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. :)
It’s the new moon – and it’s the first of the year, so it’s time to empty the jar and start fresh for the Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long. 
I’d been filling my jar for two years, so to see it this empty is a bit… weird. My orts from the last two years have been put into a baggie – I’ll spread some of them in the yard for the birds in the spring, and others I may use to stuff ornaments or something similar.
I completed goal #1 easily. I’m about half-way done with the backstitching. I forgot that the inside of the frame is backstitched, and wound up having to do it twice thanks to a quietly building knot of string that built as I went along (whoops).
