how things looked on Wednesday evening and the second shot shows how things looked Saturday evening. I even managed to complete one of the dreaded roses without too much trouble. I am trying to decide if I want to pause when I have completed the left side of page one and switch to doing all the back-stitching and the specialty stitching. It always give me a great deal of satisfaction to see the design come alive as I go. It keeps me motivated. And without the defining back stitches, a TW piece tends to look like an impressionist painting viewed out of focus.

Ushering in the Year of the Dragon

I picked Tracery Dragons up again for the first time in approximately three months and have made some fairly good progress. At least, I am impressed with my progress. Back in October of 2011, I found this very slow going. But that has changed completely! I am moving through page 1 much more rapidly than I did through pages 2 or 3. Perhaps it is because I understand the flow of the design better, having stitched and backstitched more than half the piece. Or perhaps I just needed to take a break from it. Or perhaps it is because the only rose I have had to stitch so far is viewed in profile rather than full on. I hope I can maintain this pace and finish the dragons by the end of February. There was one small setback when I had to frog and restitch two of the leaves that were two threads further to the left than they should've have been ... the result of stitching in a poorly lit waiting room. But that was easily fixed. However, I have been working on the dragons for five days in a row. It is time for me to switch back to The Holly & Hearts Sampler, the other piece in my current rotation. I don't want to burn out on the TW piece again, like I did last Fall.

Weekend Progress Report: January 22, 2012

As Hermit and Stitching Weekend continued, I worked diligently on my current monthly goals.

Crazy Class Project Challenge: The Sweetheart Tree's Holly and Hearts Sampler. Aside from finishing up the brick stitch row, I have stalled on this piece. I need to get the motivation to really examine that last row of tracery below the heart to see where I made my mistake and then frog and re-stitch. While my cold was at its worst, I didn't have the concentration to do so. And, now that I am back to stitching on Tracery Dragons after a three month hiatus, that's all I want to stitch. Maybe this week, after the novelty of the dragon wears off, I'll finish the sampler. I am so close to a finish and it would be fantastic to have two finishes this month!

2010-2011 WIPs List: Finished The Workbasket's Quaker Sampler on Saturday 1/21. I turned it into an anniversary sampler by putting Bill's and my initials in the medallions flanking the heart, in which I stitched the year of our marriage. No sooner did I put that down, then I promptly resumed work on Teresa Wentzler's Tracery Dragons. I appear to have recovered my enthusiasm for the piece and have made a fair amount of progress. But then I have been working on areas that are comprised mostly of the trellis and the leaves, each of which only have 5-6 color changes and work up pretty quickly. Unlike the roses and the dragon, which have many more color changes, lots of confetti placement and a nightmare of fractional stitching. The stems and branches are also slow going because they are so irregular and require such careful counting even though most only have 3-4 color changes. When last seen, the dragon looked like this, with pages two and three of the chart stitched and backstitched. And now that I have gotten a fair start on the stitching of page one, it looks like this.

And, I'd also like to announce the winner of the two fried egg buttons: Mary Ann, #10 in the CAY SAL. Only 7 members of the SAL had signed on for the contest at the time I printed out the entries on Friday morning [one day later than planned]. And I chose the winner by writing the seven numbers on a sheet of paper, closing my eyes, and jabbing the paper with my finger. Not particularly scientific but I am sure Mary Ann doesn't mind.

Hermit Weekend > First Finish of 2012

I have noted on a few other blogs that something called "Hermit Weekend" is going on. Well the timing is perfect for me: with 6" of snow on the ground and the stuff still falling, I am more than content to stay home and stitch. A pot of tea, season one of Bones on the DVD and my current stitching rotation - what could be better? Does it count that my husband is hermit-ing along with me. He doesn't stitch but he enjoys a good DVD marathon. The first piece in my rotation, Workbasket's Quaker Sampler, was started December 5, 2010 and finished today, January 21, 2012. It is stitched on Silkweaver's Shadowlands 36ct linen with one strand of GAST overdyed cotton floss in Forest Glade, Midnight, Cranberry and Gold Leaf. The linen and the Forest Glade are substitutions for the designer's recommendations. Even as far back as 2010, I was making a concerted effort to stitch from stash as much as possible. The next project I picked up is from my 2010-2011 WIPs List: Teresa Wentzler's Tracery Dragons. I'll post photos tomorrow in my weekend progress report. And, of course, I will find time to work on The Sweetheart Tree's Holly and Hearts Sampler from my Crazy Class Project Challenge later this weekend. The sampler and the dragon should keep me busy for the remainder of the month. If I manage to earn a new start this month [by finishing one class project and one 2010-2011 WIP], I do believe it will be one of the Town Square SAL ornaments. I had wanted it to be one of the hearts I plan to excerpt from the Shepherd's Bush Winter Hearts Sampler to make an ornament but I don't think I shall have the time to complete it before the Valentine's Tree comes down. I was awarded the Shepherd's Bush piece, all kitted up, at a Stitcher's Hideaway several years ago. It's a pretty design, the sort of thing I would admire in someone else's home but probably not hang on my own walls. But broken up into four ornaments for my Valentine's Day tree ... now, that's another story.

In other news, somewhat stitch related, I have chosen the winner of the pair of Patti A's scrambled egg buttons that I offered to the Crabby All Year SAL group over at 123stitch. It's a piece that I stitched when it was first published and I wanted to share my pleasure in it with people currently working on it. I find it mildly annoying that, though I limited my giveaway to members of the SAL, since the buttons were made specifically for Crabby All Year, some non-SAL members have tried to sneak in. Why do some people have to be so aquisitive and greedy, insisting on trying for anything that is free whether they have a use for it or not? In any case, the winner will be announced on Sunday. And I am considering selling an OOP, exclusive to Silver Needle, limited edition kit from Just Nan. I have always given things away in the past, but if memory serves me correctly, I spent a hefty sum on this kit [Lindy from Silver Needle must be a hypnotist - she's way too good at marketing]. It would be nice to get some of that investment back since this piece is really not my style. It will be my first sale of stash and I'd never have thought to do such a thing if it hadn't been for an "In Search Of" post on a message board I frequent. I'll ask for my payment in the form of a gift certificate since the buyer is from Australia and I have never done Pay-Pal. Even so, it feels awkward breaking the pattern of giving away what I no longer want, as if I'm the one being greedy now!

Weekend Progress Report: January 15, 2012

This has been a busy weekend professionally: Saturday morning and early afternoon were consumed by the Reconciliation mini-retreat for my second graders and Sunday was a Catechist's Spirituality Day [based on The Serenity Prayer]. I had 43 darling little second graders at the first and I took 4 of my 33 catechists to the second. So, not too much stitching this weekend nor during the preceding week. And all this while I have been continuing to deal with the Everready Bunny of colds, that has been going and going since New Year's Eve. For most of this week, in an effort to evade the frog, I switched from my rather complex WIPs to a virtually mindless project, BH&G Tooth Fairy Pillow [see photo on 12/14 post]. So, in addition to getting less stitching done, most of what was done, was off-goal. I did start feeling a bit better Friday night and, during the weekend, finished off the blue motif and the green motif in the smaller rectangle and started on the central row of medallions for personalization. Since we just celebrated our 41st anniversary on the 10th, I believe I will place a B in the first medallion, the date 1971 in the central heart and an R in the third medallion. And since this is a three day weekend in the USA, celebrating Matin Luther King Day, I was able to get in some more stitching today. So, I am closing in on my first finish of 2012. I'd be a lot prouder of that fact if it weren't a WIP dating from 2010. But I'll happily accept any finish at all since I usually already have one by mid-January.

I really don't want to jinx things but ...

I am beginning to feel better. The cough lingers but I can breath again and my eyes pretty much feel like they are going to remain in their accustomed place on my face. So, better. Further proof that I am recovering: I picked up the Quaker Sampler last night and started stitching on goal again. Granted, the Quaker Sampler is the easiest piece in my current three project on-goal rotation but, easy or not, at least I am back on task. During the sad and sorry days when I wandered off-goal, hounded by fear of the frog, I did manage to complete the message portion of the Tooth Fairy Pillow and start on the border comprised of teeth and coins. The photo shows the message ... there's no point in trying to show the teeth since the white and ecru fade into the fabric. That'll change with the back-stitched outline. I'll get back to the piece sometime before Liam turns 6. That gives me two years. It's a "grandma" stitch, chosen solely for the pleasure it will give the grandchildren, and not for the pleasure of actually stitching it. I stopped stitching "cute" the moment my kids out grew it and plan to limit "cute" stitching during the early grandma years as well. I'll stitch simple, I'll stitch funky, I'll stitch whimsical for these little darlings ... Halloween Goody bags, Christmas gift bags, Christmas ornaments, bean bags ... all that and more. But this Tooth Fairy Pillow is decidedly "cute" ... indeed, the whole notion of a pillow for conveying baby teeth to the afore-mentioned fairy is just too "cute" for words. So, I'll will work on it at widely spaced intervals ... stitching on it when too sick to care about what I am stitching seems to be the perfect strategy.

Friday the 13th

Apparently, there will be three Friday the 13ths this year: in January, April and July. And no, I am not so superstitious that I felt the need to look this up. It just happened to be mentioned by one of the deejays on the morning drive time radio show I listen to each morning. Since three Friday the 13ths in one year is an unusually high number, I just put it out there for what it is worth: an interesting bit of trivia with which to win a bet. I am sure some ambitious soul could search the internet for the year with the most Friday the 13ths, but I am not such a soul. At least, not today. I am currently winning the battle with my husband for bragging rights to the worst cold of the season and have a horrendous headache to boot. My research ambitions are at a very low ebb, for the moment. Maybe I'll be more in the mood to do a little arcane research in April or July, when the subject becomes current again. I do believe it is time to put an end to my delirious, cold medication induced ramblings ... maybe some kind soul will drop by, make me some tea and tuck me up on the couch with fleece throws and the remote at the ready to continue my Stargate Atlantis marathon. Who am I kidding? I'll make my own tea, get my own throw, find the remote myself and generally nurse myself. I hate being a grown-up sometimes! Having depressed myself with these thoughts, I figured I might as well take the time to google the topic before trudging downstairs to be both patient and nurse. As per Wikipedia: Between 2001-2028, there are four years with as many as three Friday the 13ths: 2009, 2012, 2015, 2026. But that's the top number: some twos and ones but no fours. For some reason that I did not have the energy to delve into, all calculations of what day a particular date falls upon are done in 28 year cycles. For those who are interested in pursuing this riveting topic, follow this link for further data. Now, really, I am going to bury myself under several layers of fleece blankets for the remainder of the day.