This week was no different in the insanity, although it took a different twist.  Erich’s job was transferred to a new hospital as of this past Monday, so both of our commute schedules have changed again.  In his case, it’s much, MUCH better.  He’s gone from a 1 hour and 20 minute drive to Dorchester, MA to approximately 20 minutes over to Fall River, MA – much, much more tolerable.

In my case, it’s a mixed bag.  Technically it’s a bit of a shorter commute for me, but unlike with driving, I now have a very firm schedule as to when I need to leave the house because I’m back on the commuter train.  For me it’s about 90 minutes each way to and from Boston.  The train is much easier than driving, and once I get used to the train schedule, I’ll be back stitching on my commutes.  This week, though, was a bit painful with the adjustment.  Hopefully my brain will make the switch soon.

Wednesday was my birthday.  Erich and I went out to dinner after work and had a relaxing night.  I took Thursday off – I had a scheduled dentist appointment, and decided I’d just take the entire day so I could have some “me” time – I got my nails done and went milling about Thistle Needleworks over in Glastonbury, Connecticut for a couple hours.  I didn’t buy much, but did pick up a couple of the colors I still needed for Deep Blue Sea.  That evening,  Erich and I gathered with friends for a laid-back dinner at one of the centralized hangouts we like to go to.

Yesterday morning I went to my monthly stitchy gathering at the Warwick Public Library – the Rhode Island stitchers gather there every month on the second Saturday morning.  It was a quiet month – only four of us this time.

And then last night was the Patriots game – I was relieved they won.  Hopefully that will quiet down the Tebow mania for a while!

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I’ve been doing well on stitching this weekend – I’ve become a bit burnt out on new starts, so I’m putting my Crazy January on pause.  My current projects are just screaming a bit too loudly for attention!  I’ve been focusing on Deep Blue Sea so far this weekend, correcting my miscounts from my January 1st progress and pushing forward on the next two colors.  Once that’s done (hopefully this afternoon), I’ll be picking up Floral Bellpull, since it’s the Wentzler I want to complete this year above all others.

Remember that WIPocalypse signups end tonight at midnight my time – so if you’re reading and waffling, jump in and join us!

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It was good to do some stitching on this again – it really hadn’t seen my needle for about a year and a half.  It’s one of the pieces I really hope to finish in 2012.

*****

That said – bring 2012 on.  2011 was quite possibly the hardest year of my life emotionally, and I will not be sorry to see this year end.  Both personally and professionally, this year has been challenging and exhausting.  The personal issues are ones a bit *too* personal to discuss online, but they were serious ones – ones I knew I had to deal with head on and essentially alone.  A few friends do know about everything, but after a couple of missteps in confiding to friends who I thought would be supportive as the situation unfolded, I decided instead to shut down and just work through everything on my own.

The good thing on the personal front is that I know things are healing and getting better, even though from time to time, I’ll get a wash of overwhelming emotion and just need to acknowledge it, release it, and continue on.  The professional issues sorted themselves out, for the most part, as the year progressed and I’m hoping that they’ll continue toease with some recent news at work.  The problem is that I got smacked with both major problems within a two week span at the beginning of the year, and I truly spent the entire year in survival mode for the most part as I just tried to keep myself righted (and sane).

But yeah – I don’t want to ever relive a year like 2011.  And I don’t wish anything similar on anyone.

I’ve also learned to put on a VERY convincing “things are fine” face, when no… they haven’t been.  But they’re getting better.

And ultimately, I think that’s all that matters.

Happy New Year everyone – may the next one bring all of us better times.

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My original list of projects needed to be reconsidered, though.  I’m really itching to start a couple of the charts I’ve acquired (*cough* Cirque des Cercles *cough*), but I have so many projects that are partially or mostly kitted up that I do want to stitch, so I should take advantage of them, save the money, and stitch what I have first.  Thanks to my fabric of the month stashing all year via Picture This Plus, I have a bunch of lovely neutrals to start projects on, and won’t have to buy too much fabric (which was the stalling factor in the first place).

So here are my master lists for 2012.  The Crazy January one won’t be changed.  WIPocalypse will morph as the year goes on.

Crazy January 2012

 (I’m in two different groups, but will be using the same pieces for both SALs)

Jan 1 – Deep Blue Sea – Mystery XV (Chatelaine)
Jan 2 – I Love New England (Sampler Needlework)
Jan 3 – Take a Stitch Tuesday (year long freestyle sampler SAL via Pin Tangles)
Jan 4 – Cowboy Cats (Dimensions)
Jan 5 – Nantucket Sampler (Medeiros Needlecraft)
Jan 6 – Hearts of America: Montana (Victoria Sampler)
Jan 7 – Everyone Brings Joy (Waxing Moon)
Jan 8 – Inn at Fox River Mill (Little House Needleworks)
Jan 9 – Dance of the Summer Solstice (Mari MacDonald/Whispered by the Wind)
Jan 10 - Pocketful of Peppermint (Blue Ribbon Designs)
Jan 11 – Leaping Cat (La-D-Da)
Jan 12 – Welsh Bookmark (Heritage Textiles)
Jan 13 – Mirror, Mirror (Abby Lane Designs)
Jan 14 – Stars of Winter (Charland Designs)
Jan 15 – Dragonflies, Ladybugs and Bees (M Designs)

WIPocalypse

(Yeah… I have a lot going on.  And I’m aware I have a Wentzler problem!)

First, I’m adding everything above.  Then the rest of the list:

Cats on a Staircase (Kooler/Bucilla) – also part of The Oldest UFO SAL
Smoky Mountain Cats (Pegasus)
Apache Wedding Blessing (Kooler Design)
Walk in the Woods (Cricket Collection)
2011 Mirabilia RR – finish my square & the piece
Astrology Sampler (Witches Stitches)
Witchy Washy (Raise the Roof)
Book of Ink Circles, aka BoInk (Ink Circles)
Muse of the Midnight Sun (Heaven and Earth Designs)
Four Seasons of Mystic (Jeannette Douglas)
Floral Bellpull (Teresa Wentzler)
Egyptian Sampler (Teresa Wentzler)
Legends of the Dragons (Teresa Wentzler, Dragon Dreams, Black Swan)
Noah’s Ark (Teresa Wentzler)
Fantasy Triptych (Teresa Wentzler)
Millennium (Teresa Wentzler)
Magical Night (Teresa Wentzler)
Snowball Fight (Dragon Dreams)
Witches Wheel (Glendon Place)
Elemental Dragons (Dragon Dreams)
Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe (Little House Needleworks)
2007 Floral RR  - finish my square and the piece
Peace Angel (Lavender & Lace)
Castle 2.0 (Teresa Wentzler) – doubtful I’ll do anything with this in 2012

It’s a lot, but I’m very hopeful I’ll make some great progress!  *crossing fingers*

***

I have several new participants to add to the WIPocalypse participant list tonight after work, as well as a couple of blog address updates that have been sent to me.  A few people have been worried about the signups closing tomorrow, but that’s not the case.  As of right now, I’m planning on closing signups for the WIPocalypse at the end of the day on January 15th.  Anyone who finds us after that is most welcome to “stitch in spirit” with us through the year, post their progress, etc, but the actual participant list is rapidly approaching 300 people now, and I think after 4+ months of open signups and mentions all over the blogosphere (thank you all!!!), those who are actively blogging will have found us.

After all,  I need to focus on my stitching, too!  :)

I’m pretty certain I’ll be making another post sometime tomorrow – but just in case I get too busy, I wish you and your loved ones a safe, healthy and happy New Year!

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My mom’s side of the family is Polish and does a full Wigilia feast for Christmas Eve.  I’ll see about taking some photos quietly through the evening because it really IS a wonderful tradition.

I may not have good internet access while I’m gone, however, so all updates to the WIPocalypse participant lists will have to wait until my return (unless I get really, really lucky).  I’ll still be reachable by email thanks to my phone.

So in case I don’t have the chance to say it – I hope that all of my readers have a wonderful holiday, regardless of what you believe and how you celebrate, and that it’s full of love and laughter in the company of family and friends.

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Rahenna was Miss Speedy Stitcher because she was prepping to write in NaNoWriMo this year (which I get, as I attempted it for five years… it takes over your life for a month). I was much slower – unexpectedly so –  as my volume at work was so insane the last week of October and first week of November that I didn’t dig out from the pile of early month projects until literally the day before Thanksgiving. My evenings all month were essentially spent staring exhaustedly at a wall because it’s all I was capable of doing.

Meanwhile, Rahenna’s package arrived. I decided that I would not open it until I completed and mailed to her. I needed to be good. It taunted me in all of its padded manilla glory.

Once my ornament was sent off this past Monday, I was quick to get to that envelope to see what was inside.

And promptly created a catalanche in my house when I opened her envelope the other night and gave out a squeal. Cats. Running. Everywhere.

Rahenna chose to stitch one of the Byzantine ornaments designed by Teresa Wentzler. These have been among my “must do” list for a while. In fact, I had them originally on my own to-do list for 2011, but the round robins nixed that idea pretty quickly.

Isn’t it gorgeous?  She finished it as a slightly padded flat envelope, backed with purple fabric that matches the deepest purple you see in the photo.   Now I really want to get the Yule tree up so I have somewhere proper to display it!

The squeal, I must confess, was equally for Cirque des Cercles.  I’ve coveted this pattern for a while now, but absolutely could not justify buying it with all of the projects I have in progress right now.

Rahenna evilly apologized for being an enabler in a note attached to it.  Somehow I don’t think she’s quite genuine with that apology… which I completely understand.  :)

So yeah… this may be putting some changes into that Crazy January list already.  (Somehow I knew I would be…)

Also enclosed were two cute holiday patterns by designers I’m not familiar with – December Greeting by Creative Moments and Country Santa by Angel Stitchin.  I’ll definitely be adding those to the late 2011 stitching once I’m back in the holiday mood – both look like great, quicker pieces that I can finish and display.

So Rahenna – thank you, m’dear!  All are quite excitedly received!

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I even found a new stitchy shop on the Cape to head to when I’m searching for specialty fibers – Town-Ho Needleworks in Brewster, MA.  Always nice to find another supplier “just in case.”  Cape Cod isn’t too bad of a drive (I think this shop is roughly the same distance as Bush Mountain from me).  In the summer, though, I wouldn’t dare try it – traffic on the Cape gets a bit… insane… on the weekends.

Good thing I found it – I was missing two Kreinik colors to finish off my Mira RR square.  Which no, is not done.  But I made progress and will definitely be ready to send it by the deadline.

Rather than take US 6 off the Cape today, we decided to enjoy the nice weather and drove the entire distance of 6A until we arrived at the bridge, wandering through the little towns.  It was a wonderful Sunday drive.  We saw tons of antique shops, Inns, B&Bs, and gorgeous little cottages.  Cape Cod is adorable to the point of overkill.  It really is.

*****

I’ve updated the Wipocalypse signups – we’re now over 180 members!  Can you believe it?  I’m shocked. I really am.

In the near future I’ll be popping by everyone’s blog to remind them of the start of the SAL (some people signed up at the end of August!), make sure I have everyone on my blog reading list, and post a link to the FAQ Page.  Since the first people signed up, I’ve added the FAQ page, added the discussion forum, and hope to have one additional element to add for folks:  a sidebar linky button.

This is where I need some help, however, because I’m design-challenged.  If there’s anyone out there who wouldn’t mind putting some sort of a stitchy-themed button together, that would be awesome.  The only thing I can offer is thank you credit, but any help you can provide would be awesome.  I’d like to have a standard sized button (I think they’re roughly 80×20 pixels?) and also a 100×100 pixel icon square if possible.

Any help that can be provided would be awesome!  Send anything (along with your link and how I should credit you) to measiwitch@gmail.com.

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I’m doing a very quick entry because I’m running late this evening, but I didn’t want to forget my Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long post for the month. (Daffycat has opened next year’s signups, by the way. Jump over here and check it out!)

My jar is officially filled to the lip now, albeit with a lot of loft. This month I focused mainly on ornaments. I’ve also done a little stitching on the final round of the Mirabilia round robin (which I should wrap up this weekend).

I’ve finished my ornament for my personal exchange for Rahenna just a short time ago. I’ll post a photo of it once she receives it. I’ve been good and have avoided opening up my package from her… my willpower is about to give in!

I’m off to finish packing. This weekend is an annual trip to Cape Cod with my group of friends. We do Thanksgiving dinner, play lots of board games, drink too much, and just enjoy a couple days in a timeshare condo away from the craziness back home. I’m just waiting for our roommate Matt to get home so he can help me lift the turkey (25 pounds!!) and the brine pot into the car, and then off I go.

See you on Sunday – hopefully with a round robin finish!

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I love to send them, I love to receive them.  :)  I don’t mind sending internationally, either.

So if you’re looking for a little extra holiday cheer in the mailbox, let me know your address via my little card form here (this is just to keep things together for when I sit down to write them out).  No one but me will see this list, and the contents of the spreadsheet get deleted in January once everything’s done and mail.

Let me know your address, and I’ll mail one your way.  :)

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About eight hours later, we landed at an airport conveniently named the same as the one I’d left, from and to a city with the same first letter.

Billings Logan to Boston Logan.

I was scared out of my effing mind, not to mention excited and relieved that finally – finally - this day that had been looming over me for months had arrived.  I was going to college – sight unseen to Boston University -completely on a whim because it was the one that had accepted me for my intended journalism major.  I figured that if I hated it in Boston so much, I could always head home and apply to Montana State or University of Montana, for which my grades and college prep exams more than qualified me.  I literally had no idea about the university at all, aside from the photos in the literature I’d been sent.  This was, of course, right before the internet took off, so it was truly a leap of faith.

Kenmore as it looked when I was in college...

I actually do remember that first night a bit.  Dad and I took a taxi from the airport straight to Kenmore Square and stayed at the Howard Johnson hotel on Comm Ave, which has since become a BU dorm.  We wandered Kenmore a bit that night, which made me fairly nervous.  The gritty, dark square that was Kenmore in 1993 was far different than it is now.  At that point, I was convinced that I’d never feel safe walking there alone (one of many things thankfully proven false).   I gaped stupidly up at the Citgo sign that glowed, with several missing bands of neon, above our heads.  At that point, I honestly didn’t recognize anything about Boston sports aside from knowing the team names and the logos.  My dad, on the other hand, made comments about how neat it was to see the Citgo sign in person – which meant that wait – were those the light towers of Fenway just over there?  

(Like I said… sight unseen.  My dad had never been to Boston either).

Little did I realize how much that sign would come to symbolize home.  Things were okay when the Citgo sign was on.  Lots of things were okay when I’d see the increasingly familiar sights – the little things, in this order on the taxi ride, that told me that I was coming home once again.  Not to Billings, but to Boston:

• The odd eight lanes to two lanes merge at the airport to enter the tunnel.
• The elevated highway – now torn down and pushed underground as part of the Big Dig – that made it appear like you were flying through downtown
• The Reverse Curve sign on Storrow Drive that had been spray-painted to say “Reverse the Curse”
• The Hatch Shell sitting quiet on the Esplanade, waiting for the explosion of patriotism that surrounds it on July 4th every year
• The weather indicator lights on the old John Hancock tower.  Steady blue, clear view. Flashing blue, clouds are due. Steady red, rain ahead. Flashing red, snow instead.  (or, in summer… flashing red, Sox game cancelled!)
• A sharp curve to enter Kenmore Square
• And the Citgo sign, looming proudly as the taxi would enter BU’s campus.

Needless to say, I fell in love with Boston.  So much so that eighteen years later, I’m still treading that city every weekday as I head to work. It’s changed so much since I’ve moved to New England, yet it’s still in many ways the same old town.

The next day I moved into my dorm room in Warren Towers – a huge fork-shaped building that stuffed 1,500 students (then) into its single and double rooms in three identical towers of 500 students each.  My dad decided to stay out of the way of my roommate and me, so he went wandering.

REALLY wandering.  Like half the city wandering.

And later, he took my roommate and I wandering to where he’d gone earlier.  In one afternoon he’d strolled from campus down to Newbury Street, through Copley Square, down Boylston Street (“there’s a new mall that’s opening up in a few weeks called the Prudential Center, Melissa… looks like it will be a nice one…”) and around the Cheri Theater to Huntington Avenue , through the Christian Science Center (“you need to see that pool – it makes people look like they’re walking on water”), to Symphony Hall, then past it and through the Fenway, around Fenway Park, and back into Kenmore.

A town he’d never seen before.  Flipping EVERYWHERE in an afternoon. And mind you, my father’s sense of direction is absolute rubbish… even in Billings.  I have NO CLUE how he didn’t manage to get so lost he needed a cab to get back.  Who knows – maybe he did and just didn’t tell me!

In any case, a couple days later, he gave me a huge hug and a kiss out in front of 700 Comm Ave, got in a taxi, and drove off, past that Citgo sign and back to the airport.

Leaving me alone in Boston for the first time.

It’s insane that that plane trip was half a lifetime ago.

It’s also insane how much of my life as it stands now was determined by that leap, and how much of who I am wouldn’t exist.

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I’m only working two days this week – I have Thursday, Friday, and next Monday as vacation days, so while I didn’t get the usual house chores for the weekend done, I’ll do them later this week.

I did, however, get a lot of progress done on a massive project – organizing my stash.  I last did this back in late 2010 – if you’re reading my blog on its actual page, you might notice that “stash” tab at the top of the page.  Yeah… that’s about when I last looked at the list.  Unfortunately, that was done shortly after I returned from my first Stitchers Hideaway retreat last October.  Since then, I went to another Stitchers Hideaway retreat, the Celebrations of Needlework show in Nashua, and a new LNS (Bush Mountain Stitchery) opened up a mere 2 hours from my house.

My stash intake has been a bit out of control this year – and I jokingly blame Lisa – who has been my partner in crime for all of these adventures.  Not really, of course.  What’s actually happened is that over the past year, I’ve had one of those lucky times in my life where my knowledge of my own hobby expanded greatly.  I’ve been stitching for many, many years (25-ish), but my knowledge of different designers and fabrics and fibers really only started to expand about six years ago, and common in-person connection with other stitchers honestly didn’t start much before last September, when the Rhode Island Stitchers group first started getting together.  Once those pieces started falling into place, I began learning from other people rather than just the self-taught things that I’d picked up along the way.  I’m no longer just admiring things over the internet but completely intimidated by them – I’m finally feeling some confidence that I could actually delve into those crazy projects by Heaven and Earth Designs or Chatelaine.

It’s glorious, really… but also a bit dangerous on the wallet!

With Lisa’s help, I sorted through 99% of my charts, and she was kind enogh to organize them in piles by designer before putting them back in the magazine holders from IKEA that I keep them in.  I’d already made a good dent in my magazines several months ago, and I also did an inventory of my spare specialty flosses.  I’m not going to bother with DMC or Sullivans floss – Lisa had a good point when she reminded me how often that inventory’s going to change, and it’s too much of a headache.

Among my stash I did find duplicates of a couple patterns (apparently I really, really like them) – so two items are already reserved for the WIPocalypse stash box!

Erich and I got together with the guys on Monday and played a session of his long-standing (and long on hold) Dungeons & Dragons campaign. I have to admit, I just don’t have the mental stamina for it anymore.  Maybe it’s because I’m out of practice with the mental focus required for gaming for many hours on end, but after three hours or so, my brain just starts to wander.  I seem to always leave the games these days feeling guilty because I’m just not able to “stay on task” such as it is, despite the fact that for quite a bit of the time, there’s simply not much for me to do.  And yesterday was one of those days where I really should have paid attention better – the module Erich incorporated into his campaign was a bit overpowered for our group.  We struggled through it with a lot of trouble.

Ah well… it’s only a game, right?

But still – a good weekend, with decent weather that defied the rainy forecast.  The rain arrived this morning rather assertively, and it’s been cool and damp all day and will likely stay that way until sometime Thursday.  It’s actually cool enough that we almost – almost – have all of the windows closed.

Tonight I’m already in bed before 11 pm, which is highly unusual for me.  I had a cup of Sleepytime tea about an hour ago, hoping I can catch a bit more sleep than last night because I was dragging all day.  Hopefully tomorrow won’t be too insane and I can enjoy my second long weekend.  :)

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