Happy New Year!

These past few years I’ve made some resolutions to move out some pieces. Since I started doing this, I’ve been paying more attention to how I work, and, as a result, I’ve noticed that I am not good about focusing. I’m even worse when I don’t get to do a new project every now and then. So this year, I am going to make smaller goals. Instead of trying to finish a UFO every month as I set out to do last year, I am going to try to finish one every other month. I am also going to give myself six new starts, which I can start all at once or over time. I’m also planning out my obligation pieces, of which I will allow six. Most of these projects are medium to large, so I will also allow myself some travel projects, but I won’t put them in the rotation here. Finally, I will work diligently on the marquoir.

6 UFOs

1. Anna’s Bird
2. Elizabethan Rose
3. Frickin’ Chicken aka Majestic Rooster
4. Alpine Garden
5. Tree of Life Window
6. Watercolor Geraniums

6 new starts

1. Curtis Boehringer, apple sampler
2. Cross Eyed Cricket, Promise of Summers to Come
3. Liz Turner Diehl, 18th Century Knot Garden
4. Liberty Street Designs, Tall Flowers Sampler
5. Bent Creek, Christmas Carols
6. Bent Creek, Snowman Stocking

6 obligation pieces

1. Dolly Mama Kitty
2. Dolly Mama Poodle
3. baby White announcement
4. baby Palmer announcement
5. SB Jillian’s stocking
6. SB Elisabeth’s stocking

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-al

Pictured here is auntie's flat-fold. She really loved it, thought it was so pretty. I was completely amazed that I finished three gifts in two days. Here are the other things I set out to finish this month:

1. Finish the damn bag Woo hoo! It's off my plate. And, you'll notice, I did not knit a single Christmas gift this year--I think I've learned a lesson.
2. Dolly Mama Freebie Poodle--I need it for a 2/15 birthday
3. Dolly Mama Kitty I started it--It's due 1/21 for a birthday
4. Keep up with that marquoir I've completed part 1. I love working on this!
5. Bead Toy Gatherer --nyet
6. If I receive my RR, send that out by December 31 at the latest--I had such a difficult time with this. Oh sure, it looks like a simple pattern, but apparently I can't follow a color code. I will send it out soon.

2006 in Review

So what did you accomplish this year, oh fickle stitcher?

1. Wee Fancies Sheep, Homespun Elegance
2. Miss Mary Mack, La-D-Da (individual over one)
3. Holiday Ewe, Heart in Hand Needleart
4. I Saw Three Ships ornament, Fancy Work
5. Souvenir Sampler, Drawn Thread
6. Folk Art Topiary ornament,
7. Learned to sew trim on ornaments!
8. Patriotic Needlebook, Silver Needle
9. Garden Thread Pallet Case, Old Colonial Needlework
10. Bunny in a Basket, M Designs
11. Cancel My True Love's Order ornament, Flower Thread
12. three (3) swirly santa ornaments, Barbara Sestock
13. Frosty Santa ornament, Mill Hill
14. Room for Ewe, Ewe and I and Friends
15. You are My Sunshine, La-D-Da
16. Once the Ocean Called My Name, X-Appeal
17. Happy Bunny Bunny Day, The Trilogy
18. 40th birthday gift, Subversive Stitch
19. Enchanted Alphabet, MLI
20. Me Voila, Rouge du Rhin
21. October Monthly Mania, Heart in Hand
22. Pumpkin Sampler,Window Garden Designs
23. Peace Tree Ornament, M Designs
24. Pumpkin Keeper, Drawn Thread
25. Polka Dot Scissor Fob, E&E&F

Not all I had hoped, but I seem to be about average based on what I've been reading on other blogs.

Holiday

Well, I've just been so peeved with blogger I took a bit of a minivacation. That, and I left the camera dock in Philly so I couldn't upload any of my photos. Here, you can you will be able to see the slightly too short case I made for my sister's new razr phone and the finishing I did on my aunt's and mother's gifts.

Sissy loved her ornaments, and she's using the cell phone case even though it's too short (should be a snap to make a longer one and reattach the decoration). She was really impressed with the ornaments. Really loved them. So now I know: don't bother with the things that take aeons to finish, just give them a finished gift. Mom and auntie were really impressed with their gifts too. I think I did really well this year, all except my father's mother. I carried something back from Slovenia to her, and she couldn't have cared less. Next year my parents are coming to PA for Christmas, so I won't have to see her at all. See how she likes that handpainted Slovenian box then!

I didn't get a lot of stitch stash this year. Just two pieces on my list: Heart's Content French Harvest and Be Merry and Bright. My father was appalled when he found out how much those kits cost. I started Merry and Bright, and the light in my mother's house is so bad I actually used her cheaters. Wow. I'm going to have to get me a pair of those. At least they were cute, all diggied up with olive rhinestones. Leave it to my mother...

My main stitching piece over the holiday was my friend's round robin. I decided to go with the free chart from camp that I am going to personalize. So far I have taken just about every stitch in that piece twice--I kept screwing up the color or placement. So it is taking way longer than I had hoped. Oh, it also calls for a discontinued WDW thread. Can anyone describe Julep?

Makin' It

I decided to finish the Mill Hill angel for my aunt. I have more pictures but blogger refuses to let me upload them. I hate blogger and I am going to refuse to upgrade until they tell me they're getting rid of this version all together. You'll live without a picture, right?

So I delivered that present and the others that are going to Merrimack, NH to my cousin last night. In return, she sent me home with four potato pancakes. A good thing too because the dude was still screwing around with his marmalade endeavor (with the goal of making the kitchen uninhabitable, by my guess). I sewed together the easel for my mom, and glued the trim on last night. When I get home tonight, I have to wrap mom's and Sissy's presents--you should see the adorable cell phone holder I made her out of Week's overdyed wool. Oh, you could, if blogger weren't Totally Fucked Up. Then I'll deliver those presents to Sissy, stop at Ikea to pick up a duvet for the guests, and then home. Now, should I finish my Christmas cards at that point or clean? Either way, things are Getting Done, and I'm starting to feel a little more relaxed.

PS: Meye2cuties, I'll be in Amherst, NH, but my time is totally accounted for unfortunately.

Meta

Here's the question: as I've implied, I blog under an assumed identity. My real identity has a google account, but I do not want to blog under that identity. Every now and then if I've read my gmail, then go to comment on people's blogs I see my real identity listed when I want to comment under the blog id because that's how you know me. I've read all the "news" about the blogger-no-longer-beta. I get no info on this question.

I'm also still wondering if people with longer blogs are finding that their whole extensive history doesn't migrate. Because, and my archiving friends will be happy to hear it, I have a paper version of my blog but really, what's the point of that? I'm not inviting you over to read it.

And can I not upload photos because I refuse to switch or what? Is this blackmail?

Flip Flop Flop

In late September, Sissy handed me a pair of flip flops she had just bought (which will be pictured when blogger cooperates). She said, "These are adorable. They'd be easy for you to copy, and it's a present you could get done on time because it wouldn't take that long." And I walked off with one bejeweled olive flip flop.

In October, I bought 3 pairs of flip flops at knock-down prices (for Sissy, mother, and aunt). And then I started looking for the buckles, for that is what the sparkly-bit is. Buckles 1/2" in diameter. Right. I went online and found some things, but when it comes to rhinestones, you have to be picky. Some faux stones look tacky; some don't look so bad. We were aiming for the latter. I was going to have to get them in person. And then I had foot surgery.

So this week, I went to Michael's, Joann's, and AC Moore in search of buckles. I found a flower-shaped silver-tone buckle 3" in diameter. I was desperate, so I bought it. I also bought a pair of pins about 1/2" in diameter. As I tried to manouever the ribbon and buckle and shoe, I realized the 3" buckle was a waste: I had to attach it at the junction of the flip flop straps, and doing so meant that the buckle hung out over the toes. I thought I could take the bus to fabric row during my lunch hour to see what could be found. If I squeezed the trip in on Monday, I could still get them done and wrapped before I had to bring the presents to my sister and cousin. (They're driving to NH and can take wrapped gifts. I fly: no wrapped gifts.) The pin didn't work either. I couldn't get the pin to stay closed while I was working with it; I considered superglue to keep it closed, but it all just seemed too overwhelming at this late date.

All this was happening around the same time I was whipping up the ribbon candy ornaments for Sissy. I thought, hey, I've got a present for Sissy. I have one for my mom too (Call of the Ocean). All I have left is Auntie Em.

Now, in addition to cleaning our house which has degenerated in the month since I had my surgery, I have to finish making and send the Christmas cards, finish Call of the Ocean, get myself waxed and plucked, write a letter of recommendation, make my generic "winter" wreath, work, and sleep. Normally, I'd say to hell with the house, and work on a present for Auntie Em, but we have guests who are coming the evening before we come back from NH. Nothing's ever easy. So I have stuff.to.do. before we leave Friday night.

I have come up with two ideas for Auntie Em: a tiny Altoid tin scrapbook or finish an already-stitched piece from the finishing pile. Here are the pros and cons:
scrapbook pros: 12 small 2x3 pages, have all the supplies, this will be a snap
scrapbook cons: will have to collect photos, will have to paint Altoid tin (do have spray paint), really tiny present, considering I've made two 12x12 Christmas scrapbooks for her and a scrap calendar of her first grandchild
cross stitch pros: if I'm finishing the ocean present for my mom as a flat fold (I have a frame and have cut the foam core), it's not that much more work; it's a really pretty piece; I haven't given her a cross-stitch present in a while
cross stitch cons: I have the fear it is going to take me too long to finish two flat folds, I need to find matt board

What to do? What to do? But more importantly, when to do it?

Candy Land

Hey, look what I whipped up for Sissy yesterday. Hardly took me any time--the hard part was beading the hangers. She loves ribbon candy, and it will be nice for her to get a present on time for a change.

Here are some places you can find instructions:
Wrights They also have kits.
Carol Duval on DIY Gotta give props; I found them on the show.
Martha Stewart I used these, except for the chalk...I mean, really, you can totally use a marker.

Instead of using fancy thread for the hanger, I put clear seed beads on the clear thread I used, then tied the beaded string onto the needle, and did the easy part.

Can I Even Call it a UFO?

My stock taking has led to offers of help. You readers are so good to me! Cheryl has offered to trade some UFOs. But I'm not sure I know how I feel about this. I mean, the ones I would really want to get rid of (coughfrickinchickencough) aren't ones people would want to adopt. Its bad enough having your own mistakes to take care of, you do not want to take on someone else's.

Lee said her UFOs made her sad so she "cut and run." I wish I had that kind of ability to let go. I feel like I've made my bed. And it's a bed of scratchy linen. Is it some kind of wacky Catholic guilt? I owe nothing to these pieces. Am I just a control freak? Mine, mine, mine? Is it that they are somehow part of me? Maybe that's getting closer, but I don't feel like I can give them away until they're finished.

I'm not sure I stitched enough of this one for it to be called a UFO. It's Saint Basil's Cathedral (can you even tell?) by Dimples Designs on the called-for linen. I started this when it was hot off the press--bought the fabric and pattern at a CATS show when it had just come out. I don't know why I abandoned this. So I could write a dissertation? That sounds about right.

The UFO Project: Watercolor Geraniums

It occurs to me that I just started posting these ufos without ever explaining myself. Don't you know why I've done it? Can't you read my mind? (When I was teaching writing, I always told students I could only read their papers, not their minds. Because, inevitably, they'd write a lot less than they had been thinking about a subject, and their much more interesting thoughts would come out in conversations with them, never in their papers. But I digress...)

I was up in the craft room and decided I Needed to Take Stock. And here it is, my stock taking. It has lead me to have Big Ideas about my 2007 resolutions, which I will share with you at the appropriate time.

Today's project is Watercolor Geraniums. I believe it was featured in Just Cross Stitch magazine. I started this in the late 90s for my mom, an avid gardner. Well, really, my mom has a tendency to get really into things--horseback riding, piano lessons, gardening--until the Next Big Thing comes along. But she's very earnest, and so charming, in her enthusiasm. I intended it to be a Christmas gift, but when I realized I wasn't going to finish on time, I put it aside. I put a few stitches in it this year, but it's stitched 3-over-2. Three is just too many. And what an ordeal it is to gather all the floss for this one!

Walking on Sunshine

I'm pleased to announce that the doctor has taken me off crutches! Even though I was too sick to work today, there was no way I was going to miss that appointment. I still have to wear the orthopaedic shoe because the foot won't fit into a sneaker yet, or so they say. The horrible man in the scrubs bent my toe in a painful way and told me I had to torture myself like that twice a day. Anyway, I will spare you the sight of Franken-foot. It's too gruesome.

Instead, I share with you photos of the marquoir. Taken during the day, just after noon. Unfortunately, it was a dark and stormy night. This piece is giant. The 40-count fabric is about a yard wide and over a yard long. I have stitched 1/16th of the pattern

UFO: Tree of Life Window

I'm continuing with the marquoir abc ancien, and I wish I had some good photos for you. I'm home sick from work today, have the stomach bug that's making the rounds. I feel like crap. We know this to be true because I haven't taken a stitch today. But by tonight, I will be finished with partie 1 of the giant marquoir. I only have a few days before partie 4 is released. I feel like I'm catching up, even though I am destined to be behind...

Oh, and check it out, I put up a photo of the latest wreath.

Ah, yet another UFO. (Glad I'm entertaining you, Cheryl!) This Heartland House Designs features Frank Lloyd Wright's Tree of Life Window. This is yet another piece started in the mid-90s, when I was studying for quals. This was started as a wedding present for some friends. It was good and masculine, and it was pea green. (A friend read "The Owl and the Pussycat" at the wedding.) But then they didn't even invite me! I didn't have to give them anything, so I stuck it in a box. I didn't even remember it until I came across it in the great sorthing of the craft room.

More Quotes

My friend DD sent me this quote, which I love, love, love, love, love!

Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859

Keep 'em coming, people!

Today's UFO is Alpine Garden by Drawn Thread. I started it for a friend's wedding, sometime in the late 90s. However, I couldn't finish in the one year period, so I sent a pine needle bowl, which she loved. There is a major mistake in that square on the bottom, which has prevented me from picking it up again.

Lee's Big Idea

How many needlework quotes can we come up with?

1. "She seeketh wool and flax And worketh willingly with her hands." Proverbs (from Lee)

2. "A woman with needlework in her hands is generally assumed to have no other thoughts in her head, and can safely harbor any number of improprieties." Patricia A McKillip, Od Magic (from Melissa)

3. "I pray that risen from the dead/ I may in Glory stand/ A crown, perhaps, upon my head/ But a needle in my hand." I found that but I can't remember where. Mind like a sieve.

4. "I cannot count a day complete, 'til needle, thread, and fabric meet" best pal's inspiration quote

Please add your quote in the comments!

Today's UFO, pictured above, is Majestic Rooster by Eileen Bennett. It's from an old issue of Cross Stitch and Country Crafts. I started it sometime in the mid-90s, and abandoned it because I started stitching in the middle, then jumped around. Theres not a mistake in the stitching--the whole thing is riddled with mistakes. So, I put it aside. After all that, my mother changed her decor...

One for You, Two for Me

While I was lazing about, aka recovering from surgery, I started doing a little online Christmas shopping. For every one I bought for someone else, I made sure to get something for me.

Sorry about the lousy photo. From Elegant Stitch's Thanksgiving sale, I bought SB's Jillian's Stocking and the charms for both that design and Elisabeth's stocking, which I plan to make for my nieces for next Christmas. I bought Bent Creek's Christmas Carols stocking so the dude and I can have snowman stockings.

Inspired by someone--sorry I can't remember who--I also located two Hands to Work charts: Two Fine Houses (to satisfy my love of willow samplers) and More of My Favorite Primitive Stitching Bags, for the mermaid.

Merry Christmas to me!

Round Robin Help

I received my camp friends' round robin today. My friend's theme is "cross-stitch," which is pretty broad. I have a chart of "antique needlework tools" that I was going to use, but now that I see what the person before me (the ubiquitous best pal) did and I don't like my idea so much anymore. She made her own design with four little stitching queens (hair color correct-ish) surrounding the quote "I cannot count a day complete 'til needle, thread and fabric meet."

Now my idea seems sterile. So I was thinking that at camp, they gave us a chart of the cabin where we stayed. I could use that. Or I could stitch some of The Meri Wanderer's scissor charts, which are great, like this one or this. I could do Lynn Nicoletti's Thimbelina over one so it will fit in the little 75x75 area. I could convert Glory Bee's chart "Chart: 6.00/Linen: 12.00/Afternoon stitching with friends: Priceless" to be about camp. I also found the quote: "I pray that risen from the dead/ I may in Glory stand/ A crown, perhaps, upon my head/ But a needle in my hand." So much pressure!

I welcome your ideas.

Mini-goals

I set myself some mini-goals this past weekend. How did I do?

1. The Laptop Bag: qualified success. I took out the part I had twisted when I stitched the top on, but when I got to the end, it was still twisted. Nothing I did seemed to untwist it. So I figured it will be felted, who'll notice? I was right about that, but the felting process didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. I think I over-felted it. The strap didn't felt evenly so parts are skinnier than others. (I'm hoping some steam might fix that.) And, even though I used all the same kind of yarn, the burgundy stripes didn't felt At All. It's wool. Real 100%--not superwash--wool. Aye caramba. Right now it's sadly misshapen, but I forced a couple of cutting boards and a hundredweight of plastic bags into it, so maybe things will work out. Oh, and the best part is our laptop doesn't fit in it. With any luck, it will work as a large purse. Now to get a zipper.
2. Christmas wreath: it's a start. I wanted to make a wreath that consisted of gluing a bunch of small wrapped boxes to a form. So I searched my house for small boxes. I mostly used drug boxes: Immodium, Tylenol Flu, Qvar (prescription), an ob box and a soap box. I think there's one gift box on the whole thing. I know where my glue gun is (in the box marked tools in the craft room) but the glue sticks were nowhere to be found. I glued the first layer on with Thick Designer Tacky glue, but it lacks integrity. I managed to squeeze enough glue out of the gun to glue on the second layer. Much more integrity. So far, it's pretty cute. I'm going to have to get the dude to go to AC Moore three weeks before Christmas and find mini glue sticks for a low temp gun. Yeah, right.
3. Christmas Cards: not bad. I crawled around my craft room, and managed to put together 15 cards that the dude thinks are "quite modern." I have to make about 100 cards, and it's been slow going, so I'm going to cheat. I have some leftover cards from previous years, that I've decided to use--just have to guess who got what in the past! I found some elements for another card that just need to be stuck together. Finally, I have an idea for a quick but elegant card. This is going pretty well.

I also worked a bit on the Ancien Marquoir, but I am going to have to think about Christmas gifts. I'm not sure what I have and what I still need to get. Right on top of things as usual...

UFO Sunday: Hardanger Napkin Rings

Napkin Rings

Stella Bjerg

Started: Spirit of Cross Stitch Fesitval in 1996.

Reason abandoned: Just a little tedious. And there's red stuff all over it.

Noooooooo! I Have So Much More to Do in 2006

So, here's the list of what I'm going to do to get there:

1. Finish the damn bag
2. Dolly Mama Freebie Poodle
3. Dolly Mama Kitty
4. Keep up with that marquoir
5. Bead Toy Gatherer
6. If I receive my RR, send that out by December 31