July Goals

It's time to establish some goals for July.

10 more hours/complete the afghan
10 hours on Watercolor Geraniums
Complete "Be Thee Mine" by July 14
10 hours on Treasured Tulips
---------------------------
How did I do last month?
Complete afghan [10 hours on afghan]
10 hours on Toy Gatherer [check]
Complete Professor Fizzby's Freebee [check]
10 hours on Watercolor Geraniums
no goal [Completed Itty Bitty Trio of Hearts]
no goal [Completed Patriotic Acorn]
no goal [10 hours on Williamsburg Doorway]

New Photos

I've been remiss in updating the afghan photos, mostly because I've been remiss in working on the afghan. But it's all coming together now! New afghan pictures of the jasmine, sweet William (which I have been calling the sweet pea forever), narcissus, hydrangea, and peony. I suppose I'm going to have to update the picture of the entire afghan too.

I forgot to report that when I bought the silk ribbon I needed to finish the Trio of Hearts (you can see those little colonial knots in the last photo) I also got an Elegant Stitch grab bag. $30 for $100 worth of stuff: Just Because by Attic Window Design Group, Full Moon and Fruitful Clusters by Good Huswife, A Stitch in Time and Eliza Wentz Sampler from Old Willow Design Group, a lighthouse pin and a beaded needlecase by Mill Hill, and a "Kind Heart" pin (maybe I'll wear that in a public performance of irony). There was at least $35 of stuff I loved, and more that I'll be able to gift to stitching friends. A pretty good deal, but you really take your chances with grab bags! I've received some pathetic ones (from unnamed sources). I thought I needed a treat since, up until that time, I hadn't started anything new. Now, I just have to not buy and not start anything new until the Needlepoints West annual sale/preparation for a new owner. She's been having a sale since she announced she was retiring, so I hope there is still good stuff left in mid-July!

Stitcher's Five: Travel, and a rant about grammar and spelling

1. Do you take something new to stitch when you travel - a special travel stitching project? I always just assess which of my current projects is most portable. I do always have at least one project with me.
2. Do you plan your trips around stitching shops?
Once when I was doing research in Syracuse, I consulted my [rather dated] "There Must be a Cross-Stitch Store around Here Someplace!" We located two shops in the area--one was going out of business. What a treat. The other shop was located in The Most Depressing Mall in America. It was the only shop that seemed to be doing well. We did take a detour on our drive back to Baltimore to visit a store in Endicott. Great idea. I do try to look up stores wherever I travel, but I don't think it's a tragedy if I don't visit.
3. Do you believe that if you cross state lines you MUST by fibers? First of all, it's BUY not BY. No, I don't.
4. Where have you stitched?
Alaska, California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia; Tczew, Poland; Durham, UK; London and lots of transnational and transatlantic flights.
5. Do your friends/family bring you stitching related gifts when they travel? My mil sends me things from England usually with an English theme, like the kit of the bridge in Newcastle. My aunt once got me a covered bridge kit from the area where she has a summer house. I bought a kit in Alaska featuring a representation of one of the Tlingit moeities. I'd like to find more things that I actually liked when I travel.

Why make such a fuss over the by/buy screw-up? Well, read Angelsan's blog. She's not a native English speaker, and "by" makes no sense in place of "buy." Think of it, the question is like asking, "do you travel via fiber?" That's why spelling and punctuation and grammar are important. Language only works because we all agree to adhere to rules. There's no reason why people should have to work so hard to understand what you've written. (school marm hat off)

Rare Sunday Post

I'm terribly excited--I'm working on the afghan again! I completed ten hours on the Williamsburg Doorway Ornament (new pics Tues) and took out the afghan. As usual, I discovered that I have a lot less to do on it than I remembered. Why is it that I always underestimate myself? I thought I had several blocks to backstitch, but I have only three. And I finished one today! The peony is done! I am working on the jasmine pot, and I've made some good progress--I've backstitched all the buds, half the leaves and the outsides of all the flowers. I just have the leaves and the petals to work on. I don't think I will manage to finish the rest of the afghan in ten hours, but I am just so pleased that I'm going forward...even if I did start a new piece. (shhh, don't tell!)

Clarification

I said, "I have too many projects on the go." I started concentrating on finishing things up. After having completed about 7, I got bored and wanted to start a new project. Thinking I would hear what I wanted to hear, I asked the Dude how many he thought I should have in my WIP pile before I started a new one. He said, "zero." I said, "no way!" He said, "well that's how many I think you should have." I said, "give me another number." And he came up with five. It's not like he is going to divorce me if I don't start finishing what I start. He knew about this when he married me. (That's what we always say to complaints about habits, "you knew that when you married me.") In fact, I think I'm going to sneak into the other room and start a new project, in celebration of his marrying me!

I'm going to scour the html to figure out how to get the comments feature above the break line.

Challenge

I recently got a fabric catalog in the mail from Keepsake Quilting. This catalog had a report on the winners of the recent "Back to Basics Keepsake Challenge." For the non-quilters--or those of you whose mothers didn't own a quilt store--in a quilting challenge, a group of fabrics are chosen and the quilter has to make something out of them--she can do any kind of quilting and even add fabrics, but she has to use all the original fabrics. The ones my mother participated in (if you call planning and cutting and piecing but not finishing, "participating"), usually started with the ugliest fabrics the group could find. Take that!

I was just thinking how fun it would be to do this for stitching. I tried it once with some of my needlework friends, but they weren't into it. I chose a pattern of a quilt block but didn't give colors or any restrictions as to fiber or fabric. It was fun to try to come up with colors and textures that would work. I finished it as a needlebook and I was supposed to give it to MB, my needle-book collecting friend, although I think it is tucked away somewhere instead. Bad friend. I shouldn't even be thinking this because I have to get the UFO pile whittled down, but if you would participate, let me know! There are plenty of little free patterns that we could use. Some designers even make challenge patterns. And you could send digital pictures, what fun!

Oh, and amy!, next time I'm at my parents, we should go up to Center Harbor, NH--Keepsake Quilting, Keepsake NeedleArts, and Pattern Works are all in the same place! (Have I already said that?)

The Number

Five. My husband said I should be down to only five projects before I start something new. Do you agree?

Rotation

When I was working on my dissertation, I was sent to a therapist for an unrelated problem. I didn't want to talk about that one, so I hijacked the sessions to discuss what I perceived to be the source of all human stress. As we were talking, it became clear to the therapist, and to me too, that I was much further along writing the book than I thought. I was constantly undermining my achievement; still do, really. I'm not a "glass-half-full" kind of person; I'm a "you call that a glass?!" kind of person. If you want to know what will go wrong with anything you are trying to do, I'm the person you want to talk to.

As loyal readers know, I have a tendency to focus on what I am not working on (the afghan) [that's a cool word to type, "afghan"--three of the letters are right in a row] rather than the successes I have had. You also know that I am buried under a mound of UFOs. The therapist suggested making a list of chapters and pages written (and work to do) on each one. At that point I think I had 130 pages written with two chapters exactly the way I wanted them. It still took a while to finish, but I had a more accurate sense of it all. I've decided to make a list of the UFOs and where I am with each. I've done the latter part with photos. I'm still working on getting pictures of each one, but at least the ones that are actively in the rotation are on there.

When I look at the list, it makes it easy to see that I'm making progress--I've completed 1/3 of the projects that I have heaped in a basket next to my stitching chair. I'm actively working on 5 more--not quite another 1/3 but close enough for government work. It makes me breathe a sigh of relief. It's not like I want to be finished with all of them, but I think it would be better if the pile weren't so large. I couldn't work on just one project at a time, but how many is too many? What should I aim for before I begin a new project? I have two that are really burning a hole so to speak. I'd like to make a going away present for my boss who is leaving. I also want to make something for the Dude for our (approaching) third anniversary. I was thinking of Be Thee Mine--I do have it kitted up in anticipation.

Stitcher's Five: Firsts

1. What was your first finished stitched piece?
I think it was a stamped piece for my aunt. She still has it hanging although for some reason it is deteriorating. Probably all those years of using a woodstove.
2. What was the first piece you used beads on?
I’m pretty sure it was the piece I did for my college roommate’s wedding (1992). I don’t remember the pattern, but it had the “the greatest of these is love” quote and pink, green and pearl-colored beads, back before Mill Hill beads were ubiquitous.
3. What was the first piece you used blends on?
The first piece I really remember using blends on was my cousin’s wedding sampler (1994). That one was a kit, and the only thing I remember about the kit was that the sampler on the cover had the couple getting married in the same place as my cousin (the Alvirne Chapel in Hudson, NH). There were so many blended needles and color changes that I couldn’t work on that one without swearing. It’s the origin of the “stitch bitch” nickname.
4. What was the first piece you used specialty stitches on? I have no recollection. Maybe the sunflower smalls class I took with Lauren Sauer at Spirit of Cross-stitch? I did do crewel before I did cross-stitch, so they are only specialty stitches insofar as they are done on counted fabric.
5. What was the first piece you stitched on evenweave or linen as opposed to aida? The first counted cross-stitch piece I did was on evenweave (1989).

Love the Skin You're in

I had had enough of that orange, and the too-large sidebar lettering, but I can't find where my comments feature has disappeared to. I have been searching the html for it.

I'm also adding links to other blogs I read. Now you will know I am a political beast who has friends with children that I like to read about. Well, I only like to read about their families because they think and write well.

Sorry to say that we'll be going off air on Fridays now too--summer hours, peeps, you gotta love it.

New Pictures

I've got new pictures up for the Itty Bitty Trio of Hearts and Roly-Poly Santa. I'm waiting for a delivery for the silk ribbon to finish the hearts. Tonight, I go back to the gym so I don't think I will get any stitching done. This weekend, though, I do hope to go back to the afghan. Maybe I can get some new pictures of it, so you can see where I am with that project. Will that inspire me to finish?

You'll Just Have to Wait

I'm making origami men's shirts. Of course, I seem best when using the dollar bill. I can't send dollar bill shirts to my father and grandfather! So far I have one passable and two wonky shirts made from decorative paper.

I wanted to post two update pictures: one for the Itty Bitty Trio of Hearts and the other for Roly-Poly Santa. But I haven't had a chance to manipulate the pictures because I can't follow visual instructions. I've run out of silk ribbon for the Hearts, so I'm waiting to receive that--and make four colonial knots! Now you can see why so many of my projects get put aside...

Stitcher's Five: The In Group

1. Is your DH/partner supportive of your stitching?
Yes, although he has worried that I would stick him with the needle when he sits on my right as I stitch. (But I haven't in 13 years).
2. Do you ever stitch in company?
Yes, especially when people come over to watch something on the television.
3. Been to a GTG (Get ToGether)?
About 10 years ago, there was a regular group of stitchers from rctn who got together. But beyond stitching with my friends--or heading off to Tulsa--not lately.
4. Does anyone complain about your stitching? My dad calls me Madame de Farge, but I don't think he begrudges me the stitching.
5. Ever had a stranger comment on your stitching?
I stitch on airplanes and travel alone regularly, so lots of people do. They tell me they don't have the patience for it. It's such a laugh, because I have no patience. Others tell me that their grandmothers did it. It's the comments from people who do know me, but didn't know I did needlework that kill me...

Which?

Okay, sister-in-law of mine, which?

The Birth Sampler
or
Special Delivery
or
keep looking?

That was a Flame?

What did I say? I mean, I agreed that there were many reasons finishers were finishers and starters were starters. Let's face it, no one really thinks it's a character flaw to finish what you start! Most of my post was about sticking up for the starters. Then, I admitted I did an ungenerous reading of Needles Excellency (I'm not going to use names because that can be read as calling out and I'm not). To me, and others who've studied literary criticism, to be ungenerous in a reading means to read only the most narrow way, the most negative connotation of the words. I was completely aware I was doing it. If I had been generous, what would there have been for me to say? Hell, I look at some people's finished projects and I wouldn't want them on my walls either! I spent a whole paragraph agreeing that starters might lack the competitive spirit that finishers have. I have no problem with not being competitive; I have no problem that other people are competitive (my sister learned how in B-school--I still love her). And then I ended with a feel-the-love paragraph on how all crafty-types are excessive and the author of Needles Excellency is one of us. And now I'm being accused of not knowing how to read. Sisters, I didn't get this Ph.D. in English because my head's up my ass.

Anyway, a while back I had a problem with dry skin on my hands. Someone (can I say?) suggested "No Crack" cream and white gloves. I've been trying to find white gloves that aren't outrageously expensive for ages and this gave me the impetus to really search. I gave up on Los Angeles completely. The Vermont Country Store has it all! You gotta love a place that carries the most retro stuff ever. Want old school toys? How about gum popular in the 60s? Oil cloths, perfume your grandmother wore, nightcaps--it's all here. White cotton gloves for sleeping and No Crack cream 2 of each under $25 (plus shipping and handling, regular disclaimers apply). The No Crack sort of has the consistency of Crisco, so I wouldn't use it on my hands before I stitched, but it's great to smear on at bedtime. My hands are back to looking young. They match my young-looking face. In a place like L.A. where you can get an eye-job, botox, and a chin-lift, people look at your hands to see age. The plastic surgeons are even doing hand-jo helping women's hands look younger through surgery. I just saved myself a bundle. ;)

Confessions of a Starter

I'm not one for dichotomies. To tell the truth, I think there are lots more reasons that you wouldn't have many projects on the go than being anal or a newbie. (Although I will point out lots of anal people don't think they're anal.) But it was past five o'clock and my ride was coming. I do, however, think that most people fall into the starters or finishers category. If I didn't believe in some dichotomies, I'd only believe I was anti-dichotomous while I was living in the world with one dichotomy, wouldn't I?

My mom was also a starter, who had a hard time finishing. She only finished quilts because, oh, for example, she was dropping us off at college and wanted us to have homemade quilts. I'm not kidding, she took last stitches in mine as we drove up to the drop off point--and it's not like that was the only quilt she was working on. She was always up in the middle of the night on December 20th finishing Christmas gifts. It is, perhaps, genetic. I like to see it as a sign of generosity that we want to give so much of ourselves to others that we simply can't believe that there won't be enough time to get done all we want to get done. Or something.

Clearly I've touched a nerve with some one-at-a-timers with yesterday's entry. It's not so much any of the reasons that Laren gave in her blog. In fact, to be quite frank, I found some of Laren's reasons that I haven't finished projects to be quite condescending. Cross-stitch is useless, and the things she makes are useful ("have a purpose"). Cross-stitch just has exes, and she changes stitches. You may think it's an ungenerous reading, but what the hell, let's go with it. Perhaps we should begin by defining utility. There's utility in beauty, and I know I'm not the first to say that. [I'm looking for my favorite poem on this topic. I'll update the blog when I find it.] But everyone gets to decide what's useful, right? And I have this project to demonstrate that while I call it cross-stitching, that's just short-hand. It was on the UFO pile. And it's small!

But competition, now that's something I can get my head around. I'm simply not competitive. Never have been. My mother was studying early childhood education while my sister and I were growing up and she educated it right out of us. Think what you will of that. My cousins, with whom we spent a lot of time, were competitive and let me tell you, our house was so much more pleasant (except for the fact that my mother was not competitive about housework where my aunt has floors you could eat off). I don't chase balls; I don't care how much money your husband makes, how big your house is, or what kind of car you drive; I am not going to finish a project because you did.

Besides, Laren is always planning projects ahead, researching all sorts of things that she needs to sew her costumes. She says she's a one-at-a-timer, but I suspect she's got a bit of the excessive in her. :)

For Your Consideration

I finally got myself together to post some new pictures of my finishes. Please pardon the sizing issues and the leaning-tower-of-Pisa nature of the pictures. Maybe I can clean that up a little, but I wanted to get them on the web for you! On the website you can see Professor Fizzby's Freebee, which I finished last night. So there is my first June goal completed! I'm thinking it would make a cute little tray insert. I hope to find a tray that it will fit. I will let you know how the search goes. I also finished the acorn. I ran out of the pearl sparkly stuff but had no idea what it was since it had been kitted. Of course, I could have contacted the ladies at the Silver Needle for information on that, but I was very impatient to finish it since my grandmother's birthday has passed. I hemmed and hawed in the cross-stitch store and let myself be talked into something I didn't really think was right. (I'm pretty sure the first stuff was the right stuff.) Anyway, the difference was so obvious that I had to take out all the little random explosion stitches and re-stitch them in the new stuff which is whiter and thicker than the original fiber, only you can't tell because I didn't take an interim picture! It's so much responsibility! And finally Little Livian May's completed birth sampler (speaking of responsibility).

I'm in a bit of a quandry. I am very set on the idea that I should whittle down the UFO pile--and hooray! I'm down to only 15 pieces--but I'm bored with some of these things. I feel uninspired. I know that if I start something new that I will feel that excitement I get from a new start but I will only get so far before the same feeling of boredom will hit. I think there are two kinds of stitchers in the world: those who love to start and those who love to finish. There are a lot of stitching bloggers who seem to be one-project-at-a-time types (hey, if you're contemplating starting a third project, you count as a one-at-a-timer). I don't know if it is because they are anal-retentive or if they are just sort of new to all this...

I may have spoken too soon yesterday when I said that I had one perfect project picked out for a much-discussed online auction. I found another one today at Wyndham Needleworks: La Bibliotheque by Anagram Diffusion. First I've heard of them. Some cool stuff.

Stitcher's Five: Where has All the Stitching Gone?

1. Do you give away any of your finished stitching as gifts?
I gave away almost everything I did for the first 10 years I stitched. Now I am concentrating on stitching for myself, with the occasional marriage or birth sampler finding its way onto the stitching pile. I have a vision of having a sort of seasonal wall where pieces get switched out monthly, quarterly and seasonally. So, after I whittle down the UFO pile, I'll be concentrating on that.
2. Do you sell any of your finished stitching?
No. My mom was a quilter, and after she did just one quilt on commission (and she owned the shop) I know you just can’t recoup your costs. Who wants to get paid $1/hour—if you’re lucky!
3. Do you give any of your stitching away to charities?
I haven’t, although a group of alumnae discuss having an online auction every once in a while. I’m ready with the perfect pattern.
4. Do you keep any of your stitching for yourself?
Yes, these days.
5. Do you stitch anything as part of exchanges or round robins?
I tried twice. Once the person after me kept everything, so I never got my stitching back. Then the other one never got off the ground. So I’m done with round robins.

I Got Nothing.

I haven't been able to stitch. I haven't had a chance to get to Joann's to get the DMC for the cording to finish my ornaments. Since they are spread out all over the ottoman, I really want to finish them and put them away. Last night's interruption was the urgent need for groceries. We had nothing in the house because of the three weeks of house sitting. (I can't believe that's already come and gone!) After I shopped at the busiest time (just after work) and got annoyed by all the kids trying to get candy and gum out of their beleaguered mothers and the cashier who couldn't make his machine work, I was on the edge of my last nerve when the Dude insisted he could fit the food processor on its base without having it full of food-to-be-processed and in the locked position. My lesson in using it was probably a bit nastier than it should have been. Then I just didn't feel like getting back in the car for the trip to Santa Monica. So I finished Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and started Bone by Fae Myenne Ng.

I've been scouring memes lists to see if there are any hobby related questions I could answer to keep this post about stitching as I've promised, but there's nothing. In fact, as a former writing teacher, I found many of the writing prompts (what they were called before there was an internet) completely cringe worthy.

Trash to Treasure

Last night, I was able to stuff and stitch up ten ornaments and two scissors fobs. Tonight I shall make cording and, over the next few days, I will attach the cording to complete the ornaments. I've come to the realization, after watching episode after episode of Clean Sweep, that if you don't finish the pieces you stitch, it's just clutter. I'm still working on the idea that stash collections can be clutter, but I'm clearly not that advanced. Actually, I've seen what they've done to women who make jewelry, scrapbooks, and other crafters, and I think I could handle it... if we had a space that we could share. Right now our study has way too many books for me to be able to consider half of it a stitcher's paradise. But the Dude has, after catching just glimpses of the show-he-can't-stand, decided that perhaps our books can be winnowed further. That would help. (We both have Ph.D.s in English literature. It's like a small town library.)

I have updated pictures that I promised recently:

Fa La La by Twisted Threads

CA Wells's Noel Ornament from one of the Celebrations of Needlework

Rolly Poly Santa

I will update the baby sampler and Professor Fizzby's Freebee soon. I have to wash the former and complete the latter.

Stitcher's Five: Thinking about Stitching

1. What is your most treasured needlework possession?
Does it count if you don't possess it? I promise to stop whinging about the lost cross-stitch bag some day! I guess right now it's my Ott Lite.
2. What is your greatest fear when doing needlework?
I don't have that many fears. It's not brain surgery after all. I guess it's finishing because my sewing skills are pretty atrocious.
3. What is your greatest extravagance in needlework? Traveling to needlework retreats.
4. What is your stitching motto? It's not brain surgery!
5. What do you dislike most about your needlework?
I guess that I'm a bit careless--Sister Karen diagnosed that in high school calculus. Combine that character defect with the fact that I'm lazy, and most of my pieces are pretty flawed. I simply can't be bothered to spend too much time futzing about.

Thanks to Hazel for using my suggestions, but I didn't make these questions up. All props go to Catherine Amoroso Leslie, who does the Portrait column in Piecework. These are her questions. To their credit, most needlework designers don't have needlework fears either.

As I suspected, I did get a lot of needlework done this long weekend. The Dude was playing in a chess tournament so I was stuck at home with no car (and no food since we've just returned from housesitting). I managed to complete the baby sampler--Livian May was born on 5/27. Don't ask me about the name. I have no idea. See my post back in February where I warned people to think before they chose a name. I stand by that.

I'm almost done Professor Fizzby's Freebee too--I just have one wing to back stitch. It's very impressive. At least the s.o. thinks so. I also spent a great deal of time stitching a bunch of ornaments into pillows. I started making some wall hangings out of other pieces, but I only have polyfill stuffing rather than batting. The only one of my May goals that I didn't finish is the afghan. Ugh. I've got to get on that! Tonight I plan to stuff and hand stitch the ornaments while we watch taped tennis (the Dude and friend are interested). Tomorrow I'll go to Joann's and get some DMC for cording and some batting. I hope to have finished several ornaments and wall hangings by this weekend. Then, I really have to focus on the afghan.

June goals

complete the afghan

ten hours on watercolor geraniums

ten hours on Toy Gatherer

complete Professor Fizzby's Freebee