Archive for the Category ◊ Rotations & Goals ◊

My plan for stitching during the Olympics…
Author:
• Thursday, July 26th, 2012

I’m putting all of my before photos in a single album over on my Flickr account entitled “Olympics Stitching 2012“, rather than completely kill anyone’s feed reader by putting them here.  Not that it’s a surprise to anyone, but I have a lot of WIPs.  Way too many WIPs, in fact.

My goal for the Olympics (and the month of August, since that counts for the Stitching Olympics) is to work a Rotation Relay – each piece will get two hours, then I’ll switch to the next one.  My goal is to work through all of the following pieces at least once.  If I do manage to achieve that, then I’ll switch into a screaming rotation (i.e. grab any piece I feel like putting more energy into).  If I manage this Rotation Relay, I will have touched all of my WIPs and UFOs (with a couple of specific exceptions) this year.

Here’s the full list I’ve photographed and plan on rotating:

  1. Deep Blue Sea (Chatelaine)
  2. Floral Bellpull (Teresa Wentzler)
  3. Mirabilia Round Robin 2011
  4. Inn at Fox River Mill (Little House Needleworks)
  5. Nantucket Sampler (Medeiros)
  6. Quaker Compass (Rosewood Manor)
  7. Snowball Fight (Dragon Dreams)
  8. Why I Love New England (Sampler Needlework)
  9. Muse of the Midnight Sun (HAED)
  10. Book of Ink Circles (Ink Circles)
  11. Pocketful of Peppermint (Blue Ribbon Designs)
  12. Noah’s Ark (Teresa Wentzler)
  13. Musical Harmony (True Colors)
  14. Magical Night (Teresa Wentzler)
  15. Astrology Sampler (Witches Stitches)
  16. Millennium (Teresa Wentzler)
  17. Fantasy Triptych (Teresa Wentzler)
  18. Legends of the Dragons (Teresa Wentzler/Dragon Dreams/Black Swan)
  19. Cats on a Staircase (Kooler Design)
  20. Smoky Mountain Cats (Pegasus)
  21. Apache Wedding Blessing (Kooler Design)
  22. Four Seasons of Mystic (Jeannette Douglas)
  23. Cowboy Cats (Dimensions)
  24. Witchy Washy (Raise the Roof)
  25. Witches Wheel (Glendon Place)
  26. Egyptian Sampler (Teresa Wentzler)

I clearly need more WIPS, don’t I?  I don’t think I have nearly enough on this list.  Nope.  Not at all.  (faints)

 

 

 

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July Goals
Author:
• Tuesday, July 03rd, 2012

My stitching for June was productive, although not in the actual completion of goals department.

For June, I set a goal l to clear three projects off of my “near done” list.  Doesn’t matter which three, but they’ll come from this list:
  1. Mirabilia RR – worked on it.  Nearly done – approx 5-10 hrs left.
  2. Smoky Mountain Cats – worked on it, but it needs more work than I estimated to complete.
  3. Apache Wedding Blessing
  4. Walk in the Woods – worked on it.  Nearly done (maybe 5 hours left)
  5. Witchy Washy
  6. Elemental Dragons (any one of the three remaining in the set).
I’ll post progress photos tomorrow when I do my personal WIPocalypse update.  Maybe I’ll be able to get WinW done before then.  :)
For July, I’m planning on doing the following…
  1. Finish the Mira RR.  Really this time.
  2. Finish Walk in the Woods.
  3. Complete Part 1 of Deep Blue Sea
  4. Put 5 hours into Floral Bellpull
  5. Put 5 hours into Pocketful of Peppermint (for Theme-a-licious “Jolly July”)
  6. Get my Olympic stitching order together.
With the heat of summer now on top of us, I’ll be staying somewhere near air conditioning a lot, so hopefully I’ll get a bunch of stitching time.  Especially as the Olympics kick off.  :)  That’s about all I’ll do for the spread of the Olympics – watch the competitions and stitch!
Happy stitching all…

 

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Theme-a-licious Recap & Monthly Goals
Author:
• Friday, June 01st, 2012

I had a good, productive May for Theme-a-licious.  May’s theme was “May Memories,” a month to focus on pieces that you’d acquired via a class.  I have two of those, both through Stitcher’s Hideaway, and both got some nice TLC time.

First up was Pocketful of Peppermint from Blue Ribbon Designs.  I took this class in October 2010 as my first ever stitching class.  We worked on a related ornament in class that covered all of the specialty stitches.  We received all of the supplies for both ornaments and the sampler, which Belinda went over during class time.  I wound up using my fabric from the kit for ornaments, so I’ve pulled from my own stash to start it.

Pocketful of Peppermint as of 23 May 2012
Pocketful of Peppermint by Blue Ribbon Designs
Stitched on 36 ct Legacy from Picture This Plus
(with recommended floss)

I normally am a center starter with projects, but I wanted to try a different technique and do all of the squares for each motif first.  A good chunk of the specialty stitches are in these borders.  So far I’ve used rice stitch (bright yellow in top left), smyrna cross (green square directly below it), and plait stitch (brown square).  The rest so far are basic crosses.  The plait stitch took as long as all of the other squares put together.  It’s a easy stitch, but just takes a while to develop.  I’m about halfway done with the border squares… should get those wrapped up next round.

The other piece is Four Seasons of Mystic by Jeannette Douglas Designs.  Jeannette taught this piece this past October (2011).  It’s a very pretty, delicate sampler with lots of different stitches and lots of fibers that I’d never used before in class.

Four Seasons of Mystic as of 6-1-12
Four Seasons of Mystic by Jeannette Douglas Designs
Stitched on 32 ct Examplar by Lakeside Linens

This round, I did the vine divider between Spring and Summer and finished the outside border (which is done in wool). I somehow ended off by one single stitch when I completed the border and cannot for the life of me figure out where the missed stitch is. So rather than bounce around, I’ll be working the different seasons in order – at least to start for placement. Hopefully that will pinpoint where the mistake is.

Regardless of the mistake, I’m pretty happy with how the border turned out. There are three separate Lorikeet Wool colors in the border: Highland Garden Lt. on the left, Fallen Leaves in the center, and GT Tahoe Blue lt. on the right. I think I was pretty close with my color match when I changed over each color – the bottom right is the only real “hard” switch, and that’s where I caught the mistake.

I also did some work on a couple other projects, but that’s for the WIPocalypse post later this weekend.  :)

My June plans are going to veer off of Theme-a-licious.  I have a serious itch to complete some projects that are quite close to finishing, but they don’t really match the “Jumanji June” theme, unless you count my office being the jungle.  I’ll be clearing some of these near-finished projects off my plate instead.

* ~~ * ~~ * ~~ *

So, revisiting my goals for May…

My goals for May were…
  1. Work 10 hours on Pocketful of Peppermint  - Yes! (and then some)
  2. Work 10 hours on Four Seasons of Mystic - Yes!
  3. Work 10 hours on Floral Bellpull - Yes!
  4. Try to finish my Mirabilia RR  - Nope, didn’t touch.
So it was a good month. Absolutely no complaints from me.
For June, I’m setting a goal to clear three projects off of my “near done” list.  Doesn’t matter which three, but they’ll come from this list:
  1. Mirabilia RR
  2. Smoky Mountain Cats
  3. Apache Wedding Blessing
  4. Walk in the Woods
  5. Witchy Washy
  6. Elemental Dragons (any one of the three remaining in the set)
If I make that goal, I’ll switch to whatever project is screaming at me!
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May Goals & Theme-a-licious April Recap
Author:
• Tuesday, May 01st, 2012

My goals for April were…

  1. Complete part one and part two of Deep Blue Sea, and work on part three.  No – but I did make some progress
  2. Put 10 hours of stitching into Floral Bellpull Yes! :) 
  3. Put 10 hours of stitching into Why I Love New England  No.  Didn’t even touch it.
  4. Catch up on TAST stitching.  No (and have likely given up on it due to falling so far behind).
  5. Finish my Mirabilia RR  No – but did get some hours in on it.
  6. Stitch on one other piece (for commutes)  Yes!  And got a finish!
My goals for May are…
  1. Work 10 hours on Pocketful of Peppermint
  2. Work 10 hours on Four Seasons of Mystic
  3. Work 10 hours on Floral Bellpull
  4. Try to finish my Mirabilia RR
I’m choosing my pieces this month primarily to tie in with the Theme-a-Licious theme for May, which is “May Memories,” a time to focus on class pieces, event pieces, or other pieces with some sort of special meaning.  Pocketful of Peppermint and Four Seasons of Mystic are my two class projects from Stitcher’s Hideaway, and I’d like to finish both this year… so into the WIPocalypse pile they go for May!

My Theme-a-licious recap for April is not all that great, although I did make some progress.  Italics were the goals I stated at the beginning of the month.

Deep Blue Sea (Chatelaine) – I want to get this as close to up to date as possible. I’m just about done with part one. I also want to get through parts two (and at least part of three). More than that and actually be caught up? Gravy.

Didn’t do this. I did get a good amount of work done on it, but then had a bit of a catastrophe that put it on hold for the rest of the month (more on that in my WIPocalypse recap). I’m still on part one.

Floral Bellpull (Wentzler) – As my primary TW project for the year, I just want to push this forward so I can have a finish by the end of the year. Goals for this month would just involve getting as many stitches as I can into block 5.

I did get some work done on it. Will be continuing in May.

Why I Love New England (Sampler Needlework) – No real goals here. I’d just like to put some stitches in it.

Nope.  As mentioned above,  I didn’t even touch it.  :(

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April Goals
Author:
• Sunday, April 01st, 2012

A quarter of this year has passed already?  Yikes, it’s going fast!  March was such a whirlwind here that I’m all confused.  We’re finally getting around to our St. Patrick’s Day dinner today.  Spring flowers are a full month ahead of schedule, and the plants are all confused, so the blooms aren’t anywhere as vibrant as they normally are.  But hey, I’ll take it – it’s a lovely sunny spring morning around here and warm enough to open some of the windows and air out the house.  We have a cat in each open window, and I’m taking advantage of a brief lull in all of the insanity for today.

I’ve been doing some thinking about my stitching for April.  I didn’t set myself any goals for March, and I think that kept me a bit unfocused.  Theme-a-licious completely bombed for me – and WIPocalypse wasn’t too far behind.   I’m hoping with a (reasonable) plan, I feel better about my progress this month and maybe get a couple of finishes.

The Theme-a-licious theme for April is “Amazon April” – a month to push forward on your largest WIPs.  Me?  Large projects?  Hmm… in theory, I could just merge March and April together as one theme, considering what I have going in my stash!  But I need to keep this sane, so I’m instead going to pick three big projects for work this month:

  • Deep Blue Sea (Chatelaine) – I want to get this as close to up to date as possible.  I’m just about done with part one.  I also want to get through parts two (and at least part of three). More than that and actually be caught up?  Gravy.
  • Floral Bellpull (Wentzler) – As my primary TW project for the year, I just want to push this forward so I can have a finish by the end of the year.  Goals for this month would just involve getting as many stitches as I can into block 5.
  • Why I Love New England (Sampler Needlework) – No real goals here.  I’d just like to put some stitches in it.

My general goals for the month will be:

  1. Complete part one and part two of Deep Blue Sea, and work on part three.
  2. Put 10 hours of stitching into Floral Bellpull.
  3. Put 10 hours of stitching into Why I Love New England
  4. Catch up on TAST stitching.
  5. Finish my Mirabilia RR
  6. Stitch on one other piece (for commutes)

I’m hoping for a good month.  I don’t think these are unreasonable goals.  If I make them all, I’m definitely going to be feeling good and on top of things.

I’m off to get my weekend cleaning finished up and the corned beef in the pot.  Hopefully I can settle down with some stitching for most of the day!

Happy weekend, everyone!

 

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Jardin January Wrap-Up/February Goals
Author:
• Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

 

Since today’s the last day of January, it’s time to recap my progress for Theme-a-licious’s January “Jardin January” theme.  I didn’t get anything done beyond what I did last week for IHSW, but still… I made good progress on Floral Bellpull.  I’m happy, although the backstitching is still looming at me.  But hey, it’s a Wentzler piece.  There will ALWAYS be backstitching to do!

I loosely could include my start of Fox Run Mill and Why I Love New England as Jardin January starts too, I suppose, as I was working on borders that incorporated flowers/acorns/etc.  But WILNE isn’t at a floral point… yet.

But still – a good month, particularly since I didn’t set any concrete goals beyond stitching!

So of course, with January coming to a close, it’s time for me to plan the next month.

On Saturday, I mentally went through the events on my calendar for the next four weeks and realizing it may be one of the wackiest, busiest set schedules I’ve had in quite some time where there isn’t a wedding of some sort involved.  I spent part of the weekend organizing my Google calendar, and I think I have everything in order.  Thank goodness for Google calendar, BTW – sharing calendars between Erich and myself is a godsend, even if he probably doesn’t want to see every farking stitching event I have going.  :)

Anyway, part of that organization is figuring out what I’ll be stitching this month.  I have a long weekend with Presidents’ Day, two days (minimum) of jury duty, a stitch-in at my LNS, a Superbowl involving the home team, the Beanpot hockey tournament with my collegiate alma mater, a dungeons & dragons game, and oh – another stitchy retreat at the end of it to celebrate the first weekend in March.

And it’s a short month.  o.O

The theme for Theme-a-Licious is “Fangirl February,” where you stitch on at least one piece by your favorite designer (if you can’t send a Valentine).  That will be influencing my rotation and goals for the month.  Once again, Floral Bellpull will make an appearance since it’s the one TW I really, REALLY want to get done this year. I’m also going to pull out Legends of the Dragons for a little while.

Here are my goals for February:

  1. Finish part one of Deep Blue Sea (exception: any missing colors still on backorder)
  2. Finish border for next square of Floral Bellpull
  3. Scissor fob for Stitchers Hideaway exchange
  4. Work on BoInk
  5. Work on Legends of the Dragons
  6. Put stitches in on one other WIP (any piece)
The only thing on this list that has any sort of time constraint is the scissor fob.  I don’t imagine it will be too difficult since it’s a small piece.  Deciding *what* I want to stitch will be the hardest part.  I’ll likely do some browsing while I’m at Bush Mountain Stitchery on Sunday for the Superbowl stitch-in and then work on it on my train rides and/or my jury duty days next week.
I’ve been playing around with different ideas for my rotations.  Several of the groups I’m in via Yuku or Facebook have stitch-a-long weeks themed to different designers.  I definitely will jump in and out of those if my stitching works with them.  Although I have put some ideas to paper for a set rotation schedule, I don’t think I’ll do that this month.  I’m definitely in the mood for indulging in the “whatever piece is screaming loudest” style rotating with my stitching.
I may, however, do an organized rotation for March Madness next month.  To think of me working on a separate WIP every single day could be HIGHLY amusing.  (it may have to be one of those “post every day of the month” bloggy events, too!)
We shall see.
Happy Tuesday everyone!

 

 

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December Stitchy Goals…
Author:
• Friday, December 02nd, 2011

November was absolutely insane at work, and I barely remember most days from last month.  I’m shocked I got any stitching done at all, honestly.

For November, I wanted to…

  • Complete Rachel’s Mira RR and mail by the end of the month (woo hoo!)  Nope – it’s underway, however, and about 50% done.
  • Complete and mail personal exchange ornaments   One done and mailed.  Never even started the others I had planned.
  • Stitch three family ornaments (not necessarily finish them, though)  Nope – not even started.
  • Check through WIPocalypse pieces to make sure they still remain kitted correctly Nope.  At this point, I expect to be doing this on New Year’s Eve!
  • Get the check-in spreadsheet together for the WIPocalypse  Nope.
Yeah… not the greatest month, but that’s okay.  I just need to scale back some holiday plans.
For December, I want to…
  • Contact all of the participants in the WIPocalypse with a start reminder and link to all of the most current information.
  • Stitch an ornament for Mom
  • Gather up my Crazy January pieces and make sure they’re kitted and ready to go.
  • Create the above mentioned WIPocalypse spreadsheet
  • Finish and mail Rachel’s Mira RR.
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November Goals…
Author:
• Wednesday, November 02nd, 2011

October absolutely flew by – I honestly don’t remember where it went, but I know I was insanely busy.  I’m surprised I got any stitching done, let alone what I actually did accomplish!

For October, I wanted to…
  • Finish Mira RR Round & mail off on time  - Done!
  • Autumn-themed ornie for Stitcher’s Hideaway exchange - Did not completely finish.  Stitching’s done, but it’ll be staying with me due to falling behind.
  • Stitch TWCOE ornie - Nope.  And with Terri’s health problems, I have a feeling this won’t happen this year.  (she needs to get better soon!)
  • Stitch personal exchange ornies - Yes!  Progress continues….
  • Decide upon family ornies for November - All but two are decided.
  • Enjoy Stitcher’s Hideaway – Most definitely yes!
For November, I want to…
  • Complete Rachel’s Mira RR and mail by the end of the month (woo hoo!)
  • Complete and mail personal exchange ornaments
  • Stitch three family ornaments (not necessarily finish them, though)
  • Check through WIPocalypse pieces to make sure they still remain kitted correctly
  • Get the check-in spreadsheet together for the WIPocalypse
It’s going to be a fun month of stitching cute little holiday smalls, although I’ll sadly not be able to share a whole lot of photos on them until they’re received.  I’ll see about rooting through my WIPs for next year, perhaps.
We’re up to nearly 150 people for the WIPocalypse, by the way – that’s absolutely farking insane!  At the end of the month I’ll be popping by blogs to check in with everyone and say hi.  I have a long weekend at Cape Cod coming up just after Thanksgiving with friends.  Those who have read my blog for a while are familiar with this one – it used to be all about playing tons of multiplayer video games.  Now people have gotten married, have kids, have houses, and all of those weird adultish things we never figured we’d ever achieve that require fiscal responsibility, so no one really has the money to blow on a new computer every year like we did before.  So it’s morphed into a “come as you are, hang out, drink, eat, and catch up” sort of weekends.  I’m looking forward to it.
Speaking of house stuff… some frustration on my husband and my front.  We’re among the folks who set a limit for what we could afford in a house (and monthly mortgage payment).  We stuck to it and bought a house we could afford.  We’ve lived here six years and have never missed a payment.  BUT… because of the economy and the housing market, we’re now nearly $100,000 underwater on our mortgage… AND… we discovered that despite our original loan being either Fannie or Freddie backed (we can’t recall which), but then sold to our state housing mortgage company, we have no ability to access the new underwater refinancing plans that are very possibly going into effect soon.  Our mortgage holder will NOT refinance and only does loan modifications, but because they’re not beholden to a federal backer, they aren’t offering at the low rates… “because they don’t have to.”  they will run a loan mod, but for a percentage that’s higher than our current mortgage rate.
(sigh)
Don’t get us wrong – we can afford our mortgage.  We have a fixed rate that isn’t bad at all in the historical scheme of things.  But we could save a lot of money if we could just refinance now that the rates are well over a point lower than what we’re paying – and, I dont’ know, use the money to do some much-needed efficiency upgrades so we could save even *more* money, particularly in our energy costs since we’re on oil heat?  It would be nice.
It’s so frustrating. We’ve payed off a fifth of our loan, yet we still have no equity in our house due to the market.  Of course, if I say anything about being underwater and wanting to refinance on any message boards, the first thing people assume is that we’re defaulting on our loan or that we were stupid and took too high a loan.
And I know that we’re not the only people in this situation.
Ugh.
Sorry for the vent.
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Monthly Goals & WIPocalypse News & Updates
Author:
• Wednesday, October 05th, 2011

It’s been such a weird few days here.  I keep meaning to update, and then at the end of the day I get slammed with a strange exhaustion and just completely forget about everything and need to disconnect.  I’m thinking it’s mostly autumn allergies, since the leaves are starting to change faster now. There’s a nasty cold, however, that seems to be making the rounds.  Knowing how I am with illness, my body’s probably fighting it off.  Bleh.

Anyway – a few days of stitching on Witches Wheel did me good, and I’m back in the zone on my Mirabilia RR stitching.  Not done yet, but I should be by the end of the weekend, and then I’ll update with a photo.

Since it’s a new month, it’s time for me to revisit my goals for last month & post my new ones.  I’m very happy with what I did in September:

  • Finish my part of Sophia’s piece for the Mira RR & mail on time  - Done – but was mailed a week late.
  • Complete 2 motifs on the surprise piece I’m stitching with Lisa - No. Did work on it, but not finished yet.
  • Finalize personal rotation - Done for now (this always changes anyway)
  • Get a spreadsheet together for the WIPocalypse participants to track responses. - No. Excel and I will become close this weekend.
  • Work 10 hours on Floral Bellpull - Done!
  • Work 10 hours on Witches Wheel - Done!
  • Buy the JCS Halloween book - Done!
  • Have my square (star?) partially done for Melanie’s Mira RR piece by end of month. - Yes.  It’s underway.
For October, I want to…
  • Finish Mira RR Round & mail off on time
  • Autumn-themed ornie for Stitcher’s Hideaway exchange
  • Stitch TWCOE ornie
  • Stitch personal exchange ornies
  • Decide upon family ornies for November
  • Enjoy Stitcher’s Hideaway

As you can see, it’s going to be an ornament-heavy month.  That’s likely to be my November as well.  I’ve already been having some fun skimming through my magazines for ornaments to do.  The Gift of Stitching had a great buy to get their back ornament issues – 12 for $20.  Lots of great ones in there, including some of the ones wishing good tidings designed by Blue Ribbon Designs that I adore.

So… WIPocalypse topics…

The signup has been tremendous so far.  I’m a few days behind adding people to the list.  If you don’t see your name there, don’t worry – I’ll get it up within the next couple of days.  The list is now long enough that I’m going to transfer most of the information to its own labeled page tabbed on the top of my blog, along with FAQ information and whatnot.  The signup page will remain the same – no link changes, etc., but I’m just going to clean it up a little bit.

A few people have been having trouble with my comments section, and they’ve dropped me an email to sign up.  Please do so if you’re having trouble.  Everything is checking out as working with my comments – BUT… it’s the internet and computers.  Glitches happen.  Software disagreements happen.  Toss me an email at measiwitch(at)gmail.com, and I’ll be happy to get you added.  :)  And please, don’t be intimidated if you’re a newer stitcher, or if you’re worried about how your work matches up to others.  Seriously – does. not. apply. here.  Share, enjoy, and learn from others.

A couple stitchers have asked me if there’s any plans for other communication with the SAL members during the year.  I hadn’t honestly made any but I’m open to suggestions if there’s enough interest. A couple thoughts off the top of my head…

  • Mailing list via yahoogroups
  • Facebook group
  • Message board (I can host one here, or I could go through Yuku).

Let me know if it’s something that interests you, and if it does – which method you prefer (or if you have another suggestion).

Off to work with me!  Have a good day everyone!

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Monthly goals
Author:
• Friday, September 02nd, 2011

I’m still in awe of the interest for the WIPocalypse.  My husband’s also impressed and recommends that I put something together along the lines of “I survived the 2012 WIPocalypse” for everyone.  I may just do that with a little ornie goofiness.  :)

I have a ton of blogs to pop by and read, between the SAL signups and responses from my T13 yesterday.  I expect tomorrow morning’s coffee time will be a nice, relaxing roam around the internet.  A good way to start the long weekend, I think!

So with September here, it’s time for me to revisit my monthly stitching goals, and make new ones for the upcoming month.  I think I did quite well in August, actually…

For August, I wanted to…

  • Finish my Mira RR square for Andie and mail off on time. – Done!
  • Finish Arthenice’s piece for the 2010 RR and mail home - - Done!
  • Finish my hours on Rachel’s piece for the 2011 RR and mail to Blu. – Hours are done – mailing today.  :)
  • Have my Mira RR square for Sophia’s piece at least partially done by the beginning of Sept. – Done!
  • Get a few hours in on the surprise piece I’m stitching with Lisa – Did not do, sadly.
  • Update the Rhode Island Stitchers blog  - Done!
So yes, very pleased with myself for August.  With vacation time and long weekends, I have a pretty optimistic plan for September:
  • Finish my part of Sophia’s piece for the Mira RR & mail on time
  • Complete 2 motifs on the surprise piece I’m stitching with Lisa
  • Finalize personal rotation
  • Get a spreadsheet together for the WIPocalypse participants to track responses.
  • Work 10 hours on Floral Bellpull
  • Work 10 hours on Witches Wheel
  • Buy the JCS Halloween book
  • Have my square (star?) partially done for Melanie’s Mira RR piece by end of month.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

 

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TUSAL, Goals, and the Giveaway…
Author:
• Monday, August 01st, 2011

2011-08-01_07-37-12_133This weekend was a bit more random than expected, so I wasn’t able to prep names for my giveaway drawing. So… last chance to enter runs through tonight! I’ll do the drawing tomorrow, once I get a bit of insanity finished up elsewhere.

My TUSAL jar continues to fill nicely.  It’s very lofty in there, but the threads are now touching the bottom of the neck of the jar now.  It’s a mix of different colors from the recent robins, as has been the case so far this year.  The robins start wrapping up for me this month, though, so my own projects will start peeking through starting in September.  :)  You may notice a huge hunk of green in the TUSAL jar.  That would be due to Noby, the Bobbin Stalker.  Noby looooves bobbins and shreds them.  This green skein never stood a chance – he managed to swipe it when it was still in its DMC wrapper right out of the shopping bag when I took a break from winding to grab a pop from the fridge.  *sigh*

I’ve spent the past week insane from some work unexpected (things are fine, just busy) and the Mira RR, which I’m due to send out tomorrow.  I’ll be fine to get it out on time, although I’m a bit frustrated this round.  The squares for Andie’s piece are 50×50.  I apparently failed at math when I sketched my borders to pull my excerpt out of Circle of Friends, and counted it at 50 w by only 40 h.  So she looks a whole lot more centered on my drawn square than she does in the stitched one.  I was really, really pissed off about it yesterday when I discovered it – I was almost done with my crosses, and only noticed once I was putting the falling rose on near her head because it was blatantly NOT near the top corner as my sketched borders indicated.  But with only essentially five to seven hours of stitching time until I had to mail, there just is no way to frog out ALL of my stitches and redo.  I made a little adjustment with the rose that’s falling near her head and moved it up a few squares to balance the empty space, and I’m adding the beads back in that were cut off above her head by my borders, and I think she’ll be okay.  If Andie’s not happy, though, I’ll be happy to frog and redo the square once everyone else has a crack at theirs.  I tried emailing her yesterday about it, but the email bounced.  I’ll try a Yuku PM later today.

Still, it was so deflating yesterday.  She looks very pretty, but I’m just annoyed, thanks to the screaming inner perfectionist.  I can’t believe I fail at math.  And the kicker – I counted this thing three times!  I have the erasing marks to prove it on my chart!

Ugh.

Anyway…

I didn’t make any goals for July, since I knew I was utterly, utterly screwed for time in stitching.  The robins had backed up due to illness and insanity, and I had no idea how they were going to go.  August, though, is looking much better.

For August, I want to…

  1. Finish my Mira RR square for Andie and mail off on time.
  2. Finish Arthenice’s piece for the 2010 RR and mail home
  3. Finish my hours on Rachel’s piece for the 2011 RR and mail to Blu.
  4. Have my Mira RR square for Sophia’s piece at least partially done by the beginning of Sept.
  5. Get a few hours in on the surprise piece I’m stitching with Lisa
  6. Update the Rhode Island Stitchers blog

I’m looking forward to the start of stitching my own pieces next month.  I really am.  And next month I’m going to get the page together for the 2012 WIPocalypse, I think – so the word can start spreading far and wide as early as possible.  :)  I’m thinking there is some giveaway potential with it (much as Daffycat’s doing with the TUSAL this year), and I’ve been chatting with some fellow stitchers on Google + about it, and I think I have an actual plan.

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Category: Exchanges & Robins, Rotations & Goals, SALs/Challenges, Stitching   Tags: , ,  | 10 Comments
Monthly Stitching Goals – June edition
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• Friday, June 03rd, 2011

This year is flying!

For May, I wanted to:

  1. Finish Kathy’s Mirabilia square - Done!
  2. Stitch five hours on Floral Bellpull -  Didn’t even touch it.
  3. Stitch five hours on BoInk - Done!
  4. Finish and mail the Folk Egg and gifties to Line - Done!
  5. Put at least 10 hours into each UFO RR - Done!
  6. Put five hours into the “Super Sekrit Stitch” project. -  Didn’t even touch it.

 

For June, I’d like to…

  1. Finish my hours on Linda’s RR piece
  2. Finish Susan’s Mira RR square
  3. Stitch five hours on Floral Bellpull
  4. Stitch five hours on BoInk
  5. Finish one of the little squares on the “Super Sekrit Stitch” project

 

As always, I set my goals probably a bit higher than I should.  But I think that just keeps me motivated, even if I do a little bitching along the way.

There’s another RR I’ll receive in June (Linda’s piece for the other RR), but it’s not due to get mailed until after the 4th of July weekend.  I imagine I may be holding it until then to stitch at this point.

Tomorrow is looking like a fun-filled day.  I’m heading up to Bush Mountain Stitchery with Hera after we get our nails done.  I need to get supplies for my Mira RR square.  She needs some fabric for a new project (which Bush Mountain has a ton of to choose from).  I’ll be attempting to not spend too much money on other things while I’m there – it’s a huge challenge!  Erich may or may not join us.  I’m hoping he does – partially to keep me out of trouble, but partially because I think he’ll enjoy the back road drive through Massachusetts.  It’s a decently long trip for us – about two hours each way.

And then tomorrow night – hockey!  Hopefully the Bruins will tie the series up.  I’ll be working on BoInk during the game, since it doesn’t require color changes.  :)

Happy Friday, all!

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Thursday Thirteen: WIPocalypse planning
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• Thursday, June 02nd, 2011

I actually have quite a few things to post about but have just been really busy, so there may be several blog entries over the next few days.  To sum up what’s in store:

  • It’s time for the Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long update.  I had it in my calendar to post yesterday, but between the wild weather we had in New England yesterday (including confirmed tornados in western Massachusetts) and the Stanley Cup game (go Bruins!), I got a bit distracted.
  • Erich and I started the updating process for two more rooms in our house over the weekend- our bedroom and the bathroom.  So story time about that adventure (and some helpful tips for others with old houses) will come this weekend
  • Updates on the round robin stitching front
  • Another Caturday post on Saturday.  :)  Any specific cat requests?
  • Some gardening updates
  • Warhammer painting updates
  • Monthly stitching goals – my updates and my new goals for June
  • Wanderlust drive musings.  It’s summer, which means I start wandering back roads in New England.

I finally got the Google Friend Connect working on my blog (hooray!) so all of you Blogger folks who prefer to follow that way (honestly, I do too… Google Reader is glorious) –  I’m up and running.  Let me know if there are any problems.  You should see it on my sidebar just above the Project: Do Me graphic link.

Today’s entry, though, is for the Thursday Thirteen.  A few weeks ago, I made a semi-joking, but semi-serious post about declaring 2012 my WIP apocalypse year.  (for those non-crafters, WIP stands for “Works in Progress”).  I’m a chronic serial starter with my stitching.  I love beginning new projects.  I love the journey of stitching projects.  But I’m not particularly good at finishing projects.  So now I have a glut of them.  I’m starting to get the itch to really get through them, too.  So what started as a joke is now really going to happen.  2012 will be my project clearing year.  :)  Any crafty folks (regardless of what you do) who want to join me and use it as a sort of Stitch-a-Long are most welcome.  I’ll set up a signup/discussion page in October.

For now, my brain is going to the projects I really, really want to finish.  So for this week, here are the Thirteen Projects Riding on the Measi WIP-ocalypse Train.  The links go to the Flickr photo  set I have for the piece.

1.  Apache Wedding Blessing – this is a gift for my friends Ivanna and Joe for their wedding, which um… happened several years ago.  Thankfully Ivanna’s a fellow crafty person and understands how these projects can go into a black hole.  But all the same, it’s annoying me.  Right now I have this out on a round robin to give it some extra oomph, and it does actually look like it’s going to get finished before the end of 2011.

2.  Witchy Washy – It’s so damn cute.   I want this done and framed on the door to my laundry room.

3.  Floral Bellpull – I’ve had this for years, and it’s absolutely gorgeous.  I just need to focus on it.

4.  Legends of the Dragons – I started this as part of a stitch-a-long in the beginning of 2010, and it just started to fall off my radar as I got into robin stitching.  It’s not a particuarly big piece, and definitely doable to finish.  Again – I just need to focus on it.’

5.  Cats on a Staircase – Right now, this is my longest running WIP.  It’s a Christmas stocking.  I think I’ve had it going for ten years now.

6.  Witches Wheel - I adore this piece.  I have a ton of energy to work on this piece.  I simply have too many commitments with the robin to stitch on it right now.

7.  Walk in the Woods – This is the second of the WIPs I inherited from my late mother in law.  The first I finished last year.  This one will get done next year.  It’s not a particularly difficult piece to stitch – but again, it’s just been a time commitment issue.

8.  Astrology Sampler – for YEARS I wanted to start this piece, and when I do – I’ve barely gotten anything done.  It’s not a particularly large piece.  It’s just stitched on black fabric, which makes it a bit more difficult to work on.

9.  Elemental Dragons – Two of the five are done (Fire and Spirit).  I have three more dragons to do (Earth, Water and Air).  I’ll take getting one done next year, but getting all three done so I can frame the project would be wonderful.

10.  Magical Night – I sent this out on a robin in 2010, and the wonderful stitchers who worked on it made tremendous progress.  It’s now about half done.  I don’t expect to finish this in 2012, but I’d like to make a good dent on what’s left.

11.  Egyptian Sampler – I adore this piece and the fabric I chose to stitch it on.  I don’t get why I struggle so badly to stitch on it, because I absolutely love it.  Hopefully in 2012 I can get into a zone and finish a good chunk of it.

12.  Noah’s Ark – this is a piece I adopted from another stitcher.  I haven’t done a particularly large amount of work on it since I got it, but I’d like to get some more of the animals around the border done.  The problem is that they’re done in petit point, so the work is so tiny and intricate that it goes very, very slowly.  My goal for 2012 on this one is to get one of the remaining side borders (left, top, right) done.

13.  Book of Ink Circles – I don’t have a photo of my WIP uploaded yet, as it was a new start in May (one of my other entries for this weekend to do).  It’s my first attempt at recoloring a design from someone else.  It’s a fabulous piece when completed, though.

 

Thanks for stopping by!  I’ll be catching up on blogs this weekend between my own writing.  :)

 

 

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Mirabilia Round Robin – Round 2
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• Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

My contribution to Kathy's RRThe 2011 Mirabilia Round Robin is once again rotating, so I have a progress update.  :)

This round, I had Kathy’s piece, which is themed to the fairies of Mirabilia.  Kathy’s squares are well-organized, and she’s assigned excerpts of specific pieces to specific squares.  Her fabric is a lovely cloudy sky evenweave.  Very nice to stitch on.  :)

I chose to do the left fairy from Three for Tea for my square (the right fairy will eventually be placed next to her by one of my fellow stitchers).  She was a fun stitch – once I got through the arm and shoulder, it moved very quickly.  For some reason, I struggled to get moving on this one – for some reason the bare skin just didn’t want to stitch easily.  I kept breaking thread, kept miscounting.  Once I got past the rows of DMC 948, it stitched much easier.

She attended Celebration of Needlework with me and was admired by several stitchers in the lounge – and that was before she had a head.  I’m quite pleased.

Kathy's piece after 2 rounds - 5/10/11Kathy’s entire piece as it looked when it left me today is to the right.  Apologies about the wrinkles – I had it carefully folded into my Q-snap cover while I was stitching it so I wouldn’t risk damaging any of the beads Annette had added last round.

I’m thankful I had the foresight to take a long weekend to get things done.  I don’t think I would have managed to send this out today without the time off.  April was a crazy, difficult month – professionally and personally.  I really needed a couple days to clear my head, get a few projects done, and relax.  And for the most part, those projects are now accomplished.  So I’m going to feel much better when I go back to work tomorrow.

The other big project I had this weekend was planting the garden – I’ll post about that tomorrow.  :)

 

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TUSAL & Monthly Goals
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• Wednesday, May 04th, 2011

TUSAL Jar - 5/3/11I knew that if I went to bed last night, my upload would finally show up in Flickr!   Here’s my Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long jar for May 2011.  It’s getting quite full, although it’s still lofty (and there are a lot of DMC wrappers that have created a sub-ort layer at the bottom).

I spent almost all of April on round robins.  The darker colors are from Rachel’s HAED Wizard of Oz.  The more springtime colors are from Kris’ Kooler Design Spring Sampler and Kathy’s Mirabilia RR piece.   I’ve stopped counting my hours for the year – just too crazy with everything going on, but I can say with certainty that I stitched at least 50 hours in April.  I’m pleased.

 

So… monthly stitching goals… I didn’t do too badly for April, actually.

For April, I wanted to:

  1. Finish hours on Rachel’s RR  - DONE!
  2. Finish hours on Kris’ RR  - DONE!
  3. Finish square for Kathy’s RR – In progress now.  Will finish by mid week next week.
  4. Put 10 hours of sittching into Floral Bellpull - Nope.  Didn’t touch.
  5. Prep BoINK for May – DONE!
For May, I want to:
  1. Finish Kathy’s Mirabilia square
  2. Stitch five hours on Floral Bellpull
  3. Stitch five hours on BoInk
  4. Finish and mail the Folk Egg and gifties to Line
  5. Put at least 10 hours into each UFO RR
  6. Put five hours into the “Super Sekrit Stitch” project.
I have some nice long weekends, so I think this is a pretty feasible list.
Gotta get working – have a wonderful day everyone!
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